had been there for almost two hours, and the doctor had yet to come out and speak to them. There had been no word on their mother’s whereabouts and nothing concrete from the investigation itself.
Savannah wished she had somebody’s hand to hold or that she could generate the kind of anger that seemed to be sustaining Clay. Instead she was left with a disquieting numbness.
They weren’t alone in the waiting room. Saturday nights always brought an influx of people to the emergency room in the only hospital in town.
As Dr. Miles Watkins, their family physician, came into the room they converged on him like a single unit. He held up his hands to still their barrage of questions. “I don’t have a lot to tell you,” he said when they all fell quiet.
“Your father has suffered massive trauma to the back of his head. We can’t be sure of the extent of any brain damage at the moment. Our main concern has been to stabilize him. At the moment his vital signs are fair, but he’s currently in a coma. I’ve called in a neurologist from Tulsa. He’ll be here sometime tomorrow. In the meantime my recommendation to all of you is to go home. There’s nothing you can do here.” He sighed wearily, then added. “Go home and pray.”
He’d barely exited the waiting room when the exterior door whooshed open and Glen Cleberg entered. Lines of stress surrounded his mouth, and his hair stood on end, as if it had felt a frustrated hand rake through it more than once. He motioned them to chairs in a corner and joined them there.
“I know you’re all anxious to learn what we’ve uncovered so far.” He frowned, as if dreading what information he had to impart. Every nerve ending in Savannah’s body screamed with tension.
“It looks like a domestic dispute scene that got out of control,” the chief told them.
“That’s crazy,” Clay said, voicing Savannah’s initial response.
“Chief, surely you don’t think our mother could be responsible for Dad’s condition?” Savannah looked at him incredulously.
His frown deepened. “I’m just telling you what the initial investigation points to. There’s no sign of forced entry, no indication that anything has been stolen.”
“How would you know if anything has been stolen?” Breanna asked, tears shimmering in her eyes.
“Tomorrow, after the crime-scene investigators get finished, we’ll do a walk-through,” Glen said. “I need you all to tell me if you see something out of place. But, I can tell you right now the only things that appear to be missing are a suitcase from a set in your parents’ closet and some of your mother’s personal items.”
Stunned. His words stunned them all. Savannah could see the shock she felt on her siblings’ faces. The implication was obvious. They believed that Rita had smashed her husband over the head, then packed her bags and run.
“Glen, you know my parents, you know what you’re thinking is impossible,” she said.
He hesitated a moment. “I know what the evidence looks like at the moment,” he replied softly.
“Then let me inside. Let me find the evidence that points to the truth,” Clay exclaimed, his hands balled into fists at his sides.
“That’s exactly what I’m not going to let happen,” Glen said, his tone sharp. “Even though the three of you are officers of the law, you will have nothing to do with this investigation.” He held up a hand to still the protests that came at him from three different directions.
“Think about it. I can’t let the family members of a crime do the investigating of the case. A defense attorney would be able to rip a case to shreds under those circumstances.”
Savannah knew he was right, but that didn’t make the situation any easier to swallow. “But what about Mother’s car?” she asked suddenly. “It was there in the driveway…so how did she leave?”
“I don’t have the answers,” he said with obvious frustration. “Look, we’re only a couple of hours into this investigation. We have a lot of work ahead of us. It would help if your father could enlighten us about what happened.”
“Dad’s in a coma,” Clay said, and his voice radiated with the hollowness of a person still in shock. “According to Doc Watkins he isn’t going to be explaining anything anytime soon.”
For the first time since she’d driven up to her parents’ house a stark grief swept over Savannah. She felt almost sick to her stomach as she tried to digest what they knew so far.
The man who had held her when she’d been sick, the man who had taught her how to dance, how to shoot a gun and given her a love for law enforcement was clinging to life by a thread.
Her mother, a proud, beautiful woman who had taught her to honor her Cherokee heritage, the woman whose hands had soothed, whose laughter could light up the night, was missing.
Hold on, Daddy, she cried in her heart. Please hold on, we still need you. Where are you, Mom? What has happened to you?
“Savannah, why don’t you meet me at your folks’ place tomorrow at noon. We’ll do a walk-through then,” Glen said. “I’m putting an all points bulletin out on your mother. We need to find her. We need to talk to her. Take the next couple of days off. Your father is going to need you when he comes out of his coma, and I don’t want any of you mucking around in this investigation.”
“If he thinks I’m staying out of this, he’s crazy,” Clay said the minute Glen had left to go in search of Dr. Watkins.
“Just because we can’t investigate officially doesn’t mean we can’t investigate unofficially,” Breanna said.
“I can’t stand around here and do nothing,” Clay replied. “I’m going to make some phone calls, drive around and see if I can find Mom. Maybe she got hit in the head, too…has wandered off in a daze and doesn’t know who or where she is.”
“You know she didn’t have anything to do with Dad’s injuries,” Savannah said.
“That goes without saying,” her brother replied. He looked toward the windows. “She’s out there somewhere, and she’s in trouble. We’ve got to find her.”
He didn’t wait for any reply but strode out the door and disappeared into the night.
Savannah felt the darkness of the night closing in around her, filling her heart, filling her soul with fear. She turned back to look at her sister. Breanna reached out and grabbed her into a hug that kept the darkness from consuming her.
“Go,” Breanna said as she released her. “Go find Mom. Adam and I will stay here.”
“You’ll call me if there’s any change?” she asked.
“Of course we will,” Adam said as he wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulder.
Although she was reluctant to leave, Savannah knew there was nothing she could do here. Her father was getting the care he needed.
She left the hospital through the emergency room doors and stopped in her tracks. Parked in a car in the closest parking space to the door was the handsome stranger she’d seen out at her
