Joanna Wayne - Trumped Up Charges

Apparently R.J. wanted to play catch-up now. The old reprobate was probably worried about facing his maker and trying to atone for a few of his sins. He couldn’t even do that without manipulating the situation and attempting to screw up his children’s lives.

Hadley returned and Adam pulled his keys from his pocket. The saga of R.J. and his latest scheme would be continued later—when Lacy and Lila were safe.

* * *

MATILDA SAT IN the back of the small hospital chapel, her hands folded in her lap. She didn’t pray like her friends at the neighborhood church did. Some might not call what she did praying at all.

Mostly she just liked to sit in the quiet and envision God’s arms wrapped around her to comfort and guide her. Today her thoughts were so troubled that nothing could calm her spirit. It might go down as the worst day of her life and that was saying a lot.

She closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on Janice O’Sullivan. Janice believed they were friends. Matilda never saw it that way. The gulf between employer and employee was too wide, especially from her side.

It wasn’t simply that Janice was the boss. It was more about the money and the lifestyle. Janice had all she could ever want. Matilda struggled every week to make ends meet.

Not that Janice didn’t pay her a fair salary. It was well above minimum wage and she provided generous Christmas bonuses, as well. She’d even bought Matilda a new washer and dryer last year when hers went out.

Janice’s husband had died of a heart attack five years ago and left her an extremely profitable investment portfolio, a paid-for house worth over a million dollars in a posh Dallas neighborhood and a sizable life insurance payout.

Matilda’s husband, Brent, had been shot and killed when he’d inadvertently walked into an armed robbery in process. He’d stopped at the convenience store after he’d left the night shift at a local plant. He had no insurance and no savings. At the time, Matilda had no employable skills and two young children under the age of eight.

Janice’s only daughter was a jewel, thoughtful of her and a model mother to those precious girls. Matilda’s daughter was only sixteen, but she was also pure joy. She was an honor student and on the school cheerleading squad.

Her eighteen-year-old son, Sam, was the rebel. He’d never gotten into any real trouble the way her brother, Quinton, had at that age, but he was resentful and eternally pushing Matilda’s rules. He was attending summer school now just so he could replace the fake graduation certificate they’d awarded him for a real one.

So, even though Matilda liked Janice and appreciated what she’d done for her and her family, they weren’t bosom buddies.

But they were close enough that Matilda really hoped the morning’s surgery would leave Janice cancer-free. Good news on that front would be a huge relief, but it would be overshadowed by the twins’ disappearance.

But the tragedy wouldn’t devastate Janice the way it might some. She had more spunk and grit than a prizefighter. Matilda envied her that.

She stood and slipped quietly out of the chapel. New anxiety struck the second she got off the fourth-floor elevator. Officer Grummet, the cop who’d given her the third degree earlier, stood in the hallway just past the nurses’ station.

She’d had enough of him and his accusatory tone. He hadn’t directly called her a suspect but his mannerisms and pointed questions had made it clear that he suspected she knew more than she was saying.

She’d always been a rotten liar.

Grummet started walking in her direction, but his gaze was focused on the shapely nurse who was standing at a patient’s room door a few feet in front of him.

Matilda ducked into an empty room and waited until he’d passed and had ample time to board the elevator.

She was only a few feet from Janice’s room when she heard a familiar voice. She turned to find Hadley rushing toward her, a nice-looking man keeping pace. Hadley pulled Matilda into a heart-wrenching hug that had Matilda struggling to hold back tears.

“Any news?” Matilda asked when Hadley’s arms dropped back to her side.

“None. No leads and no contact from the kidnapper.”

“That will come,” Matilda said, expressing more hope than confidence.

Hadley stepped closer to the man. Matilda figured he was a detective, since she was pretty sure that Hadley wasn’t in a relationship. Janice frequently lamented the fact that Hadley showed no interest in having a man in her life.

“Have you seen Mother?” Hadley asked. “Is she awake?”

“I can’t say. She was still in recovery when I went down to the cafeteria for coffee and a sandwich. After that I stopped in the chapel for a few minutes. I’m on my way back to her room now.”

“Did you by any chance talk to Dr. Gates after surgery?”

“No,” Matilda said. “The nurse said he’d talk to you when you got here. Are you going to tell Janice about the abduction?”

“Yes. I hate it, but she’s the only one who can give us the names of everyone who has a key to her house.”

“She’ll handle it,” Matilda assured her. “When the going gets tough, your mother is always tougher. And far better she hear it from you than from anyone else.”

“I know. But I’d hoped she wouldn’t have to hear it at all. I keep praying the police will call and tell me that they’ve arrested the kidnapper and that Lacy and Lila are safe and on their way home.”

“You keep on praying and trusting in the Lord, Hadley. Half the city of Dallas is praying right along with you. Even the ones who don’t pray are on the lookout for your two sweethearts ever since that first AMBER Alert was released. People around here come together in a crisis. That’s the Texas way.”

“I know,” Hadley said. “You’d think the cops would have a decent lead by now.”

Dread swelled inside Matilda like a pot of soaking beans. “If you don’t need me anymore, I think I’ll go home for a while.”

“Of course. You should. I’ll be okay. I have Adam.” She touched the man’s arm. “Sorry I didn’t introduce him sooner, but this is Adam Dalton, an old friend. Adam, this is Matilda Bastion.”

Matilda recognized the name immediately. She’d never met Adam, but she knew that he and Hadley had been engaged for a few months several years back. Janice had never approved of the relationship and Matilda figured she’d had something to do with their breakup.

She sized him up while they exchanged a greeting. The fact that he was standing by Hadley in a time of crisis was good enough for Matilda.

She looked up as a middle-aged nurse approached them.

“Is one of you Hadley O’Sullivan?”

“I am,” Hadley answered.

“Dr. Gates would like to speak to you. He’ll meet you in your mother’s room.”

Matilda said a quick goodbye and made her exit. If this was bad news, she didn’t want to hear it. Today was already hell enough.

* * *

HADLEY LOOKED UP as the doctor joined them in her mother’s room. She was only vaguely aware of Adam standing beside her, but glad he was there. His strength and confidence worked like an invisible conductor to fight off hysteria and keep her at least semi-grounded.

“The surgery was a success,” Dr. Gates said calmly. “The tumor was larger than the scans indicated, requiring more involved and complex incisions, but it wasn’t attached to any vital organs.”

“That is great news.” She leaned against the bed frame. “Will she need follow-up chemo or radiation treatments?”

“Your oncologist will go over that with you when he gets the full results back from tissue samples taken from surrounding areas. Your mother tolerated the surgery well, but with her blood pressure problems, I’d like to keep her in the hospital for at least three nights. I’ve already cleared that with the insurance company.”