Nora Roberts Land(121)
“He’s going to be all right, Mere.” Jill gently took her sister’s bandaged hand. “I’m so sorry we fought. I would never have forgiven myself if anything had happened to you.”
Meredith set the coffee aside and hugged her sister. “Me neither. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you the truth. The whole truth.”
“We’ll deal. But I’ll kick your ass if you ever do it again—or scare me like this.”
They rocked each other. Jill hadn’t left Meredith’s side since she’d arrived at the hospital. Meredith was relieved. She had her sister back.
Her grandpa walked back into the waiting room, his cane tapping the antiseptically clean beige floor. “That was Anderson. State police have Barlow and Kenny in custody. They picked them up at a gas station off the interstate. Barlow spilled everything in return for a plea bargain. He said Kenny ran Ray off the road. Brought the drugs in through a contact at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. Apparently Kenny knows an Afghani chemist who can lace marijuana with opium, making it untraceable. When hasn’t the drug trade been inventive? He told them where to find Kenny’s car. They’re taking the two of them to Denver until a full investigation is completed.”
“Good. Tell Anderson they can interview me whenever they want.”
Her gramps nodded.
“I hope they become someone’s prison bitches after what they did to Jemma and Ray,” Jill ground out.
Brian’s jaw ticked. “I hope they burn in hell.” He hadn’t left Jill’s side since leaving her grandfather’s office.
Meredith took a long drink of coffee. She and Tanner could have been killed. She wasn’t sure she would ever come to grips with that. Her shivering intensified. “I’ll need to drink gallons of this stuff to get warm again.”
“Here.” Brian peeled off his fleece, handing it to her.
Meredith tugged it on gratefully. Her grandpa took his spot on the flower-print couch, and she leaned her head on his shoulder.
“Your mom and dad are driving up as we speak. It just about gave your dad another heart attack, hearing what happened.” He popped in a red hot, crunching. “Peggy and Keith are already on their way. That woman can take bad news. Didn’t seem to break a sweat.” He cleared his throat like he was fighting emotion. “She’s pissed Tanner didn’t call her before heading to Killer Pass.”
He’d walked into a trap because of her. He’d told her he’d lied the other night about his motivations for working with Sommerville. She believed him. No one could fake emotion like that. He would tell her the truth when he was out of danger. Please God, let him be okay. There was no way he didn’t love her. He’d been willing to sacrifice his life to save hers.
She fingered her grandpa’s wool jacket. “I don’t think we would have made it out alive if you hadn’t figured things out so quickly.” She’d never forget the sound of the snowmobiles coming back for them.
“Mind like a steel trap.” He tapped his forehead.
Jill pressed against her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Me too.”
The doors swung open, and she lifted her head, eyes wide. The sight of the doctor’s bloody scrubs made her clench Jill’s hand.
“He lost a lot of blood, but he’s going to be fine. He won’t be able to use his shoulder for a while, and he’ll need rehab, but there shouldn’t be any long-term effects.”
Emotions welled up inside her like a geyser. She curled forward as the first sobs erupted.
“You go ahead and cry, Mermaid.” Her grandpa stroked her back. “You’re entitled.”
***
Tanner surfaced through the fog to a beeping noise and something that sounded like a pressure cooker. He cracked his eyes open, awash in numbness. His mouth was dry. Drugs, he realized. His hand was taped with an IV. The whiteness of the hospital gown wasn’t as pure as the sea of snow beneath him when they pulled him out of the cave on a medical lift, the rescue team working the ropes to make sure he didn’t hit the rock face. God, what a day.
Someone shifted at his side. “Tanner?” Meredith rested her hands on the bed’s handrails.
“Barely,” he whispered. “Need…water.”
She shook her head. “I’ll get a nurse.”
The force of his fatigue made his eyes flutter. “My desk. There are…files. David…Sommerville.”
He didn’t ask about Barlow and Kenny. All that mattered was making things right.
“I’ll find them,” he heard her say down a long tunnel before everything went dark.