F
ive minutes later, we pulled into the driveway and looked at the darkened cottage. “We’re going to get soaked by the time we reach the porch.” I went to open the door when Liam touched my arm.
“Is Gran home?”
“She should be. She planned ongoing grocery shopping earlier. Why?”
“There aren’t any lights on.”
I looked back at the cottage. “That’s strange. Gran isn’t one to sit in the dark. Maybe the electricity is out because of the rain?” I opened the door and sprinted for the porch, digging my keys out as I ran.
I went to unlock the door, but it was already unlocked.
“Liam, we never leave the door unlocked. Especially if we’re here alone.” I pushed the door open.
It was silent, and no dogs came running to greet us. I flipped the light switch, and the room lit up.
My chest tightened. “I’ll check her bedroom.” I ran to the back of the house and opened her door. Luna and Sandy were in there, both sleeping. At least I hoped they were sleeping.
“Liam!” I ran to Sandy. I could see her chest rising and falling, so I ran to Luna.
He came rushing in. “What is it?”
“I think whoever did this drugged the dogs.” He bent down and tried to wake up Sandy. I did the same for Luna. They opened their eyes, but then went back to sleep.
As much as I hated to leave the dogs, I had to find Gran. “Call the vet. I’m going to look for Gran.”
“Molly, wait!”
I turned around. “You call the vet. I’ll find Colleen.” And he ran from the room.
I called the vet’s number and his receptionist answered. I explained what happened, and she put the doctor on right away. After explaining everything again, he said he’d be right over.
“Molly! I found her.”
I stuck my phone in my pocket and ran to the living room and looked around. Liam was kneeling down, his mobile in his hand.
“I need an ambulance at 615 Cliff Road as soon as possible.”
Molly’s stomach plummeted. “What is it? What happened?” I ran to Liam’s side to find Gran on the floor, unconscious.
My head swirled, and I grabbed onto Liam’s shoulders for support. “Oh my God, is she dead?” I squeezed his shoulder. “Please tell me she’s not dead.”
He stood up and held on to me. “No, but get a blanket. We need to keep her warm.”
I stood there looking at Gran.
“Molly!”
I looked at Liam.
“Blanket! Now!”
I nodded and stumbled away to the closet in my bedroom, where I kept an extra one and hurried back to Gran and Liam.
Liam took it from me and laid it across her. I kneeled down beside her and took her hand. “Gran? Gran? Can you hear me?” Tears welled up in my eyes.
I looked at Liam. “Who would do such a thing?” The tears rolled down my cheeks.
“It looks like a burglary. The television is missing. I don’t know what else.”
“I didn’t even notice.” I looked down at Gran again. “Do you think she walked in on it?”
“Maybe. Callum will be here soon, along with the ambulance.”
A thought hit me. “I have to call my parents.”
“I’ll do it. You stay with her.” He left my side, and I could hear him speaking to Higgins, the butler.
I heard a siren in the distance, and a few seconds later, it stopped. Then another one. A minute later, an ambulance team came in with a gurney, shaking off the rain. Callum and Constable Mills behind them, dripping wet. The house shook as the heavens thundered. A few seconds later, lightning lit up the room.
Liam and I cleared the area so they could work on Gran. We met Callum and the Constable in the living room.
“Miss Molly, are you okay? And Mrs. Kennedy? What happened here?” The constable looked around the room.
For the first time since arriving home, I looked around the room as well. I immediately noticed the television and DVD player were missing.
I could hear the paramedics working on Gran, and then they appeared, Gran on the gurney.
“We’ll take her to Ballyquicken General. You can meet us there.”
I immediately ran to her side. There was an oxygen mask on her face, her eyes closed. “Is she going to be all right?” I looked at the man closest to me.
“She’s unconscious. Looks like someone hit her on the head. You can follow us to the hospital.”
I turned to Liam, who looked at Callum and Constable Mills. “I’m going with Molly. Do what you need to do here.”
Liam and I still had our coats on. “Wait, the dogs!”
Just then, Sean Fuller, our local vet, walked in with his medical bag, shaking the rain off his wet coat. I helped him remove it and set it on the coat rack.
“Doctor Fuller, thank you so much for coming. Follow me.” I walked into Gran’s room.
He immediately checked out both dogs. “It looks like someone drugged them, all right, but I’ll need to run a blood test to see how much.” He stood up. “If you help me load them into my van, I’ll take them to the clinic.”
I picked up Luna. Liam and Callum picked up Sandy and carried them out to his van. He grabbed his coat and followed us. As soon as they settled, he shut the doors. “I’ll let you know as soon as I get the results.”
