Bland left him with only his boxers. She wanted to rub the black and blue away, but her hands shook with terror of the unknown.
She leaned her face to Wyatt’s and rubbed his hair and his cheeks. “Oh god, Wyatt! I’m so sorry.” Charley kissed his forehead.
“Ma’am? We’ve got to get him to the hospital.” The EMT signaled to lift, and the two of them did, flanked by two of the three agents.
Charley stood, stunned, fixed to her spot as they exited through the open door.
A third agent turned to her. “Charley Randall?” He tucked a pad of paper into his pocket.
She nodded, though tears fell with free abandon.
“I’m Agent Timms.” He held out a hand, but Charley couldn’t pull hers up to shake it. “Your team did a fantastic job tonight. They’ve secured your abductors and-”
He rambled on while Wyatt disappeared, head first inside the ambulance. The EMTs moved in slow motion. The lights swirled around, hypnotizing Charley.
“We’ll take the four into custody, and they’ll be charged-”
Charley did not register his recitation of their intentions.
“He’ll be fine, ma’am,” Agent Timms finished, and Charley turned toward him.
“You don’t know that.” Her tears burned as they ran down her cheeks. “And someone is going to have to answer to me.”
She stalked back into the house. Two officers held both of Julie’s sisters in handcuffs as they pushed them forward and out the door. Detective Bland stood in the hallway, one officer and James on either side of him, his hands cuffed behind his back.
Bland grinned.
“Keep those cuffs extremely tight. It won’t hurt,” she said to one officer. James may have already told him, but Charley wanted to be sure. “It’s the only way to prevent him from getting out of them. Apply pressure here.” She pointed to her own wrists. The officer’s eyes grew wide, but he moved to tighten the cuffs further.
Charley stepped right into Bland’s face. “Got anything to say for yourself, given you are a law enforcement professional?”
His cocky stance added to her fury. “Nope. I know my Miranda rights.”
“Good answer.” Charley swung with all her energy from the right.
Her fist connected with his nose just as she’d intended. Blood spurted as he fell to his knees, and the officer behind him let go. Bland’s face smacked into the floor with a thud.
“Whoops,” James said with a grin. “Guess he slipped.”
As they picked him up, Charley let a devil of a smile loose. “You’re a sorry excuse for a police officer and one of our kind.”
He spit blood at the floor. “Me?” Blood oozed from his nose as he shook his head and stood again. “It’s you guys that are the freaks, living together up there on that hill.”
Charley turned away from him.
She marched back through the house, made as much noise as she could as her feet pounded on the floor. At the door, she met another officer, but he stepped aside as Charley arrived.
Maggie nodded her head, dressed again in her jeans and T-shirt. “Princess there doesn’t want to get down. She’s afraid of wee little mice.” Maggie snickered as she stood inside the office, thumbs tucked in her pockets. “Someone’s got to get her. Shall I turn into a bird?” Maggie laughed.
“Not necessary.” Charley stepped into one of the unused guest chairs. That gave her a foot to Julie’s three on the desk. “You can either come down, or I will bring you down myself. And I’ll be just as nice to you as Bland was to Lily and me.”
“I had Barney Fife out there wait for you.” Maggie nodded toward Charley.
Julie turned her chin over her shoulder. “I’ll go with an officer of my choice.”
“Okay,” Charley said. “Officer? Would you please come and arrest this woman?”
He stepped into the room. “C’mon down ma’am, I’ll see to it that you’re taken care of.” He waved her down.
Julie stepped across the desk, to its edge, and hopped down.
Charley did the same off the chair. When Julie moved, Charley moved. As Julie got closer to the officer, Charley blocked her path.
“Did you really think it would be that easy?” Charley asked.
“Yes, because my husband is a Detective, and he’ll have it all taken care of.”
“Not this time.” Charley shook her head. “I hope you like orange because that’s about all you’ll be wearing. You know? It won’t be pretty enough attire for my and Wyatt’s wedding. Shame, but I’ll be sure to send you an announcement. Might even send a piece of cake, though the guards will probably eat it themselves to make sure I didn’t slip a shiv in it. You know what the best part of this is? In a few hours, I’ll have Wyatt and I’ll remember everything you’ve done.”
“What?” Julie’s bug-eyed response meant Bland hadn’t quite explained the entire process-the ‘what if Julie failed’ part.
“Yup, and I’ll be sure to attend every one of your parole hearings.” Charley turned away from Julie. “Let’s go, Maggie. I need to be with Wyatt.”
On the ride in, Charley barraged Maggie with questions on how they’d found them and filled Maggie in on what she’d learned. Everyone owed Wyatt more than the money they’d bet against him.
It’d taken four years, but Julie snagged Detective Bland in Florida. She’d planned to kidnap Charley, but her sisters botched the job and took Sophie instead. It had taken them the entire week to come up with an answer on using Chase. When he got away, they had to come up with yet another. Charley and Wyatt’s reunion had turned into the perfect solution.
Julie’s sisters had copped to the entire plan, right down to the small details, errors, even Julie and Bland. Maggie had guessed right with her second theory that no one wanted to listen to: Bland had mimicked Wyatt.
It had been Detective Bland’s decision to drug and beat Wyatt senseless-Julie’s ultimate plan had been to force Charley to shift on her birthday and thus forget Wyatt before they had a chance to reconnect.
After more than thirty minutes, Maggie pulled up to the Emergency Room entrance. The doors slid open as Charley ran into their line of sight. She slammed her arm into one as she rushed through faster than it responded. The sting didn’t come close to the pain in her heart.
She slid on the slick surface of the ER floor as she ran from the doors to the reception desk. “I’m looking for Wyatt Moreland and Lily Crane.” Charley’s chest heaved as she breathed too fast, her mind whirling with everything that had happened.
A mature receptionist, ‘Terri’ by her name tag, had probably gotten used to the crazy family members who rushed to the side of their loved ones. “Take a breather there, honey.” She peered at the computer over her reading glasses. “Now, have they been admitted?”
“I don’t know.” With a little more force than necessary, Charley’s hands clenched the edge of the counter.
“Moreland,” Terri said. “Moreland.”
Before Terri could locate Wyatt’s status, James peeked through doors marked ‘Authorized Personnel Only’. Charley whipped out a quick “thank you” to Terri and jogged to him.
“Where is he? Where is Wyatt?” She hung on James’s shirt.
James took her wrist. “He’s back here with Lily.” He pulled Charley through the double-door entrance.
Curtains and closed doors lined the hallway as doctors in white coats and nurses in colorful uniforms walked in and out, between and around the rooms. Lab technicians pushed carts and walked with brisk purpose. James pulled her to the fourth room. As he reached it, he turned to look at her but didn’t say anything and opened the door to let her pass before him.
The occupants lay concealed behind curtains. “We got them in the same room.” James smiled at Charley as she turned toward his voice.
Charley pulled back the first curtain by a few inches. Lily lay in the bed, curled up under starched white sheets
