Stowaway (29 page)

“Carson?” asked Nick, wondering if the militia leader had survived the crash.

Jack slowly shook his head. “He was rushed to surgery, but it doesn’t look good.”

That explained why Rice had gone ballistic and tried to kill Keri.

Ironically, if Carson had rammed Keri’s SUV, he probably would have increased his chances of survival. By braking to avoid her car, he’d caused the certain death of his passenger and maybe his own fatality. He had to have reacted from gut instinct and concern for her. Much as Nick hated what the man stood for, he couldn’t fault Carson’s last ditch effort to protect his childhood friend.

Keri tugged on his hand, drawing Nick’s attention back to her. He knew she needed more answers. Before he could say anything, a special agent accompanied a lab tech with a forensic kit. Once they’d finished collecting the syringe and drug residue, they left the room and her dad arrived.

She made a sound of protest at the sight of Walt Merritt. One side of his face looked bruised and swelling. His lip was cut and bleeding. Blood stains spattered his shirt and one of his sleeves had been ripped from the shoulder seams.

“I’m fine, baby girl,” he said as he cupped her face with a battered hand. “I told myself I wouldn’t beat Moville to a bloody pulp, but he had the nerve to call your mother’s death an unfortunate casualty of war.”

“Moville?” asked Nick.

“Charles Moville of the Moville Funeral Home. I knew the brothers had to be funding the militia, but I couldn’t prove it until we made the connection with Cooper Caskets. Then Keri told me she’d remembered the details of the wreck. She recognized Charles as the man who stepped up to the car that night, and Elaine’s relief at seeing him just before someone shoved the car over the railing.”

“You think Moville could have prevented the wreck?”

“Maybe, maybe not, but he’s damned sure responsible for it by conspiring with the men who committed the actual deed. He tried to lay the blame on some gangbanger on Cooper’s payroll. Moville’s the anonymous tipster who called me about the wreck but didn’t do anything else to help Elaine. He ran like the rat he is and left her to die.”

The sheriff’s voice went hoarse and Jack draped an arm around his dad’s shoulder. Keri squeezed Walt’s fingers. Tears filled her eyes and it hurt Nick to see her hurting. He tightened his hold on her hand, wishing he could ease her pain. Hopefully knowing the truth and finding some justice would help the family’s emotional wounds to heal.

He didn’t blame the sheriff for wanting to beat someone to a pulp. He’d felt the same way when Don had his gun pointed at Keri. He wished he’d had more time to pummel Monroe, but getting her to the hospital had taken priority.

Walt had had two years of impotent rage bottled inside him. Moville might have fought back, but Nick didn’t doubt that the sheriff had put a hurt on the other man. Now they just needed an airtight case against all the conspirators.

“Moville confessed?” asked Jack.

“Got it on tape,” said Walt. “He’ll lawyer up and deny it, but I’ve got it in his own twisted words. He even tried to enlist me into his hate campaign.”

“What about his brother Terrance?”

“In the wind for now, but we’ll find him.”

“I remember meeting the brothers,” said Nick. “Terrance grumbled about how bad business has been the last few years. How’d they finance the militia? Did Cooper supply all the funding?”

“Far as we can tell, it’s a full partnership,” explained Jack. “The Movilles funded the camp and paid the militia men. Cooper supplied the guns and fertilizer. He had a license to buy it for his farm in Florida, but he bought more than he used over the course of three years to ward off any suspicions. We’ve also found evidence the Movilles embezzled money from their pre-planned funeral funds.”

Nick whistled softly. “Bad news for anyone who invested with them.”

“Which includes a lot of our hard-working residents,” Walt added grimly. He took off his hat, ran a hand through his hair and put the hat back in place.

“So where does Don Monroe fit into the scheme of things? Was he in on it from the beginning?”

Jack shook his head. “We’re still piecing it all together. We think it was all about the money for Don. They bribed him to turn a blind eye when the illegal shipments passed through the county.” To Nick, he added, “When you started asking questions, he must have panicked and faked an attack.”

Nick shrugged his bad shoulder, wondering if Don had intended to kill him or just scare him away. He glanced at Keri and knew she was thinking the same thing. Then her gaze shifted to her brother.

“Dad,” she managed a whisper. “Nurse.”

