Софи Келли - Paws Аnd Effect

For the first time I noticed that I’d scraped the skin off the palms of both of my hands. After what we’d just been through it didn’t seem like a big deal. I shook my head. “I’m all right. That’s just from getting out of the well.” I pointed at Hope. “I think her ankle is broken and she has some kind of head injury.”

The paramedics had Hope on a stretcher and they were both bent over her. Elliot was walking toward us with a bottle of juice in his hand.

“He put you in a well?” Marcus said. His free hand clenched into a tight fist and he tightened his grip on me with the other.

Roma closed her eyes for a moment. “The old cistern on Ruby’s property.”

I nodded. “What saved us was that as far as I can tell it’s partly filled with gravel. It was only about twelve feet or so deep.”

“Only?” Roma said softly.

“What saved them was Kathleen,” Elliot said. He handed me the juice. “Drink,” he ordered.

I did. No glass of orange juice had ever tasted as good.

“She got both of them out of that hole in the ground,” Elliot told Marcus and Roma.

Hercules was at my feet and he meowed loudly, unhappy, I was guessing, at being left out of everything. I bent down and picked him up again. “Hercules was in Hope’s car. He somehow managed to get out when John took it.” I looked at Marcus. “Your father found him here. He came looking for us. Hope was unconscious. He carried her out. I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

Elliot gave us a small smile. “Somehow I think you would have managed.”

Marcus turned to his father. “Thank you . . . Dad,” he said. He swallowed a couple of times and then wrapped his father in a hug. Elliot’s eyes were bright as he hugged his son back.

One of the paramedics was coming toward us. As he got closer I realized it was Ric Holm. He’d come to my rescue before.

He smiled at me. “Hi, Kathleen,” he said. He raised an eyebrow. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

“Her hands need to be cleaned and bandaged,” Roma said. She caught my free arm and held it out so Ric could see.

I gestured at Elliot. “Look at his face first, please. He took a branch in the eye.”

Elliot held up a hand. “I’m fine. Take care of Kathleen’s hands first. They’re going to get infected.”

Ric laughed and shook his head. “Both of you, stop being noble.” He caught my fingers and rolled my hand over for a closer look. “We’re going to have to pick some splinters out,” he said. “How did you do this?”

“A wooden cover over a well.”

He winced and turned to check the side of Elliot’s face, probing gently with his fingers. “I can clean that but you should be checked out by an eye doctor just to be safe.”

Elliot opened his mouth, to object I felt certain.

Marcus nodded. “I’ll take care of that, Ric.”

Elliot turned to look at his son.

“Don’t start, Dad,” he said. “You won’t win this one.”

Ric raised an eyebrow at Roma. “We’re getting ready to transport the other patient. Can you give me a hand?” He looked at me. “That okay with you, Kathleen?”

Roma was a certified first responder as well as a vet and this wouldn’t be the first time she’d taken care of me. I smiled. “It’s fine.”

We walked over to the ambulance. Hope was wrapped in a couple of blankets on the stretcher under the care of the other paramedic in attendance. Her eyes were half open and as I came level with her one hand reached out and touched my arm. “Kathleen,” she said in a low voice.

I stopped and leaned over her. Hercules meowed softly. Hope managed a small smile. “He got out of the car,” she said.

I nodded. “He’s pretty resourceful.”

“So are you,” she said. “You saved us.”

“We saved ourselves,” I said.

“You’re the right person for him,” she said, and I knew she was referring to Marcus.

I nodded. “And you’re the right partner.”

She closed her eyes and I gave her hand a squeeze before Roma led me away to the back of the ambulance.

I sat down on the tailgate and set Hercules beside me. Ric looked down at the cat. “This isn’t the one who . . . ?”

I shook my head. “No. That was Owen. This is Hercules.” At the sound of his voice the cat looked up at Ric and meowed. His fur was matted in some places and sticking up in others.

“I take it the same hands-off policy is in effect, though,” Ric said, climbing into the back of the ambulance.

“Yes,” Marcus and Roma said as the same time. Hercules looked at them, all green-eyed innocence.

Ric handed supplies to Roma, who was pulling on a pair of plastic gloves. He jerked his head in Elliot’s direction. “Have a seat, sir,” he said. He reached over my shoulder and handed a small plastic bag to Marcus. “Turkey jerky.”

“Thanks,” Marcus said, “but I’m not hungry.”

Ric laughed. “It’s not for you. It’s for the cat.”

Hercules meowed loudly just in case Marcus was wondering which cat. Marcus pulled a piece of jerky out of the bag and set it down in front of Herc, who murped a thank-you and bent his head to eat.

Elliot was still standing. I slid sideways to make room for him and indicated the space. He sat down with a sigh. “I’m fine,” he muttered.

Once my hands were cleaned and bandaged and the gash on Elliot’s face had been attended to they took Hope to the hospital. Elliot and I were allowed to go home after Marcus reassured Ric that he’d make sure both of us saw a doctor in the morning. Wisteria Hill was crawling with police officers.

“Roma is going to drive you,” Marcus said. “I’m just going to fill the guys in and I’ll be right behind you.”

Brady was standing off to the side. “I’m going to take your father down to the hotel to get some clean clothes,” he said.

Elliot was standing a few feet away from us, looking in the direction of the woods. I wondered what he was thinking about.

“Elliot, come back to the house once you’re cleaned up,” I called.

Marcus nodded. “Please, Dad,” he said. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and stripped one off the ring, handing it to Brady.

“Take Dad back to my place,” he said. “It’s faster and we’re the same size.”

* * *

Maggie was waiting at the house, sitting on the back steps. She wrapped me in a hug and unshed tears sparkled in her eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said. She winced as she caught sight of the bandages on my hand. “You are okay, right?”

I nodded. “I could use a shower.”

She smiled. “That we can do.”

Maggie looked down at Hercules, waiting patiently on the step to be let in instead of walking through the door. She pulled something out of her pocket. It was a small can of sardines.

“Maggie,” I said.

She looked at me. “He was walking in the rain, Kathleen. He was coming to help you. In. The. Rain.” Indignation was in her voice and her stance.

“Merow,” the cat said, just a little self-righteously it seemed to me, and to Maggie’s delight he actually lifted one paw in the air.

I reached down and stroked his fur with my fingers. “Maggie’s right,” I said. “You’re a hero. You can have all the sardines you want.”

Roma wrapped my hands in a couple of plastic bags and I managed to shower and get cleaned up. Maggie helped me get dressed and dried my hair.

“How many sardines did you give him?” I asked.

“I didn’t count,” she retorted as she brushed my hair. Then she stopped, put both arms around my shoulders and hugged me fiercely. “I’m so glad you’re all right.” There was a catch in her throat.

“I am, Mags,” I said. I held up my hands. It looked like I was wearing fat fingerless gloves made of gauze. “Roma went a little overboard with the bandages, I swear.”