Page 44 of The Fault Between Us
Beth bit at her lip. “And Pete is good friends with Tom Eagle.”
Claire nodded in understanding. The sheriff was Tom Eagle’s oldest son. “What about your uncle?”
Beth shook her head and blinked hard. “He didn’t even come to the funeral. You know how he is.” Beth wrung her hands in her lap. “Mrs. Wilder, if you could just get me to the Depot, I can—”
A violent pounding on the door made Claire jump and Jenny startle. Pete Henshaw’s face appeared in the small window. “I’m taking Beth home,” he said. His gaze landed on Claire and his eyes narrowed. “What is she doing here?”
Claire backed away from the door.
“As I said,” Dr. Sampson replied in a commanding tone, “I’m doing some tests. I must insist you stay in the waiting room.”
Pete Henshaw’s scowl made Claire’s neck prickle in alarm. She should have stood up to him that day at the Depot. She’d been right when she suspected that Beth was afraid. She thought fast, and turned to Beth. “You could take the northbound bus from the Depot tomorrow morning, but...” She paused, considering.
“Pete will be there waiting for me,” Beth finished miserably.
Claire nodded, putting down the diaper bag and walking Jenny back and forth across the small room as she thought of their options. She couldn’t drive Beth all the way to Coeur d’Alene, it was at least five hundred miles. But she could get her to a bus. “Beth.” Claire took her hand. It was ice cold and trembling. “I can drive you to Ennis tomorrow, and you can take the bus from there.” Ennis wasn’t far from West Yellowstone. Pete wouldn’t look for Beth there... she hoped. “You can be home by tomorrow night.”
Beth’s eyes widened at the idea, but then her expression fell. “It’s too much to ask, Mrs. Wilder. I couldn’t —”
But Bridget was helping her down from the table and dictating instructions to Claire. “Make sure she eats and drinks plenty of water. Have her rest if she gets dizzy or nauseous.”
Claire peeked out the window of the examination room. “How are we going to get her past Pete?” The man wasn’t going to let Beth just walk away.
“Leave that to me,” Bridget said. “You just be ready to go.”
Three minutes later, the hospital fire alarm went off.
chapter 27:CLAIRE
“Do you think Pete will come after us?” Beth asked, twisting to peer out the back window of the truck. She was holding Jenny, who had started to wail when the fire alarm had shattered through the hospital.
Claire’s hands slipped on the steering wheel, wet with perspiration. Pete would definitely come after them. As they sped away from Mammoth Hospital, the Yellowstone fire engine and at least three National Park Service trucks pulled up to the building, blocking every car into the hospital parking lot, including the Henshaws’ red Ford.
That would give them some time, at least.
Claire’s heart was still pounding. What had got into Bridget? It wasn’t like her sister to break the rules, and pulling the fire alarm? She would be in trouble for that and maybe even lose her job.
Beth adjusted Jenny in her lap as the baby continued to cry. “What do I do?”
“She’s probably hungry.” Claire took a sharp right toward Madison Junction. Then with a sudden sinking of her heart, she remembered the diaper bag, sitting in the examination room at the hospital. She checked the rearview mirror and weighed her choices. They wouldn’t be able tostay in Riverside tonight, not with Pete after them. But they needed food and diapers for Jenny, and money. “We have to stop at my house, then we’ll go straight to Ennis.” Beth needed bus fare and they’d have to stay the night somewhere in Ennis. Thank the Lord she still had some cash in the cookie tin.
Beth had managed to settle Jenny, patting her gently and rocking her.
“You’re good with her,” Claire said.
Beth smiled softly. “Dell was so happy about the baby.” Her voice quivered. “We’d just told his parents the day before he—before he died. Iris and Pete were thrilled.”
So thrilled that they wouldn’t let Beth go. Yes, they’d lost Dell—and their older son, too—but that didn’t excuse Pete and Iris Henshaw.
“Claire?” Beth said. “What I was trying to tell you before, about Red and Dell...” She hesitated. “You really don’t know what happened between them?”
Claire’s stomach twisted and she shook her head, her eyes on the road. She should know. Red should have told her.
Beth went on. “That fall, before Dell and I got married. Dell was stashing sheds.” She said it like Claire would know what she was talking about.
Claire wasn’t sure she did. “You mean elk antlers?” Elk shed their antlers, she’d seen them when she’d gone hiking and camping with Red.
“Yes, they’re worth a lot of money,” Beth answered.
