CHAPTER 20
Marla curled up in her hospital bed waiting for the next contraction, hoping it didn’t come. It took her several hours to stop worrying and take a deep breath of relief. The medication seemed to be working. She had forced Pete to go back to the office. He was making her nervous, staring at her intently and jumping at every little movement she made. She had called him several times throughout the afternoon to reassure him that everything was going fine and that she hadn’t had any more contractions. Eventually she drifted off into sleep, dreaming of the day when the baby would really be here.
When Marla woke up she saw Pete sitting next to her bed, reading the newspaper.
“Hi. When did you get here?”
“About a half hour ago. Did you have a good nap?”
“It would have been better if you’d been with me, but yeah, I dreamt about the baby. Before I got to the hospital today I didn’t feel ready to have the baby, like I wasn’t prepared enough. Now I can’t wait for her to get here. It’s weird how quickly things change. How about you, do you feel ready to be a dad?”
“Oh, yeah. I can’t wait. After my divorce I never in my wildest dreams thought that I’d fall in love again, let alone have a family. This is way beyond anything I ever expected. I can’t wait to see what happens next.”
“You ever hear the saying to be careful for what you wish for, you just might get it.”
“As long as I have you and peanut I’ll die a happy man.”
“Don’t talk about death. I’ve had enough of that for a long, long time. Just the thought of me having to testify at Phelps’ trial makes my palms sweat. I don’t even want to think about it.”
“Well maybe you’ll luck out. Phelps has already accepted a plea deal so right now it doesn’t look like there’s going to be much of a trial. We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, my love, we need to keep our eye on the ball, pun intended.”
Pete’s cell phone rang, interrupting their conversation. The look on his face sent chills down Marla’s spine. He suddenly sat down as his face paled and he grunted his responses into the phone. He ended his conversation with a chilling order.
“Send a uniform over here to the hospital and have him guard Marla. Once he’s in place I’ll come back over to the station.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Phelps escaped from the jail.” He stated grimly as he now paced back and forth in her tiny hospital room.
“You think he’ll come after me?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not taking any chances. If he thinks you still know where the diamonds are he might. It’s hasn’t been leaked that I actually found the diamonds, so he might think they’re still out there somewhere. I’m assigning a guard for you around the clock, no one will get to you, I promise baby.”
“Is it possible there are more people involved in this than everyone thought? Maybe there are more accomplices within the department, or even outsiders?”
“Anything’s possible. We already have Phelps deposition but I don’t think that’s common knowledge. According to the DA he swears that he isn’t aware of anyone else being involved, but I don’t believe anything he says. Phelps is so slippery I wouldn’t put it past him to have others involved, sort of like a puppet master pulling everyone’s strings without them knowing about each other.”
“Do you think someone helped him escape from the jail?”
“I won’t know that until I have a look at the scene. It might help me get a better feel for the situation as a whole. I don’t want you to lay here and worry though, you’ll be safe. Do you want me to ask the nurse to give you something to help you sleep or to calm your nerves?”
“I’ll be fine. It’s you I’m worried about. Phelps has no conscience when it comes to murder and I don’t think you’re one of his favorite people, if you get my drift. He wants you to pay for all of his misery and he resents our happiness. Those are powerful motivators to people like him. Don’t underestimate him, Pete.”
“Don’t you underestimate me, Marla. I’m more determined than him because I have more to lose than he does. Hate is a powerful motivator, but so is love.”
Marla nearly jumped out of her skin when there was a light tap on her door. Pete answered it immediately and Marla saw through the crack in the door that it was a uniformed police officer.
“Your guard is here so I need to get back to the office. Will you be all right baby?”
Her first thought was, no. Don’t leave me. But she had to be brave a little longer, for Pete’s sake.
“I’m fine, go get the bad guys and hurry back. I love you.”
“I love you too. Take care you two.”
Pete walked straight to the nurse’s station, explained the situation, and asked for a mild sedative for her. He’d almost had to peel her off the ceiling when the officer had tapped on the door and she needed rest, not all this bullshit. The nurse promised to take care of it immediately, grabbing a syringe and bottle before he had walked away. While he was walking down the hall of the hospital he called Betsy and filled her in on the latest news, complete with the escape of Phelps.
“I’m going straight to the hospital and sit with her. She must be a nervous wreck, poor thing.” Betsy sympathized.
“That would be so wonderful if you wouldn’t mind. I asked for her to be lightly sedated, but I would still feel better if someone she trusted was with her. I’ll call the officer posted outside her room and let him know to expect you. Thank you so much Betsy, it really makes me feel better to know you’ll be with her.”
“No problem, I’d just be sitting at home worrying anyway. This way I’ll know what’s going on and keep Marla calm at the same time. Just let me know if you need anything else, Pete. Oh, I almost forgot, Pete can I have your cell phone number in case I need to talk to you? I promise I won’t give it to anyone else.”
“Good idea, Betsy. My number is 555-3333. Be sure to leave a voice mail if I don’t answer.”
When Pete hung-up with Betsy he felt a lot better about Marla, knowing Betsy was bossy enough to keep her from freaking out. Now he could concentrate on getting Phelps back in custody, confident that she was in good hands.
When Pete surveyed the cell Phelps had escaped from he was relieved that he had acted alone, without help from yet another of Wynott PD’s finest. Better yet, he had stolen a car parked just down the street and there were already BOL out for both the car and Phelps. Another positive is that they had a witness that told them which direction he had taken off in, and it was the opposite direction of the hospital.
Pete called all the neighboring police departments and personally asked for their cooperation, just in case they would need it later. It had been about an hour since they had noticed Phelps was missing from his cell so it surprised Pete that none of the outlying departments had gotten even a visual on him. That in itself was unsettling. Could Phelps have an accomplice in another town? Had he ditched the first car he’d stolen and now is in a different vehicle? Would he be stupid enough to stay in Wynott? He guessed anything was possible.