The Best of Us (18 page)

Harm had come in moments before Stone arrived. He’d gone to see his dad and to fill his mom in on what had happened. She made them promise not to mention it to their father. She was afraid it’d do him in. Harm and Carter agreed. Carter stayed there with his mom and dad and Harm headed down to check on Carly and Daniel.

When Stone got there, since Harm was with her, Daniel would go as far as the hallway outside of Carly’s room. “What happened?” Daniel asked immediately. “Was it an electrical fire?”

“
No, it was set. We also found evidence that someone had intentionally trapped Carly in the bathroom. Since the fire never reached the apartment, the evidence of it was still there. They’d used a rope to tie the two doors together. Carly somehow busted the door handle off. Possible with the towel rod we found on the floor.”

“
That explains the scrapes on her hands. Some of them were deep.” Daniel was at a loss. What was going on?

“
Probably. The ends of the bar were sharp.” Stone shook his head. “We have the arson investigator there along with our forensic team. Hopefully they will come up with something. We’ve made two arrests in this case. Both of them are being charged, but not for the murder. And since they were all in custody, they aren’t responsible for the attack last night.”

Daniel leaned against the wall, bent forward and rested his hands on his knees. Stone couldn’t help but notice the black smudge he’d left on the wall. The man really needed a shower. The smell of smoke was almost overpowering, and he said as much. Daniel didn’t respond, and Stone hadn’t really expected him to.

“
I’ll be in touch. Let me know when Carly wakes up.” Stone patted Daniel’s back and headed to the station. “What now,” he thought, “we are fresh out of suspects.”

Carly woke up later that morning. Her wonderful blue eyes, even though they were red from all the smoke irritation, were the most beautiful thing Daniel had ever seem. Her weak smile was another gift from heaven.

“
Hey beautiful!” Daniel said softly.

Carly let out a dry and painful laugh. She cringed from the pain and her hand shot up to her throat. She closed her eyes and tears escaped from the corners and ran toward her pillow.

“
Easy honey. Your throat will be sore for a while. There was some damage done to your throat and your lungs, but the doctors expect a full recovery.” Daniel hoped he wasn’t lying to her.

Carly’s eyes opened and were even redder than before. Daniel pushed the call button. He gently wiped away the tears that kept falling. A nurse came in and noticed Carly was awake. She came over and checked her pulse and examined her eyes.

“
I bet your eyes could use some relief.”

Daniel thought that that was the stupidest thing to say, but looking at Carly, he saw her nodding to the nurse.

The nurse smiled, went to the bedside table and picked up a bottle of eye drops. “These will be very cold at first, almost too cold. Just give it a second and they will start soothing your eyes.” Carly nodded.

When the drops hit her eyes, she cringed and sucked in a breath, which caused her throat and lungs to hurt.

“
I’m sorry. I know it hurts. But give it a second,” before she could finish, Carly nodded and opened her eyes and Daniel could see the relief there. The drops were working.

“
I’ll let the doctor know you are awake.” She turned and left the room

They sat there in silence, Daniel at a loss as how to comfort her and Carly in too much pain to talk. The doctor came in and examined her; he didn’t even try to get Daniel to leave the room during the examination as he normally would have.

After explaining that she should remain quiet for several days to allow healing, and giving her additional information and instructions, he left them alone. Carly pantomimed pen and paper. Daniel grabbed the pad and pen that hospital puts beside the phones.

‘
How bad?’

“
We don’t know yet. I’d say the store is a total loss, but there wasn’t much there to salvage. It would have been a lot worse if most of the clean-up hadn’t gotten rid of the bulk of the items that would have acted as kindling.”

‘
Apartment?’

“
Smoke damage. Damage to the fire escape door from us breaking in. Damage to the bathroom door where you managed to free yourself” Daniel saw her shudder at the mention of the bathroom door.

‘
Who?’

“
We don’t know.”

Carly closed her eyes for a moment. She seemed to be gathering her thoughts.
‘How’d I get out?’

“
Det. Stone and I got you to the escape, Harm and Det. Wright got you down the ladder and Carter took over from there.”

‘
My heroes!’

“
Carly, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there. I was so afraid I’d be too late. I’ve never felt such fear.”

‘
You saved me! It’ll be okay. You were with your family. How is your dad?’
The sudden realization she hadn’t thought of his dad had her feeling horrible.

“
He’s a little better today. We aren’t telling him about last night. They aren’t sure he could take it right now.”

‘
One more thing…’

“
Anything for you honey! Just name it!”

‘
Take a shower!’
Carly softened the note with a smile.

Daniel laughed. “Okay, I got it! But I won’t be far. I’ll use the showers they have here for the staff and borrow a pair of scrubs. I’m not leaving you!” He leaned down and kissed her tenderly on her swollen lips. He started to ease up when she flinched, but she grabbed hold of his shirt and held him in place.

He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers, “Be back in a jiffy!”