Jack smiled. “She’s such a bossy butt even when she can barely talk,” he touched her hair gently and affectionately then turned to Walt. “She’s right, Dad. You look like you might need a couple stitches. I think it’s safe to leave her in Lamanto’s care.”

The sheriff looked directly at him for the first time, their gazes locking. “You goin’ anywhere?”

“They’ll be moving Keri to a room soon,” he told the older man, “but I go where she goes.”

Walt slowly nodded. He leaned over to kiss Keri’s cheek. “You get some rest, and I’ll stop by again before I leave. I’ve got a mess of federal agents at my office and a lot of details to iron out about prisoners.”

“Love you,” she whispered softly.

“Love you back.”

When Walt and Jack left the room, a hospital tech came in with an agent escort. They wheeled Keri down a couple of hallways and put her in a room directly across from the nurse’s station.

Nurse E. Morgan bustled in behind them and glared at Nick. “You’ll need to step outside while I get Keri settled.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

She crossed her arms on her chest and peered at him over her bifocals. “Well, knowing our patient, her drinking habit and the addition of IV fluids, I’m guessing her bladder’s about to rupture. She might not want you in here while we take care of that little issue, husband or no husband.”

Nick frowned and glanced at Keri. Their gazes met, and she gave him a steady, unblinking stare. “Go,” she mouthed to him.

He turned back to Nurse Morgan. “She might trust you, but she trusted Rice too.”

“Wanna frisk me?”

Glaring at her, he snapped, “I’ll do more than frisk you if you hurt a hair on her head. Got it?”

Morgan surprised him with a chuckle. “Sorry, Detective, I know you’ve had a rough day. I shouldn’t be harassing you. I promise on my life I won’t do Keri any harm. You can stand at the door if you want. Just give us a little privacy.”

Nick leaned over the bed to press a kiss on Keri’s lips. “I’ll be close.” He flashed another warning look at Morgan and walked to the door, stepping outside but leaving it ajar.

Jack came walking down the hallway, spoke to the nurse at the desk and joined him.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Nurse Ratchet is getting Keri settled.”

Jack laughed. “Edie’s a tough one all right, but she’s mothered Keri ever since the accident. She couldn’t be in better hands.”

Nick glanced into the room. Morgan had pulled a curtain around the bed, and he didn’t like having Keri out of sight. Jack’s faith in the older woman allowed him to relax his guard a little.

“Glad to hear it. How’s your dad doing?”

“They’re still patching him up in the ER, but he’ll be okay. A lot better now that he’s finally confronted Moville. It’s been eating at him for a long time.”

“That bites.”

“Sure does.”

“How long have you known about the militia plans? I heard your voice the morning Don and I got shot. What the hell went down out there?”

“Half the damn town must have been prowling the woods that day,” Jack said in frustration. “I couldn’t see anything. My best guess is Don did the shooting. He shot you and gave himself a flesh wound, but then somebody hammered him hard enough to knock him unconscious. Did you hit him?”

“No, and I didn’t see anyone. The fog was too damned heavy. The gunshot knocked me to the ground, and I dove for cover.”

“Don must have gotten caught in the middle. He started out supporting the militia activity. When he got cold feet and tried to derail their operation by calling you, it all blew up in his face. In the long run, he’s just as guilty as the rest.”

“I thought he was ATF until I saw him pointing a gun at Keri.”

“Cousin Dwayne is ATF,” said Jack.

“No shit?”

“No shit. He and Russ used to be tight. They spent a lot of time in the old hunting cabin until Dwayne joined the army. While he did his tour and trained with the ATF, Russ joined forces with the Movilles. When Dwayne got home, he pretended to approve of their plans, but they were too paranoid to give him all the details.”

“He gave you and the feds information, but not the specifics you needed?”

“We had intel, just couldn’t act on it without more evidence.”

“Dwayne wasn’t in the jeep with Carson, was he?” asked Nick, hoping he hadn’t been instrumental in the death of Keri’s cousin.

“No. He stayed on the mountain. Since it’s Merritt property, he was supposed to stay behind to clean up and destroy evidence after they’d gone.”

They stepped aside as Nurse Morgan pushed through the door. She nodded to Jack but directed her words to Nick. “Keri’s comfortable now. I don’t think she’ll want anything else until the drug is completely out of her system. She just needs to rest. Why don’t you go home and let her sleep?”