“Thank you, doctor. We appreciate it.” I said as he got into the van and started it up.
We went back into the cottage and checked in with Callum. “We have to go to the hospital. Are you two okay here?”
“We’ll take care of things here. Do you want me to call Fiona and your brothers?”
“I’ll call them on the way. Thanks, Callum.”
Liam led me out the front door and we watched as the ambulance pulled out of the driveway and my parents pulled in. Mum unrolled her window.
“Where are they taking her?”
I could see tears in her eyes. “Ballyquicken General. We’ll meet you there.” She rolled up the window as dad pulled out of the driveway.
Liam and I got in his car and pulled out of the driveway. “Mum is going to blame this on me.”
“I don’t see how she can. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time.”
I turned toward him. “Have you met my mother?”
He reached out and put his hand on mine. “Colleen will pull through. She’s tough.”
I entwined my fingers with his. “I hope so.”
I spent the forty-five-minute drive to Ballyquicken calling my siblings and letting them know what happened. The three of them all said they’d meet us at the hospital.
As we were driving, Liam asked, “What about your aunt and uncle?”
“I don’t have their numbers programmed in my phone. Hopefully mum has thought to call them.” I turned to him. “How did you know about them?”
“Colleen told me. Just yesterday, in fact. She was saying it’s been a while since all her children have been together.”
“Well, she’ll get her wish now, I suppose.” I looked out the window for the rest of the drive. It was too dark to see anything, but my thoughts weren’t on the scenery. It was on Gran. All the times she’d been there for me. I got my love of mysteries from her. We would share books and watched tons of mystery movies over the years together. The tears rolled down my cheeks and I let them roll.
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Liam was nudging me. “Molly, we’re here.”
I sat up, and a pain went through my neck. I rubbed it as I opened the door, the stiff wind hitting my face. Mum and dad were a few steps ahead of us. Liam took my hand, and we walked toward the emergency entrance to the hospital.
Dad was at the information desk inquiring after Gran as we walked in. Mum rushed to my side and engulfed me in her arms. “Are you okay? I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you too.” She left my arms and threw herself at Liam. “And Liam. Our hero. I’m so glad you were there. How could this have happened?”
Who is this woman and what did she do with my mum?
“We’re both fine, Deidre.” He pulled her away from him just as dad joined us.
“They’re running tests. They said to wait in the visitors’ lounge and they’ll let us know as soon as they can.” He took a hold of mum’s hand and led us from the room.
We all sat down in the plastic chairs as dad asked, “What do you think happened?
Liam answered. “There are some items missing from the house. We think maybe she walked in on a burglary.”
Mum put her hand to her mouth. “Oh, my goodness. She stopped by the manor this morning. I wanted her to stay for tea, but she had to go.” She looked at dad. “I should have insisted. Then maybe she wouldn’t have been there. I’ll never forgive myself for this.”
Dad looked at Liam. “Do many burglaries happen in the morning?”
“They can happen any time of day.”
Mom got up from her seat and began to pace.
Liam looked at me.
“Yep. That’s where I get it.”
“Get what, dear?” Mum asked.
“Pacing. I tend to pace when I’m upset.” I said.
Dad smiled. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Then he looked at his wife. “Deidre, it’s no one’s fault, dear. You know how strong your mum is. She will not let something as simple as a knock on the head do her in.”
She sat back down. “Yes, she is quite stubborn, isn’t she?” She smiled. “I remember once when Jaime and I wanted to go to a friend’s house for a party. She had to know every single detail about it. She was all for it until she found out there wouldn’t be any parental supervision. We nagged her every day for a week and she never gave in.”
I smiled. “Once again, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Just then, there was a ruckus at the door. We looked up to see Fiona, Aiden, Dillon and Reanna all rushing in.
“How is she?” Fiona asked.
“Is she going to be okay?” Aiden asked.
Mum stood up and accepted hugs from her children, and then answered their questions. When things quieted down, I asked, “Mum, did you call Uncle Jaime and Aunt Amelia?”
She nodded. “On our way here. They’ll both be here in a few hours.”
It was an hour later when the doctor came out to speak to us. “We ran a cat scan and there seems to be some swelling on the brain. We’re keeping her on oxygen to make sure the blood has enough oxygen, as well as giving her IV fluids to keep her blood pressure from falling too low. I will do another scan in four hours to see if the swelling has reduced. If not, we’re looking at surgery.”
“Will she be okay, doctor?” Mum asked.
“We’ll know more in four hours. Until then, we’ll monitor her closely and let you know if there are any changes.”
