Righteous Obsession (31 page)

Alethea nodded.  “Alright.”  At that moment she saw
Peter and Amanda hurry into the emergency area followed by her parents and
Steve.  “Excuse me for a moment, Doctor.”  She got up and went over to them.

“Where are Colin and Liam, Alethea?”  Amanda asked
frantically.

“They’re still being examined, Amanda, but Doctor
Trumbull whose treating Colin, was just going to tell me about his condition.” 
She led them over to where Doctor Trumbull was sitting and introduced them to
him.

“How’s our son, Doctor?”  Peter asked anxiously.

“We did a CAT scan and it showed his liver suffered a
minor laceration which is easily repairable.  The major damage is to his hepatic
artery.”  He showed them where the artery was using the book.  “The knife
nicked it and he’s lost a great deal of blood.  This vein, called the portal
vein, is very close to the artery and has also been damaged.  He’s bleeding
from it also though not as severely as from his artery.”

“What are Colin’s chances?”  Alethea asked softly.

“I’ll be frank, Mrs. Matthews…”

“It’s Alethea, please.”

“Alright, Alethea.  Your husband’s chances aren’t as
good as I’d prefer them to be.  As I said he’s lost a lot of blood and his life
signs are not strong.  He may not survive the surgery…”  There was a gasp from
both Alethea and Amanda.  Doctor Trumbull gave them a sympathetic look then
continued, “But without the surgery he doesn’t have any chance.”

“Then you have to do the surgery,” Alethea replied
without a hesitation.

“I’ll need you to sign the consent forms.  We’ll take
him upstairs as soon as that’s done.”  He led Alethea over to the admitting
desk where she signed the required forms.

“Can I see Colin before you take him up?”

Doctor Trumbull nodded.  “Yes, but only for a few
seconds.  Time is of the essence.”

Alethea went into the trauma room where Colin lay. 
She flinched when she saw how ghastly pale he looked.  She bent slightly and
stroked his forehead.  “Colin?”  There was no visible response but she
continued to talk to him.  “Doctor Trumbull says I can only stay a few
seconds.  He’s the best doctor in this hospital so you’re going to be fine.” 
She kissed his forehead and whispered, “I love you!”  For just a second, she
felt Colin’s hand close around hers.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Matthews, but you’ll have to leave
now,” A nurse attired in blue surgical scrubs announced from the doorway.

As they wheeled his stretcher out, Peter and Amanda
came over to it.  “You’re going to be fine, Son,” Peter assured him.  Amanda
kissed him.  “We love you.”

Alethea walked hurriedly beside the stretcher, holding
Colin’s hand, until they got to the elevator and she had to let go. She turned
to find her parents, standing with Peter and Amanda.  “Mom, Dad.”  They
enfolded her in a tight hug.

“Are you all right, Alethea?”  Beau demanded.

“I’m fine, Dad. I’m not injured.”

Louisa gave her a hug.  “Colin will be fine, darling. 
He has ever reason in the world for wanting to live.”

“I know, Mom.”  She excused herself and went over to
Peter and Amanda.  Amanda was crying and Peter was holding her tightly. 
Alethea gave her a hug.  “Mom’s right, Amanda. Colin will be fine.”

Amanda got herself under control.  “I know.  Where’s
Liam?  We’d like to see him.”

“He’s still in there,” Alethea replied, nodding
towards Trauma Room Two.

“He’s probably worried sick about Colin.”  Peter said.

“I’m going to check on Liam then go upstairs to the
surgical floor,” Alethea said to her parents.  She followed Peter and Amanda
into the trauma room.

Liam’s eyes popped open as heard the door open, but
looked relieved when he saw his parents and Alethea coming into the room.  He
gave his parents a big hug.  “You don’t know how glad I am to see you both! 
For a while there I thought I wouldn’t and I probably wouldn’t be here if it
weren’t for Colin.”

“We know,” Amanda said, giving him a kiss and stroking
his hair.

Alethea studied him.  He was pale and the ugly bruise
that marred the side of his face stood out vividly.  The bruises that mottled
his arms were testimony of how much he’d suffered at the hands of his
kidnapper.

