Page 33 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
Josie rushed to him, her face lit by the burning building behind him. The homestead was gone. So was Roger Grimes.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Max opened his eyes and blinked. The curtains were drawn, the room dim, yet he knew he was in a hospital room. Just as he knew he wasn’t alone. He could make out the shape of a figure standing on the far side of the room. His pulse jumped, making the machines he was attached to come to life.
It wasn’t until she turned that he recognized her, startling him.
Esther Mason made her way to his bedside. “You’re awake.” Her smile did nothing to change her dour expression. “They said you almost died. Lucky for you, the bullet went right through. Seems you’re going to survive.”
His mouth was so dry he could barely get the words out. “What are you doing here?” He saw then that she had picked up something. A pillow. She had a pillow in her hands as she moved closer.
He tried to lift a hand, but he was so weak from the gunshot, the surgery. He looked around frantically for the call button, but he couldn’t find it. He opened his mouth to call for help, but it was too dry. Barely a sound came out.
It had been Esther. She’d told Grimes about them. How did he know that? Had Cordell told him that? It didn’t matter. He had to stop Esther. The pillow dropped over his face. He couldn’t breathe and yet he couldn’t fight her off. She was going to kill him.
The door of his room opened. He jerked awake and blinked. A nurse stood silhouetted in the doorway. “Nurse!” He’d barely gotten the word out. But even the sudden light she turned on couldn’t chase away the nightmare. “She was here. She was—”
He looked around frantically. There was no one in the room. Had Esther hidden under the bed? “There was a woman here,” he said as the nurse came over to attend to the devices attached to him. “She—” Was Esther really going to smother him with a pillow? He felt so weak and vulnerable, he wasn’t sure he could have stopped her. It was that feeling that had followed him so much of his life because of Roger Grimes.
“There was no woman here. You aren’t allowed visitors,” the nurse said. “Your brother was in earlier, but there has been no one else. I suspect it was just a bad dream.”
He closed his eyes, feeling foolish, but still wanting to ask her to check the bathroom and under the bed. He hadn’t felt this insecure and afraid since he was a child living with Grimes.
The nurse got him a cup of water and a straw. He took a drink, cleared his throat and handed it back. “Maybe she went into the bathroom,” he said.
She patted his arm and smiled. “Let me check.” As she moved to the closed bathroom door, he wanted to warn her that Esther could be dangerous. She opened the door. “Empty.”
“Then I guess she’s not under my bed, either,” he said, pretending it was a joke.
She laughed. “Not there, either. That must have been some bad dream.”
She had no idea.
Josie still feltas if she were in a fog. She remembered being checked over in the ER after they’d rushed Max to surgery. Her shoulder had been dislocated and she had a slight concussion. She’d given her statement to the state police. By then it was daylight.
The nightmare was over. Grimes was dead. Cordell and Goldie were safe. Max was still in the hospital, but his condition had been upgraded from critical to stable. Both she and Cordell had been questioned at length. He’d saved not just Josie’s life, but Goldie’s, as well.
Rumors ran wild in town. No one really understood why it had happened except that Roger Grimes had been Max’s and Cordell’s stepfather and had spent most of his life behind bars.
“You aren’t going to work? Surely you can take a day off after almost being killed!” Amy Sue said, shaking her head as Josie came downstairs dressed to go to the office.
“I’m fine.” But even as Josie said it, she knew she wasn’t. It was as if everyone in Dry Gulch had taken a relieved breath—except her because she knew better. Everyone kept saying at least it was over.
But it wasn’t over.
Josie couldn’t explain it, the danger she still felt looming on the horizon. She wanted to blame her concussion. She kept waiting for the frightened feeling to go away, but it still had her looking over her shoulder, jumpier than she’d ever been.
She kept reliving what had happened. Her grandmother would have been disappointed in her. She had the chance to stop the man. If Cordell hadn’t taken the shot he had, they could all be dead.
Cordell had saved her life. But he’d also endangered it by having loved her. She told herself that he’d no doubt be gone once the state police were through with him.
“You’re just going back to work at your office as if nothing happened?” her sister demanded as she watched her reach for her coat and purse.
“What would you have me do? Take to the couch?” Josie demanded, knowing she was more irritable than usual, but unable to help it. She didn’t know what to do until the next horror hit town. All she knew was that it was coming. She’d tried to see more, desperately needing to know so she could warn everyone and prepare this time. It felt closer, more personal, and that scared her even more.
At the same time, she kept hoping she was wrong. Maybe this was just an aftershock to how close she’d come to dying. How close she’d come to losing her best friends and Cordell.
As she reached for her purse, she misjudged how heavy it was now. It slipped from her fingers and hit the floor hard. She saw her sister’s eyes widen as she looked from Josie to the purse.
