I’d been walking about twenty minutes when I heard voices. I stopped, aware that the snow crunched beneath my boots, which might tip someone off. I couldn’t see because of the snow falling, but they were at the same disadvantage. I was afraid to step off the road—the land on either side was spongy and wet. I couldn’t be certain, but it felt as if I’d been headed downhill at a gentle angle. It was entirely possible a dangerous slough could be only feet from the road. Just because it was snowing didn’t mean alligators might not be active. Did they hibernate? I didn’t have a clue and didn’t want to personally find out.
Somehow, I had to get close enough to figure out what was happening without giving my location away.
“Eve, get up. You can make it to my car. It’s just over there about twenty yards. You’re in labor and you don’t have time to waste.”
That was Tinkie talking. She’d disregarded my warnings and driven right into danger.
“Keep your mouth shut. Make a move, Eve, and see what happens.”
And that was Carla, which was more terrifying than if I’d been incorrect in my assumptions. The only thing that could bring Carla out in the snow was money or something even more valuable. A human organ.
I crept closer. Who else was there? Had Cece made it? A tap on my shoulder made me nearly jump out of my skin.
“Take it easy, Sarah Booth,” Cece whispered in my ear. “I stopped to get something we’ll need.” She pressed a shotgun into my hand. She also had one. “I know you have a pistol but the scatter range on the shotgun gives us an advantage.”
She was wrong about the pistol because Curtis had taken it, but she was right about the shotgun being a better weapon for this job. Close only counted in horseshoes and with a shotgun. We didn’t have to be perfect shots. We just had to be close enough. “Tinkie’s in there and Eve’s alive, but she’s in labor. Carla is there, too.”
“And Will?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know who else. Listen a few minutes.”
“I don’t have time.” She strode past me, raising her voice. “Carla, I’m armed and I intend to blow your guts all over the woods. Consider yourself warned.”
I tried to grab her and pull her back but she was gone.
The shotgun discharged, a sudden, harsh sound that made me cringe. I had no clue what she was shooting at, and she couldn’t see any better than I could. Damn! I didn’t have a choice—I went right after her.
“Hey, hold up there,” Curtis Bromley called out. I recognized his voice. “You’re gonna hit someone you don’t mean to hurt.”
“I’m going to kill that bitch Carla.” Cece was taking no prisoners. She pumped in another round and fired again. I was close enough to see the flare from the barrel. I didn’t call out, though, because while they knew Cece and Tinkie were there, they had no clue I was. Moving to the left of Cece, I intended to flank where I thought Carla’s voice had come from.
“Cece, Carla is here, and the Bromleys, and Eve and her brother Mitch. Eve is in labor. We have to go to the hospital.” Tinkie wanted to be sure Cece knew her location and she was singing out.
“I’ve got you located,” Cece said. “Where is that bitch Carla? Is Will here?”
“Don’t hurt Will!” The voice was that of a young woman in great distress. “Please don’t hurt him,” Eve said. “He’s my father.”
“Bully for him.” Cece pumped another round in the chamber. She’d found a gun that held a number of shells. I didn’t even know she knew how to operate a shotgun. I should have, though. Dove hunting was the great sport of the landed gentry, and Cece had once belonged in that elite crowd.
“We need Will,” Tinkie said. “Remember all the blood in the kitchen in that house. It wasn’t Dara’s blood. It was her son’s. The little boy is Eve’s nephew. He’s really sick. Mitch’s little boy needs a liver transplant. Will is a perfect match. You can’t kill him. We need his liver.”
“So what are we doing out here in the woods?” Cece asked.
“Carla was extorting Eve and Mitch to get the transplant. And she was going to sell part of Will’s liver for a profit.” Tinkie coated her words in contempt.
“I see,” Cece said. “I’m going to remedy this problem right now. Carla, how much is your pathetic life worth? Who would pay to save you? When I find you, I’m going to find out.”
Cece was mad enough to take the action she threatened. And she would do it even knowing she’d sit in prison. I so regretted that I hadn’t brought Coleman into this days ago. If Coleman was here, he’d defuse this whole situation and get Eve to the hospital. I would regret my lack of action for the rest of my life.
