American Heroes Series - 03 - Purgatory (22 page)

Elliot heard Nash’s voice before
she ever saw his face. The man was calmly and succinctly giving orders to his
men, his deep voice full of confidence and certainty.  Elliot jumped up from
her chair and went into the corridor in time to see Nash nearly get toppled on
his ass when the youth went wild and kicked off of the wall in an attempt to
dislodge the deputies. Nash kept his balance and threw the kid into a choke
hold.

“Hobble him,” he commanded.

The other deputies that had
followed them into the emergency room did as they were told, but not without a
big struggle. There were at least eight uniformed deputies, all doing their
jobs, and Nash was right in the middle of it. When the suspect was finally
hobbled, Nash stepped back, wiping at his forehead with his forearm and pulling
off the latex gloves. When he turned to throw the gloves away, he noticed Alec
sitting quietly several feet away.  His eyes widened with surprise and concern.

“Alec?” he forgot about his
fighting prisoners. “What in the hell are you doing here? Where’s your mother?”

“Here.”

Elliot nearly ran down the hall
towards him. Nash instinctively opened up his arms to her, pulling her into
both a crushing and comforting embrace. Elliot struggled not to fall apart as
he kissed her face repeatedly, holding him tightly and so incredibly glad to
see him. The smell of him, the feel of him, told her that things weren’t so
bad. As long as he was here, everything would be all right.

“What’s wrong?” Nash stopped
kissing her long enough to focus on her. “What are you doing here?”

So much for trying to be strong.
Elliot’s big blue eyes filled with a lake of tears and her lower lip quivered.

“Penny was out running like she
usually does,” she whispered tightly. “We don’t exactly know what happened, but
Alec found her in a ditch. She was knocked unconscious and they just did a rape
kit on her to….”

That was all Nash needed to hear.
He pulled Elliot along with him as he stormed to the down the corridor, coming
to the operatory with Penelope in it. She was dressed in a hospital gown,
huddled up on the gurney and looking absolutely terrified. Officer Bird was
standing next to the gurney with his notebook in his hand but Nash pushed past
the officer on his quest to get to Penelope.

“Penny, darlin’,” he put a big
hand comfortingly on the side of her head. “What in the world happened?”

Penelope took one look at him and
burst into tears. Nash didn’t know what else to do but hug the girl and she
clung to him, holding him tightly and fearfully. Penelope had always been
something of a daddy’s girl and the death of her father had left a huge hole in
her heart. She had always loved her father’s strength and comfort, protecting
her. She knew nothing bad could ever happen to her as long as her father was
around. 

Even though she had only known
Nash a week, he had that same strong, protective quality that her father had,
and she missed that terribly. She needed it. When he put out a hand to console
her, she felt safe again, comforted, and the tears just came bursting out.

Elliot watched Nash hold her
daughter, tears streaming down her cheeks. He was so sweet with Penelope,
hugging her gently and telling her that everything would be all right.  It
touched Elliot deeply to see how wonderful he was with her, this man she had
only known a short amount of time but who, somehow, had made himself
indispensable to them all. They loved him like they had known him forever. As she
was watching the tender scene, she heard Officer Bird clear his throat softly.

“Sheriff,” he said quietly. “I
need to get a statement from the young lady. Do you want to take over, sir?”

Nash was close to tears himself.
He shook his head. “No,” he looked at Bird. “You go ahead. I’ve got my own
issues right now and, to be honest, I don’t think I’d be very good with Penny
right now. Too close to home.”

Officer Bird nodded. He knew that
the sheriff was courting the new owner of Purgatory; once Monty Torres got
finished spreading the news after the Rotary Mixer on Wednesday, everybody in
Ascension Parish knew.  He stood back respectfully while Sheriff Aury comforted
the frightened young woman. 

Nash rocked Penelope gently for
several long moments before letting her go and kissing her gently on the
forehead.