The nurses were more than happy to escort him to the showers and supply a set of scrubs. They even had a male nurse go in for his clothes and send them to the laundry. No one was happier to get that man clean than the nurses.

The story of the fire, and the survival was on the news all that day. Landon Falls wasn’t a big town, so news like that went through town like wild fire. There was one person in particular that paid special attention, and wasn’t happy about the survival of Carly, a problem he planned to soon remedy. He had some planning to do. It was going to take something drastic and daring. He was tired of having to deal with Jenna, the store and everything that is associated with the store, and since Carly was the new owner, she was his focus.

“
Come on man, she’s sleeping and you need to eat.” Harm said to Daniel.

Since taking his shower, Daniel had stayed by Carly’s side, leaving only once to go check on his dad. And then, only because Carter came to sit with Carly. Carly had slept most of the day. It hurt her to breath, and since you breathe shallower while you are sleeping, the doctor had ok’d a light sleep aid. It had to be inserted via IV, since the only thing Carly had managed so far was sucking on ice. She tried jello, but it didn’t make it past the first swallow. So, she was sucking on ice to keep her mouth moist and being feed through an IV.

Daniel felt helpless, but he was so thankful she was alive. He still had an occasional cough and the nurse had insisted he do some breathing treatments. He finally agreed when the nurse promised he could stay in the room with Carly while they did the treatments.

“
Yeah, alright. I guess it won’t hurt to go grab a bite. I am a bit hungry. But I want to stay in the hospital, so let’s go to the cafeteria.”

“
No can do brother! The cafeteria is closed. Have you looked at the time? It’s after nine. Don’t worry; there is an IHOP across the street. You can sit, relax and have a decent meal!”

Daniel was about to protest, but his stomach growling stopped him. Carter chuckled, “Let’s go man!”

Daniel stood up, gave Carly a kiss on her forehead and couldn’t help but marvel at the peaceful look on her face as she slept. “How could I have been so blind?” He muttered to himself.

As he and Carter walked down the hall, they didn’t notice a man in an orderly’s uniform paying a little too much attention. The elevator arrived, they got in, talking about their dad and feeling that things had to get better soon!

“
So, no suspects at all?” Rissa asked Stone. They had just finished cleaning the kitchen after dinner. Rissa was getting some magazines out to show Stone some places she’d picked out as possible honeymoon spots.

“
No. It’s frustrating. I just…” Stone’s phone rang. Looking at the caller id, he saw it was the station. “Stone.” He answered. He stood listening for a couple of minutes. “You’re sure?” Pause. “Yeah. I’ll swing by and get Wright, then head over to the hospital.” Stone hung up without saying goodbye.

He turned to look at Rissa, to apologize for ditching her for the evening. He turned to find her smiling at him and holding out his jacket. “Be careful!”

“
I don’t know how I lucked out to get someone as wonderful and understanding as you!” He leaned down and gave her a warm kiss. Then he was out the door and was on his phone with Wright before backing out of the driveway.

“
We’ve got him!” Stone said.

Chapter Seven

Carly wasn’t sure what had awakened her. She had been able to sleep in bliss most of the day. Whatever they were giving her was wonderful. She didn’t feel groggy when she did wake up, but it allowed her to sleep peacefully for a couple hours at a time.

She started to close her eyes again when she noticed movement by the door. The blinds where closed and the only light was in the bathroom, and the door had been almost completely closed. With the eye irritation, she was still seeing a little blurry. The shadow moved again. This time she could make out a shape. She smiled. Daniel must be coming back in and doesn’t want to wake me.

She reached for the bed controls to elevate the bed but she couldn’t find it. Actually, she couldn’t find anything. The pull for the light above her bed wasn’t where it always was, the bed controls that had the nurse call button wasn’t there either.

“
Daniel…” She tried to talk, but it came out sounding more like a croak.

“
Tsk, tsk, tsk…” An unfamiliar voice whispered. “I bet it hurts to talk. My guess is that you’ve been told not to. Shame on you for not listening to the doctors.” The shadow moved to the side of the bed. She could make out some of his features, but there were still some shadows obscuring his details. All she knew was she didn’t know him. She had no clue who this man was.”

“
Who…”

“
Now, now…don’t try to talk. No need for you to suffer any more. I think you’ve suffered enough by now, all that’s left is for you to die.” His cold, quiet, hate filled voice caused chills to run up and down Carly’s arms. “I wanted the store, along with Jenna, destroyed. But you had to go an open it back up. If you hadn’t, this would have all been over. You can only imagine my surprise and anger when I saw that the store was back open. I didn’t know who had opened it at first, but all I had to do was following that one woman that came by almost every day. She is, what my mom would have called, a tramp.” He started pulling something out of his pocket as he spoke. Carly knew she couldn’t yell for help and he was between her and the door. She just prayed someone would come in before long. Her eyes kept darting between this strange man and the doorway.