The Truth Within (Pelican Bay 3)

Ford’s voice.

It was all I could do to stick to the rules of clearing each section of the room as I made my way to the kitchen. I saw a body lying on the floor between the kitchen and the living room.

Jimmy’s body.

Thank God.

I didn’t care that it wasn’t a professional reaction.

Not one little bit.

My eyes searched out Ford. I found him sitting on the floor near the kitchen door. He was holding his mother against his side as she cried. I was shocked to see that it wasn’t Ford who was beaten to hell this time.

It was his mother.

Blood was trickling down the side of her face that I could see. Her eye looked blackened and her lip appeared split. Her hair was mussed and there was a little bit of blood on her dress. Her stockings were ripped at the knees.

“She needs an ambulance, Cam,” Ford said softly. He was gently rubbing his mother’s back as she clung to him. I could see that the knuckles on his right hand were black and blue. He had a bruise on his chin, but nothing more. I looked down at Jimmy who was lying face down. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that he was still breathing.

But not for his sake – I didn’t give a shit if the asshole was dead and buried.

But I didn’t want that for Ford’s sake.

I used my foot to turn Jimmy over. His face looked like hamburger. His knuckles were bruised like Ford’s.

I removed my cuffs from my belt and turned Jimmy back over so I could cuff his hands behind his back. Then I moved to Ford and crouched down in front of him. “Are you all right?” I asked softly. He nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked.

“I could hear him yelling while I was still outside,” Ford murmured. “He never yelled at her… never.” Ford’s eyes connected with mine. “I had to stop him, Cam. I… I didn’t want to hurt him.”

“I know you didn’t, baby,” I said. I didn’t care that I wasn’t being professional. I was just so fucking relieved that Ford appeared to be okay. I reached up to hit the button on my shoulder radio so I could get a status on the ambulance.

“The ambulance is rolling up now,” I said to Ford and his mother. “Just stay here, okay Mrs. Sullivan?”

“No… no,” the woman croaked. “I want to leave. I don’t want to be here.”

Edith’s whole body shook as she lifted her eyes to look at Jimmy.

“Can I take her outside, Cam?”

I nodded and helped him stand. He pulled his mother up with him and put both arms gently around her. I opened the kitchen door for them. Alex was running up the driveway as we exited the house.

“Inside,” I said to him and motioned over my shoulder. “I’ll be back in a few.”

Alex nodded and hurried into the house. I walked on one side of Edith as we made our way toward the ambulance, which was just coming to a stop in the driveway. A paramedic jumped out with a blanket that she quickly put around Edith’s shoulders. Once we got Edith into the warmth of the ambulance, I motioned to Ford. “Do you need to be looked at?” I asked. He was sitting with his mother in the ambulance. She had yet to let him go.

“I’m fine,” he said. His voice was steady but I could see in his eyes that he was rattled by the whole thing.

“I need to ask you some questions, Ford,” I said. I hated that I needed to do my job, but I didn’t have a choice.

“He didn’t do anything, Sheriff,” Edith suddenly cried. “You can’t arrest him. He came in and Jimmy was hurting me and Ford stopped him…”

“Calm down, ma’am,” the paramedic said as she put an oxygen mask over Edith’s face and began taking her vitals.

But Edith removed the mask. “He wanted money. He was so angry when I said no and then he was screaming at me and…” The woman paused and lifted a shaky hand to her hair as if she was going to try and straighten it. “He wasn’t my Jimmy,” she whispered. Edith began to cry again. Ford hugged her and whispered something to her that I couldn’t hear.

When he looked at me I said, “I’ll get your statement at the hospital, okay?”

He nodded. “I’ll see you soon?” he asked. I knew he wasn’t asking me, the sheriff, but me, the man whose support he needed more than anything at the moment.

“I’m right behind you, baby,” I assured him, not caring that his mother or the paramedic overheard me. When the doors closed and the ambulance began to back out of the driveway, I trotted up to the house to tell Alex to wait for the next ambulance that would transport Jimmy to the hospital but not to let the fucker out of his sight.