Married by Monday (Weekday Brides) (34 page)

“
Carter?”

Eliza? She can talk?

“
Carter it’s okay. I’m okay.”

Even with the light of the moon he could see how pale she was, how frail. She lifted a hand with an intravenous tube running into it.

“
Where are you hurt? How bad is it?”

Another gurney emerged from the house, this one bearing another woman Carter didn’t recognize.
What the hell?
“What happened?”

“
Sir, we need to get her to the hospital.” The twenty-something paramedic pushed ahead toward the back of the waiting ambulance.

“
I’m her husband. I’m coming with her.”

The medic nodded. “You can ride in the back, but you need to give me room to work.”

They loaded her into the van and before the medic could shut the door behind them, Russell appeared. “The police have questions,” he told Carter. “I’ll be at the hospital as soon as they’re done.”

Carter glared at the man who failed to keep his wife safe. He didn’t trust himself to speak, so Carter gave one curt nod and then focused his attention on his wife.

The bright lights of the ambulance added a little color to her face. She forged a smile but winced when the van started to move.

“
Hey, watch it,” Carter yelled at the driver.

The medic frowned and turned to Eliza. “It’s bumpy back here. We’ll be at the hospital in ten minutes.”

“
It’s only a flesh wound, Carter. I’m okay.”

“
Flesh wound?” His eyes scanned her torso and found a blood soaked bandage on her left arm.

“
The bullet went through. Nothing to worry about, right?” Eliza asked the medic.

“
Bullet?”

“
She was shot in the arm, Mr. Billings. The ER will take some x-rays, clean her up… She’ll probably be able to go home tonight.” The medic adjusted the IV as he spoke.

Some relief eased into Carter’s bloodstream, but until Eliza was given a blessing from a doctor, he would hold his breath.

“
What happened?”

“
The wind blew the furniture around in the backyard. We went out to push it against the house. Zod started barking and the next thing I know I was on the ground with this.” Eliza glanced at her arm. “Russell tried to shield me, but the bullet traveled faster than he could run.”

“
A woman shot you?”

“
It appears that way. Wait, how did you get here so fast?”

“
I was told you were in danger. I tried calling…”

“
The power was out.”

He kissed the tip of her cold fingers. He had so much to say, so many more questions to ask. He tried to hide the tremor in his hand, but knew she felt him shaking. She’d been shot. His wife, the woman he’d sworn to protect was lying on a gurney in pain, and he couldn’t make that right.

A nurse and a doctor met them at the back door of the emergency room. Carter was whisked off to sign papers and check Eliza in. Less than ten minutes later, he was at her side while the doctor examined the hole in her arm.

He wasn’t one of those people who melted when they saw blood, but when the doctor probed Eliza’s arm, he felt lightheaded and ill.

“
An x-ray will let us know if the bullet hit bone. How bad is the pain?” Dr. Solomon asked.

“
I’ve felt better,” Eliza attempted a joke.

“
I’ll have the nurse bring you something. You’re not allergic to anything?”

“
No.”

Carter sat to the side of her gurney and squeezed her good hand.

“
She’s going to be okay?” he asked the doctor.

“
Your wife will be fine.” Dr. Solomon left with the chart in his hand. Outside the door, several uniformed police were talking with the staff. He remembered the shooter on the gurney at the house.

“
You’re squeezing too tight,” Eliza said.

Carter released her hand instantly. “I’m sorry.” He offered a pained smile. “I’ll go see what’s taking that nurse so long with your pain meds.”

“
The doctor just left,” Eliza said.

“
I’ll be right back.”

He closed the door behind him and motioned to one of the cops. The officer broke off his conversation and addressed Carter.

“
Do you know who I am?”

“
Billings, right?”

“
Right.” Carter glanced around the department, wondering what bed they placed the woman who attempted to murder his wife. He clenched his fists and sucked in a deep breath. “The person who shot my wife…she’s here?”

The officer stepped in front of Carter and blocked his view. “Let us do our investigation. We don’t want any trouble.”

Carter shook off his retort. “A professional hit was put out on my wife tonight. Make sure your investigation checks that out. I want someone at this door.”

The officer glanced over his shoulder to his partner. The other officer asked one of the nurses for a chair.

Once the officer stood guard at the door Carter asked, “Where’s Detective Brown?”

“
He’s on his way.”

Carter nodded and followed the nurse back to Eliza’s side.

Eliza forced a smile to her lips when Carter returned. She hoped the nurse brought some happy juice of some kind. The pain in her arm was getting worse, not better.

Every time he opened his mouth to talk, he lowered his voice and spoke in calm even strokes. His tone kept her calm, despite his shaking hands.

“
I’m giving you morphine and something for nausea. You’ll feel better in a few seconds.” The nurse used the IV to administer the drug, and Eliza quickly felt the effect. Her limbs felt heavy and the pain started to float away.

“
Better?” the nurse asked.

The burning pain muted. “Much.”

“
X-ray should be here soon.”

The nurse left them alone in the room.

She needed to get her mind off what was happening. “Tell me again why you came home early?”

“
Now’s not the time.”

“
C’mon, Carter. No secrets.”

He tilted his head to the side and gave her his Hollywood smile. “The medication is working?”

“
It is. And you’re changing the subject.”

Carter ran a hand over her face and pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. She attempted to sit up farther in the bed and shake some of the fog the medication produced in her brain.

“
Not now.”

“
Carter…someone shot me tonight. You keeping secrets is gonna piss me off.”