“You tell this officer everything
you know, all right?” he instructed firmly but gently. “You tell him what
happened and don’t leave anything out.  Don’t be afraid; we’ll get whoever did
this, Penny. I swear to God I’ll get them myself.”

Penelope wiped at her face. “O…
okay,” she sniffed.

“Good girl.” Nash patted her
cheek one last time before turning to Elliot, standing beside him with tears on
her face. She looked like a wreck.

“Come on,” he said softly, pulling
her away from the gurney.

Nash took Elliot back out into
the hall outside of the operatory.  He held her close for a moment before
kissing her and releasing her.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

Elliot nodded, wiping her nose.
“I’m okay.”

He sighed heavily, fighting off
the anger and sorrow he was feeling. “Did she say anything to you about what
happened?”

Elliot was struggling not to get
too emotional. “Nash, I’m scared to tell you. I don’t want you to go running
off like a crazy man.”

His brow furrowed. “What do you
mean?”

She sighed, grasping at his arms.
“Alec said he found her crawling out of a ditch about a mile to the east of the
house,” she said quietly. “Alec said that all Penny could say is that it was
‘those guys from the other day’. She said that they called her ‘sweet thing.”

Nash’s facial color went from
normal to a deep red.  “God
dammit
,” he exploded with an uncharacteristic
hiss. “Loreau.”

Elliot grasped him. “We don’t
know for sure, but it sure sounds like it.  Maybe when she calms down, she’ll
make more sense. Nash, I’m so scared. What if they try something again? I’m
terrified for my children.”

Nash was beyond furious. His
palms were sweating and he was having a very difficult time fighting down his
uncharacteristic rage.  He could feel Elliot’s hands on him, caressing him, and
he gazed down into her face to see anxiety written all over it.  After that, he
labored to calm down because she didn’t need to worry about his anger.  She had
enough on her mind.

“Let me finish what I’m doing
here and I’ll come back as soon as I can,” he assured her.

Elliot could hear the young men
Nash had brought in yelling and fighting in another room off the main emergency
room floor.  It was scary and violent.

“Okay,” she accepted his kiss.
“Be careful, please.”

“I will,” he promised. “Right
now, I want you to do me a favor, please?”

“What?”

He was serious. “Let Officer Bird
interview Penny alone. If she sees you, you’ll give her an emotional crutch to
lean on and the officer needs all of her focus.  She needs to remember every
last detail and she’ll more than likely not do it if you’re there. She’ll want
to focus on you. Will you do this, please?”

Reluctantly, Elliot nodded.  He
winked at her, patted her arms, and disappeared around the corner where his deputies
were. Elliot stood there a moment, listening to the young men bellow and the
soft, firm voices of the deputies.  With a deep breath to collect herself, she
went to sit next to Alec and wait for the officer to finish with Penelope.

Three very long hours later, Alec
and Elliot were still sitting in corridor of the emergency room operatories,
waiting for the Sorrento Police to be finished with Penelope.  Officer Bird had
taken a good solid hour with Penelope, interviewing her, and then he called for
the detectives, who had shown up about a half hour later. 

Two detectives then interviewed
Penelope and Elliot could hear her daughter’s stressed voice over those of the
detectives.  She knew they were trying to help Penelope but Elliot didn’t like
hearing the stress and pain in her daughter’s voice. She just wanted to take
her home.

Nash, unfortunately, had his
hands full with the situation from Darrow and never made it back to the
hospital.  The local media from Baton Rouge had gotten wind of the incident, which
turned out to be two men on parole that had tried to rob the vocational school
of a computer and other valuable equipment. The shooting had resulted when they
shot an old janitor who had tried to stop them, and then fired at the deputies
who showed up on the scene.   None of the deputies had been injured, but both
suspects had been injured in the brutal take-down that followed.

Men in suits kept coming in and
out of the emergency room as a result.  As Elliot and Alec sat and waited for
Penelope, they could see all of the well-dressed men going in and out of the
emergency room annex reserved especially for criminals.

