Blind Dates Can Be Murder (55 page)

“All safe. They had evacuated before the bomb went off.”

“And my house? Is it completely gone?”

Danny nodded sadly.

“The office survived, but the house is gone. I’m sorry, Jo. The fire marshall said that when the pipe bomb went off, it struck the gas line which caused and fed the fire. At least they were able to prevent it from spreading to any of your neighbors.”

“That’s good.”

So she was homeless now. Somehow, she’d have to find the strength to start over and move on.

“How hurt am I?” Jo asked, not really wanting to know. The longer they talked, the more she was becoming aware of pain throughout her body. It had to be pretty bad.

“Lots of cuts and a few broken bones,” he said. “Concussion. But no internal injuries. Considering what happened, you’re very lucky. Eventually, you’ll walk away from this with just a few scars.”

“And Peter?”

“Dead. Apparently, he threw himself over the bomb just before it went off.”

“To try and save me, no doubt,” she replied, closing her eyes. “Even murderers can have their moments.”

Lettie opened her eyes, wondering if she was in heaven. If so, it was an awfully noisy place. Heaven was filled with beeps—and it hurt really bad.

Slowly, she came to realize that she wasn’t dead after all. Flashes of memories filled her brain—flying, bone-crushing pain, Chuck and the car going up in flames.

Chuck was dead.

Lettie wanted to feel sad for that, but the only sensation that flooded her veins—other than pain—was relief. For the first time in years, she was truly free.

Melissa
.

Closing her eyes, Lettie knew that as soon as she was able, she would have to write to Melissa. She would tell her what had happened, maybe include Chuck’s obituary for good measure. She would tell her about the plea bargain she’d made and ask her to be patient. Between recovery from the accident and whatever reduced sentence that Anna had worked out for her, it might be a while before she could join her.

But she would join her.

Danny held Jo’s hand as she drifted back to sleep. He needed to go and tell the nurses that she had woken up and had a coherent conversation. Though they had been saying all along her prognosis was good, Danny had been holding his breath until he knew for sure.

Jo had a broken rib, a broken leg, and a concussion. She also had about fifty stitches in different places on her body. Still, given the extent of the explosion, she had been lucky to survive relatively unscathed.

Danny was fully aware that Jo could easily have died. Now, he felt that her survival was a gift to him from heaven. Closing his eyes, he bowed his head, wept, and prayed.

“I don’t know if you can hear me.”

Lettie opened her eyes, surprised to see Anna standing beside her bed. She tried to talk but couldn’t, so she simply blinked her eyes over and over.

“Lettie,” Anna said, smiling. “You
can
hear me.”

Lettie blinked some more.

“Okay, I have to talk fast because they only let me in for five minutes, but I have some news for you I didn’t think could wait.”

Lettie blinked.

“I spoke to your sister.”

Lettie’s eyes opened wide. Melissa!

“She’s in Tegucigalpa, like you said. I tracked her down through some missionary friends we have in Talanga. Anyway, I wanted you to know that she and I talked, and as soon as she can put her affairs on hold down there, she’s going to come up and see you.”

Hot tears filled Lettie’s eyes and rolled down into her ears.

“She wanted you to know that she works at a mission there, a home for former prostitutes. She has a little house and a wonderful church, and she says she can’t wait until your prison sentence is complete and you can come and join her.”

Anna kept talking, but Lettie’s mind was spinning off in a thousand directions. The life she had been dreaming of for so long was finally, eventually, going to become a reality!

Soon Anna’s time was up, and the nurse insisted she go. Before she did, Anna reached for Lettie’s hand and squeezed it gently, assuring her that she was in all of their prayers.

“Oh, one more thing,” Anna added, pausing at the foot of the bed. “Your sister’s mission. It’s called ‘Casa de Triangulo,’ which translates to ‘House of the Triangle.’ I’m not sure what that means, but she said you would know.”

Once Anna was gone, Lettie stared up at the ceiling and smiled.

The triangle was one of their favorite internationally recognized ground-to-air signals: “Safe to land here.”

Jo awoke, aware this time of where she was and what had happened. Carefully, she tried to sit up, but it was too difficult. Danny was there, only now he was wearing a different shirt and his chin featured dark stubble. From the looks of the sun coming through the blinds, it was morning.

