Under the Moon's Shadow (24 page)

He recited the number Cullen gave him, and Carrie wrote it down. “I’m going to turn you back over to dispatch. I need to fill Jason in on what he’s coming in on, okay?” Handing the receiver back to the dispatcher, he drew in a deep breath and turned to the second dispatcher. “Get me Jason on his phone. I don’t want this going out on the radio.”

Hands on his hips, he turned to Ethan, whose face was colorless with fear. “There’s no easy way to say this. Beth’s been shot.”

Ethan crumpled. Cursing, Wyatt caught him and eased the detective down into a chair, then continued. “Cullen’s with her. He says she’s stable, but she’s been hit twice, once in the shoulder and once in the abdomen.”

“But she’s alive?” Ethan managed to whisper. 

His own face felt like stone, and Wyatt nodded. “For now.”

“Sheriff, I have Jason.” The dispatcher handed him the phone. With one last look at Ethan, who had ducked his head and was clearly struggling for composure, Wyatt nodded at her to connect the call.

“Jason? Listen, you need to head over to Cullen Jarvis’s. We’re sending you the exact location now. Beth is there, but she’s injured.”

There was a moment of silence, and Jason responded. “What do you mean, injured? Is she okay?”

Wyatt cleared his throat. “She’s stable, but she’s been shot. Cullen apparently disabled the man who shot her, but she’s in trouble.  The ambulance is on its way, should be there about ten minutes after you get to her. You’ll be the first one on the scene, and you’ll need your first aid kit, okay?”

When Jason responded, it was obvious he was in shock. “I ... Oh, God. Okay. Sheriff, my parents...”

“I’m on my way out there.” He glanced at Ethan to see how he was faring. The younger man had his head bowed, his hands clasped around his neck as though to hold himself in one piece. “Stacy’s headed in your direction, and the state police are on their way, as well. Can you handle this, Jason?”

“I – I guess so. What about Ethan?”

“He’s here with me. You just take care of Beth.” He handed the handset back to the dispatcher, and moved to stand beside Ethan, who looked up as he approached. Wyatt placed his hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “Come on, son. Let’s walk.”

Ethan stood, dazed, and Wyatt guided him down the hall toward the parking lot. As they neared the door, he shook himself. “I need to get out there. Beth needs me.”

“No, sir, you’re not going out there. Your presence is the very last thing she needs right now.”

Ethan pushed around Wyatt and would have headed out the door to his truck, but Wyatt grabbed one of his arms and twisted it up behind his back. When Ethan fought, Wyatt carefully threw his weight against the detective and pushed him into the wall. He shook his head with grief as Ethan struggled, causing Wyatt’s grip on his arm to tighten.

When Ethan finally stopped moving, Wyatt’s tone left no room for argument. “You’re going to stay right here. If you want to go to the hospital when she’s brought in, that’s up to you, but if you set foot at that scene, I’ll throw you in jail so fast your head will spin.”

“Damn you, Wyatt! Let me go to her.” His voice muffled, Wyatt was shocked to see that Ethan had tears streaming down his face. Wyatt backed up and steered him into one of the department’s conference rooms, then closed the door to give them some privacy. “Look, son, I know this has to be hard for you, but you have to do what’s best for Beth right now, and that’s stay here, out of everyone’s way. You know I’m right about this.”

Finally, Ethan nodded and Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief. “I have to get out to the farm and tell her family before someone else does. Stay here or go to the hospital, okay?”

His posture that of a man who was utterly defeated, Ethan nodded.

“I mean it, Ethan – I’ll have your badge if you go out there.”

Ethan’s response was bitter. “I won’t leave town, Sheriff. You have my word.”

After one last glance to make sure Ethan wasn’t just telling him what he wanted to hear, Wyatt turned and headed down the steps to his county-issued SUV. As soon as he was inside, he grabbed his radio. “Carrie, where is Robbie Bailey? Is he still here at the courthouse?”

“He is, Sheriff.”

“Good. Ethan’s in the small conference room. Get Robbie in there with him ASAP, and make sure Robbie stays with him. If Ethan wants to go to the hospital when they bring Beth in, Robbie can escort him. Otherwise, he stays in, even if it means he gets cuffed to a table. Copy?”

“Ten-four, Sheriff.”

Wyatt hated to do it, but he didn’t believe Ethan would stay put any more than he believed he could fly to the moon and back. Wyatt no longer believed Ethan had anything to do with Beth’s disappearance, but he wasn’t willing to take any chances.

