“Planning on it,” he said, with a smirk. “A little bit of sanity in this world would be nice.”
“I hear you,” Levi said. “Your guys have had one hell of a time.”
“How about you guys?” Bullard asked.
“Hellish as always,” he said. “It seems like the world is just one step away from imploding, at least that’s how it feels.” Just then Ice came back on.
“Turns out it’s a case my father knows well. He knew a lot of the people involved at the time. She was sacrificed, plain and simple,” she said, outraged. “He says that Leia is an incredibly gifted surgeon, but the powers that be needed somebody to blame to make it all go away, and they blamed her.”
“She says this Leo deliberately murdered the patient with a lengthwise cut to the artery, so they lost him right then and there. He already had a touchy heart, and they had done everything. The other surgeon waited until her hand was in position as well, then did it, blaming her immediately. It was a setup.”
There was silence on the other end. “Jesus,” Levi said. “A murder right in front of her.”
Bullard’s heart sank at the thought of what she’d gone through. “We have to do something about it,” he said. “What else does your dad know about it?”
“He only knows the basics,” she said, “but he does know a couple people on the board. At the time when he was asking for details, they said it was under wraps.”
“Well, it needs to be exposed,” Bullard snapped. “That woman saved my life, and she was crucified by the very people she worked beside.”
“We’ve seen it time and time again,” Ice said quietly.
“Not this time. If there’s one thing I can do for Leia, it’s clear her name. At the time, they came close to charging her for murder,” he said.
“Yes. That’s what my dad was saying,” she murmured. “I don’t know how bad it was at the time, but apparently a lot of those bigwigs are still very resentful of her.”
“But why?”
“She pioneered a new type of surgery, and it was incredibly effective. People don’t like it when somebody gets ahead and gets better than themselves.”
“Doesn’t matter what they like,” he snapped. “My God.” He felt the anger burning inside. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m so tired of people being shitheads.”
“All of us are,” Ice said calmly. “So what do you want us to do?”
He smiled. “Good old Ice, right down to business.”
“It’s why we do what we do,” she said happily, “the same as you.”
“Right,” he said. “Let’s pull in as much information as we can on the asshole who committed murder. She said it wasn’t the first time.”
“What do you mean, not the first time?” she asked.
“Leia said it wasn’t the first time he had killed somebody on purpose.”
“Oh-ho, in that case,” she said, “we need to be on that and fast.”
“We’ll go take a walk around the island to make sure she’d not just gone for a stroll,” he said, “but my heart says it’s worse than that.”
“Maybe so,” she said, “but remember. You’re leaving, and, if she cares at all, that will matter. Nobody could look after a patient for all that time, after living alone for five years, without feeling the impending impact of a loss.”
He winced at that. “Great, now I need to find her.”
“Absolutely,” she said, “and I’d love to meet her.”
“I’m bringing her back with me,” he said, “whether she likes it or not.”
At that, Levi chuckled. “Now that sounds like the Bullard I know and love.”
When they hung up, Bullard turned to look at Dave to find him already searching the area.
“Hopefully it’s just a minor issue and we’ll—”
“Oh, she’s definitely been taken,” Bullard said. “I’ve got my focus on the ocean and a small boat I can see in the distance.”
“She couldn’t have been gone too long,” Dave replied.
“Just long enough,” he said. “And we know that a couple minutes is all it takes and that child you adored, that partner you loved, are gone,” Bullard said.
“Right, I’d forgotten you were asshole enough to remind me of that,” Dave said, his gaze hard.
“Remind you, hell,” Bullard said. “It’s been on your mind every damn day since, and don’t even try to tell me different, brother.”
“I’ll give you that,” he said, his expression softening. “Listen. I didn’t come over here alone. I’ve got people nearby.”
“Good.” Bullard turned to look around at the small cabin and said, “Let’s go.” He headed out, moving as fast as he could, taking nothing with him because he’d arrived with nothing, and he slowly made his way down to the bay.
“The boat will be here soon,” Dave said. And he pointed to a skiff coming around the point.
“Ours?”
“I hired it from the mainland.”
“Good,” he said. “Where are our men?”
“They’re coming in a helicopter. We’ll meet them over there.” Dave pointed.
“How long is the trip?”
“From this side about an hour, an hour and a half. We’ll book it though. I’m hoping we can get ahead of this guy so we can pull him over.”
“If he’s got her in that boat, I’ll be so pissed.”
“You hold on to that temper, man. I’ll be more pissed if she’s not in it,” he said.
At that, Bullard stopped and looked at him. “We’re taking a chance on that, aren’t we?” He turned and looked around, shaking his head. “But I don’t know where else she could be.”
“It’s possible she might have gone somewhere, but we did see those scuff marks,” Dave said. “And further down there are small steps as if she was set down then picked up again as they disappear after that.”
“Doesn’t mean that she isn’t still on the island, yet how do we take that chance?” Bullard asked.
“We can spend another half hour searching and talking to the islanders to be sure, but, if that boat gets back to the mainland, it’ll be damn hard to find her then,” Dave said.
Bullard closed his eyes and said, “Get some men to check everywhere on the island. We’re going after that boat.”
Chapter 8
Leia woke up in a boat, as her body bounced heavily from one side to the other. She was wet, and the wind was chilly. She shivered, wrapping her arms around her light dress, only to find that her hands were tied in front of her. She stared at them in shock and then twisted to see the same stranger from before at the helm of the boat. He couldn’t hear over the waves bouncing, and neither could he see her, unless he turned to look. She thought idly of just throwing herself overboard, but it would be certain death. With her hands tied, she didn’t have any options at the moment.