“Danny?” she whispered.

He opened his eyes and sat up, and suddenly Jo wondered if he had been there all along, if he’d spent the whole week in that chair.

“Does the bed raise up?” she asked. “I’d like to sit.”

He fumbled along the edge of the mattress and came out with a gray handle, which he put in Jo’s hand. As she pressed the button to elevate the head of the bed, she couldn’t help but remember Chuck with his hand on the detonator button.

She shuddered, pushing the thought from her mind.

“How’s Chewie? Where is he?”

“Believe it or not, the chief has been keeping him at his house. His father’s nuts about the dog—and except for a box of tissues, there haven’t been any casualties.”

Jo smiled, releasing the button and scooting herself up on the pillow.

Despite all that had happened, she felt better, definitely better than before. Though she still had a headache, there wasn’t a fog about her any more. Carefully, she examined her arms and legs, making note of the bandages that covered her cuts. The only real pain she was having right now was a deep, dull ache at her ribcage.

“Hey, we make a matching pair!” she cried, spying her fiberglass cast.

“Except I told them to give you hot pink,” he replied, smiling. “I figure we’ll have to go everywhere together, like a potato sack race. With your good left foot and my good right foot, we’ll have it made.”

Jo reached out and took Danny’s hand. There was so much she hadn’t told him, so much she needed to say. But if her declaration of love was to be followed with a kiss, she desperately needed to brush her teeth first.

“I want to freshen up,” she said. “But please don’t leave. I’ll only be a few minutes.”

“Oh, sure,” he said, looking suddenly flustered. “I’ll get one of the nurses to help you.”

“I don’t necessarily need a nurse. Is there anyone else around? My mom, maybe?”

Danny looked embarrassed, and suddenly Jo realized the truth. She could have died, she’d been unconscious for three or four days, and still her parents hadn’t come to be at her side.

“It’s okay,” Jo told him, her face growing hot. “It was a stupid question.”

“She sent those,” Danny said, gesturing toward a magnificent bouquet of roses—one that was so big, it dwarfed all the other flowers in the room. “She wants you to call her at your grandmother’s. They’ve been checking in regularly.”

“Call her,” Jo said. “Sure. Fine.”

Danny stood and squeezed her hand.

“You have had a steady steam of other visitors,” he said. “Marie. Anna. The chief. Tasha Green.”

“Tasha Green?” Jo asked.

“Ms. Green and I had a little talk. Do you know why she’s been so solicitous and overeager? It had nothing to do with the stained money. It’s just that ever since your date with disaster last Friday night, she’s been terrified that you were going to sue Dates&Mates.”

“Sue them? But why? That wasn’t their fault. It was my big mouth, blabbing on the web.”

“I reassured her,” Danny said. “Turns out, she’s a really nice lady. Last night I saw her sharing a piece of pie in the cafeteria with the chief.”

“Well, there you go,” Jo said, grinning. “Love comes to Mulberry Glen.”

Danny looked as if he wanted to say something else, but then he simply cleared his throat, said he would get a nurse for her, and left the room.

In the quiet as Jo waited, she spent a moment in prayer. God had chosen to spare her, and she wanted to thank Him for that. She also asked for healing for Lettie, and the chance at a new life for her now that Chuck was gone.

The nurse didn’t come right away, so finally Jo reached for the phone and dialed her grandmother’s house. She might as well get it over with. She spoke first to her mother and then her grandmother, and though they were a bit abrupt, at least they really did seem to have been keeping up with Jo’s condition. Her mom had even spoken to Jo’s doctor, and she almost seemed to know more about how Jo was doing than she did. She asked Jo if she wanted to come up to the Pocono house for her convalescence, as there were servants there to attend to her needs—and besides, Jo’s house had burned down.

Jo had to admit that people show love in different ways; maybe this was just their way. Jo said she would consider it, that she didn’t yet know what her plans were or even when she might be getting out of the hospital.

“We’ve also spoken a number of times with your young man,” Jo’s grandmother said when she got back on the phone. “Now that you’re doing better, it’s time for him to make a decision.”