Page 104 of Lost Hours
Mina appeared above them. “It’s over, Dr. Osborne. Drop your gun. My weapon is trained on you, and I’ll use it if I have to.”
Osborne struggled for a moment longer, but then let out a sigh and dropped the gun. Nolan lunged at him, secured the gun, and held him in check.
Mina stowed her sidearm and cuffed the doctor, leaving him lying on the ground. She went to Nolan and gently touched his shoulder. “Look at your arm.”
He didn’t want her to make a fuss over such a minor injury. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine. It’s bleeding. We have to stop it.” She pulled a large white handkerchief from her pocket and tied it around his arm.
“A handkerchief?” He grinned at her, but kept his weapon fixed on Osborne. “I didn’t know anyone still carried them.”
She blushed bright red. “Something I learned from my LT in Portland. You never know when you’ll have to deliver bad news to someone, and it’s always convenient to have one in your pocket to hand over to them.”
“Or in my case,” he smiled at her, “use it to stop bleeding.”
“I found many uses for it over the years. One of these days I’ll share them with you.” She gave him a playful smile.
“I’ll hold you to that.” He almost whooped for joy at this investigation being over and finding Becca alive, but opted for professionalism and held his emotions in check. After all, Becca had lost her father and was grieving. Maybe just starting to grieve now that she was free and didn’t have to worry about her own life.
Mina leaned down to her radio. “Come in, El.”
“Go ahead.” El’s voice came over the radio.
“Suspect in custody about a mile east of the cabin. Becca is alive and well. Require medical assistance.”
El released a long breath over the radio. “I’m three minutes out. Will get the ambulance dispatched.”
“Roger that.” The radio squawked and went silent.
Nolan’s arm throbbed, but he didn’t want Mina to see that it bothered him. He tried to move like normal as he helped Osborne into a sitting position. Becca remained seated behind the tree.
“Let me check on Becca.” Mina went to her and unlocked her cuffs. They talked for only a few moments when Becca got up and firmed her shoulders.
Mina gave the young woman a side hug, and they stepped through leaves to join Nolan again.
Mina continued to stare at Osborne as if she couldn’t believe he really was their killer. Nolan didn’t have the same problem she did, but then he hadn’t worked with this man for years.
“I’m sorry, Mina.” Osborne cast her a pleading look as he began sobbing. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I didn’t want to kill Ernie, but my father wouldn’t avenge himself, so I had to do it. I couldn’t stand by and let someone take advantage of him like that and get away with it.”
“And what do you think he’s going to say about all of this?” Nolan asked.
Osborne’s sobbing ramped up. “I’m going to be an embarrassment to him. His only child, I was his pride and joy. The doctor son he’d groomed me to be since I was a little boy. Important in the community and certainly too good to run an inn. Too good to help him out too.”
He let out a shuddering breath. “And now, I’ll be his convicted son. The rest of my life thrown away. He’ll die while I’m in prison. My mother too. Both of them alone, without me.”
Mina actually gave him a compassionate look that Nolan couldn’t possibly muster. “And now that you’ve avenged him, do you feel any better?”
He looked up at her, his expression despondent. “No. Not at all. I feel worse. Terrible. And I’m embarrassed for having done such a thing.”
“Hah!” Becca shouted. “Embarrassed? Embarrassed? You kill my father, and your main feeling is embarrassment? How about remorse? How about guilt? How about the same things for abducting me? You might’ve been kind and treated me okay these past few days, but I feared for my life each and every hour of each and every one of them. I will never get those days back and never feel safe again.”
Osborne shifted his focus to her. “I’m sorry. I am. I do feel guilt. And remorse. For your father and you, and especially now for trying to kill you too. It was one thing to let my rage take over, another to do this.”
“I don’t buy the rage thing, either.” Becca fisted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Rage makes you act in the spur of the moment. You planned this. Every bit of it. That’s cold-blooded murder.”
“No. No.” Osborne shook his head. “It’s not like that. Try to understand. I was so angry I could hardly see straight. Wasn’t in my right mind, even as I planned it. But now, I can see how very wrong it all was.”
“You’ll have plenty of years to think about that in prison,” Nolan said, not buying thisI’m sorry for myselfroutine either. More likely he was sorry for having been caught. “I’m equally angry over you setting my team up to take the fall.”