“How’s Colin?”  Liam asked urgently.

“He’s in pretty serious condition,” Alethea replied. 
“They just took him up to surgery.  Doctor Trumbull said he has an artery and a
vein that were nicked when he was stabbed and he’s lost a lot of blood.”  She
lowered her head and continued softly, “He said Colin’s weak and might not
survive the surgery but without it, he doesn’t have a chance.”

“Colin will be fine, Alethea,” Liam said firmly.  “No
way is he going to leave you!”

Alethea gave Liam a kiss.  “I’m going upstairs, but
I’ll check on you later, okay?”

Liam nodded.  “When you see Colin, tell him I’m
pulling for him.  Okay?”

“I will, Liam,” Alethea said, squeezing his hand. She
left the room.

“How are you feeling, Son?”  Peter asked.

“My head feels like it’s splitting, I’m dizzy and I’m
nauseous.  They said they’re keeping me overnight for observation, but they’ll
probably dismiss me sometime tomorrow.”  He looked at his parents.  “Have that
caught the creep who did this to us yet?”

Amanda shook her head, wearily.  “We haven’t heard
anything.”

“I think he was stalking Colin.” Liam said suddenly.

“What makes you think that, Liam?” Peter asked gently.

“I heard Colin accuse him of leaving threatening
messages on voicemail, but how could he get Colin’s cell number?”

“Don’t worry about that now. We’ll get it all sorted
out when the police catch him,” Amanda said. “We’re going upstairs.  We’ll
check on you a little later.”  She kissed him and stroked his cheek.

“Okay.  They’re going to be moving me into a room so
you’ll probably have to ask where I am.”

“We’ll find you, don’t worry,” Peter assured him,
giving his hand a tight squeeze.  They left and joined Alethea’s parents. 
Alethea noticed Amanda looked as if she was going to start crying again.  She
cleared her throat and said in an awkward tone, “I know this is a bad time,
Amanda, but could you possibly fill out this medical history sheet for me? 
Colin’s always been so healthy and I don’t know anything about his medical
history.”

“Certainly, I’m happy to be doing something.”

“I don’t have any idea whether or not he has insurance
either.”

“Do you have his wallet, Alethea?”  Peter asked.

“Yes.”  She nodded to the manila envelope Louisa was
holding.  “It’s in there.”

“He should have a medical card in his wallet,” Peter
advised.

She found the card and gave it to the admitting desk
that quickly processed it.   “I’m going upstairs now.”

“We’ll be up as soon as I finish this,” Amanda said.

Accompanied by her parents, she took the elevator up
to the surgical floor and walked into the waiting room.  Mace, Jake, Vanessa
and Steve were already there waiting.  Jazz was also waiting.  He gave Alethea
a hug.  “Colin will be fine.  I’ve known him a long time and he’s a fighter!”

Vanessa rose immediately and gave her a hug, too. 
“It’s going to be okay.”  At her attempt to comfort her, Alethea burst into
tears and clung to Vanessa, shaking with heartrending sobs.  It took a few
minutes to get control again.  “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize – you’ve had a horrible shock!” 
Vanessa chided her gently while giving her another hug.

Both Mace and Jake stirred uncomfortably and looked at
each other then Mace cleared his throat and said, “Alethea, Jake and I want to
apologize.”

Alethea wiped her eyes with the tissue Vanessa had
given her and shook her head.  “What for?”

“This whole thing is our fault.  Liam wouldn’t have
been kidnapped by that nutcase if we’d taken our bodyguards along with us like
we’re supposed to.”

Alethea shook her head again.  “This isn’t yours or
Jake’s fault, Mace.  There was no way anybody could foresee this happening.”

“But it’s still true that we gave him the opportunity
to act,” Jake said morosely.

“It wouldn’t have mattered.  He was determined to kill
Colin.  He would have found a way no matter what the circumstances were.”

Peter and Amanda walked into the room just then. 
Amanda’s eyes were very red and it was obvious she’d been crying again.  She
sat down in a chair and Peter sat down on its arm, placing his arm protectively
around her shoulder.

