Page 59 of Two Favors Repaid

“I want to make sure Emma’s okay.”

Chapter 18

Rob

“Emma’s going to be fine, Chief Deputy Hope,” Dr. Leroy said.

Rob looked up at the doctor as she was an inch taller than him in heels. “I’ve given her some IV fluids. She was slightly dehydrated, but she’ll be able to go home in a couple hours.” Her expression grew somber. “I do hope I won’t see her again for a long time,” she added.

“Me too,” Rob said. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“Now, how about you sit down here for a moment and I put some stitches over your eye? I’ll numb the area. You won’t even notice it.” Her cheerful demeanor made him smile.

“I’m not keeping you from your work?” he asked, knowing Barbara Leroy was Sharp’s Cove pediatrician.

“It’s a Saturday morning. I’m the only doctor on call,” she explained patiently, shaking her head. “And I wouldn’t let you keep me from anything more urgent. Now, if you’re done being a baby, just sit down and relax.

Rob clenched his jaw at the burning sensation on his forehead.

“There. I’m quite an artist, if I may say so myself.”

“Thank you, Dr. Leroy,” Rob said.

“Any other injuries I should be looking at? Sounds like you’re breathing funny.”

“I may have cracked a rib. But it’ll be fine,” he added quickly. He didn’t have any time to waste at the X-ray machine. “I’ll be back if it gets any worse.”

“Okay, but take this seriously, please. Ribs can easily puncture the lungs.”

“Will do, Doctor,” Rob said. “I need to take this call, if that’s okay.”

“I’ll go back and check on Emma in the ER. Let a nurse know if you need anything.”

Rob nodded and picked up his phone. It had already stopped ringing. He dialed Lorraine’s number impatiently, hoping the government agents had already landed. If they wanted to catch Ford, they needed to stop flying off in different directions and stay in Sharp’s Cove. This was where things were going to go down, Rob was sure of it.

“Rob. How are you? Are you and Emma okay?”

“We’re fine. Where are you, Lorraine? Yes, of course I’m sure it’s Ford. He overpowered me in my boat,” Rob admitted, glowing red with shame. “He drove us out to sea and tried to feed us to the sharks. He’s not working alone. Somebody must have picked him up when he burned my ship. Shit, he’s probably miles away by now.”

The FBI special agent let him finish before interrupting. “We informed the coast guards. They’re out searching as well. But I’m not so sure he’s gone.”

“What are you thinking?”

“He took a big risk coming to find Emma, Rob.”

“He said he wanted to put things right. He saw killing Emma as the first step in achieving that.”

He could almost see Lorraine nodding and biting her lip on the other side of the phone.

“I think that’s probably the first honest thing he’s said. In his deluded mind, failing to kill Emma was the beginning of the end for him. But Emma’s not the only woman he wants revenge on.”

“Natalie.”

“Exactly. If you’d disappeared, we would have called Natalie back.”

Rob’s blood went cold at the thought. He stepped out of the room and made his way down the corridor towards the ER.

“Ford knew this.”