Chapter 5
Tara was scribbling out a prescription for some pain medication while Chibs got Adelaide Watson settled into a bed. He quickly placed a pack of ice in each of her armpits, underneath her back and neck. Then hesitating for a second, but knowing what he had to do to help the woman, he hurriedly placed another one at the juncture of her thighs. Then he covered the woman lightly with a dampened sheet to aid in keeping her cool. He finished by aiming a fan at her and turning it on the high setting.
Adelaide whimpered lightly, and her head shifted on the pillow. "Mmm…Cold…" she murmured incoherently in her sleep.
"I know," Chibs told her softly. "Just hang in there. We're gonna get you well." He touched her forehead lightly, and looked over at Tara across the room. "She seems to be staying cool so far."
Tara nodded. "Be sure and keep a check on her actual temperature though. Every twenty minutes. If it approaches 104, get her back in an ice bath."
"I will," Chibs replied slowly, watching intently as she wrote on her prescription pad.
"What is it," she asked, seeing the concern on his face.
"Maybe you shouldn't write her a prescription after all," Chibs stated, obviously thinking it over. "If someone truly is looking for her—someone she's obviously afraid of, a scrip would leave a paper trail."
"Well what else can I do," Tara asked, a frown crossing her face. "When she wakes up she'll be in pain. She's going to need something."
"Write it out for me," Chibs suggested. "That way, she'll have access to the pills, but they'll be in my name so it won't help anyone find her."
Her hazel gaze stared him down for a moment, deep in thought. "Why are you doing this," she asked. "I mean, you're asking me to break the law in writing a false prescription, all for a woman you don't even know."
Chibs shrugged, at a loss for words. "I don't know, really. I just…"
"Does this have anything to do with Fiona's death?"
Chibs' dark eyes shot to hers in an instant. "No. Why would it?"
"Well, Chibs, it doesn't take a shrink to see the possible connection. You feel guilt because you couldn't save her from Jimmy O' Phelan before you were able to kill him. Maybe you're trying to make up for that somehow..."
He shook his head. "No. I cared about Fi, and it kills me that I couldn't save her. But it's got nothin' to do with this woman," he indicated Adelaide with a slight nod of his head in her direction. "I just want to help her get well. She's a scared, defenseless woman who's running for her life. She needs our help."
Tara stared at him skeptically for a moment but finally nodded. "Okay." She ripped up the slip of paper she'd been writing on and started a new one. She wrote on a another one and then handed them both to him. "I wrote one for hydrocodone, and I also wrote one for some 800 milligram Ibuprofen. If her pain begins to subside, try to wean her off the hydrocodone and give her the Ibuprofen instead."
Chibs nodded and pocketed the prescriptions. "Thanks, Doc."
"You're welcome. Now, I've got to get back and finish my shift, but I'll drop by afterward to see how she's doing. Call me in an emergency. Oh, and I left a syringe with another dose of Phenobarbital should she start convulsing again."
Tig and Quinn entered the dorm as Tara left and spoke softly, so as not to disturb Adelaide's sleep. "We got her car towed back here," Quinn reported. He handed over a suitcase. "This was inside. I figured she'd need it."
"Yeah, thanks," Chibs said, setting the suitcase in the floor at the foot of the bed.
"How's she doing," Tig asked, his vivid blue eyes reflecting his concern.
"I guess she's okay, for right now," Chibs answered, sitting down in a chair beside Adelaide's bed. "She only came out of the ice bath a few minutes ago but, so far, her temperature seems to be staying cooled down."
"That's great," Tig replied. "Maybe she'll be good as new soon."
"How's your hand," Chibs asked, fighting off the urge to chuckle.
"It's okay," Tig said, lifting his bitten hand to show off the gauze bandaging. "It wasn't as bad as it looked. Why I'm the one to always get bitten, I'll never know," he laughed. "But, at least this time it wasn't on my-"
"Please…"
They all turned to Adelaide, whose head shifted restlessly back and forth against her pillow.
"Please… don't…"
"I wonder who she's so scared of," Tig asked.
"I don't know," Chibs answered. "But judging from all those bruises, she has reason to be scared. I'll find out who it is, as soon as I can."
"Well, Tig, let's go finish these repos," Quinn said. "Then we need to figure out what her car is gonna need toward repairing."
"Yeah, yeah," Tig grumbled as they exited the dorm. "Just a regular busy day."
Chibs chuckled and shook his head at the two men's grumblings when Adelaide caught his attention again.
"Please… Someone… H-help me…"
She became more restless and her hand twitched and formed a fist.
"Shhh," Chibs shushed her gently and brushed his finger down her cheek in a soothing gesture. "Nobody's gonna hurt ya now," he whispered. "You're safe."
"No…" she whimpered. "Never… Safe again…"
The corner of Chibs' mouth twitched as if to fight off a smile. The woman obviously has no idea who she's stumbled upon, he thought. Between him and the rest of the club members, the woman was as safe as she could get. She may not realize it, but she lucked out when Chibs and Tig found her.
Instinctively, he took her small hand in his own and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I promise you, lass," he drawled. "We won't let anyone hurt ya."
