Susan Sleeman - Emergency Response

“Isabel, it’s Noah,” he announced to keep from scaring her even more as he stepped into the room. “It’s safe to come out now. I’m going to help you into your chair.”

He knelt by the bed and peeked underneath. Despite her living conditions or her recent accident, Isabel always had a big smile, and she flashed white teeth with a wide gap in the top.

“Hi, princess,” Noah said.

“Abuelita put me here.” Her smile faltered. “I was worried.”

“Don’t worry. Everything’s okay.” He reached under the bed and maneuvered her free, being careful not to bang her injured leg. He curled her into his arms and gave her a hug. She looked up at him, eyes wide.

“Abuelita got hurt.”

“I know,” he said, trying to play it down. “Darcie’s taking good care of her.”

“I thought maybe—” She shook her head and frowned. “You and Darcie weren’t coming. Or you got hurt. Like that lady last week.”

“No need to worry about that, princess. We’re all just fine. And your grandmother will be fine, too.” The vehemence in Noah’s voice made her smile disappear. He didn’t mean to sound so intense, but come on. No child should have their life invaded by man’s brutality. “Let’s go see Darcie, okay?”

“Yes, please.” Isabel’s face lit up and Noah’s heart melted. There was something about this urchin that made him happy. If she survived all this trauma and still smiled, he should be able to do the same thing in his own life.

He settled her into the wheelchair and pushed her to the living room. Darcie ran her gaze over Isabel with a trained medical professional’s eyes.

“Noah said you were here, but you really are,” Isabel said, and smiled.

“Hold tight to the towel,” Darcie ordered Pilar, then crossed over to Isabel.

Darcie squatted by the chair, and Noah saw her wince before she hid it. Her injuries bothered her more than she let on. She offered Isabel a beaming smile that utterly captivated Noah. In a situation that wasn’t as dire as this one, he would...would what?

Do nothing. Exactly what he needed to do. What he’d done for years.

On the day he’d met Darcie, one look at her hit him like a battering ram, but he’d done nothing about it—would do nothing about it, other than swallowing down his feelings and acting professionally whenever he ran in to her.

Her smile widened even more and Noah had to step back to get a grip.

Concentrate, man. Concentrate. She’s just a victim and this is just another callout. Do your job.

“Don’t you know by now that nothing would keep me away from seeing you?” Darcie asked Isabel.

She flung tiny arms around Darcie’s neck. The child clung to Darcie as if she was her mother. With Mayte in rehab since her accident, Isabel had transferred her need for motherly love to Darcie. He wasn’t surprised that Darcie hadn’t been able to resist loving Isabel. Still, if Darcie realized how invested she’d become in Isabel’s well-being, Darcie would shut down as she had since she lost her daughter. She avoided getting too close to anyone to avoid getting hurt.

Noah got that. He’d lost a son, too. Not to death, but to distance. He’d bailed on his pregnant girlfriend Ashley in college. Stupid move. But he was young and could barely get to class on time. How could he be responsible for a son?

He regretted it now. Every day. So he totally understood the wall Darcie put up to keep from caring and getting hurt again.

The hug ended and Darcie stood up.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked her and tipped his head at the far side of the room.

“Do you need me to call an ambulance for Pilar or have you already done so?” he asked when he couldn’t be overheard.

“I have. They’re on the way.”

“Good. So will you be okay if I head outside to check on the action?”

A pained smile crossed her face, but she nodded anyway.

“Don’t worry,” he added. “I’ll stay within view of the house. If you need me you can call out.”

She gave just the barest hint of a nod as she grabbed his hand. Her still cold fingers squeezed weakly. “Thank you, Noah. For being here for us.”

“It’s what I do,” he said and ignored how his heart warmed at her gratitude. “Lock the door behind me and stay away from the windows.”

“You are leaving us?” Pilar cried out.

“It’s okay,” Darcie replied. “He’ll be right outside and the danger has passed.”

Noah nodded his agreement. Darcie’s comment was technically true. The danger had passed. For now.

Only for now.

Darcie had gotten a good look at the creep who’d attacked her and could identify him. The man had to realize that as well. He had no qualms about attacking a woman, so if he evaded the officers today, he’d be more than happy to come after her again.

And the next time the creep got to her, Noah feared he’d succeed in silencing her for good.

TWO

Darcie couldn’t quit shaking. Not from the chill in Pilar’s hospital room, but from the memory of the attack. It would be a long time before she could forget about the crushing arm that had come around her neck. The bullets whizzing past. Even if she could forget, her neck throbbed and her knees and hands stung from the abrasions. Despite Noah’s continued insistence that she needed medical attention, she’d tended to her own injuries while Pilar was in surgery for a repair to her shattered ulna.

Darcie tugged the collar on her shirt higher to hide the purpling marks from the attack. She would hate for the ugly bruises to scare Isabel or Pilar even more. Pilar was already staring at Darcie, her eyebrows in bushy arcs. She made the sign of the cross on her chest while mumbling something in Spanish. Darcie didn’t speak Spanish, but she knew the sweet woman was praying for her.

That wasn’t new. Pilar always offered up prayers for Darcie. It seemed odd that Pilar—a woman who had very little in life and had so many needs of her own to pray for—felt compelled to pray for her. It made Darcie uncomfortable to have someone treading on the edges of her personal life.

Needing a distraction for Pilar, Darcie spotted her iPad lying on the bedside table. Pilar worked from home and when her computer died a few weeks ago, Pilar had borrowed Darcie’s iPad. As the EMTs wheeled her out of her home, she’d insisted on bringing the iPad with her, enabling her to work tonight.

Darcie tapped the screen. “Is the job still going well?”

The corner of Pilar’s mouth tipped up. “Thanks to you. Your daily visits to Isabel have given me more time to focus on work. I am now making my quotas.”

“Have you started getting paid yet?” Darcie hated to ask such a personal question, but she was skeptical about Pilar’s new job. When Mayte went into rehab, Pilar had to leave her job as a cashier to care for Isabel, and this job seemed too good to be true. Darcie had been around the FRS team long enough to know that trusting people were often taken advantage of with work-from-home schemes.

Pilar’s smile widened, wrinkling the crow’s feet by her eyes. “My salary is directly deposited into my checking account as I finish each assignment.”

“Good.” Darcie had never been so thankful to be wrong. “It’s great that you found the perfect job.”

“God is with me, is He not?”

Darcie nodded, but didn’t say a word. God. She wasn’t sure she saw Him in any of this, or in much of anything. Not since she’d lost Haley in a freak car crash.

Pilar gestured at the iPad. “And it is wonderful that you have loaned me your iPad. You and Detective Noah have been so generous. I have saved my money and will be able to get a new computer soon.” Gratitude shone on her face. “Detective Noah has even promised to help me find a quality computer for a good price.”