The expression on his face told her he didn’t like being put in a corner. “My dad called me. He heard from someone about a hit. I panicked when I couldn’t get a hold of you.”

The medication numbed the effect of his words. Still, something didn’t feel right. “The woman who shot me was at point blank range. If she was a professional, she sucked.”

Carter released a nervous laugh. “You’re joking. You were shot tonight and you’re joking.”

Eliza lifted her bloody arm, surprised it didn’t hurt. “Flesh wound.” A warm trickle ran down her arm.

“
Stop moving it. You’re making it bleed again.” Carter moved to the other side of the gurney and placed fresh gauze to her arm.

“
My hero.” He certainly was more gorgeous then any of the doctors who came in to help.

“
A hero wouldn’t have let anyone get close enough to hurt you.”

Eliza opened her eyes, not aware that they had closed. “You couldn’t have known. Don’t blame yourself.”

The door to the exam room opened and Dean walked in. Eliza remembered seeing him briefly before Carter arrived at the house. “Hey.”

Dean winked. “How’s the patient?”

“
They have good drugs here. I don’t know why people go to the street looking for them.”

“
She’s feeling better,” Carter said for her.

“
I am.”

“
Your man, Russell is outside. I told my uniform he could go.”

“
Tell me the shooter is dead.” Carter said.

Eliza heard the venom in her husband’s voice.

“
Have a seat, counselor.”

Carter took Deans advice and started asking rapid-fire questions. “Do we know who she is? Was she working for Sanchez?”

“
We know who she is, and no, she doesn’t know anything about Sanchez.”

The drugs must be really working, because Eliza was having a hard time following the conversation.

“
What?”

“
Here is what I know. The shooter is Michelle Sedgwick. Name mean anything to you, Eliza?”

She shook her head. “Wait, Sedgwick?”

“
Yeah. Sedgwick is a rich old guy dating one of your
clients
.” Dean added air quotes around the word clients. “Miss Sedgwick is a misguided rich girl, but she isn’t a hit man. She told us she was looking for her cell phone in your yard.”

“
Why is her phone in our yard?” Carter asked.

“
She dropped it there last week. Apparently, she and her siblings decided to spy on you after her grandfather started seeing a younger woman. They thought if they could find some way to blackmail you, you’d stop their grandfather from marrying the woman you set him up with.”

“
Blackmail me? With what?”

“
They didn’t think that far. And obviously their time at the university was spent drinking instead of going to class for an education. Michelle doesn’t know anything about you outside of Alliance.”

“
Bullshit. I don’t believe it. Why did she have a gun?”

“
Zod. Apparently she lost the phone when Zod found her in the bushes. She tossed her shoe at him and ran.”

Eliza remembered the week prior when Russell showed them the tapes of Zod barking in the yard. Eliza didn’t question the chewed up shoe Carter told her he tossed in the trash. She assumed he tossed both of them.

“
She told us she had a gun to scare the dog and get her phone and run. I’ve questioned her, and I think she’s telling the truth.”

“
Why would she risk coming back at all if she knew an attack dog was there? That doesn’t make sense.”

“
She said something about her grandfather announcing his engagement, and how if anyone did anything remotely scandalous, he’d remove them from his will. If her phone was found in your yard…”

Carter growled. “She still shot my wife. Could have killed her.”

“
That isn’t being disputed. She admitted squeezing the trigger. She said she pointed it at the dog. Not that it matters.”

“
Sedgwick said his kids were clueless, spoiled rotten. I assumed his grandchildren were younger.”

“
Just out of college, apparently.”

How sad. “How bad is she hurt?”

“
Zod took a couple bites out of her legs. He doesn’t alter his attack for sneakers, apparently.”

Eliza felt a smile tug at her lips. “Is Zod okay? He wasn’t shot was he?”

“
No. Zod’s fine.”

“
If she’s not the hit man, then someone is still out there,” Carter pointed out.

Eliza didn’t want to think about that.

“
Why do you say that?” Dean asked Carter.

Carter told him about the call from his dad…about the hit.

“
That’s odd.”

“
Why?”

“
Earlier tonight Mrs. Sanchez talked with me from a station in San Francisco. Apparently, her husband directed her to give orders for a hit. Instead, she went to the cops, asked for their protection, and turned her husband in.”

“
What? Why?”

“
Your statement to the press humbled her, the way you protected her children at your expense. Between Mrs. Sanchez’s testimony and the brawl in the prison tonight, Sanchez is going to be in a very dark hole for a very long time. He won’t fart without me knowing about it. He’s virtually cut off from the world.”

“
Did she tell anyone else about her husband’s request?”

Dean shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

“
Someone heard something at the prison, spread the news to my father,” Carter said.

“
Could have been one of the guards listening in, reading between the lines.” Dean glanced at the two of them. “Sanchez spoke exclusively with his wife. But you can bet I’ll find every person Sanchez has spoken to in the past six months. James is on his way north now. We’ll know soon if the threats are behind you.”

Maybe it was the drugs, or maybe this was what
hope
felt like. But could it be that hiding and looking over her shoulder was over?

“
It’s over?”

“
Let’s wait and see how all the pieces land, but it looks that way to me, Lisa.”

Dean’s use of her first name made her skin tingle.

Please let it be over.

Two hours later, Carter drove her home at a pace slower than a snail.

It was nearly dawn when he carried her to their room. Once there, he helped her into a pair of clean pajamas and tucked her into bed. “Do you have everything you need?”