When we get to the hospital, I get up and open the back door of the ambulance when I hear them slam their doors. I step out and wait for them to get her out and wheel her in. “He is the one who is shot!” she yells, trying to get up off the stretcher.
My phone beeps, and I take it out to see a text from Hunter.
Hunter: Press is on the loose. Getting everything ready to shut down the hospital. There in two minutes.
The nurses try separating us, but after one look at my face, they know that isn’t going to happen. They instead wheel us to a bigger, more private area. “Close the blinds.” The nurse nods her head and goes to close them, then comes over. “The press have gotten hold of the story,” I tell the nurses and then look over at Kellie, who is now sitting with eyes wide open. “It’s going to be okay.” Walking to her, I say, “Hunter is here. But you need to let the nurses check you, okay?”
She nods at me, and the nurses go over to her. I give them room to do their thing. One checks her blood pressure while the other assesses her cheek. “We can probably glue this, and the scar will be very minimal.” I look over at the door and see them coming in with another gurney for me.
The nurse who looks like she can probably take me out even though she is five foot two points at the bed, so I go. She rolls up my sleeve and just nods while my phone beeps. She cleans the wound, the stinging doesn’t stop me from reading the texts with my team.
Dante: Press is all over, man.
Dante: I found a couple in the ER waiting room.
Hunter: I say we have a fifteen-minute window. What is your ETA?
I look at the nurse who is finishing my arm. “We need to get her out of here in the next fifteen minutes or a mob will descend, and it’ll be a dangerous situation for everyone.” She looks at me and just nods when two detectives come into the room. Their eyes go straight to me, and I know one from when I did security for some rap guy who decided it was a good idea to carry a weapon through airport security. I nod at the one I know, and he just looks at me.
“Brian, she needs to give a statement before she leaves, or she needs to come down to the precinct.”
“You have fifteen minutes,” I tell him, and he understands what I’m saying. “After that, she is going, so if it’s longer than that, you need to schedule it with her attorney.”
He nods at me and then walks over when the nurses finally finish with her. The doctor checks her over and then walks over to me to check out my stitches and cover it up.
“Miss Hudson,” he starts, and she looks at him, “I’m Detective Glashow, and this is my partner, Detective Schneider. We have a couple of questions for you, and then we can let you go on your way.”
“Anything I can do to help,” she tells them softly, and then she looks at the doctor and the nurses who quickly exit the room. I get off the bed and move to stand beside her.
“If you can explain to us how you got to that cabin?” Detective Glashow asks her.
“I have no idea really,” she tells them. “The only thing I remember is stepping off the stage, walking with him to my dressing room, and then he told me he had a surprise for me.”
“How did he get you in the car?” he asks, looking up from the notepad he’s writing on.
“I have no idea. I do remember feeling a pinch,” she says, touching her neck. I move closer to inspect it and see a little red mark.
“She has a tiny puncture wound,” I tell them and ask them, “What difference does it make how she got there?”
He just looks up from his pad and then looks at Kellie, ignoring me. “Did you go with him willingly?”
“No.” She shakes her head while speaking. “I was going to get on a plane and take off an hour after my show.”
“Did Mr. Surray tell you anything?” he asks her, using Tommy’s last name.
“He said that we were going to be married,” she says softly, looking at me while I stand here with my legs open. I put my hands in my back pockets and try not to freak out. “He said that he’s been taking money from me, and that if he married me, I wouldn’t hate him.”
“Son of a fucking bitch.” I shake my head. I take my phone out and text Rachel.
Rachel: Tommy took money from Kellie; check accounts.