“You know him?” Ren asked.
Mikey nodded. “We used to play on the same team. Not anymore,” he added coldly. “Nobody hurts baby doll on my watch.”
Ren took a deep breath. “When will we know something?” Ren asked.
“When we know something,” Paul said philosophically. “We might as well sit down and get comfortable.”
“Not us,” Barton said. “We turned up something.”
“What?” four voices asked at once.
“Well, it’s not a lot,” Barton replied. “Your police chief had a receipt for the truck rental. He checked it out, and the truck was registered to a man named Ronnie Bates. He lives in Houston.”
Paul’s eyes narrowed. “Just how did you find that out? Grier doesn’t share information when he’s working on a case.”
“His secretary was filing it,” Barton said. “I just happened to peek over her shoulder.”
“What were you doing there in the first place?”
Barton cleared his throat.
“Barton?” Paul persisted.
“Okay. I ran a red light. So sue me!” he muttered. “I was paying my ticket when I noticed the receipt. Only one truck rental receipt I know of that anybody would have out in a police station right now. Had to be the guy.”
“No wonder Eb Scott likes you,” Paul said and chuckled.
Mikey wasn’t saying anything. He just listened. But there was an odd smile on his chiseled lips.
Paul stared at him. “Spill it,” he said.
“Spill what?” Mikey asked innocently.
“You’re smiling. You never smile.”
“He was smiling at his disciplinary hearing, too,” Ren commented drily. “That was just before a three-star general walked in the door and said that Mikey was pilfering material for the canteen on his orders and who the hell did we think we were? Lucky for him, they let him off with a verbal reprimand.”
“Yeah.” Mikey sighed, smiling. “The general used to take me to poker games in the back room of the officers’ club. He sure liked winning.”
Ren just shook his head.
*
REN HAD A lot of time to think on his way here. He was rethinking a lot of his life, especially the part that pertained to faith. Meredith was a stickler for it. She wore her cross all the time. His brother had faith. His mother...well, she’d never lost hers. Ren had lost his own sense of values in college. Randall had reminded him, gently, that an infatuation with a female physics professor had been instrumental in changing those opinions. When he thought about it, he realized his brother was right.
Faith, they said, worked wonders. He hadn’t been in a chapel in years. But he found the chapel in the small hospital and walked hesitantly into it. He sat down on the back pew and stared at the altar with quiet, troubled eyes. Maybe it wasn’t logical. But maybe there was a higher power, a power that concerned itself with humanity and would listen to a plea. He took a deep breath and bowed his head.
Sari, returning from the restroom, happened to look in the chapel and saw the tall Wyoming rancher sitting there, in the back pew. Something knotted up inside her turned loose. If Meredith had that sort of effect on a man, perhaps love could work miracles. She smiled to herself as she continued on down the hall.
*
AN HOUR LATER, Dr. Coltrain came out into the waiting room. “I don’t have anything new to report,” he said quietly. “But she’s holding her own.”
Sari stared at him. “You’re still worried,” she said, because she’d known him long enough to see through that poker face.
He drew in a long breath. “Blunt force trauma is hard to predict, especially on internal organs. I think she’ll be all right. But I can’t give you any guarantee.”
“I know,” Sari said.
“If you want to transfer her over to San Antonio or get a second opinion, I’m game,” Coltrain added.
She shook her head. “I think moving her would be a mistake,” she said softly. “And she trusts you. So do I.”
“Can I see her?” Ren asked quietly.
Coltrain’s eyebrows went up, but Sari knew that Merrie had feelings for the tall rancher, even if he’d hurt her. She remembered him in the chapel, with his head bowed. He cared about Merrie, too. Letting him see her might just make the difference. She stood up beside him. “Let him go in,” she told the doctor gently. “Please.”
Ren looked down at her, surprised. “Thanks,” he said roughly.
She just nodded.
Coltrain took him back to the ICU.
“Five minutes,” he said quietly. “No more.” Then he left them alone.
Ren approached Merrie slowly, then slid his fingers into hers, where they lay so still on the bed. There was a nurse nearby, but she was out of earshot.