Resolutions – Part 2

Chapter 11

Lisa anxiously followed closely behind the EMT's as they wheeled Jack toward the Emergency Room examination area. A mixture of fear and despair was imprinted across her face as she tried to avoid thinking the worse.

I know they said the bullet went clean through but he's not a young man anymore. Please be alright Jack; I want a lot more years of us together.

"Hello, are you Mr. Bartlett's wife? I'm Doctor Bruce."

"Yes I am; Lisa Stillman. Is Jack going to be alright?"

"We don't know anything with certainty yet Ms. Stillman but I don't believe your husbands injury is life threatening. I need to determine however the extent of your husband's injury before I'll know for sure. I want to caution you though; injuries like the one your husband has suffered can result in several of potential problems. "

"What exactly does that mean doctor?"

"I'm not going to lie to you Ms. Stillman. A gunshot wound like the one your husband has suffered can cause any number of problems. There may be soft tissue damage, which is damage to surrounding muscles, ligaments or cartilage. There may be damage to his shoulder joint or perhaps even a fracture. I need to determine if there are any bullet fragments in the area. Also, wounds of this nature can often result in nerve damage. But perhaps most importantly, I need to assess if the bullet ruptured or nicked the brachial artery resulting in internal bleeding."

"Before I can determine the course of action to treat and hopefully repair any damage, I need to diagnose exactly what we're dealing with. Our first steps will be to take an x-ray and likely an MRI to determine the extent of the damage."

Not realizing she had held her breath during the doctor's explanation, Lisa slowly exhaled. As she did, the steely resolve she had maintained over the last several hours also seemed to retreat from her like air escaping a loosely tied balloon.

Only a short time prior, she had:

…seen her husband brutally shot by an unknown gunman intent on ending Jack's life;

…resisted the overwhelming urge to rush to her wounded husband's side but instead, faced down the gunman before he could turn his weapon on Tim;

…without hesitation, shot and killed the same gunman responsible for the unprovoked attack as he turned his rifle toward her;

…watched as Jack's life-blood oozed out on to the ground, not knowing how bad he might be hurt;

…willed herself to ignore the obvious pain her husband was enduring in order to focus on getting him to the road where an ambulance could transport him to the hospital.

The adrenaline surge that helped sustain her through these traumatic events had now recoiled leaving her shaken, weakened and emotionally brittle. Taking in all that had happened including the uncertainty of Jack's condition, Lisa began to shake as uncontrollably as tears emerged and began to slither down her face.

Noticing Lisa's state, Tim tenderly put his arm around Lisa and guided her to a seat.

"Easy Lisa, easy; just try to relax. Jack's going to be alright."

"I'm trying Tim but I almost lost him a few years ago to the heart attack; I can't lose him now!"

"You won't; Jack's a tough old buzzard and he's not going to let a gunshot to the shoulder be the end of him."

"I know it's only a shot to the shoulder but a lot of things can go wrong at his age."

"For a normal person, yes; but Jack's no normal person. He's the toughest cowboy I've ever known. He's also the happiest he's been since Lindy died. And that's because of you Lisa."

Trekking through the brush and trees on the 30 minute hike back to the stolen vehicle they had hidden, Helen began to contemplate her situation.

Jonas is dead….but who shot him? How could he have allowed himself to be hit? With him no longer here to help me, I may need to revise my plans.

Cullen said he found blood on the ground away from Jonas' body so another person must have been hit too. The first shot must have been Jonas'. He must have hit one of them before he was shot.

Who? Fleming or Bartlett? With any luck, one of them is badly injured or also dead by now. Bastards! You will pay for this…and everything else.

Is there anything that can be traced back to me?

Could Jonas have left anything in the woods that could tie him to me? No, he's was too smart and careful for that. He's always been careful.

What if the police are able to somehow link him to the ranch and come to me asking me questions? I'll tell them he must have been rustling cattle without my knowledge; was caught and shot. I can make that story stick. I've always been able to outsmart the police; I can do it again.

There's no proof of my involvement in anything! Nothing can be tied back to me!

Nothing except for…these two; Cullen and Kurt. Can I trust them to not talk? They haven't been with me that long. If they were to talk, I'd be arrested and all my plans would fall apart.

