Elle James - Deadly Fall

Outnumbered, Andrew sighed. “Okay. I’ll let a doctor look at it. I’ll make an appointment for tomorrow.”

“Today,” Leigha said.

“We’ll go to the ER in Cape Churn.” Mrs. Purdy wrapped a clean kitchen towel around his hand. “I’ll drive.”

“I’m perfectly capable of driving myself to Cape Churn.”

“You’re bleeding like a stuck pig. You might get dizzy.” She held up her hand. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

“I’m going with you.” Leigha clutched his sleeve.

“And I’m driving,” Mrs. Purdy insisted.

“Do I have a choice in this matter?” Andrew asked.

“No!” Mrs. Purdy and Leigha answered as one.

Thus outmaneuvered, Andrew found himself loaded into the passenger seat of Mrs. Purdy’s minivan and driven all the way to the Cape Churn Hospital emergency room.

Once inside, he was whisked back to an examination room. Mrs. Purdy and Leigha waited in the ER lobby. As the door closed between them, Andrew noted Leigha burying her face into Mrs. Purdy’s sleeve, her eyes clouding with tears. The child appeared terrified for him.

He had to admit, he was terrified for her. After nearly falling to his own death, he realized how easily it could have been Leigha. The thought of finding her body smashed against the boulders made him sick to his stomach. He sat on the edge of the hospital examination bed, pain throbbing through his hand with each beat of his heart.

A nurse carrying a clipboard stepped into the room. “Hi, Mr. Stratford. I’m Emma Jenkins. I’ll be your nurse. What brings you here today?” She set the clipboard on the bed beside him and took his injured hand in hers, unwrapping the dish towel. “How’d you get this cut?”

Andrew’s first instinct was to retract his scarred hand. Instead he stared at the gash. “I was pushed over a cliff.”

Emma blinked. “Say again? Someone pushed you over a cliff?”

He nodded, more certain than ever it hadn’t been a ghost or a blast of wind in the fog. “Someone pushed me over the cliff behind my house.”

“Do you want me to notify the sheriff? He can send a deputy out to take your statement while we stitch the wound.”

Though he didn’t like anyone invading his privacy, Andrew nodded. If someone had pushed him, he couldn’t ignore it. What if that someone tried to push Leigha? “I think that would be best.”

Emma waited until the doctor appeared before she slipped out to make that call. Within minutes, a sheriff’s deputy appeared.

“Hi, I’m Gabe McGregor. I believe we’ve met once before.”

Andrew nodded, his lips thinning. “You came to my house when you were looking for a murderer, several months ago.” They’d questioned him as a suspect. “I’m glad you caught him.”

“You and me both,” Gabe said. “I’m sorry I had to question you on that case.”

“Don’t be. I understand. I was the new guy in town.” Andrew gritted his teeth as the doctor stuck a needle in his hand to deaden the area around the cut.

“So tell me what happened.” Gabe pulled a notepad and pen out of his front pocket.

While the doctor and Emma cleaned and stitched the wound, Andrew recounted what had happened.

“And you didn’t see a face?” Deputy McGregor asked.

Andrew shook his head. “It happened so fast. I stepped around the tree, and the next thing I knew, I was clinging to a tree root, thankful for that tree and the root, or I wouldn’t be here to tell you the story.”

The deputy’s brows drew together. “I’m sorry it happened to you. I’ll follow you home and have a look around the area. Maybe there will be some footprints.”

“It’s not safe in the fog. Besides, the cliff edge is primarily rock and moss. That tree on the edge is the only one there. How it found enough soil to grow as big as it is still astounds me.”

“Any idea who might want to hurt you?” McGregor asked.

“No. And it’s got me concerned. I found a loose board on the outside step yesterday. At first I didn’t think anything of it. I just got out a hammer and fixed it. But when I did, I noticed the board wasn’t old or weatherworn. It looked like someone loosened it. I brushed it off as an overactive imagination. But after being shoved off a cliff, I’m rethinking it.”

“I knew your grandfather.” Emma used a wad of sterile gauze to sop up the excess blood from around the wound as the doctor sewed another stitch. “Though the ME ruled his death as accidental, I thought it pretty strange the old man who’d walked two or three miles a day, and had a healthy heart the last time I could get him in for a checkup, should fall over dead on one of his walks. The ME said his heart was fine. He’d died from the fall. Hit his head on a rock.”

Andrew leaned forward. “Are you saying someone murdered him?”

Emma raised both of her hands, wad of bloody cotton and all. “I’m not saying anything. Just the facts.”

“Look, all I know is I came to Cape Churn because I thought it would be a safer, quieter place to raise Leigha. I didn’t want her to grow up in the concrete jungle where I grew up. She deserves a place where she can run and play.” Not a park with a nanny and polluted air.

Andrew knew he was far from the father Leigha deserved, but he wanted her to have a normal childhood, where she could play outdoors, have a pet and be happy.

“Cape Churn can be all of that,” Emma said. “I’ve lived here all my life and love all the cape has to offer. The community is supportive and the summer activities are what most kids dream of. I’d love to teach Leigha how to scuba dive, when she’s a little older.”

Andrew’s heart warmed at the offer. “I want all of that for her, too.”

“I feel a ‘but’ coming,” Deputy McGregor said.

“But, after what happened today, I’m rethinking my decision to bring her here. After I nearly fell to my death, Leigha told me she and the dog were playing with her friend. A man. When I asked her about him, she said he’s been visiting her every day.”

Emma, the deputy and the doctor all frowned.

“Have you had a talk with Leigha about stranger danger?” the doctor asked.

“I have.” Andrew snorted. “She said he’s not a stranger. He’s her friend.”

The doctor completed the last stitch and held the strand out straight.

Emma used a pair of scissors to snip it close to the knot.

The doctor set his tools on the tray. “I’ll leave you in Emma’s capable hands. I have other patients I need to attend.” He peeled off his gloves and gave Andrew a stern glance. “Try not to fall off any more cliffs.”

After the doctor left, Emma cleaned the area around the wound. “Have you considered hiring protection?”

Andrew frowned. “I’ve never hired a bodyguard. Where would I start?”

Emma shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“What about the people Creed, Nicole and Nova work with?” Deputy McGregor asked. “Could they help?”

“Normally they work bigger issues,” Emma said. “You know, save-the-world kind of problems.” She glanced across Andrew’s head at the deputy. “But maybe they have someone who could help while Mr. Stratford goes through the interviewing and hiring process.” She turned her attention back to Andrew. “Do you want me to ask?”

“Do you trust them?” Andrew asked.

Emma nodded. “With my life.”

“How about with the life of your child?” He captured Emma’s gaze and held it.

She nodded. “Absolutely.”

“Then yes. If I could get someone on a temporary basis that is trustworthy, it will give me time to look for a full-time bodyguard.”

Deputy McGregor closed his notepad and slid it into his pocket. “Tell you what... We’re having dinner at McGregor Manor tomorrow night. Why don’t you and Leigha come? You can discuss it with some of the members of the SOS team then.”