At several points during the
afternoon, Nash came out with some of the men, speaking softly with them, every
once in a while looking over to see if Elliot and Alec were still there. He
would wink at Elliot when their eyes met, regardless of who he happened to be
speaking with at the time.

 It made Elliot feel like he was
still with her, still comforting all of them even though he was busy with other
things.  She had no idea how busy he really was until he disappeared, this time
for a significant amount of time, and his face suddenly appeared on the
television screen on the wall off to their right. Alec jumped up when he saw
Nash and turned up the volume.

As Elliot and Alec watched, Nash
answered reporters’ questions about the incident in Darrow.  It was a very
short interview as it pertained to the story on the 5 o’clock news, but Elliot
was completely entranced watching the smooth manner in which Nash fielded
questions. He was calm, collected, and that sexy Louisiana drawl had Elliot’s
heart racing. At one point, he even smiled while answering a question and his
beautiful smile just lit up the screen. Elliot couldn’t help but grin as she watched
Nash’s handsome face fill up the television.

“Where is he?” Alec wondered
aloud.

Elliot shook her head, her eyes
still on Nash. “I don’t know,” she said. “But look – the building behind him
says Office of the Sheriff. He must be at his office.”

Alec looked at her. “Where is
it?”

Elliot shrugged. “To tell you the
truth, I don’t even know. I think it’s north, towards Baton Rouge.”

Before Alec could reply, the
white curtain that had been shielding Penelope and the police from the rest of
the emergency room was yanked back and the three officers emerged.  Elliot shot
to her feet and went over to them.

“Is she finished?” she asked.
“Can I take her home?”

Officer Bird nodded. “She can go
home,” he replied. “We’ll be in touch, ma’am.”

“Wait a minute,” Elliot stopped
the three of them before they could get away. “Did she tell you everything?”

One of the detectives, a very
large man in a wrinkled beige suit, nodded.

“Yes’m,” he replied with a very
heavy Louisiana accent. “We’re going to go back to the station and work on a
few things. You take your girl on home.”

Elliot wouldn’t let them get away
so fast. “Did she tell you it was the Loreau brothers?” she was becoming more
agitated. “What in the hell am I supposed to do if they try to come back on to
my property?”

The detective in the beige suit
tried to calm her. “Ma’am, I doubt that’s going to happen,” he replied. “We’ve
put a rush on the rape kit and we’ll let you know what comes of it. But for
now, we can’t say for certain who did it. You’re going to have to be patient.”

Elliot was exhausted, protective
and angry, a dangerous combination.

“Patient my ass,” she hissed.
“Those Loreau creeps have already done a number on my family and I’ve only
lived here for a week. Their crazy father tried to kill my son and now they’ve
gone after my daughter. I swear to God if they come on my property again or
come near my children, I’ll kill them. I’ll blow their fucking heads off!”

The detective put his hands up to
quiet her. “Ms. Jentry, y’all need to calm down and let the law do its job.
We’re heading over to The Bottoms to question them boys, don’t worry. We’ll
make sure justice is served.”

Shaken and upset, Elliot
struggled to relax. “I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I’m not trying to tell you
how to do your jobs, but a lot has happened to us over the past week. I’m just
a little edgy.”

The detective nodded patiently.
“I know, ma’am,” he said as he turned to walk away. “I’ll let Sheriff Aury know
what we come up with.”

Elliot watched them go, turning
to look at Alec after a moment. “Does this whole damn state know I’m dating
Nash?” she asked with some bafflement.

Alec shrugged. “I didn’t until
Penny told me,” he said. “But I should have known, I guess. Instead of bringing
you flowers, Nash brought you ribs and paid off your kids. Face it, Mom; he
bought his way into your heart.”

Elliot giggled at him, putting
her hand on his head in an affectionate gesture. She gazed at the young man.