Can I take that risk?

Loose ends; these two are loose ends and a threat to me and what happened here….

Helen surgically turned her gaze to the two unsuspecting men walking several strides in front of her. Without further thought or hesitation, she calmly reached into her jacket, withdrew her Smith & Wesson M&P22 Compact suppressor fitted pistol and shot Cullen in the back of the head. Before Kurt realized what had happened, Helen rotated her pistol slightly to the right and phit; repeated the action with Kurt.

Pausing momentarily to view the bodies lying face down on the forest floor, their blood pooling around them; Helen put two more bullets in each of the doomed men.

Needed to be sure…

Returning the gun to her jacket pocket, the emotionally barren, sociopath casually stepped around her now dead ranch hands as one would a cow pie before walking the remaining distance to her vehicle.

No loose ends now….

Impatiently pacing the floor awaiting word on Jack, Lisa was startled by the vibrating of her phone.

Bob Kearney

Harnessing her resolve once again, Lisa answered, "Bob; have you found out anything more?"

"Hi Lisa; well, I was able to uncover some additional information on the sister's late husband. Do you remember what I said when we last spoke about him not seeming to exist prior to 2014?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Well, as I thought about it further, it hit me that he could have changed his name and sure enough, that's what he did. He legally changed his name to Jordan Hewitt in January, 2014."

"What was his name before then?"

"Jeremy Hughes."

Jeremy Hughes…Jeremy Hughes, where have I heard that name?

"Lisa, are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm still… JEREMY HUGHES, Lisa shouted."

"You know him?"

"Know of him. A few years back, Amy and Ty; mostly Ty had a pretty serious run-in with him. I don't know all the details, but he killed his own jumping horse in order to collect insurance money but was able to pin the blame on Ty. Ty even lost his job over the incident because Hughes was going to sue the Vet Clinic where Ty worked. Amy stood by him, but things got pretty bad for Ty before he was able to uncover the truth about Hughes - that he actually killed his own horse. The police tried to arrest him but he skipped town ahead of them. Until now, no one knew what had happened to him."

"That clearly answers some of our questions. Do you think it's possible that somehow Helen Maxwell holds Amy and Ty responsible for her husband's death?"

"With all the other incriminating information you've dug up on her, we can't dismiss that possibility Bob. In fact, I think it's likely. It also makes me wonder about the circumstances surrounding the death of Amy's horse Spartan."

"I need to think on this for a while; great work Bob; thanks."

"Always ready to help you Lisa. Call me if you need anything else and please be careful."

Straying from her normal practice whenever she drove alone, Amy kept the radio silent the entire return trip home from seeing Ty in order to reflect on their conversation. The reunion she had hoped for hadn't materialized, but in its place were the scattered pieces of her life that she at least for now, lacked the ability to fit back together.

In her heart, she knew there was a degree of truth in Ty's words. The introspective time spent on the long ride home was beginning to expose certain things she had never bothered to care about or consider. As she eased down the gravely, dirt road leading to the entrance to Heartland, Amy knew she had come to a crossroad her life.

I need to think through everything Ty said and give him honest answers to his questions; no matter what they are.

Then…..I'm going to win him back.

Rising to her feet after stepping out of the truck she'd parked in front of the barn, Amy stretched her knotted muscles cramped from the ride back to Heartland. Reaching for her bag, her attention was suddenly diverted to the sound of a vehicle tracing her path on the road to Heartland.

Recognizing Davis Maxwell's truck, Amy's irritation was instantly triggered.

"Amy," Maxwell happily cried stepping out of his truck and quickly making his way to Amy. As he reached to embrace her, Amy abruptly raised her hand.

"Davis stop!"

To be continued

A/N: Apologies for the delay in getting out this chapter but I decided to take a break over the holidays. I hope I haven't offended anyone with some of the brutality in this chapter and the last, but that's how the words flowed in my head and I decided to write that way.

Seeing I've triggered some conflicting views on the y story gives me a certain amount of satisfaction. I set out with this story to write something different, darker and maybe even a little disturbing. Hopefully, I'm accomplishing some of that.

As always, I eagerly await your comments.