Colton Holiday Lockdown Read online

  Molly had been at the grocery store earlier and it had scared her to see how bare the shelves were. What if Dead River ran out of food? It was too cold to start a garden and she wasn’t sure if she had enough talent to grow enough food for herself much less for Rafe and Gemma and Danny and Annabelle...

  Molly collected herself. Any sign of additional stress and Annabelle would know something was wrong. She called Rafe at the clinic and he gave her the password so Annabelle could video-chat with her mom.

  When Molly returned to the family room, she stopped in the hallway, hearing Danny talking to Annabelle.

  “I don’t think my mom will come home,” Annabelle said.

  “No way. She’ll be home soon. Dr. Rafe is the best doctor and Aunt Gemma is a great nurse. They’re taking good care of your mom,” Danny said.

  “What about your mom? Does she live at the clinic too?”

  Molly’s breath caught. How would Danny answer? Should she step in?

  “No, she doesn’t. That’s why I live with Dr. Rafe,” Danny said.

  Molly thanked Danny for not mentioning that his parents and grandparents were dead. That concept would be frightening for Molly.

  “My daddy is sad,” Annabelle said.

  “He misses your mom, just like you do,” Danny said.

  “He cried,” Annabelle said, sounding solemn.

  “Everyone cries sometimes. That’s okay.”

  “Big boys don’t cry,” Annabelle said.

  “Sure we do. All the time. I don’t tell people that, but sometimes, before I figure out what to do, I cry.”

  “When I cry, my daddy hugs me,” Annabelle said.

  “Hugs are good for helping crying and for making us feel better,” Danny said. “But I like fist bumps.”

  “What’s that?” Annabelle said.

  “I can show you, but it’s a super cool big kid thing.”

  “Show me! I want to do it!” Annabelle sounded thrilled.

  “Are you sure you can handle it?” he asked.

  “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

  Molly smiled at Annabelle’s excitement.

  Danny rolled his hand into a fist and tapped it against Annabelle’s tiny one. “That’s a fist bump. You can do that with your mom over the computer.”

  Molly entered the room, carrying the laptop, feeling choked up about what she had overheard. Danny was a nice kid. He’d reached out when Annabelle had needed someone to be a friend.

  “Thanks, Danny. We’re going to call Annabelle’s mom,” Molly said.

  “Sounds good. Did my brother call you?”

  Molly’s heart rate escalated. She hadn’t heard from Matt since the first time they’d met. “He doesn’t have my number.”

  “Sure he does. I gave it to him.”

  Disappointment speared through her. She thought they’d had a connection, but she could have been wrong. Her judgment with men was way, way off. He had her number and did not call. That made the picture clear enough. “I haven’t heard from him.”

  “He knows you’re too good for him.”

  “What? That’s not true,” Molly said. She was talking to a teenager and she didn’t want him in the middle of anything, but could he talk to Matt on her behalf? Would Danny repeat to Matt anything she said? “I had a good time talking to Matt. I would like to see him again. Maybe for coffee. He could come by the diner sometime.”

  The diner was a friendly place. Maybe meeting again on neutral ground would give Matt the courage to ask her out. Although she should still be licking her wounds from what had happened with Jimmy, she got excited whenever she thought about Matt. Maybe they had a connection or maybe like everything else in her life, she had been completely wrong about him.

  Chapter 9

  “Flint, what are you doing here? Checking up on me?” Gemma asked, opening Rafe’s front door to her brother.

  Flint removed his hat. “Sadly, no. Can I come in?”

  Fear overtook her. “Is it Gram Dottie? Jessica?”

  Flint shook his head. “You’d know more about the virus wing patients than I would.”

  Rafe joined her at the door. “What brings you by, Flint?”

  Flint took a deep breath and let it out. “I got an anonymous tip that Danny confessed to someone that he was responsible for the break-in at the clinic,” Flint said. He sounded tired and weary.

  “Why would he say that? Why would he do that? You said his teachers vouched for him, that he was in class during the break-in,” Rafe said.

