Page 49 of All I Need (Hearts of the South)
“Are you nuts? He’d kill Frank.”
“Honey, after seeing that—” Calvert gestured at her torso while Haley helped her sit up and clean off the sonogram gel, “—I might help him. Take him out somewhere, let Emmett beat him down, toss the body in the farm incinerator, and we’re all good.”
Autry glared at him. “Tick, really?”
“And if we got caught, my wife has money.” A grim smile quirked at Calvert’s mouth. “We could hire a legal dream team.”
“You are so not funny. And no, I’m not telling Emmy.” Landra shook her head. She lifted an arm to allow Haley to clean and treat the small lacerations on her abdomen. “I was in this room with him when he went into V-fib, remember? That shooting changed everything for him, and he’s just getting his life back in order. I am not doing anything to mess that up.”
In the act of recording notes on Landra’s chart, Savannah stilled. V-fib? In their interactions, he’d glossed over any discussion of the shooting and the aftermath. She’d known it had changed his career, but…
The idea of his being that near to death shook her more than she wanted to admit.
“Landra, I know it might feel like we’re ganging up.” Autry leaned against the wall. “But you’re going to need an ally, and we both know as close as you two are, Emmett’s your best bet. Besides, Tick will tell you that domestic abusers—”
“—are unpredictable and dangerous.” Calvert tapped his pen on his clipboard. “He got shot responding to a routine domestic, remember? If you’re staying with him, I don’t think it’s fair to let him think all Frank did was grab you and push you around, when the reality is so much deeper. If Frank shows up, what do you want Emmett prepared for?”
“I know you’re right. Iknowit.” Tears washed Landra’s blue eyes with a bright sheen. “But you didn’t see how keyed up he was last night. You know his temper, Tick, and I cannot risk—”
“I know the temper he had ten years ago, when he was a high school boy, and your mama was trying to keep him under control because your daddy wasn’t interested in being his daddy.” Beneath the gentleness, Calvert’s voice was firm. “Now he has six years of law-enforcement experience under his belt, and that refines a man. Plus, he’s spent the last year reconsidering everything he thought he knew about life. That polishes a man. You think I’d have hired him with the intent of putting him back in a patrol car if I thought he couldn’t control himself?”
“Oh my God, you could have gone all day without talking about putting him back in a car.” Landra sucked in an audible breath and pushed her hair, falling from its bun, away from her face. She set her shoulders in a straight line. “I’ll think about it, all right? What’s the next step?”
“I’m going to make contact with Frank’s lawyer and apply a little leverage. He might be willing to trade a divorce and giving up his parental rights for his career.” Autry gestured at Calvert’s clipboard. “What are the odds that report might be delayed a couple of days on its way to Leon County?”
He shrugged, a hint of mischief lighting his dark eyes. “It’s possible. The guy who files my reports is currently creating an electronic archive of a decade’s worth of cold cases.”
“Great. I’ll try to nail down his signature on some quick agreements.” Autry’s smile could only be described as feral. “Then when Landra’s and the baby’s interests are covered, we’ll ruin his career and see if we can send him to prison.”
Savannah scrawled followup and discharge instructions across the chart and passed it off to Haley. She excused herself and slipped from the room. Outside, she rested her elbow on the counter and covered her eyes with one hand. She blew out a long breath.
“Jim, I don’t care how crappy your life is.” Clark Dempsey leaned over the counter next to her and snagged a random pen to fill out his report. The bulletproof vest, required daily wear for all EMTs since the second shooting, made his movements awkward. She lifted her head to slant a look at him as he glared at his partner. “And I especially don’t care today. Give it a rest, will you?”
“I would listen to you.” Jim turned his back and rested his elbows atop the counter. “You want a cup of coffee?”
“Yeah, heavily spiked with Xanax if you’re going to keep it up today.”
Jim ignored him. “Mills, you want anything?”
“No, thanks.” He eyed her a moment and she lifted an eyebrow. She wasn’t in the mood for him either. “What?”
“You remind me of someone. Just don’t know who.”
Dempsey looked up from his shift report. “Yeah, me too. Coffee, Jim. Lots of Xanax.”
With a harrumph, Jim disappeared down the hall in the direction of the small coffee shop on the hospital’s ground floor. Dempsey scratched out a line and started over. “What would I have to do to get you or Mackey to put me on a seventy-two-hour hold so I didn’t have to listen to him for a few days?”
“A lot.” Normally, she liked him, but she was too tired and wrung out to entertain his particular brand of humor. Besides, she was still smarting a little over the fact Emmett had walked out on her the night before to talk to him. Apparently, he trusted Dempsey.
Exam four opened behind them. Savannah glanced down the hall to see Calvert duck out the back entrance to the side parking lot. Landra caught her gaze and touched Autry’s arm. “Would you go ahead and give me a minute here?”
“Sure.” Autry waved toward the front exit. “I’ll be in the waiting room.”
“Hey, Landra Sue.” Eyes narrowed, Dempsey watched Autry’s departure, then turned to Emmett’s sister. He dropped his voice to a low murmur. “Little more to this than you’re telling Em, isn’t there?”
“Not now, Clark.” Landra pinned Savannah with a piercing expression. “You’re the one, aren’t you?”
Savannah started to shake her head, not sure exactly what Landra meant, but Dempsey nodded and dropped the filched pen back on the desk. “She’s the one.”