He started to pull his hand out of hers so he could call his daughter, Karianne and inform her that he'd be staying in a dorm for the night. To his surprise, Adelaide's fingers curled around his and held his hand in place. She whimpered softly in protest to his leaving.
Surprised, Chibs settled back in his seat a few minutes more, and took a moment to look his fill of her.
In spite of the bruises marring her pale skin, the woman was stunning. Her long, dark wavy hair was currently in a loose braid that draped over her shoulder. Though her eyes were closed in sleep, he recalled the icy shade of blue that stood out drastically against the long black lashes that fringed them. Chibs' gaze moved to her mouth and he couldn't help but visually feast on the full lips. They were devoid of any artificial color and at the moment were unusually pale. But he had no doubt that in good health, they would be pink and soft and begging to be kissed.
He instantly shook his head and tried to clear his mind of the thought. What the-, he asked himself. Only an hour ago the woman was at death's door and here I am drooling over her like some pre-teen lad.
Frustrated with himself, he pulled out his cell phone to call Karianne.
00000000
Furious, Liam Walker paced back and forth in what used to be Adelaide's bedroom, looking for clues as to where she might have gone.
"How could Laidey do this to me," he growled to himself. "I took good care of her and all I asked in return was that she do what I say. I loved her. I'd even been willing to abide by her silly no-sex rule." He sat down on the edge of her bed and stewed some more.
Till she decided to taunt me with it, he justified in his twisted mind. And then to assault me and leave me for dead, like the little coward she is, he raged. She'll pay. I'll find her. And then I'm going to finish what I started, he vowed, feeling the searing frustration of his unmet needs. He'd fallen unconscious before his pleasure had even plateaued. And then she really will die.
Feeling fueled to start his search, he grabbed her cell phone off her night table and began going through her contacts to get in touch with. He dialed the first one on the list and made his voice sound shaky with emotion.
A second later, an elderly woman's voice answered with a soft, "Hello?"
"Hello, Abbie—Abbie Simpson? This is Liam Walker, Adelaide Watson's boyfriend. I was going through Laidey's contact list on her phone and came across your number. I was wondering… If you've," he paused for effect, and then bit back a fake sob for sympathy. "I was wondering if you have seen her. She's missing and I can't find her anywhere." He listened as the woman spoke kindly to him.
"Why no, I've not seen her in ages, dear. She quit coming to my church a couple years ago."
Quickly, Liam's politeness dwindled. "You have no idea where she is then?"
"No, I'm sorry, I don't-"
Liam hung up without saying goodbye before the woman could finish her sentence. Then he was on to his next contact.
Angela McSands. Laidey's best friend, he thought. And idea struck him then on how to trick some information out of her. Or at the very least, find out how much she knew about his and Laidey's relationship. If she knew too much, she'd have to be disposed of.
Moments later, he dialed her from his burner so she wouldn't recognize the phone number and waited till she answered.
"Hello?"
"Am I speaking with Angela McSands," Liam asked, disguising his voice slightly.
"Yes, this is she," came the cautious reply. "Who's calling?"
"This is Detective Jacobs with Nashville P.D. I received a missing persons report on a…" He paused as if reading from the faux report. "An Adelaide Watson. It says she's been missing for about two days. Do you know anything about that?"
"No," came the immediate, surprised reply. "But… I don't understand. How did you get my number?"
"We took a number of items as evidence—one being Ms. Watson's cell phone. She left it behind, and we went through the contacts to see if anyone knows of her whereabouts. Her boyfriend stated you were her best friend, so that's why I've called you. You don't have any idea where Ms. Watson would be?"
"N-no," Angela said again. "I-I I mean, I saw her on Sunday evening. But after our visit, I have no idea where she went. I assumed back to her house."
She's good, Liam thought, impressed with the woman's ability to lie on the spur of the moment. There's no way Laidey didn't tell her about what happened between us. Angela's almost as good a liar as me, he grinned. To test his theory he took the questioning in another direction.
"Sunday…So you saw her the day she disappeared. You're probably the last person to have seen her. Did she seem okay when you saw her," he asked. "Did she seem worried or scared or anything like that? Or had she mentioned an altercation of any kind?"
"No, not at all," Angela answered. "We just had dinner together and chatted for a while. She was in a really good mood and didn't seem troubled in any way."
Bingo, Liam thought. She didn't have dinner with Laidey on Sunday, I did. And Laidey most certainly wasn't in a good mood either. "Okay," he tried to sound as if he was taking notes. "And how did she appear? Did she look nervous or scared? Was she disheveled or anything?"
"No," replied Angela, beginning to sound slightly irritated. "I've told you, she seemed absolutely fine."
Wrong again, Liam thought triumphantly. "That's alright, Ms. McSands. I'm just trying to decipher if she disappeared of her own free will, or if she met with some possible foul play."
"Well, seeing as she is like my sister, she would've told me if something was wrong. Now, if you don't have any more questions, I really need to get back to my work. I have a ton of papers to finish grading."
With that, Liam heard the line click and then there was only silence.
"And I have all the answers I need," he thought out loud, with a devious grin. His green eyes glinted maliciously. "I think I'll pay you a visit very soon, Ms. McSands."