  “They did. But now there is some question and I am following up on every lead. I need to talk to him.”

  Rafe appeared unsure if he would allow it, but then he turned away from the door. “Danny, can you come here for a second?”

  Danny clambered down the stairs and came to the front door. “Chief Colton. Hi.”

  “I’d like permission to search your room,” Flint said.

  Rafe stepped between Danny and Flint. “I cleaned his room yesterday. I didn’t see any notes or lab equipment.”

  “I didn’t take anything from the clinic!” Danny said. “Why doesn’t anyone believe me?”

  “I believe you,” Rafe and Gemma said at the same time.

  The accusation was ridiculous. “Did you trace the call from the anonymous tip?” Gemma asked. Maybe the real thief was working to pin the robbery on someone else and had found out that Danny was named as a suspect in the attack on Dr. Rand.

  “The call came from a burner phone,” Flint said.

  “You don’t find that suspicious?” Rafe asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “I do. Of course I do. But I’m working this case as hard as I can,” Flint said. “I have a warrant, but I’d prefer if you’d allow me to search the room.”

  “Go ahead,” Rafe said, setting his hands on Danny’s shoulders. “Check his room. We have nothing to hide.”

  Gemma felt sick. How could someone point the police at a child?

  Flint wiped his feet on the welcome mat. “Thanks, Rafe. You could have been unpleasant about this. I feel unpleasant even coming here tonight.”

  Two deputies followed Flint upstairs.

  Gemma waited, giving her brother space to do whatever he needed to do. “Who is doing this? How could someone accuse Danny of robbing the clinic?” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

  “You know we believe you, right?” Gemma asked him. Danny had to be terrified. He had gone quiet, but Gemma read fear in his expression.

  Rafe remained stone-faced and silent. Flint came down the stairs, holding a notebook and some empty test tubes. “Can you explain these?” He directed his question at Danny.

  Danny’s mouth dropped open. “Those aren’t mine.”

  “You’re right. They aren’t yours. They’re notes from the lab that belong to the doctors at the clinic.”

  Danny appeared bewildered. Unless he was a sociopathic liar, he was as confused as she was.

  “First of all, if those are the notebooks and supplies taken from the lab, they’d be contaminated and Danny would be sick,” Rafe said. He almost sounded panicked. Rafe, panicked? It was unsettling. His medical training had taught him to stay put together and calm in emergencies. Danny being accused and Flint finding evidence to support the claim had shaken him.

  “Can the virus be transferred by paper?” Flint asked, looking at the notebook and test tubes warily.

  “The virus only lives a couple of hours without a host. But the live virus was taken,” Rafe said. “Those tubes are empty.”

  “Do I need to quarantine your home? Are we in danger being here?” Flint asked.

  Rafe narrowed his eyes. “No.” The word was glacial. “If we had been exposed, we would have presented symptoms in six to twelve ho
urs. As you can see, we are fine. The clinic was robbed over a week ago.”

  Flint slipped the test tubes into a plastic bag marked with the word evidence. “I hate to do this, but I need to arrest Danny.”

  “No!” Danny yelled, moving behind Rafe.

  Rafe wrapped his arm around Danny protectively. The image almost tore Gemma’s heart out. Flint couldn’t separate them. She had known for a long time that Danny needed Rafe, but now she saw how much Rafe needed Danny.

  Gemma stepped in, her heart in her throat. She had a lifetime of experience with her brother in talking to him and trying to reason with him. “Flint, please don’t take Danny away. Danny didn’t do this. Don’t split up their family.”

  Flint cringed at the word family. “I’m sorry, Gemma. I really am.”

  “You can’t put a boy in jail!” She worked to stay calm, but she was almost shaking with anger at the injustice of the situation. Rafe looked ready to kill someone to protect Danny and Danny appeared terrified.

  “I am not putting him in jail. I’m taking him to stay at the youth center.”