The time had slowed to a crawl and the hands of the
clock on the wall seem to be creeping. Nobody had much to say and everybody
seemed wrapped up in their own thoughts.

“Excuse me,” A voice from the doorway suddenly said,
“May I come in?”

Everybody looked up to see a petite woman with dark
hair, wearing an attractive but business-like suit, standing in the doorway. 
McGregor, towering over her, stood behind her.

“Please, come in,” Peter said.

She came in and introduced herself to them, “I’m
Detective Marie Wickersham.  I’ll be in charge of Colin and Liam’s cases.  I’m
sorry to intrude at this time,” She apologized then continued, “I need to ask
you some questions and I’ll do it as quickly as I can.”

“It’s all right, Detective, we want to find the person
who did this and put him away for good!”  Peter declared.

“We’ve started a massive manhunt but it’s going to
take time to check all motels, car rental agencies and rooming houses in the city
and in the outlying parishes.  We do have one advantage; he’s wounded and
bleeding.  He’ll have to get it treated before he becomes too weak or an
infection sets in.”

“Do you know why he tried to kill Colin?”  Amanda
asked.

“I can only speculate, based on what Mr. McGregor told
me, but I believe he was a religious fanatic of some kind who took offense to
what he believed was your son’s lifestyle.”

Alethea nodded.  “Yes, I remember him saying that God
had commanded him to kill Colin.”

“We’re going to be checking some of the more extreme
groups with a religious ax to grind to see if he was a member or might have
sought shelter with or help from them.  We’ll also be talking to any medical
personnel who have dealing with these groups.”

“Our younger son, Liam believes Colin was being
stalked by this person,” Peter said.

“What makes him think so?”

“He said that Colin had accused this person of leaving
threatening messages on his voicemail although I don’t know how he could have
gotten Colin’s cell number.”

“I’m sure Liam’s right because I came downstairs the
night before Colin left on tour and he seemed upset about something.  He
brushed my concern aside and claimed he was suffering from pre-tour jitters,
but it must have been when those phone calls started,” Alethea recalled.

“Is there a possibility that Colin might have kept the
voicemail messages?”

“He may have if he thought this person might continue
to harass him and he’d need them as evidence.” Peter smiled slightly. “With his
mother and I being lawyers, he’s probably heard enough about the importance of
evidence.”

“Do you have your son’s cell phone?”

“Yes,” Alethea said. She took Colin’s cell out of the
manila envelope and gave it to Wickersham.

She pressed a button and saw the amount of saved
messages and then pressed the play button and listened for a few minutes. She
pressed the stop button and smiled. “Well, it seems your son was listening to
your advice about the importance of evidence. We have a recording of his voice
and we’ll be able to do a voiceprint match when we apprehend him.”

“Damn!”  Peter swore.  “I knew something was worrying
Colin that morning we left for Atlanta.  I should have pushed him harder to
tell me what was wrong!”

“No, Peter,” Amanda said.  “If I hadn’t been so
worried about getting Colin and Liam to the airport on time; you would have had
more time to talk.”

“Don’t start blaming yourselves for the actions of
this person!”  Wickersham lectured them, her tone severe.  “You’re in no way
responsible for this.” She turned to Alethea.  “Mr. McGregor gave me a partial
description of Colin assailant:  Twenty-five to thirty, height between 5’6 and
5’9, wiry build and light hair.  Can you add anything to this, Mrs. Matthews?”

“I’m sorry, but I was too scared about Colin to pay
him any attention – even when he grabbed me.”  She apologized.  “I’m sure Liam
had the best look at him.”

“You won’t be able to interview Liam tonight, but I’m
sure you can speak to you tomorrow,” Amanda said.

“I’ll check back tomorrow.  I’m going to bring a
police artist with me and with Liam’s help we can have a composite of
perpetrator out on the streets by tomorrow evening.  In the meantime, I’m going
to post guards by both Colin’s and Liam’s rooms.”

Doctor Trumbull appeared in the doorway.  He was clad
in fresh surgical scrubs.  He felt very strongly that it was inappropriate to
talk to people while still wearing garments stained with their family member’s
blood.  Alethea rose and put her hand to her throat.  “Is Colin…?”