“You know who this is, don’t you, Wyn?” McKenzie said, giving him a significant look.
The police officer—who looked only a few years older than the new mayor—gave a shrug. “Sure I do. No matter what Mr. Caine might think, owning half the town doesn’t give him any special privileges, as far as the law is concerned.”
Why the hell were all the women in this town pissed at him? This was only the second time he had even stepped foot in Haven Point. What had he done?
“I don’t expect special privileges,” he insisted.
“Good.” She smirked. “Then you’ll understand that I have to give you a citation with a hefty fine.”
“Absolutely,” he said, with a coolness to match hers.
“Mr. Aidan! Where are they taking my mama?” Maddie spoke in a frantic voice, adding several progressively more insistent tugs on his shirt for emphasis.
While he was talking to the new mayor and the police officer, the EMTs had started to load the stretcher into the back of the ambulance, he realized.
“Where is the closest medical facility?” he demanded of the two women.
“Lake Haven Hospital,” Officer Bailey answered. “It’s the closest and only medical facility around here. You’ll find it at the halfway point between Haven Point and Shelter Springs.”
Maddie tore away from him and raced over to the ambulance. “No! Don’t go, Mama. Don’t go!”
Eliza looked equally distressed. “Please. My daughter. I can’t leave without her!”
One of the EMTs, a man with a completely bald head and a bit of a paunch, gave her an apologetic look. “It’s against our department policy, ma’am, to take uninjured minors in the ambulance. But Officer Bailey over there can transport her to the hospital in her patrol vehicle. She might even beat us to the hospital.”
“I want to go with my mama!” Maddie exclaimed. “I’m hurt, too! I scraped my knee!”
“It’s true,” Aidan offered solemnly. “She definitely needs medical attention.”
“I’m sorry, but—”
“She’s a little girl who’s been through a terrible ordeal, seeing her mother hurt like that. It’s cold out here and she’s frightened. What’s the harm in letting them stay together?”
“The rules—”
“Just let her ride the bus, Ed,” the police officer said, her voice weary. “I’ll clear it with Chief Gallegos. He’s too busy dealing with the fire at the inn to mind a little breach in protocol this once.”
After a moment and another whispered conversation between the EMTs, the bald dude shrugged. “Fine. Come on up here, little lady. You have to promise not to touch anything, though.”
“I won’t,” she promised.
Aidan lifted her up into the ambulance and she paused in the door opening to give him a little wave before the EMTs climbed in after her and closed the door. A moment later, the ambulance pulled away, lights flashing, and drove away from the scene.
He shivered a little and realized his coat had disappeared somewhere. Maybe they had used it to cover the woman in the ambulance. He hoped so.
“Mr. Caine. I need your license and registration, please.” The police officer’s expression had once more returned to a stern, uncompromising line.
He found the necessary information inside the rental vehicle—not an easy task since the glove compartment was packed with all kinds of paperwork, from the last time the tires were rotated to a receipt for pizza from a place called Pie Guys Pizza.
By the time they finished, he was freezing. The mayor had long since returned to the warmth of her store, with its cheery Christmas tree in the window.
“That should be all,” Officer Bailey said, still without smiling once. “You can find all the necessary instructions for paying your citation or where and when to appear before the judge if you want to contest it. If you have any questions, there’s also a number there you can call.”
“Thanks. Am I free to go, then? You’re not going to arrest me?”
“Not today, anyway.”
Was that a joke? It was tough to tell, since she seemed completely humorless.
“Can you tell me again how I get to the hospital?”
“Take a left and go a block until you hit Lakefront Drive, then head north about a mile. You can’t miss it. Big redbrick building. The storm is picking up. Drive slowly and leave plenty of room to stop, especially with those tires.”
He nodded and climbed back into the rental SUV. His headache had ratcheted up about a dozen notches. He wasn’t in any hurry to drive anywhere except his lodge at Snow Angel Cove after the trauma of actually hitting a person, but Dermot and Margaret Caine had raised him to do the right thing, even when it hurt.
AIDAN’S PHONE RANG with the signature ringtone for his father just as he pulled into a parking space near the sign for the emergency department at the modern-looking redbrick hospital along the lake.
He briefly entertained the temptation to ignore the call. He loved his father dearly but at the moment his primary focus centered on finding out Eliza’s condition and checking to make sure Madeline had someone looking after her.
On the other hand, after such a traumatic afternoon, he was drawn to the safe, warm, familiar connection with his father.
“Pop. Hi.”
He pictured Dermot Caine—hearty, strong, still handsome even as he headed toward seventy. Wherever his father might be when they spoke on the phone, Aidan always imagined him in his favorite environment, the Center of Hope Café, where he ruled as master and commander—pouring coffee and serving up pie and conversation to tourists and locals alike.
“Are you in the country?” Pop said. “I wondered if you might be abroad.”
Aidan winced a little as he watched the snow pummel the windshield with increasing intensity. Calling his father had been on his to-do list for a week.
“I’m here. I got your messages. Sorry we never connected. I’ve been in the middle of some pretty intense negotiations this week.”
“You work too hard, son.”
He couldn’t argue. He had been working twenty-hour days for the past week trying to iron out some contract disputes with one of their vendors in China and for several weeks before that, he had been neck-deep in product development projects.
Everything seemed harder since September. He wanted to think he was almost back to full throttle but he still had times when he had to collapse and sleep for