Chapter Thirty Three

Following the directions Cullen Jarvis had given dispatch, Jason was able to find the overgrown gravel road with little difficulty. As he reached the crest of a hill, he stopped to avoid hitting the white van that was parked on the road. To his surprise, Ruby was handcuffed to one of the doors. Jason notified dispatch of his arrival as he grabbed the first aid kid from the trunk of the vehicle, then moved to stand behind the van.

“Where is my sister?”

Ruby, who had perked up when Jason pulled up in front of her, started crying. Jason didn’t buy it. “Thank God you’re here! Jason, he has Beth. You have to hurry.”

He ignored the tears. “Where is she?”

She nodded back down the way he’d come in. “She went that way. He has a gun! Be careful!” she shouted as Jason turned and hurried in the direction she’d indicated. He searched the tall grass for any sign of Beth or Cullen. A path had been beaten into the dry grass, and shouting their names, he started down the slope of the hill, following the broken grass. Halfway down the hill, he heard Cullen.

“Here, Jason!”

Jason sped up, and soon he could reached the spot where Beth had fallen. He stopped short when he saw Chad Ormsby, who was lying on the ground a few feet away from Beth, his shirt soaked with blood on the left side. When Ormsby saw Jason, he tried to get up and crawl away. Before Jason could move to stop him, a shot rang out and the doctor froze, whimpering. Ears ringing, Jason jerked around to see Cullen holster a pistol.

“I told you to keep your sorry ass where it was, Doctor. Jason, get over here with that kit.”

Jason immediately complied, dismissing the doctor as he hurried to Beth’s side. Her eyes were closed, and the front of her shirt was soaked with blood. He knelt on the grass opposite Cullen. “Beth, can you hear me? Beth? It’s Jason. Talk to me.”

“She’s unconscious.” Cullen’s voice was calm as he kept his hands pressed firmly over her abdomen. “She’s been in and out since I got here. Get that kit open. Do you have anything I can use to put pressure on this wound with?”

Jason pulled out several large compresses. “These. Will they work?”

“Open them.” As soon as they were out of the package, Cullen grabbed them with one hand and quickly pressed down over the wound in Beth’s abdomen. “Do you have a blanket in that kit?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Cover her with it. We’ve got to try to keep her from going into shock.”

Feeling lightheaded, Jason shook the thin, foil-like blanket out and tucked it around Beth’s shoulders and chest. He wrapped her abdomen as best he could with Cullen’s hands still holding the compresses. Beth moaned, and Jason’s attention jerked to her face.

“Beth? It’s me, sis. Come on,” he pled. He reached out and placed a hand on her forehead. She turned her head toward him, but didn’t open her eyes. When his radio crackled to life from the unit on his shoulder, he jumped. As he moved to answer the call, he realized his hands were trembling.

“Jason, the ambulance is having a little trouble finding where the road is they need to turn onto,” Carrie told him.

Cullen jerked his chin toward Beth’s wound. “You take these and I’ll go lead ‘em in.”

Relaying the message, Jason placed his hands over the wound. Cullen showed him just how much pressure to apply and where, and stood. He stopped to tell Ormsby something in a low voice, and then, moving faster than Jason thought the older man could, hurried to his ATV and roared off in the direction of the road.

Taking a deep breath, Jason swallowed as he kept his eyes on his hands, praying like he never had done before. The few minutes it took Cullen to lead the ambulance in seemed to stretch on forever, and as the EMTs reached Beth, one of them gently eased Jason out of the way.

Standing back to let them work, he glanced down at his hands and saw that they were covered in his sister’s blood. He swallowed convulsively and hoped he wasn’t going to be sick, taking a few steps away from her. After a moment, his stomach settled and he moved back to take a bottle of sterile water from the first aid kit. Using it to rinse his hands off, he watched the EMTs working on Beth as he did so. The senior tech, Dan, raised his head and caught Jason’s eye.

“How is she?”

Dan nodded. “She’s holding her own.”

Jason looked over at Ormsby, who hadn’t moved since Cullen had fired the shot. Hand slowly moving to his shoulder unit, he called in to dispatch.

“Dispatch, unit sixteen here. Can you let Sheriff Dixon know that EMT has arrived and they’re working on Beth? Chad Ormsby and Ruby Sloane are here. Ormsby’s been shot, and apparently he’s the one who shot my sister.”

