The Search The Secrets of Crittenden Cou - By Shelley Shepard Gray Page 0,46

cold sweat transform her brow. She was panting so hard, it felt like she had run three miles.

She bit her bottom lip as it trembled.

And tried to figure out why she was so afraid. Was it because Chris had brought a gun with him . . . or that he’d left without it?

Then none of that mattered as she heard a brief knock and the front door open again.

“Hello?” a deep man’s voice called out. “Is anyone here?”

More than anything in the world, Beth wished she wasn’t.

Chapter 15

“I never understood what Frannie saw in Perry. After all, there is only so much a smile and sense of adventure can do for a person. Ain’t so?”

MICAH OVERHOLT

After spending yet another rough night staring at the blank walls and listening to the soft snores of her roommate, Frannie had been overjoyed to see the sunrise. When the nurses came to take her blood pressure, she hadn’t been able to refrain from chatting with them.

She’d visited with the attendant who’d delivered her breakfast, and had even shared a “good morning” with one of her doctors.

But when she saw Luke Reynolds walk through the beige curtain and toward her side of the room, she couldn’t contain her happiness. She was so happy to have a visitor.

“Luke, you came back!”

He grinned. “I did.”

“Sorry about my exuberance. It’s just that I’m mighty happy to have a visitor.” And, she privately acknowledged, happy to see him in particular.

“I couldn’t stay away,” he teased. “Plus, I thought you might like a ride home. Mose was going to come out here, but he thought maybe you’d be more comfortable in my car instead.”

The reminder of Sheriff Kramer and her conversation with him darkened her mood.

But no matter what, Frannie knew that she would, indeed, be more comfortable with Luke. The last thing she wanted was to be trapped in a vehicle with Sheriff Kramer while being hammered with questions. “Coming here, volunteering to take me home . . . that was kind of you.”

“Kind?” His eyebrows rose. “You must really not be feeling too well. I’ve never known you to speak so meekly.”

“I don’t spar with everyone, Luke. Only you.”

“I guess I should feel privileged, then.”

“Privileged or unfortunate!”

Taking the chair by her bed, he gestured to her arms, where only bandages decorated her hands and arms. “Looks like you got disconnected.”

“I was thankful to have the IV out, for sure. Now I only have to wait for the doctor to give me permission to leave.” Realizing he probably had a lot to do besides wait with her, she warned, “It might be a while. Nothing here seems to happen very quickly.”

“I can wait.” Lowering his voice, he said, “So, how is your neighbor? Anything new with her?”

Frannie had an idea the patient on the other side of the curtain had most likely gotten a real earful during the sheriff’s visit. But though she’d been worried about being overheard last night, she’d forgotten all about her roommate this morning. “Is she still there? The television has been off for hours.”

“I think she was asleep when I walked in.”

“She’s been a tiresome roommate. She doesn’t sleep much and is restless. She also speaks too loudly, has lots of company, and tends to spout off her opinions about most everything.” But even as Frannie mentioned her roommate’s flaws, she also realized she would miss her, too. The woman had been a burst of color in an otherwise dreary room.

“I imagine she has been a trial.” He rubbed his leg. “Being in the hospital gets old quick, that’s for sure. When I was in the hospital with my leg, I thought they’d never let me leave.”

“I’m sorry, Luke. Here I am, acting like I’m the only person to ever have a hospital stay. How long were you in the hospital?”

His eyes darkened. “Five days.”

“That is all? I would have thought longer.”

He sighed, as if even talking about his injury made it ache. “Like you, I wasn’t a very good patient. Because I’d been shot, my buddies took turns standing guard over my room. I felt guilty for making them do that.”

She knew nothing about standing guard, but she did understand loyalty. “I’m sure helping you made them feel gut.”

Surprise flared in his eyes, then dimmed to a wry acknowledgment. “Perhaps it did.” He sighed. “Anyway, I was anxious to get out of the hospital as quickly as possible. But even though I got out relatively quickly, I still had to go to rehab