A few minutes later she heard the sirens wailing in the distance, but she heard the front door swing open. “Ness?” Wyatt screamed. “In the bathroom upstairs!” she shouted back.
Wyatt burst through the door and started sobbing as he fell to the ground and started cradling Lindsay. He couldn’t speak through his weeping and just held her close to him.
“The ambulance is coming, Wyatt,” Ness said and ran downstairs to flag them down.
22
They all sat quietly in the hospital waiting room. Heck had made it to the hospital a few hours after Lindsay was initially brought in and still looked like he was in a state of shock. All three of the Elliott’s weren’t in the mood to talk and had been sitting quietly for a long period of time.
“I’m sorry,” Heck said, eventually.
“Why are you apologizing, Dad?” Ness frowned as she asked the question.
“There’s no reason why this maniac should have chosen to target our family; unless, of course, he’s targeting us because I’m the sheriff,” Heck wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and then blew his nose into one of the tissues from the tables next to him.
“Dad, it’s not your fault, it’s—” Ness was interrupted.
“It’s out of our control. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. There’s no reason why, it’s just the type of world that we live in,” Wyatt said, looking at Ness and gently shaking his head, silently telling her to keep quiet.
Heck nodded and looked at his feet.
“Did they find any indication of who may have done this, Dad?” Wyatt asked.
“They’re not entirely sure, but they’re almost certain that it was the work of the En Passant Killer,” Heck had to choke back his tears. “They found a white rook on the coffee table in the cabin.”
“That’s a powerful piece to leave behind,” Wyatt said.
“Yes, it’s the first rook and the most powerful piece that En Passant has left at any of his crime scenes. Maybe he believed that he was a powerful adversary, but then again, I’m not sure what’s going in that sicko’s mind,” Heck said and stood up to pour a cup of water from the dispenser.
The doctor walked out toward the trio, and they all stood and listened to what he had to say.
“I take it you’re Lindsay’s husband,” The doctor said to Wyatt. “Yes.” Wyatt answered quickly.
“Your wife has just come out of surgery and she is stable, but the injuries that were inflicted to her face and neck will need to undergo some cosmetic surgeries in the future. Fortunately, most of the cuts were only superficial, and no major blood vessels were damaged.”
“As long as she’s alright,” Wyatt’s eyes welled up with tears.
“She’s going to be fine, Mr. Elliott,” The doctor smiled and shook Wyatt’s hand.
“Thank you. Would it be alright if we go and see her?” Wyatt asked eagerly.
“Of course. Just keep it brief, she’ll still be groggy from the anesthesia, and she needs to rest. She’s in room 17 just down the hall,” the doctor said, moving back through the restricted access section of the hospital.
Wyatt walked hastily toward room 17 and saw Lindsay lying asleep in the bed. He walked forward and gently kissed her head. “Hey, honey,” he whispered. “Hey . . . what happened?” Lindsay asked as she tried to move but then winced in pain.
“We’ll talk about that later, but right now, it’s probably best if you go back to sleep,” Wyatt touched her hair gently. “Okay,” Lindsay mumbled and fell asleep again.
“Dad, we need to get a few officers in here for 24-hour surveillance. The bastard may come back and try and finish what he started,” Wyatt said quietly.
“You got it,” Heck pulled out his phone and started making some calls.
“What’s our next move, Ness?” Wyatt asked, stepping forward.
“What do you mean ‘our next move?’ You’re staying right here with Lindsay,” Ness argued.
“No, Ness. This monster killed our grandfather and tried to kill my wife. I want to end him just as much as you do. Besides, going against this guy alone will be practically suicidal. By the way, how did it go in Chicago? Did you get what you needed?”
Ness nodded. “And then I burned his house and his bar down.”
“Well, that’s certainly going to piss him off,” Wyatt commented.
“I’m counting on it,” Ness said, walking to the window.
“Why?” Wyatt asked.
“Because if he's angry, he’s going to make a mistake, and now he hasn’t got a place to run to. By burning his hiding places down, I’m forcing him to make a move prematurely. And, just like in chess, premature moves often lead to blunders.”
Wyatt nodded at Ness’ statement.
“And, I think the police are going to be very interested to find what he’s hiding in one of his freezers at the bar.”
“What was he hiding?” Wyatt seemed very intrigued.
“There were multiple body parts from multiple victims. He probably didn’t have time to dispose of them yet, and now the police are going to be investigating what caused the fire in the bar. It’s only a matter of time until they stumble across that nasty surprise.”
Ness had an evil grin across her face.
“You’re disturbingly efficient at this,” Wyatt said quietly.
“Well, En Passant wanted a worthy adversary. Now he’s got one,” Ness sat down on one of the chairs in the room.
“So, what do we do now?” Wyatt asked.
“Now we wait for him to call.”
“What if he doesn’t?” Wyatt crossed his arms.
“I’ve just burned down large portions of his life. He’s going to be mad: he’ll call.”
“But . . .” Wyatt was interrupted.Ness lifted her phone and