  “He is better off here. I will take responsibility for anything Danny does because I know Danny didn’t do this,” Rafe said. Gemma had expected anger. She heard only heartbreaking sadness.

  “You’re not here around the clock. You’re needed at the clinic,” Flint said.

  Rafe swore. “If I quit my job at the clinic to stay here with Danny, then can he stay?”

  Flint shook his head. “I have to follow the law.”

  “This town is backward. This entire place is screwed up. Is it any wonder I can’t wait to leave? Maybe I’ll take Danny with me. He deserves better than this place.”

  Danny brightened at the prospect.

  “Let me pack his bag,” Rafe said.

  He and Danny went upstairs. One of Flint’s officers moved to follow them and Gemma stepped between him and the stairs. “Give them a few minutes to talk. They aren’t going anywhere.”

  When Danny and Rafe returned to the front door, they hugged. “I will find who is doing this. I know it isn’t you, buddy,” Rafe said to him.

  As Flint led Danny outside, Gemma hugged Rafe wishing she could have changed Flint’s mind. “We’ll prove he didn’t do this.”

  Rafe’s expression darkened and rage traversed his face. “Dr. Rand called in the tip. He’s trying to frame Danny.”

  It was her turn to defend Dr. Rand. “Come on, Rafe. Why would he do that?”

  “Because he’s a weasel who likes to get what he wants. He runs the clinic like it’s his little fiefdom. He couldn’t stand me from day one because I don’t care what he says or does. I do things my way. He’s convinced Danny attacked him and he wants to see Danny locked away.”

  “The youth center is not a bad place for him to stay,” Gemma said.

  “He deserves a home,” Rafe said.

  Her words echoed back to her. She agreed, but she didn’t press the point.

  Her cell phone rang, and Gemma hurried to answer it. Maybe it was Flint calling to say he’d changed his mind.

  It was Tom. “Gemma, you need to come now. Bring Dr. Granger. I think Annabelle is sick.”

  * * *

  Gemma looked like she was about to come out of her skin. Annabelle had contracted the virus. She had been taken to the virus wing for isolation and her father was remaining at home after promising to stay away from everyone until he had been medically cleared.

  Tom hadn’t wanted to leave Annabelle, but Gemma had convinced him that she and Jessica would make sure Annabelle was cared for. In the virus wing, she would receive around-the-clock care.

  Gemma paced in Rafe’s living room. “How was Annabelle exposed, but the rest of us are fine?” Since they had been exposed to Annabelle, they were staying at Rafe’s house in case symptoms appeared.

  Rafe didn’t have answers for how Annabelle had fallen sick. He’d been thinking about the possibilities. Molly had collected Annabelle from school and they had picked up Danny. It had been too cold to walk.

  Someone could have sneezed on Annabelle. She could have touched infected materials. The staff didn’t have a clear answer on how the virus was transmitted.

  Everyone who may have had contact with Annabelle had been notified, including the youth center and Danny. Danny was asymptomatic, but Rafe would go by later to examine him to be sure.

  Dr. Goodhue tested the vials that Flint had found in Danny’s bedroom. If they had contained the virus, they were now clean. Annabelle hadn’t been exposed through the stolen materials.

  “I don’t have answers. Gemma, this is a terrible situation. People who you love and care about are in danger. But you have to be their rock,” Rafe said.

  Gemma blew out her breath. She looked defeated. “I don’t know if I have it in me to be this strong.”

  She underestimated herself because others did. “You do. I’ve seen it. You’re strong for Jessica’s husband and Annabelle and your brothers and your grandmother. You are the picture of grace under pressure. You have a core of iron.”

  Gemma blinked at him. “You are the only person who has ever called me strong.”

  “Then either everyone else is blind or I’m the only person who’s ever voiced it.”

  Gemma hugged him and slipped her arms around his neck. He felt the wetness of her tears at his neck. “Everyone I love most in the world is in this town and the virus is infecting everyone. We’re lucky no one else has died. We’re lucky that everyone isn’t sick by now. How much longer can this go on? How much longer can we live this way?”

