Jack Taggart Mysteries 8-Book Bundle. Don Easton
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I’m okay. Just about home.”
“Danny and Susan had a home invasion this afternoon. Someone —”
“A what? Are they okay?”
“I don’t know. They’re at BCCH. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes. I’ll call you, but watch yourself. I don’t know what is going on.”
Jack parked at the emergency entrance and ran inside. Moments later, he located Danny and Susan at the intensive care unit talking to an I-HIT investigator. Danny and Susan numbly stared at him as he rushed up.
“I just heard. Got here as fast as I could,” stammered Jack. “What —”
“Get away from us,” said Susan, her voice sounding raspy and bitter.
Jack felt stunned. His mouth opened to speak but no words came out.
“You heard her, Jack! Get the fuck away from us!” screamed Danny.
“Danny ... I don’t understand. Why...” Jack stopped and stepped back when he saw Danny clench his fist and pull his arm back.
Both men stared at each other for a moment, then Jack turned and walked away. He was conscious of walking past Holly, who had stepped out from Charlie’s room to see what the commotion was about.
The I-HIT investigator caught up to him and said, “Maybe you should hang around in the waiting room near the front doors. Connie should arrive soon. She’ll want to talk with you.”
“What happened? I heard they drowned Jimmy.”
“Not pronounced yet, but he was in a backyard pool for about thirty-five minutes. Doesn’t look good. All I know is that it had something to do with you. The guy who did it told Susan it was because she was your friend.”
“What about Tiffany?”
“That the other one? She’s being examined by a doctor. Don’t think she has any ... physical injuries. Victim Services have been notified.”
“I’m going home to my wife. Tell CC she can call me there.”
It was five-thirty when Jack got back in his car. He called home and Natasha answered.
“I’ll be home in forty minutes. Don’t let anyone in until I’m there.”
“Jack? What happened? Are they okay?”
“I’ll talk to you when I get home. I ... can’t talk right now.”
“Jack? What —”
Jack hung up and tossed the cell down on the seat as his body shook with each sob. He leaned forward and crossed his arms over the steering wheel to make a pillow for his head. Minutes later, he sat up and reached for the ignition. The keys slipped from his fingers onto the floor. He slumped over to pick them up, then clenched them in his fist and sat back in his seat breathing heavily.
Time passed and Jack realized he was staring at the edge of Charlie’s picture protruding from underneath the sun visor. It reminded him of another picture. A picture of Jimmy that Danny and Susan had given him when he was first born.
The tears dripped off his cheeks as the images of both infants vied for his attention.
It was forty-five minutes later when he found the energy to answer his cellphone.
“Jack! You son of a bitch!”
Jack recognized his sister’s voice and panic set in. Not her too! Not again! “Liz! What is it? What’s happened?”
“You know perfectly well what happened! It’s all because of you!”
“Marcie ... Ben ... are they okay? Tell me!” “Marcie doesn’t know. But how could you do that to us? Ben’s been freaking out. He wouldn’t tell me until just now. How could you? What if the dope dealers come back here looking for the stuff?”
Jack breathed a sigh of relief, then said, “They won’t. It’s all been burned. You’re completely safe.”
“Don’t you think having both my children murdered last year was enough?”
Jack swallowed, not knowing what to say.
“You tell us this Bishop fellow is dead, and we think, gee, maybe now we can get on with our lives. But no! You have to involve us in something like this!”
“Liz, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. The person who I did this favour for ... helped me find...” Jack paused, then said, “I promise, I’ll never do anything like that again.”
“That’s why you and Danny came out to visit the other morning! I thought it was strange. Tell him that I’m not impressed with him either.”
“Liz, something has happened to...” Jack coughed and tried to regain his composure. “I do need a favour. I hate to ask you now, but...”
“Haven’t you been listening to what I just said?”
“It’s Natasha. I ... never mind. I’m sorry.”
Elizabeth paused and then said, “A woman problem maybe I can handle. What is it? Are you okay? Jesus, I didn’t mean to come down so hard on you. Your voice...”
“I’m worried that Natasha is in danger.”
“Your job?”
“Yes.”
It was seven o’clock when Jack arrived home.
Natasha met him at the front door and said, “What the hell is going on? Why did you hang up on me?”
“I was at the hospital. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t ... oh, Jesus, it’s my fault,” replied Jack.
Natasha was startled by the tone of his voice but more shocked when she looked at him. Grief and anguish carved deep etches into his face. It was obvious he had been crying. She forgot her anger and hugged him, then held his hand as she led him to the living room and sat him down on the sofa to face her.
“Talk to me,” she said softly.
The words poured out. Everything that had happened within the last three hours. When he was finished, Natasha placed one hand on his shoulder and said, “You mean you still don’t know that Jimmy is going to be okay?”
“No. I’m sure he’s not. Even if they manage —”
“Nobody has told you!”
“Told me what? What are you talking about?”
“Jimmy is going to be okay. I was going frantic. Had to find out what was going on so I called the hospital and spoke with someone I knew. Danny and Susan are in shock, but Jimmy seems fine.”
“No, he can’t be. It’s not possible. He was underwater over half an hour. His brain will be ... if he lives ... he’ll be...”
“No, we don’t think so. He is alive and not showing any signs of neurological damage.”
“It can’t be. I was told he —”
“Let me speak. Normally, drowning suffocation causes a lack of oxygen resulting in death in only a few minutes. An exception to this rule appears in victims who have been suddenly submerged into ice-cold water, resulting in the slowing of body functions while diverting blood only to the heart, lungs, and brain. Some of these people have survived without any physical damage for up to an hour underwater. It’s known as the mammalian dive reflex. If someone gradually becomes hypothermic then this reflex does not apply.”
“But Jimmy is just a baby!”
“Babies are born with the mammalian dive reflex. They naturally hold their breath when submerged. Also, being less than three months old means his blood is still oxygen enriched