“My home is several hundred miles away,” he declared flatly. At least it used to be, he added to himself. “Keri’s my top priority right now, and I’m not leaving until she does.”

The nurse sighed, but her expression softened. “Suit yourself. Just let her get some rest. Use the call button if her condition changes for the worse.”

Chapter Nineteen

Keri heard someone approaching her bed, but she couldn’t turn her head far enough to see. Edie had removed her clothes, bathed her face and dressed her in a hospital gown. She hadn’t propped her up on pillows because she’d been ordered to rest.

Finding herself flat on her back and helpless was another recurring nightmare. She’d spent weeks like this after the car wreck and the succession of surgeries. She hated feeling so weak and vulnerable, hated being dependent on others for every basic need. At least this time she didn’t have the constant, sometimes debilitating pain.

More of her body had begun to tingle to awareness, the feeling slowly returning to her nerve endings. Her hearing had returned to normal and the cloudiness cleared from her vision. Whatever drug Don had given her, it affected every inch of her body. He’d said it wouldn’t kill her but he couldn’t have known for sure. He’d taken a stupid, dangerous gamble with an unproven drug. She had no doubt Jack and Nick had saved her life. If Don had succeeded in using her as a hostage, they’d probably both be dead by now.

“Hey, Sis, feeling stronger now?” Jack asked as he stepped to her right side.

As much as she loved her brother, her attention focused on Nick as he rounded the bed and took up his spot at her left side. He looked tired, his clothes and hair rumpled, but still the most gorgeous man she’d ever known. He lifted her hand and kissed it. The touch of his lips sent thrilling warmth along her arm and straight to her heart. It went a long way toward reassuring her that all was well in her world.

“Hello? Earth to Keri? What am I, chopped liver?” Jack teased her attention back to his side of the bed. She tried to give him a smile but wasn’t sure how well her facial muscles followed mental orders.

“Bro,” she whispered throatily. “Dad?”

“He’s fine, minor scrapes and bruising. He didn’t need stitches, just some bandages and a tetanus shot, but he’s impatient to get back to the office. He doesn’t like all the outsiders invading his territory.”

“The FBI has jurisdiction at this point,” reminded Nick. “They’ll be taking the prisoners to a federal prison.”

Jack nodded. “Can’t say I’ll be sorry to see any of them go. We’ll have a lot of cleaning up to do in the county and we’ll have to recount the details a couple hundred times for all our tax-paying citizens, but I’m sure glad it’s done.”

Keri knew what he meant. The excitement would fade in a few days, but the events would be rehashed for weeks, months and maybe years. Thornsbury had never been the source of so much newsworthy drama. She imagined their home answering machine had maxed out by now.

The Movilles, Don and Russ were long-time residents. It saddened her to learn of Russ’s near-fatal crash, but he’d gone off the deep end with his fanaticism. His life, if he lived, would become his worst nightmare. He’d likely be sentenced to a lot of years in a maximum-security federal prison. She shuddered at the thought of what he’d already done and what he’d intended to do.

“Try not to dwell on it,” Jack told her, patting her shoulder. “I’m gonna head on down to the office now and help Dad. We’ll stop back before we call it a night, but Nick’s staying. He can let us know if you need anything.”

“Will do,” agreed Nick.

Keri glanced back at him, wondering why he wanted to stay. He needn’t feel responsible for her safety, and she didn’t want him staying out of some misguided sense of duty. He didn’t look as though he’d slept since the last time they’d shared a bed. Or shaved. Or eaten. Or even combed his hair.

She made a sound to get her brother’s attention. “Food?” she whispered past a too-tight throat.

“You’re hungry?” asked Jack. “Edie didn’t think you’d want anything this evening.”

She rolled her eyes toward Nick.

“Gotcha,” he said after a brief pause. “Lamanto, you want me to have them bring you a sandwich or something?”

Nick gave her a smile. “Always the caregiver, huh?” To Jack, he said, “Yes, I’d like some food and a chance to hit the head before you go.”

Jack nodded and Nick left her side for a few minutes. She watched him disappear and then looked back at her brother. He was giving her that all-knowing grin she’d grown up hating.

“Got it bad for the guy, huh, Sis? You had to pick a detective from the big, bad city?” he mocked, shaking his head. “All those years you’ve shunned law enforcement officers and then you fall head over heels for this one.”