“Thank you.” Dad said, shaking his hand. “We appreciate all you’re doing for her.”
“It looks like we won’t hear anything until around four this afternoon. What should we do?” I looked at mum.
She glanced at dad, and said, “I don’t want to leave the hospital just in case something happens.”
Just then, my stomach growled. Mum gave me her look. “Sorry, I’m hungry.”
Dad smiled. “How about we all go to the cafeteria? That way we’ll be here when Jaime and Amelia arrive.”
We let the nurse know where we’d be and then headed for the elevator.
Fiona came and stood by me, and whispered. “There’s a great gift shop here.”
“How do you know?” I whispered back.
“Because I’ve been here multiple times to see you, remember?”
“Oh.” I grimaced at the memories of my trips here. “I’ll have to check it out. Lord knows we’ll have time.”
An hour later, we were all back up in the waiting room. Shortly afterward, Uncle Jaime arrived. We had just filled him on what happened when Aunt Amelia arrived.
The two sisters hugged, and mum explained once again what we knew.
Fiona and I left and visited the gift shop. We browsed for about thirty minutes when Dillon came and got us, saying the doctor was on his way to give us an update. We quickly put down our purchases, explaining to the clerk we’d be back, and headed back upstairs. The doctor appeared and gave us the update.
“We sent her down for another cat scan and it shows the swelling has reduced.”
“What does that mean, Doctor?” Aunt Amelia asked.
“It means as long as the swelling continues to decline, she should be fine. We’re keeping her in a medically induced coma right now so she can rest. We’ll slowly reduce the medicine within the next twenty-four hours, and she should be awake shortly after that.”
We all let out a sigh of relief. Tears flowed, as did handshakes and hugs. Fiona and I made a trip back to the gift shop to pay for our purchases, and by the time we got back upstairs, we decided to all go out to dinner.
On our way, I called Noah. He and gran had grown very close, and he’d want to know. I hung up feeling guilty as hell.
“How did it go?” Liam asked as we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant.
“He wasn’t happy I waited until now to call him. He has a group study tonight. He’ll be here in the morning.”
Liam took my hand. “He and Colleen are very close. Wasn’t she instrumental in helping him cope with his mother’s death?”
“She was. And I don’t blame him for being upset. I was just hoping to call him with good news, rather than not knowing if we were going to lose her.” I could feel tears in the back of my eyes. I blinked them away.
“It will be good to see him again. Let’s go get some dinner, shall we?”
During dinner, I received two text messages. One from Doctor Fuller saying the dogs had slept off the drugs and were fine, and the second from Ciara saying she’d open up the bookstore. It was wonderful to be blessed with such loving friends and family.
After dinner, we stopped back at the hospital to check on Gran, then those of us from Dooley drove back to sleep in our own beds. My aunt and uncle had reserved rooms at a local hotel, and headed there.
We picked up the dogs and went back to Rose Cottage. By this time, it was almost eight o’clock. We fed the dogs and let them out, and looked at the empty console that used to hold the television and DVD player. I went into the bedroom and automatically looked for Finn on the shelf. He wasn’t there. But the television was. As was my laptop and tablet.
I checked Gran’s room. There didn’t appear to be anything missing from her room, either. Then I went upstairs and checked Noah’s room. It didn’t look any different from the last time I’d dusted and vacuumed. I went downstairs and found Liam in the kitchen making tea.
“Liam. There’s nothing missing from any of the bedrooms. Don’t you find it strange the only two things missing are the television set and DVD player from in here?”
He shrugged. “Not really. Maybe that was all they had time to take before Colleen came home.”
I thought about it. “But they knocked her unconscious. They had all the time in the world.”
He smiled. “Not if they thought we were close behind her.”
“True.” I took the cup of tea he offered.
“And I already added your two teaspoons of sugar.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
“I can see the wheels turning in your head. What are you thinking?” Liam asked as we sat down on the couch.
“Not so much thinking, as feeling.” I looked around the room.
“It’s normal to feel violated when someone comes into your home uninvited.”
“It’s not that, it’s something else. It just feels…”
“What?”
I looked at him. “It just feels wrong.”
Liam looked at me. “Wrong as in this never should have happened?”
I smiled. “Yes, but no.”
He shook his head. “I’m confused.”
“No, because it doesn’t seem like a burglary. What about the dogs? Do you think whoever did this was watching the house? Otherwise, how would they know we have dogs?”
He shook his head. “I would have noticed if anyone was watching the house. And these are all good questions, but maybe we need some sleep before we can come up with any answers. How about we go to bed?”