Slim To None (Cedar Tree #1) (9 page)

Gus leaned in and whispered gruffly in Emma's ear, "I'm not done with you, Peach." Then he pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and called Joe.

"I need you to come to the emergency room. Emma was run down on South Beech Street, just outside of the post office and the ambulance is on its way. I'll give you whatever information I have there... I'm not leaving her side."

Hanging up, he turned to the woman at Emma's side. "I work with the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office, can I have your name and number in case we lose track somewhere along the way? I'm going in the ambulance with her."

"Sure," the woman said. "Are you her husband?" 

"No, not her husband, her... her friend - fianc
é
e." Gus quickly added, figuring it might be the only way he would be allowed to stay with her, given that he was not direct family. He handed her his phone to add her information to it.

Just as he heard the sirens of the ambulance round the corner, Emma's eyelids started to flutter.

"Stay still, babe. The ambulance is here and I don't want you to move until they have you checked out."

"Mmmmmmm... fucking asshole truck..." Emma mumbled as her head rolled back and forth over the pavement. Gus held her face and tried to lock onto her gaze.

"Emma, look at me. Keep your head still for me, okay? You're bleeding a bit from your head, and I don't know from where. I need the paramedics to check you out. Can you let them do that for me? Stay still?"

"Such pretty eyes. Chocolate brown. Chocolate's my favorite... love chocolate. Chocolate's yummy." Her pretty blue eyes, still slightly glazed over, were looking at him; a goofy smile playing on her lips. Apparently, she was still a little out of it. "Hi." she sighed, before her eyes slid shut again.

*****

T
he paramedics had her loaded up in short order and Gus continued his ruse as her fianc
é
e to get himself on the ambulance; not willing to lose sight of her even for a minute. He gave them as much information as he could, but when it came to her chronic conditions, he hit a big snag and was met with some odd looks when he admitted to knowing few details. That was something that would have to be changed, and soon.

Arriving in the ER, Gus was relegated to a family waiting area, even though he didn't want to leave her side. The attending physician assured him it would be faster and easier for all involved if they could simply do their job. She promised to inform him of everything they did and found, as soon as they were done. Given that the waiting room was just around the corner, he could sneak a peek into the treatment room from time to time. He took the opportunity to finally call Arlene, something he had waited with to do until he had Emma in good hands. He didn't know what he had expected, but the sharp intake of breath followed by a Goddammit!, wasn't exactly it. However, Arlene did say she was on her way, as in NOW. Okay then.

Finally a moment for his thoughts and feelings to catch up with him, Gus dropped his head in his hands. His hands were still shaking from the experience. When he felt a hand on his shoulder and lifted his head, he saw Joe had found him.

"I got some updates on the way here from the officers on the scene." Joe reported. "So no need to give me all the deets right now. How is she doing?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. She came to for a few minutes, talked a bit, and was out like a light again. If anything, she has a concussion. She sounded pretty out of it. There was also bleeding from her head somewhere and I have absolutely no idea what kind of impact the rest of her body sustained, let alone what further damage it has done to her. She is already disabled, I imagine she may have some fragile spots more susceptible to permanent injury." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just guessing here, I really don't know."

"You care about her." Joe stated.

"Didn't see this that coming, Joe. Did NOT see this that coming. Fuck me."

Just then, the attending walked into the waiting area and nodded at Joe in obvious recognition.

"Chief Deputy Morris."

"Naomi." Joe nodded in the pretty brunette's direction.  Interesting. Dismissing Joe and firmly turning to Gus, the doctor introduced herself as Dr. Waters.

"Mr. Flemming -"

"Gus, please." He stood, rubbing his hands on his jeans, trying to look over the doctor's shoulder into the ER.

"Alright, Gus. Here is what we know. Emma has severe bruising along her left hip and leg, and a fairly deep laceration on the side of her scalp. She is conscious at this time and talking, but still a little confused, so we suspect she has, at the very least, a concussion. From what we can tell from our external examination, she doesn't seem to have sustained any broken bones, but given her pre-existing condition, it is difficult to ascertain with any degree of certainty. So we are going ahead and taking her for a round of x-rays and a scan of her head. We would like to first rule out any damage to her brain or skull we can't detect from the outside, and then make sure we are not dealing with fractures or any other hidden injuries we have not been able to pick up on. At this point, it looks like she was very lucky, but let's wait for the results of those tests before we haul out the champagne."

