“Sloan?” she said. His name, her single word, was a raspy whisper.
“Let me get you some water,” he said, pouring her a cup from the plastic dispenser. “Take it easy. You’ve been out of it. They’re feeding you fluids through that IV, but your mouth must be dry.” He helped her take a sip of the water. She lay back, gasping, eyes fluttering closed. Then they opened again. Her eyes were blue, usually a pretty color; tonight, they had a dullness about them.
“Jimmy?” she asked anxiously, trying to rise.
“Jimmy’s recovering. He’s right down the hall,” Sloan told her. “He’s a good kid, Zoe. He got the car turned off. Saved your lives.”
“What about Caleb?” she asked.
He took a deep breath, wondering how much she could handle at the moment. Despite what Jimmy had said about her being a fighter, she’d always seemed to be such a fragile woman.
“Caleb was killed in the old mine shaft off the trail today,” Sloan said.
She didn’t act shocked. Nor did tears spring to her eyes. She stared at the ceiling, and then her gaze slid to meet his. “You’re going to think I’m horrible, Sloan. I just feel...numb. I was so in love when I married him. He was big, he was confident.... He seemed to rule the world. Then my life slowly became endless days of fear. Fear that he wouldn’t like dinner, fear the house wouldn’t be clean enough, fear he wouldn’t like the clothes I’d bought for Jimmy. Later on, I just wanted Jimmy to grow up so I could leave, you know? And then I was praying I’d have the nerve to get out of there.”
“So what happened, Zoe? What was he involved in?”
She flashed him a rueful smile. “Do you think he would ever have told me what was going on with his business or anything else?” she asked. “I was there to cook, clean, have babies and keep my mouth shut. I didn’t do so well on the babies—we only had the one. But Jimmy was such a great kid...and then I saw what Caleb was doing to him.”
“Jimmy will grow up to be a good man, Zoe.”
“Now that his father is dead.” She suddenly appeared to be furious. “Whatever he got himself into this time, he nearly killed Jimmy and me, too. What kind of father does that?”
“I’m sure Caleb didn’t know you’d be at risk. He loved his son, Zoe, even if he misdirected that love sometimes. Caleb’s killer probably thinks you knew something about what was going on.”
“Sloan, they could try for us again.”
“I’m going to have an officer watch over you two while you’re here,” he said.
“And then what?” Zoe asked.
“Then I’ll have an officer watch over you when you’re out,” he said. “I promise, Zoe. I’ll see to you and Jimmy.”
He bade her good-night. He was the only one in the hospital by then. Newsome still had people at the Hough house, and he had people in town.
He called the county detective and told him he needed an officer at the hospital.
“You really think whoever’s doing this would risk trying to kill the Hough family in the hospital?” Newsome asked.
“I think we’d be irresponsible if we don’t keep guard over them.”
“Yeah,” Newsome said wearily. “We’re getting stretched pretty thin here, but this kind of thing requires the county to be in on it. I’ve got men on overtime as it is, but you’re right. I’ll get someone over there.”
“Do we have any news yet?” Sloan asked him. “From forensics?”
“About the basement at the theater? They’ll be going through what they lifted from that place for weeks. We haven’t gotten a damned thing from the mine shaft, and I had those men try everything. It’s blocked by solid rock about fifteen feet from where you found Caleb Hough’s body. They sifted for anything they could find, but the place was clean. What he was doing in there when he was murdered is a total mystery to me.”
“What about the old corpse in the desert?”
“The medical examiner’s office cleaned down to the bone. No identity yet. Ms. Everett could give us a likeness of the man, although I imagine he was dug up as a scare tactic. I wish we had more, Sloan, but we just don’t.”
“Maybe finding out who the dead man is will be important,” Sloan said. “Anyway, I’ll wait until you can get someone down here.”
He went to tell Zoe that an officer was on the way, but she was sleeping again.
He returned to the waiting room.
He figured Jane might have fallen asleep on one of the chairs. She hadn’t. She was sitting very straight, looking beautiful and composed as always. He smiled when he saw her. “Ready?”
“Yes. By the way, I checked in with Logan. He asked for you to call him.” She was looking at him strangely—almost as if she expected him to tear into her for some reason.
“He’s still awake?”
She nodded.
He called as they left the hospital.