"He's on a lot of pain killers," the nurse continued. "He's going to be in and out. Give him a day or two."

At least her answer was a little better than the answer the others had given. Sheriff Wiley and Deputy Holt entered the room looking almost like she felt. The nurse looked to the doorway, saw them, and appeared cheerful while looking back at Casey.

"Oh," the nurse said. "You have company."

As the nurse left the room, Wiley and Vaughn approached her between the two beds. Wiley gently touched her hand and smiled with an odd tenderness she'd never seen before. His look was almost fatherly.

"How are you feeling?" Wiley asked.

"I look better than I feel."

Vaughn glanced at Grey and appeared concerned about his condition. He gave a nod toward her brother. "How's Grey?"

"He feels better than he looks," she said while attempting a smile. "He's loaded up on the good painkillers."

"I'm glad you're finally awake and alert," Wiley announced. "Dina said you were clinically dead."

Casey smiled matter-of-fact. "Supposedly I went to the light--twice."

"That's pretty scary," he remarked gently then hesitated and cleared his throat. "What do you remember about last night?"

She considered the question and drifted out a moment as if reliving some dark trauma. "Three gunshots and then a feeling of peace," she said softly. She snapped out of her trance and looked at Sheriff Wiley. "Who was he?"

Wiley and Vaughn tensed simultaneously. Vaughn looked away. It was hard to tell if he was ashamed or enraged.

Wiley fidgeted, clung to Casey's hand, and looked into her eyes with sincerity. "We don't know. He got away."

Casey's expression suddenly shattered. She felt her entire body tremble, which was undoubtedly a spike in her already frail blood pressure. Her attention immediately focused on Vaughn, who kept his head down.

"I thought you shot him?" she suddenly cried out.

Her sudden outburst caused him to look up and meet her glare. "I did," he announced defensively. "Three times."

Casey's mind was racing and her entire body was twitching with her spiking blood pressure. The monitors attached to her started reacting with a series of loud beeps.

"Why didn't you make sure he was dead? How did he get away?" she suddenly demanded. Her look turned hateful and her eyes cut through him. "You were right there!"

Vaughn stared at her and appeared momentarily traumatized by her tone and the unpredictably wild stare. "I a.s.sumed he was dead. He should have been dead. I needed to keep you from bleeding out."

Sheriff Wiley attempted to comfort Casey and calm her with a soothing tone. "Casey, Vaughn did the right thing," he a.s.sured her. "If he'd released pressure on your wound, you would have bled to death. You can't blame him for saving you."

"He should have left me die!"

Both men stared at her with surprise. Casey was almost surprised by her own outburst. She'd meant it too. Grey's eyes slowly rolled open to his sister's shouts.

"What's happening?" Grey asked in a groggy tone from his nearby bed.

"Did you hear that, Grey?" Casey demanded while gripping the bedrails.

"The part where the killer got away?" Grey said softly. "Yeah, I heard that."

Casey shot up straight in bed despite the pain it caused her and glared at Vaughn with a vengeful look in her eyes. "This is all your fault! If you hadn't kept me in the back of your cruiser the whole night, I would have been there," she lashed out. "I could have stopped it!

Vaughn stared at her with a look of guilt. He appeared unable to respond. He knew he had screwed up and nothing he could say would fix it. Wiley again attempted to calm her.

"If he would have taken you home when he should have, you'd be dead, Casey," Wiley gently informed her. "The killer entered through your bedroom window. Deputy Holt saved you and your brother."

Casey didn't care. She just wanted to jump out of her bed and hurt Vaughn. The pain in her abdomen was finally getting the better of her. She clutched her lower abdomen and cringed with pain while maintaining her venomous glare.

"Get him out of here!" she shouted.

Grey was already out again. The nurse and doctor hurried into the room, looked at Casey, and appeared alarmed. Blood seeped through the sheets and between Casey's fingers from her abdomen. She'd almost certainly torn her st.i.tches.

"I'm sorry, you have to leave," the furious doctor informed them.

Vaughn stared at the blood and appeared momentarily traumatized. He turned and left the room without another word. Vaughn hurried into the hallway and leaned against the wall just outside the door. Wiley appeared from Casey's room, paused before him, and patted his shoulder while giving him a rea.s.suring look.

"You did the right thing, Vaughn," he announced firmly. "You're a hero. She'll eventually see that."

Vaughn stared up at the ceiling tiles and groaned softly while shaking his head with disgust. "I did everything wrong last night," he remarked softly with the hurt evident in his voice. "I should have shot him in the leg, but I went for the kill shot. If I hadn't let my emotions take over, he'd be in custody."

"The man had just stabbed Casey," Wiley informed him with an odd look of mayhem in his eyes. "He was holding a knife. Anyone would have done the same thing. I want a piece of that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, and I wasn't even there to see what he'd done."