“Affirmative, unit sixteen. Do you need another ambulance out there?”

Jason looked to Dan, who stood up and hurried over to where Ormsby was slouched. He glanced at the injured man’s shoulder briefly, evaluating his blood loss and affect.

“Tell them to go ahead and send one out. He’s okay for now, but it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.” He wrapped a compression bandage around the man’s wound and moved back to Beth, donning fresh gloves.

As he relayed the message, Jason stared at Ormsby. Almost unconsciously, he realized his hand was hovering over his sidearm. The temptation was strong to pull it from its holster and empty the magazine into Ormsby, but a thread of rationale managed to assert itself.

Dan spoke quietly, and Jason saw from the look on the man’s face that he realized Jason was struggling. “Why don’t you come over here, help us with Beth?”

With just a little reluctance, Jason moved to her side. He was relieved to see that Beth’s eyes were open, and she seemed to be more aware than she had been. The EMTs had placed a support collar around her neck as a precaution, unable to rule out possible spinal cord injury just yet.

Farik, the other EMT, spoke. “Are you going to ride back in with us?”

“Yeah. Someone will have to take care of my car.” When Beth turned her head to face him, he smiled. “Hey. You’re okay, sis.” She raised the arm that didn’t have an IV in it, and he clasped her hand tightly.

“We’re ready to lift her onto the board,” Dan told them. “It’s going to hurt.” He waited until Beth nodded her understanding before placing the bag of IV fluids on her chest. “Jason, when we lift her, you slide the board underneath her. Okay?”

“Okay.” They lifted her on the count of three, and Jason moved the board. When Beth cried out in pain, he cursed under his breath, feeling wetness prick his eyes.

Dan touched him on the shoulder briefly. “Hold her hand, Jason. Try to keep her calm. Can you hold this IV bag up as we walk?”

Jason nodded and took the bag with his free hand, never loosening his grip on Beth’s hand as the EMTs stood and lifted the board. As they started up the slope, Jason saw Stacy Kirchner leading a couple of state troopers down toward them. Cullen was following behind them, his face grim. They all moved aside to let the EMTs pass.

“I’m riding back to town with Beth. Ormsby’s back there. Second ambulance is on its way for him,” Jason told Stacy. She turned and came back to walk beside him.

“We’ll take care of the doctor, and Ruby.”

When they reached the ambulance, the EMTs carefully sat the board down on the gurney they had readied earlier. Dan took the IV bag, and Jason let go of Beth’s hand, standing back so they could load her into the ambulance.

“Did you cuff Ruby to the van?” Stacy asked.

He shook his head. “No, she was like that when I pulled up. I didn’t stop to ask why. I had other priorities. What’d you find at her apartment?”

The detective’s eyebrows rose. “Looks like she was in on whatever this mess is up to her eyeballs.” She fell silent as Dan walked up.

“We’re ready to head in, Jason. You coming along?”

“Yes.” He looked at Stacy. “Are we finished here?”

“Can I have one minute with him first, Dan? It’s important.”

“Make it fast.” As Dan moved back toward the ambulance, Stacy spoke in a voice so low, Jason had to lean closer to her to hear.

“I wasn’t able to tell one way or another from what we found in her apartment, but I can’t rule out the possibility that Ethan’s involved in this. I’m sorry.”

Jason felt his face tighten at her words, but he knew it was something they had to consider. “I understand. Can you call Wyatt, let him know? He’s supposed to have kept Ethan at the courthouse, but if he decides to go to the hospital… That’s the last thing we need right now.”

“Of course. Good luck,” she told him.

With a quick salute, Jason hurried to the back of the ambulance and climbed in. As the ambulance started moving down the hill, Farik began questioning Beth about her medical history. She was drifting in and out of consciousness, and Jason had to help with the answers.

“Is there any chance you’re pregnant, Ms. Hudson?”

Beth looked at Farik with a blank stare for a moment, then closed her eyes. The EMT looked to Jason for the answer, but he shrugged, unsure. Before he could speak, however, Beth opened her eyes.

“I don’t know. I guess there is a chance.”

“How far along would you be? Any idea?”

“About two weeks. Too soon to tell.” Her eyes closed again, a tear leaking out from between her lashes.

Jason swore under his breath. Ethan was going to have a lot to answer for, even if he wasn’t involved in the kidnapping.