Mom staggered to my side and bent over her beloved Emily, sobbing.
“I—o—kay,” Emily sputtered. Her teeth were clenched.
The policeman cuffed Nance and led her away.
The world flowed and swayed. My brain could barely process. I could only clutch my daughter’s hand, praying, pleading with Jesus. Let her be okay let her be okay let her be okay . . .
Wade soothed her and me, murmuring he was sorry, but I couldn’t understand and had no energy to try. He could arrest me later, I didn’t care. Just let me be with Emily now, let me hold my crying mother, and try to make sense of it all.
“Mo—” Emily tried to talk. “K-k-.”
One of the FBI men—was he for real?—picked up the collar. Examined it. His head jerked up. “This it?”
I gave a vague nod.
“The key?”
“Yes!” As if I cared anymore. I just hung on to Emily.
Both FBI men ran out. Sergeant Wade stayed.
What was happening here?
Sirens sounded in the distance. Police came, and more police. An ambulance. Paramedics loaded Emily onto a gurney, then into the vehicle. I stayed by her side, climbing in after her. Mom wanted to come too. They tried to pull her away, but she writhed and fought and wailed, her cries piercing and high. They relented.
Somewhere along the way to the ambulance I’d seen Ashley Eddington on the sidewalk, clutching her little girl. Words flowed around her, about climbing out of a bedroom window . . . telling Sergeant Wade . . .
The ambulance door closed. It was crowded. The paramedic was treating Emily for shock. She was shaking, clammy. “Her femoral artery wasn’t hit.” His words burned into me. “She’ll be okay.”
“Where are we going?” Had I said that? I couldn’t feel my mouth move. Couldn’t feel my body.
“Sequoia Hospital.”
Back to where we started.
At the hospital they unloaded Emily and whisked her through the emergency room doors. I followed with Mom, as fast as she could go.
Just inside the door, Mom collapsed.
I caught her before she hit the floor. I yelled for help. Nurses bustled to her side, lifted her onto a gurney and rolled her toward an exam room. Before I knew it, I was alone.
The walls of my mind closed in. I wobbled across the floor like a lost soul. Which one did I go to first, mother or daughter?
Sergeant Wade materialized. “You okay?”
I listed to one side. His strong arms caught me.
“Come, sit down.” He guided me to a chair. I sat heavily. “I’m so sorry this all happened to you. If I’d understood earlier . . .”
“I’m not under arrest?” My mouth moved, but the sound was so far away. Spots crowded my vision.
Wade held my arms. “No, don’t worry—”
I fought him. “Have to . . . go. See Emily. Mom.”
He hung on to me. “Emily will be headed for surgery. They have to take the bullet out.”
“I have to see—”
“You can’t.”
“But—”
“Mrs. Shire. No.”
This couldn’t . . . “I have to see Mom . . .”
“She’ll be fine. You can see her in a little while. She just needs rest. And hydration.”
Me too. “She needs me.”
“Mrs. Shire, you need you.”
Weakness overtook me. I couldn’t get up.
A nurse appeared. “She all right?”
“Bring her some water.”
Footsteps hurried away. Came back. My fingers closed around a bottle. I drank.
My mother would need her medication tonight. It was in her suitcase. In Aunt Margie’s car. Which was . . . ?
A different memory pulsed. Stuffing spread across the floor.
“It wasn’t in Rawly. In his collar.”
“I saw that.”
“Those men—they took it?”
“Yes.”
“Can they stop it in time?”
I didn’t even know what time it was. Had no energy to look.
“You can bet they’re trying.”
“Why aren’t you with them?”
“They don’t need me now. You do.”
Air bubbles skidded around my lungs. My thoughts ebbed and flowed, chaotic tide churning sand. “Nance Bolliver is one of them. Three men in the house. Dead.”
“Where?”
“San Mateo.”
“Who are they?”
“Tex. Mack. Stone.”
“I mean their organization.”
Full realization finally hit me. Wade had broken into Ashley Eddington’s house. Arrested Nance. Saved us.
I reared back and looked him in the eye. “You’re not one of them?”
“No.”
My brain couldn’t comprehend it. “Yes, you are.”
“Why did you think that? Why did you run instead of calling me when that man broke into your house?”