“It’s not surprising,” Ida Belle said. “He probably cut out as soon as he figured the police were coming.”
I nodded. “Yeah, probably so. First thing tomorrow, we need to come back here and see if we can run him down. In this, we have the advantage of not being the police. He might actually talk to us.”
Chapter Four
I could hear Carter’s voice when I took the first step in the lobby, and he wasn’t happy. I said a quick prayer for the ER doctor that he was really on his game and spotted Walter, sitting in the corner of the room. Gertie, Ida Belle, and I headed over and I nodded toward the double doors to the ER where the loud talking was going on.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Car wreck up the highway,” Walter said. “The ER doctor is slammed with the four teens who were in the car. Carter’s unhappy that the on-call lives thirty minutes away and is insisting someone look at Emmaline now. He wants them to pull an attending from another ward. If they don’t do it, he might burn the place down. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this upset. Not since his dad died. Not that I blame him.”
“How are you doing?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I’m worried. That’s my baby sister. Hell, I’m old enough to be her father, and sometimes feel like I am. If something happens to her, I’m not sure what I’ll do. What any of us will do.”
Ida Belle and Gertie took seats on each side of him and Ida Belle took his hand in hers. The shouting in the hallway got louder.
“If I’m ever in the hospital, I want Carter as my advocate,” Gertie said.
“The only time you’re in the hospital is when we’re doing crap we can’t tell Carter about,” I said.
“Valid,” Gertie said.
“I’m afraid they’re not doing enough or quick enough for him,” Walter said. “And to be honest, I’ve not been overly impressed myself. They seem to think that because she’s stable and the bleeding stopping that it’s okay for her to languish on that bed like a turkey up for the frying.”
“Did he tell them he was a deputy and that’s his mother?” Gertie asked.
“They know who he is, and they darn sure know she’s his mother,” Walter said. “He’s been announcing it since he came in the door. But it doesn’t seem to be making them move any faster.”
“Let me try.” I headed for the doors.
I pushed the doors open and walked right into the middle of Carter and the two nurses he was arguing with.
“Hello,” I said to the nurses. “I’m his fiancé, and a close personal friend to Big Hebert. If he needs to call in some favors and get this hospital the assistance it needs to treat emergency patients, I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to do so. Especially as this is the hospital he would have to use if he had an emergency.”
The word deputy might not have made them move, but the name Big Hebert had them apologizing for their oversight, then one scrambled for the phone while the other claimed she would go personally to drag a doctor out of another ward. Carter’s jaw dropped and he shook his head.
“Unbelievable,” he said. “They couldn’t care less about my being a deputy, but you throw out Big Hebert as a friend and they move like God just burned a bush.”
“You use what you’ve got,” I said. “And don’t think for a minute it was an empty threat. I have no problem calling in a favor.”
Carter wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in close. “I know you don’t. You’ll do anything to protect the people you care about, which is one of the many reasons I love you and am exasperated by you. And selfishly speaking, I wouldn’t have stopped you from calling if it came to that, even though I don’t necessarily approve of the source.”
“It’s Emmaline,” I said. “She’s going to be okay. She’s stabilized now and since the cut stopped bleeding, everything will be fine.”
“Then why hasn’t she regained consciousness?”
“She will.” I said a silent prayer.
Because Carter was right. The fact that Emmaline was still unconscious was the one bad thing.
One very bad thing.
“I have something to tell you,” I said. “Emmaline wasn’t the only victim.”
Carter released me and backed up, still clutching my arms. “What?”
“I realized my wallet was gone after you left, and when I went back inside to retrieve it, I found a body. He was well beyond help.”
“You lost your wallet?”
“That’s the story I’m going with when I have to give my statement.”
He sighed. “You knew I wouldn’t leave if I knew there was another victim.”
“It might have crossed my mind.”
“Well, you’re right, so I’m not going to argue. Who was it?”
I nodded. “No ID on him but according to Ida Belle and Gertie, it was Rupert St. Ives. Do you know him?”
“Good Lord, everyone with hearing probably remembers St. Ives. He gave Celia a run for her money on being the biggest pain in the butt in town. I didn’t know he was back.”
“Ida Belle and Gertie didn’t either.”
“I don’t suppose you got an idea of cause.” He shook his head. “What am I saying? Of course you did.”
I pulled out my phone and went through the photos. “The stab wound is rather obvious. Even with the blood and the clothes, you can still see the edges. It wasn’t a bullet—no exit wound in front and we would have heard it anyway. And whoever did it knew what they were doing. I’d bet money he hit the thoracic aorta.”
“Maybe he got lucky?”
“I’m not a big believer in beginner’s luck when committing a murder. He bled out quickly. If there would have been any question of saving him, I would have said something when the paramedics were there.”
“I know. So someone followed St. Ives into the funhouse and stabbed him, then managed to escape.”
“Seems like. And my guess is Emmaline was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when our stabber was trying to get away.”
Carter blew out a breath. “I wonder if she saw the guy who killed St. Ives?”
“I don’t know, but I think you need to proceed as if she did.”
He nodded. “Which means I need full-time security detail on her until she regains consciousness. I’ll call in some backup. Hell, I’ll hire someone if I have to.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be as big a problem as you think.”
“I don’t understand.”
“My guess is you’re about to have some free time, at least as far as this case is concerned.”
Carter stared at me for a moment, then cursed. “I’m not going to let someone else handle this.”
“I don’t think you have a choice. You can’t investigate a murder when your mother is also one of the victims.”
“You should listen to your little friend,” a man’s voice sounded behind us.
I turned around and got a look at the guy who went with the voice.