A deep sigh left his lips as he sank back down in the chair, dropping his head down. Feeling a hand squeeze his shoulder, he looked up to see Dr. Waters' sympathetic eyes on him.

"She's been asking for you. You can come in for a minute before we take her for her scan."

Surging to his feet, and practically shoving the doc out of his way, he marched into the room across from the waiting area. Her hair was a mop of curls clumped and straggled together, and her face was pale and scraped from the impact with the parked car and the pavement. Looking at Emma still made his chest do funny things.

"Peach." he managed in a rusty voice, pushing some curls off her forehead and stroking his fingers down her cheek, "How are you feeling?" That came out a little firmer.

"Fine, I'm okay. Really." Emma gave him, noticing the eyebrow he raised. Her lips pulled into a little smile. "I have a nickname now?" She teased. Relief flooded him. Seeing her spirit hadn't been knocked out of her, he couldn't help himself − so he kissed her. His eyes squeezed shut. With all the pent up fear and anxiety that had coursed through his system in the past hour or so, he needed to feel and taste her. Reluctantly letting go of her luscious mouth, he saw his own emotions reflected in the her tear-filled blue eyes that smiled back at him.

When he finally responds, he says, "Just calling them as I see them, babe."

*****

H
aving seen Emma would be okay with his own eyes, it was much easier for Gus to fill Arlene in when she came storming through the door, hell-bent on getting to her friend's side. With Arlene calmed down a bit and introduced as family to the nursing staff, Joe called in a deputy to stand guard at the hospital. Now Gus was ready to rally the troops and run this fucker down.

"I
'm fine, Arlene. Stop fussing. The doc said there was just severe bruising and a concussion. She contacted my rheumatologist and neurologist, what more do you want? I've had scans, x-rays, they're observing me until tomorrow. I'm going to be okay." Emma loved Arlene to bits, but she was clucking like an old hen around her hospital bed and it was driving her nuts.  She felt like she was putting everyone around her at ease. Funny how people worried a little more just because she already had some health issues, but really, it just made her that much stronger. Pain didn't faze her much, and as long as death wasn't imminent, there wasn't a whole lot that freaked her out, so she tended to be the calm and sensible one in the room. The irony.

Even Gus had seemed completely shaken by this whole incident. That was actually pretty sweet, seeing him so worried about her. She felt little shivers going down her spine when she thought about his newfound name for her rumbling off those delicious lips, 'Peach'. Yeah, not complaining, but she didn't need him to see her any more as an invalid than he probably already did. And teasing him a little to lift the heaviness out of the room seemed like the thing to do. She didn't regret it.... it made him bend over close and tease her right back, all sexy and smelling good, putting a satisfied smile on her face.

Turning her thoughts back to the present, she turned to Arlene. "Where did you say Gus was off to?"

"He and that Chief Deputy Morris were going back to the Sheriff's office to make up a proper report and 'run some errands' - whatever the hell that means." Arlene scowled.

"Awww, come on, honey. Feeling left out? Is  it that bad having to babysit me?" Emma teased her.

"Eff off, Ems. You scared the snot out of me. I almost had a heart attack when Gus called me. I had a blow out fight with Seb, who insisted I shouldn't be driving myself in the state I was in -
hmpf
- but I wasn't about to let him close the diner, ‘cause I know you would've kicked my ass for that."

"Damn right I would've ...no reason to, but I do appreciate you racing out here for me, Bestie." Emma smiled at Arlene, who rolled her eyes, making Emma laugh.

"Enough mushy stuff, okay?  Seb cooked me a good breakfast, and it would be a waste if I hurled those biscuits and gravy all over your pristine hospital sheets."

"Hey Arlene....Bite me."

"Ems - You can kiss my ass."

They were still laughing when the friendly Dr. Waters walked in on them.