  Rafe held her, not knowing the right words to say, but wishing he could do something. His efforts at finding a cure hadn’t been enough. He hadn’t been enough. “I know you feel powerless. It’s okay to be scared. Fear isn’t a weakness. Quitting is. We’re going to stay together on this and we’ll find a cure.”

  Gemma leaned away to look at his face. “Where do you get your confidence? When you say it, I almost believe it.”

  “I want you to believe it because it’s the truth.” Just as he believed Danny was innocent. As he believed that the person who was sabotaging their efforts would be caught. As he believed that he could make things right in Dead River and still live the life he’d dreamt of in New York.

  “I am not happy that Annabelle is sick, but the silver lining is that Jessica and Annabelle seemed happy to be together,” Gemma said, wiping at her cheeks.

  Rafe smiled at the memory of when Jessica had first laid eyes on Annabelle. Her expression had flashed with joy before turning to terror, but she was a good mom and knew how to feign calm in front of her daughter.

  “Thank you for putting both beds in that room,” Gemma said.

  “It made sense for them to be together.”

  He had violated Dr. Goodhue’s rules by rooming patients together. Each was supposed to be housed in separated containment rooms, but in this instance, following the rules wasn’t as important as making his patients happy.

  “Their vitals were stable and they were sleeping when I left,” Gemma said. “Jessica had her hand over Annabelle’s.”

  Rafe nodded. “There is no one better to look after her than her mother and you.”

  Gemma straightened and Rafe saw a change in her. No evidence of the breakdown remained. “Are you ready for bed?”

  Rafe nodded. He took her hand and led her up the stairs. They were beyond exhausted and heartbroken and worried. They fell into bed and Rafe slipped his arms around Gemma and held her.

  It was the first time he had slept in the same bed with a woman whom he hadn’t had sex with first. It was a strange intimacy and he enjoyed it. The alternative, being alone in a house far too big for one man, was depressing.

  With Gemma in his life, he didn’t feel so lonely.

&
nbsp; * * *

  When Gemma arrived at the clinic, Flint was installing cameras in the lobby. He had a box of what looked like webcams. She noticed one over the entryway as well.

  “Ramping up security?” she asked.

  “You put the idea in my head and Rafe suggested webcams. I finally put my hands on this equipment. It networks together and will stream to a computer I’ll set up in the reception area and at the station.”

  “Nice work.”

  “Does that mean you’re less mad at me for what happened with Danny?” Flint asked.

  Her brother preferred to put problems out in the open, rather than let anger fester between them.

  Gemma knew he was doing his job, but she wasn’t happy about Danny being taken from Rafe’s home. “I know you’re doing your best. Do you want help?”

  “I could use a hand. This isn’t my area of expertise. Mounting them is the easy part. Getting them to work is another story.”

  “How did you get this system?” Gemma asked.

  “I’ve been making some discreet inquiries. Betsy Morris helped me figure out how to set this up,” Flint said. “She has a son who’s a technology whiz and he had some old webcams.”

  “Maybe this will help us catch the criminal in action,” Gemma said.

  “Or at least discourage him. I don’t have a way to hide these well.”

  “Maybe putting them out in the open will discourage someone from causing any more problems.”

  “Gemma, could I talk to you for a minute?” Gemma’s heart thumped at the sound of Rafe’s voice. She turned to see him in the doorway of his office.

  He was wearing a pair of green scrubs and a white long sleeved T-shirt underneath. Despite her aversion to doctors, seeing him dressed that way, looking every bit the confident, good-looking doctor, had her heart racing.

  “Hey Flint, what are you working on?” Rafe asked.

  After Flint told him, Rafe nodded his approval. The two men didn’t talk about Danny. No good could come from addressing the heated topic.

  Gemma followed Rafe to his office. “The other day, you called me about some suspicious medical cases related to Dr. Rand. I looked at some of the cases you mentioned and I have to agree with you.”