Vaughn rolled his eyes shut and allowed his head to fall into his hands with a groan. "I'll never get over the sight of her bleeding like that." He lifted his head and looked at his trembling hands. "I had her blood all over me." He groaned softly and allowed his head to hit the wall behind him as his eyes closed. "I don't even remember pulling the trigger."

Wiley gently rubbed Vaughn's shoulders. "Go home, Vaughn," he said gently. "You were up all night chasing her horse. You need some sleep."

Vaughn's eyes suddenly opened and he glared at Sheriff Wiley. His look was vengeful. "I'll sleep after I catch the killer."

Chapter Nine.

Vaughn slept restlessly in the chair behind his desk within the police station bullpen. He twitched in his sleep, gasped, and suddenly woke. He looked around the nearly silent, mostly empty bullpen. He groaned softly, placed his feet on the floor, and half collapsed on his desk while rubbing his eyes. He was obviously exhausted, despite his freshly showered appearance. As he looked across the bullpen, he saw the Harford boys leaving the station. Tucker and Mitch.e.l.l stood in the interrogation room doorway and silently watched the four leave. Vaughn quickly stood and had to catch himself from falling back down. He caught his balance and hurried to his fellow deputies.

"What's going on?" Vaughn demanded to know. "Why are the Harford boys leaving?"

"We finished questioning them," Tucker replied while looking over Vaughn's appearance with concern. "Shouldn't you be at home getting some rest?"

"I wanted to be there when you questioned them," Vaughn said firmly. "Wiley told you that."

"All four have airtight alibis," Tucker replied. "There was no reason to wake you."

"Vouching for one another isn't airtight," Vaughn snarled in protest.

"All four boys returned home an hour after the tavern brawl a little after midnight," Tucker announced. "Wayne's girlfriend showed up a few minutes later and spent the entire night with him. Both she and Ernest swore none of them left all night."

"As if they couldn't have slipped out unnoticed," Vaughn remarked. "And a girlfriend and father aren't exactly credible alibis either."

"Yes, they could have slipped out unnoticed," Tucker agreed. "But her car blocked theirs in the driveway, and she insists none of the cars were moved the next morning. I went by that way myself around two in the morning." He fidgeted at his own comment and gently cleared his throat. "Their cars were there just like she said."

"You were out that way around two?" Vaughn asked.

Tucker remained tense then timidly smiled. "Mel got off work at the tavern around two," he announced. "I just stopped by her place to make sure she got home okay, that's all."

Mitch.e.l.l snorted a devious laugh. Tucker glared at him, causing him to flinch. Vaughn frowned with disgust. It wouldn't be the first time Tucker saw a little action during the line of duty.

"I get it," Vaughn muttered, not needing to hear the intimate details of his rendezvous with Melanie. "Did you happen to notice if their cars were still there when you left Melanie's house?"

Tucker frowned, having been caught slipping out to sneak one in with his girlfriend, and nodded. "Yeah, they were still there when I left around three."

"It couldn't have been them," Mitch.e.l.l informed Vaughn. "Why are you so convinced it wasn't just some drifter or a random home invasion?"

"Because the killer wore a bulletproof vest," Vaughn remarked sternly to Mitch.e.l.l. "He wore a vest, because he knew Brandon Remington was armed. Our killer broke into that house with the sole intent to kill everyone inside. That means it was personal and premeditated."

"And I'm telling you," Tucker a.s.sured him, "it couldn't have been any of the Harford boys."

Vaughn frowned and returned to his desk. He collapsed behind it with disgust.

It was later that evening when Dina entered Casey's hospital room with some fresh flowers in a vase. Casey sat up in bed while holding her lower abdomen. She stared blankly at the sheets and didn't acknowledge Dina. Grey was now awake and alert. He played with the remote for the bed and simulated sounds while raising and lowering his head. He was obviously still on the good painkillers, and they worked, because he certainly wasn't feeling any pain. He immediately noticed Dina entering the room and appeared a little too enthusiastic.

"Hey! It's Dina! Hi, Dina!" Grey announced excitedly and waved at her.

Dina eyed him and appeared surprised by his jovial condition. "Looks like someone's on the good stuff," she replied.

"Oh, yeah. I'm loving this s.p.a.ceship," Grey informed her then patted the bed alongside him while grinning. "Come fly with me."

"Maybe later," Dina informed him while returning the smile then approached Casey, who hadn't even looked up when she entered. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

Casey finally looked up with a hardened expression. "Like someone ripped my insides out with a butcher knife." She wasn't inaccurate with her description either.

Dina immediately frowned and became tense as if harboring some terrible secret from her friend. "I guess they told you," she said softly.

"Yeah," she grumbled under her breath. "They told me about the hysterectomy."

Dina sat on the edge of the bed and hugged Casey while fighting her emotions. "I'm so sorry, Casey."

"It's okay," Casey said with a sniff and wiped her tears. "I wasn't sure if I wanted children anyway, so that's one less thing to worry about."

