Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) - Karen Rose Page 0,65

his own house.

His hands were trembling as he hit the notification for the first voice mail, then blinked in surprise when it wasn’t Pastor’s voice.

It was Sister Coleen, the healer. She was the only person outside of the Founding Elders who knew about their ability to stay connected with the outside world. She was the primary user of the desktop computer, researching ways to treat the people of Eden.

Of course, sometimes there was no treatment. Cancer, for example. The community prayed over the patient, but in all cases, they died. The Internet was useful for setting broken bones and treating mild coughs and colds. At least they hadn’t had to deal with the flu. Being isolated from the outside world did have its benefits.

“DJ?” Coleen sounded breathless and scared. “Please call me. I’ve got Pastor’s phone because he’s hurt. I need you to call me right away and come back now.”

Well, shit. What could have happened to him?

He didn’t have to wait long to find out, because his phone buzzed in his hand before he could listen to the next voice mail. “Yeah,” he answered tersely.

“Oh, thank God,” Coleen said on a relieved exhale. “You finally picked up. I was afraid this thing didn’t work.”

“What’s happened?”

“Pastor fell. He was above the cave entrance and it was raining. He must’ve slipped. He fell down some rocks. He’s in a lot of pain.”

“What’s wrong with him? Exactly?”

“Broken ribs, a broken arm, a badly broken leg, and probably a torn-up knee. And a concussion. He hit his head when he fell. He’s been in and out of consciousness all day. I found his phone in his pocket and hid it away so the others wouldn’t see. One of the times he came to, he told me to climb the mountain until I got a signal, so I did. I’ve been here for two hours, waiting for you to answer.”

The last sentence was said in a slightly accusatory way, but DJ let it go. Coleen was only in her fifties, but she had a bad knee and the climb couldn’t have been easy for her.

“What do you want me to do about it?” he asked cautiously.

She hesitated. “He needs a hospital with real doctors.”

“The community won’t like that. They’ll ask why he gets special treatment.”

“He’s Pastor,” Coleen said, as if that explained everything. In a way it did. Pastor was like a god in the community’s eyes. “I’ve had a few of the men privately ask me if we can take him to the city. They’re worried that the government will find him and force him to reveal our location, but they realize he needs appropriate care.”

“Who asked you this?” DJ pressed.

“Joshua and Isaac were the most insistent. They’re worried that the community will implode without Pastor.”

It was fair. Pastor held Eden together. “Is anyone saying he shouldn’t go to a doctor?”

“Not out loud where anyone can hear. I noticed that a few members were scowling at the discussion of outside medical help for him. Mostly those whose family members have died. But they won’t fight it publicly.”

“Can’t we just see if he improves on his own?”

She was quiet for a moment. “He has broken bones. And I think he’s got internal bleeding. I don’t have the equipment or training to know for sure, but . . . I don’t think he’s going to magically get better, DJ.”

No, he wanted to scream. He didn’t have time for this now. He needed to kill Mercy Callahan and Gideon Reynolds.

Although if Pastor died, it wouldn’t matter. Especially if DJ managed to get him to cough up the bank account passwords first.

Suddenly the situation looked brighter. “What was he doing when he fell?”

“He’d gone to call his banker. He said that he needed to check the accounts.”

It was how Pastor normally managed financial transactions. He would either e-mail or call his banker to check balances. He never logged on to the account himself. If he had, DJ could have tracked his keystrokes long ago. But the bastard was a wily old fucker.

The wily old fucker just might have met his end, though. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Get back to Pastor and make sure he’s comfortable and not so out of it that he spills secrets.”

“I will. Thank you.”

He ended the call, realizing that her thanks were heartfelt. After having three husbands die over the last thirty years—two of natural causes, and McPhearson, who’d been murdered—she’d been married to Pastor for over a decade.

DJ