"Anybody need spanking? I'm up for that." She deadpanned, sending Emma and Arlene into another fit of snickers.

"I like her ...can we keep her?" Arlene turned to Emma.

"Thanks for the invite, but I already belong to someone. Although, I'm sure he wouldn't miss me too much." Dr. Waters joked. "I'm actually here to let you know that as you know, all tests came back negative, as did the x-rays and scan. This is all great news, but I do want to do a quick neuro exam before I discharge you tomorrow morning. Is your partner going to be back to pick you up?"

"Partner?"

"The big hulking male looking better than an ice cream cone sitting in the waiting room earlier looking terrified for you ...Gus? Mr. Flemming?"

"Ahhhhh. Lickable, isn’t he... yeah. Erm – Well, I don't really know. I think so, but either way, I've got it covered, no worries." She said with a side-glance at Arlene who nodded back at her. Even if Gus wasn't back - She had no clue as to what she had or did not have with him, so she had no way of drawing any conclusions either way - she would always have friends to draw on. God, she loved this small community.

"Well, alright then. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Try and get some rest while you can, because the nurse will come and wake you every few hours or so ...standard fare with concussions. Sorry!" Dr. Waters said with an impish grin and a shrug as she walked out.

******

G
us had spent the past two hours going over any details he could remember from the hit and run, which wasn't a whole lot. The only thing a general description of an older navy blue or black pick up, looked to be an F-150, but he couldn't even be sure about that. He had been too preoccupied with Emma at the time. Luckily, the officers at the scene had gathered a little more from witnesses; it had been a rusted, navy colored F-150 with the tailgate missing. It had been sitting in a parking spot down the street, idling, when it suddenly pulled out and swerved to the opposite side. It appeared to aim straight for Emma, who somehow managed to push her walker out of the way and threw herself partially in between the two parked cars.  The woman who had been attending to Emma when Gus got to her, managed to get a partial plate, and Joe was running what he had combined with the description of the truck now. Unfortunately, the F-150 was a popular truck and just about everyone owned a pickup truck.

Leaning back in his chair, Joe turned away from his computer screen to face Gus.

"You thinking this is Corbin's doing?" Joe voiced what had seemed pretty obvious.

"Sure looks like it. It seems a bit of a jump, ya know? From burglary to murder, no?" Not waiting for an answer, he continued, "I get that he'd be hard-pressed to make sure she doesn't have any information that might point to him, but why hurt her? With her dead, he wouldn't have a clue what she might have held on to, or God forbid, passed on to someone else. It just doesn't make much sense to me." Running his hands through his hair, he gave it a hard pull. "Dammit, I'm so frustrated. I can't get a proper lead on Corbin, I have two suspicious trucks at two separate incidents that seem to be connected, but something feels off."

"I hear you." Joe agreed. "I'm not liking this development either. We've lost track of some of Corbin's former contacts who seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth, and the man himself is nowhere to be found. On top of that, I'm having a hard time convincing my superiors that round the clock surveillance is necessary for Emma. They prefer to believe they are simply dealing with a bail skip, and since our task force stays mostly on the quiet side, I don't have much weight there either."

Gus pulled his phone out of his pocket and started scrolling through his numbers. "That's it. I'm not taking any chances with her. I'm putting together my own team and calling them out."

"Why don't you take her with you somewhere safe?"

"I thought about that, Joe. It's not that easy. Fuck, I don't know how long this is going to take, and Emma needs her stuff, her meds, her doctors ...people she trusts. Besides, from what I know of her, she likely won't budge anyway. No - she's likely safer here, or at least in Cedar Tree, with a small community of people she trusts and friends she can count on."

Joe nodded thoughtfully. " I'll do what I can. Call Frank and talk to him again, but I don't think he has a stable of staff to spare."

"Came with only one deputy, when I saw him − guy named Ralph. Haven't seen another yet. Like I said, I'm setting up shop in Cedar Tree, ’cause no matter what, there is more coming. This isn't going away, and one way or another, Corbin has to show his face at some point... and when he does, I want to be prepared."