Dina frowned while holding her and rubbed her back. For some reason, Dina's coddling wasn't making her feel any better. Casey just wanted to be left alone in her misery, but everyone kept trying to cheer her up. Dina pulled back far enough to look at Casey and attempted a more cheerful conversation to get her friend's mind off the hysterectomy.

"The doctor said if I get a visiting nurse, I can take you home in a couple of days," Dina announced. "I have a company cleaning the house--"

Casey felt alarm sweep through her. She pulled away from Dina and stared at her with horror. "I can't go back there!" She couldn't believe her friend was even suggesting it.

"My apartment is too small," Dina gently replied. "Staying at your house is the only way I can take care of you and Grey."

Grey grinned and chuckled from his own bed across the room. "Oh, yeah. Dina running around in her lacy panties--"

Casey appeared defeated and once again looked down at her covers. She was stranded in her own, personal h.e.l.l. She didn't know how to free herself from the haunting memories of her parents' murder, and her and Grey's near death experience. Her mind was filled with every conceivable emotion all of which were playing tug-o-war with her sanity. She wanted to lash out at someone. She wanted to hurt someone. She wanted someone to be accountable, but she didn't know whom to blame. It seemed a long time had pa.s.sed since either of them had spoken. Dina was content to just sit with her and be comforting. Casey didn't want comforting. She wanted revenge. She knew she couldn't say those feelings aloud. They had to be suppressed. She had to bury those emotions. She finally allowed sorrow to fill the void.

"I heard the rumors around town," Casey said softly.

"Small people with small minds," Dina a.s.sured her without even knowing to which rumors she referred.

"I heard everything from them blaming the murders on my father's boldness; my mother being too pretty; to me being a tease."

"And none of them are true," Dina firmly announced. "Most people around here know that. You know how people like to gossip."

Casey continued to stare at the covers while her mind again raced. Feelings of revenge once again filled her head. Although her voice was soft, her tone was harsh. "I heard it going around that the killer s.e.xually a.s.saulted me."

Dina suddenly tensed and uncertainly looked at Casey. She seemed surprised at what she was hearing. "That's not true," she firmly insisted then appeared concerned and sought rea.s.surance. "Right?"

Casey snorted a laugh, glanced at Dina, and now wore a twisted smile. "No, I wasn't worth the effort." She hesitated only a moment. "I didn't tell anyone about it, since nothing actually happened. Deputy Holt must have witnessed the attempt and put it in his report. I guess the story grew into something far worse as it spread around." She shook her head with disgust. "Why the h.e.l.l would he report that? I mean, if I didn't feel the need to mention it, why would he?"

"Maybe we should stay off the subject of certain deputies," Dina suggested.

Casey's disgust quickly turned hostile. She could feel herself slipping into a dark place. Her anger was becoming harder to control with each pa.s.sing hour, but she feared admitting it to anyone. She feared mind-altering medications and the dreaded psychological evaluations. If she could just hit something or break something, she was sure she'd feel much better.

"I just can't believe this town actually thinks we somehow brought this heinous act down upon ourselves," she lashed out with bitterness in her tone. "That we stirred the pot and got burnt because of it."

"No one thinks that," Dina quickly interjected in a quick attempt to keep Casey's anger from rising.

Casey eyed her friend and raised a c.o.c.ky brow in response. "I hear them at the nurse's station, Dina. All day I've heard things from around town coming out of that nurse's station," she hissed. "I know what's being said."

"Well, I haven't heard anyone blaming any of this on you or your family, and I work in gossip central," Dina said firmly. "Sure, people are talking about it. Nothing like this ever happened around here before. They're going to talk, but no one's blaming your family that I've heard."

"These people were supposed to be my parents' friends. It's very disrespectful to them and their memory," Casey said lowly while staring into Dina's eyes.

Dina saw the look in Casey's eyes and tensed. There was something frightening and unfamiliar about Casey. She brushed it off. "Those are just words from the small-minded people; not the ones who really matter. In fact, the town is having a memorial for your parents on opening day of the fair," she announced, managing to swiftly change the subject. "Any relatives you want me to contact?"

Casey felt her body once again sag with exhaustion. There were too many drugs coursing through her system. She speculated the nurses were giving her more than the standard painkillers that she had requested. Despite the sore subject of relatives, Casey maintained a more sedate state.

"No, my uncle is a lush and hasn't been around since I was born," Casey replied and once again felt defeated. The anger was gone and depression was quickly taking its place. It was a vicious, never-ending circle.

"Oh--" Dina continued to maintain the lighter mood. "You and Grey will attend, right?"

Casey drifted out a moment. Her mind was everywhere but on the current conversation. She snapped out of her trance and realized Dina was still waiting for a response.

"When Grey comes down from his high, we'll discuss it," Casey replied without enthusiasm.