“Sounded pretty overt to me,” said the younger investigator.
“What I mean is that she may have been the intended target. The blast or whatever it was that hit me like a ton of bricks came from her office. You need to keep her away from Rebecca. I don’t have any of my security detail around me. You’ve got to help me get her some protection.”
The two men shared a quick glance and then excused themselves.
Marco punched the button again. When the radio squawked, he screamed, “Get in here and get me a goddamned telephone!”
Chapter 11
Shannon grabbed her extra gym bag stuffing her clothes inside the large satchel, and flew to the elevator. She pushed the button down from the 4th floor surgery center to the lobby. She was still stuffing the remainder of her dress she’d worn this morning into her bag, not watching where she was going, when she ran into Rebecca Gambini.
“Oh my God, I’m so glad I found you. Listen, you’re not safe,” Rebecca whispered. Her disheveled look did alarm Shannon. She was normally so put together, but right now, her hair was tied in a knot and held with, of all things, a clip—something Shannon never thought she’d see her wear. Her eye makeup was streaked. Lipstick had worn out hours ago. A mustache of perspiration had formed on her upper lip.
Shannon jumped back as Marco’s ex tried to grab her. “Don’t you dare touch me. I’ll scream. I’ll have you arrested. You know, Marco has already told the police investigators you’re the cause of the whole bombing. You killed innocent people, Rebecca. A small child was injured and twenty others hurt, some seriously. Have you no shame, no conscience?”
It felt good to let it all out full tilt. Her hours of waiting and then carefully stepping on eggshells while Marco awakened and took stock of what had happened had only built up the pressure to act, to strike out, to right the wrong done by the bomb and by the betrayal of her own fiancé with information about her sister’s death and the possible involvement with his ex-wife!
Rebecca came after her, pulling on her top and grabbing the bag’s handle. Shannon called out to the guards at the hospital entrance. “Help! This woman is trying to steal my purse!”
Both uniformed officers, a man, and a woman, ran to her immediately, the woman speaking into a shoulder mic, asking for backup. Two bystanders, both hospital staffers, came to her aid, and the group of them held Rebecca back while Shannon flew through the automatic glass doors of the front of the building and out into the freedom of the street.
But, without a purse, without a cell phone, she was completely stuck with no means of transportation, no way to call to anyone for help. She cursed herself for not thinking about all this while she was sleeping next to Marco, waiting for him to open his eyes. She wasn’t ready. She should have been five steps ahead of all that, because now she had to act with only scant tools to fight the fight.
A cab pulled up and asked her if she needed a ride.
“I’m so sorry, but my purse has been stolen in the bomb blast,” she lied, “and I was just trying to get home to get some things before I come back to be with my friend.”
“How far do you live?”
“I’m on the island.”
“Ah, never mind. I’ll take you there. Come on, get in.”
“Thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“Hey, if that had happened to me, I’d be doing the same thing. You gotta come first for your friends and family. You worry about who the thief is later. He’ll get his due.”
Shannon watched the scenery flash by and noticed how gaunt and unhealthy she looked in the glass reflection. “He sure will,” she whispered back, thinking about Marco.
“So where are we going, Miss?” the cab driver asked, stopping behind a line of cars, holding his hands off the steering wheel. “I’m pretty handy with a hammer, but I’m not a mind reader.”
She smiled. “I’m so sorry. I’m not myself. It’s in Indian Rocks Beach, 2245 Beach Trail. Near the Kooky Coconut.”
“I know right where that is. My kids love it there. They love the ice cream better than the beach. We’ll give you a flat rate, forty bucks. If you can find some cash, good. If not, well, do a favor for someone else some day in return. Are we square?”
“Yes, thank you. I think I might have money in my other purse. Not sure, but if you give me your name and address, I’ll mail you a generous check. Thanks again, so much.”
“No problem.” He drove for five minutes, glanced back at her in the rearview mirror, and then again, several times later. “Hey, you’re that weather girl, Shannon Marr. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, yes, that’s me.”
“You got a rich boyfriend. Is he the one who is at the hospital?”
Now she didn’t know what to do. Their relationship was all over the Tampa area, since the proposal was even done on-air. She’d interviewed him, done stories about the Trident Towers. There was no skulking around Tampa without being recognized. So how should she answer that question? If she started telling too many lies, her credibility would go right out the window. But at the present time, she didn’t know who her ally was and who were the people who had deceived her.
“He is. They’re going to prep him for further surgery. He was badly banged up. I’m supposed to get him some papers at the house and bring them down to the hospital. I totally spaced out that I didn’t have a car, no purse, wallet, no cell phone, and the clothes the hospital gave me.”
He cackled, throwing his head back. “Well, no worries there. You make any pair of scrubs look good, Shannon. Don’t you worry your little head about it. Uncle Andy’s going to get you home, and I’ll take you right back to the hospital afterward. I can’t wait to tell the missus and the kids that I took Shannon Marr on an errand, twice in one day!”
She smiled and tried to play along but needed to be alone. She needed time to think. The last place she needed to be was back at the hospital with the nurses, the investigators, and Rebecca! Hopefully, they had her under control by now. She remembered Marco’s expression when he saw her standing in the doorway while he told them Rebecca had confessed to being involved in Emily’s death.
How could he hide that from her? Emily was the most important person in her life before she met Marco, and with his betrayal, despite her feelings for him she couldn’t deny, her trust had been broken. She wondered how he could think that kind of stab in the back would be okay with her.
“I appreciate your kindness, but I’m going to quickly go through things, and then I’ll call some people from his office to help me find what I need if I can’t locate them. So, thank you, but I think I’m covered for the return.”
“Okay, we’ll be there in about ten then.”
She thanked him profusely again.
Rather than reveal which house they lived in, she had him drop her off at the root of the access trail to the beach. “The driveway is non-existent, and I don’t want you scraping the car in the alleyway made for scooters.”
As he pulled to a stop, he handed her his card. “Please, Shannon, it’s been a pleasure, and if you ever need a good driver—you know I drive limos too. I’m your guy. My P.O. Box is on the back, and my personal cell I never give out except to good clients. Give me a try, and if you never send the check, it’s just been a pleasure to help you out.”