Page 82 of Deputy Brand Gets Her Man
“That’s ridiculous.” The two mothers stopped pretending not to listen in and came closer. Sophia said, “We’d certainly know if our daughter was suing anyone.”
Juanita added, “She didn’t even know de Lorean was her birth father until I told her last night. She was shocked and shaken by the news, even angry that I’d kept it from her. She could not fake those things, not and fool me.”
Jeremiah decided maybe silence wasn’t the best option all the time after all. He said, “My lawyer did tell me someone was contesting the will. They were anonymous and I just let him handle it. He’ll verify that.”
“The lawsuit is filed in her name,” cop number two said. “Elena Montrose.”
“Well, who else could sue on behalf of Elena?” Sophia asked.
And just then, Elena’s dad and her husband came from her room and looked around at them as everyone stopped speaking.
Willow gripped the first officer’s arm and spoke low, and close to his ear. “The Montroses had a brick thrown through their window. The husband, the only one on the scene, identified Jeremiah’s Jeep in the area when I know for a fact he was with me. I’d love to compare his voice with those anonymous tips.”
She said, turning to look at Richard Montrose as he stood in the hospital corridor. The cops looked at him, too, and he shifted his feet, and rubbed his forearm like it itched. His wife’s room was behind him.
“If he did this,” she said, for the rangers’ ears alone, “he nearly killed his wife, and he nearly killed me.” She reached for her handcuffs, and realized she wasn’t in uniform, so she yanked a pair from the nearest officer and strode toward Montrose. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
He turned around, all right, took off running. The two rangers looked at her, and she said, “Well? Go get him! Notify us when you do. Here.” She handed back the handcuffs, and the Rangers took off after the son of a gun.
“What in the world is going on?” Juanita asked. “What did Richard do?”
Everyone was lookin’ at Willow, like she had all he answers. She said, “I haven’t worked it all out yet—but I’m afraid he tried to kill Elena.”
Sophia pressed a hand to her chest, and her husband put his arm around her.
Juanita looked instantly furious, but she turned to Jeremiah and Ethan. “You should go see her now. I told her you were coming, and they gave her a shot for sleep, so hurry. But tell her none of this. Not yet.”
“No, she’s right,” Sophia said. “Let her have a night to heal. None of this makes sense now.”
Jeremiah and Ethan exchanged a look. Willow could see clearly that Jeremiah didn’t believe for a second that his half-sister hadn’t been involved in contesting the will. But they both nodded in agreement, then walked down the hall with Juanita, two feet shorter, walking in between them to the correct closed door.
Chapter Fourteen
Jeremiah stepped through the door first. Ethan came in right behind. He was struck by the big brown eyes of the woman in the hospital bed. She gazed at him from within a mass of wavy brown hair and skin the color of almonds. She looked past him, and he remembered Ethan and moved in further to make room for his brother to enter.
She wasn’t smiling, exactly. She looked nervous and sleepy. Even in the state she was in, injured and traumatized, she was pretty. Her brown eyes reminded him of Ethan’s.
She said, “They tell me you two big Texans are my brothers.”
“Seems like,” Ethan said.
Jeremiah couldn’t find words, and when he did, they were dumb. “Are you okay?” Of course she wasn’t okay, she was laying there in a hospital bed.
But not near death. Not even close, from what he could tell, though she might have inside damage, he supposed.
“I think I’m gonna be fine. They can’t keep anything from me, I’m a doctor.”
Ethan elbowed Jeremiah. “Our sister’s a doctor.”
“We get no credit for that, brother.” Jeremiah went closer to the bed, and Ethan came with him, standing beside him. “I’m Ethan,” he said.
“Jeremiah.”
“I’m Elena. I want to get to know you. I want you to sit down and tell me everything about yourselves. But I’m afraid I can’t keep my eyes open much longer. If I drift off, it’s not because you’re boring me.”
“My wife Lily says gettin’ hurt bad like this takes the vigor right outta you,” Ethan said. “She’s an R.N.”
Jeremiah hitched his chin at him. “This guy just likes saying the words ‘my wife, Lily.’”