Something moved ahead of me and I crouched behind a tree trunk, hoping it wasn’t an alligator or wild boar or some other natural predator. I stared into the falling snow, brushing it out of my eyelashes. The figure moving slowly in my direction was slender. Scrawny even. And certainly nothing I was afraid of. I launched myself at Carla and brought her down in a flying tackle. I hit her so hard I heard the breath leave her lungs. When I rolled off her she was still wallowing on the ground gasping for air. No sympathy was forthcoming from me. From my pocket I pulled the bonds Curtis Bromley had used to tie me, flipped her on her stomach, and secured her hands behind her.
“Stop shooting, Cece. I have Carla tied up.”
“Good, then I won’t miss.” Her voice came from right behind me—as did the sound of the gun firing. Shotgun pellets hit the ground and snow flew up not three feet from Carla’s head. She screamed in fear but I couldn’t hear her. My eardrums were throbbing so hard I couldn’t hear anything.
“Dammit, Cece. I’m deaf.” I could see her lips moving in response, but I couldn’t understand a thing she was saying. I did get it when she chambered another round. I grabbed the gun barrel and pushed it away. “Stop it. Just stop it.”
Out of nowhere a burly body came crashing into Cece. The momentum knocked Cece into me and we all three—Cece, me, and Will Falcon—went sprawling in the snow. I was on the bottom of the heap, and now I was the one gasping for air and flopping around. The attacker and Cece got off me, but not soon enough.
“You’re under arrest!”
Coleman stood behind Cece and Will, and I could see his lips moving and it wasn’t too hard to read what he’d said. He had out his cuffs and snapped them on Will.
“Doc, over here!” Tinkie cried out.
My hearing was returning but I was still having trouble dragging air into my body.
“Doc, we need you right away,” Coleman called.
I’d never been so glad to hear those words, and I heaved in some oxygen. I thought maybe my lungs had been permanently crushed. Doc would help me. But instead of coming to tend to me, Doc rushed over to where Tinkie was calling for him.
“The baby is coming. There’s too much blood! Help, Doc. Cece, dammit, get over here. Sarah Booth, get off the ground and come help! I don’t know a thing about birthin’ no babies and I need help!”
Flashlights snapped on and the scene that was illuminated was so surreal I closed my eyes. I’d finally caught a good breath and knew I’d be okay, but my body was still angry at the loss of oxygen. I slowly got to my feet and stumbled toward the gathering of humans that had formed a semicircle around a woman on the ground. The snow had stopped at last, and Tinkie, some man I didn’t recognize, and Coleman had taken their coats off and created a litter for the prone woman. Cece held the young woman’s head tenderly on her lap and was doing her best to console her. I’d never seen her before but I knew her. Eve Falcon was indeed having her baby. Right at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve. And my partner Tinkie was delivering the child with Doc at her side and Cece offering comfort. A young man dropped to his knees beside Eve and reached for her hand. “It’s almost over,” he whispered.
Eve let out a loud cry, and I thought Tinkie might faint. But she was made of sterner stuff.
“That’s it, Tinkie, get ready to support the child,” Doc coached.
Coleman handed me his flashlight. “Help Tinkie out. I need to put Carla and Will in the patrol car.”
“Sure.”
It was such a stunning scene that no one spoke. Eve was as stoic as anyone I’d ever seen. She gasped and struggled, but she never cried out.
I simply hovered as my partner and Doc brought a new life into the world. When I could finally look away, I saw that Coleman, Harold, and Oscar were all in attendance, and they were rounding up the bad guys. They wore their wise men garb, standing behind Cece, except Coleman’s beard was missing. It took me a minute to realize it was stuck to the top of Tinkie’s head. She looked like a devotee of a mad bushy squirrel cult. And best of all she had no idea she was wearing a beard on her head.
“You okay, Sarah Booth?” Coleman came up beside me, his arm snaking around my shoulders and pulling me close and easing me back from the scene of the birth.
“I am. Who is that man kneeling beside Eve?” I knew, but I wanted it confirmed.
“It’s her brother. They were separated at birth. Will Falcon is the father, but the mother was a woman from Tishomingo County.”
I knew all of this, but I didn’t have to tell Coleman that. “Who abducted Eve?”
“That I haven’t figured out yet, but we’ll have a come to Jesus gathering at the hospital and I’ll find out. You have my word. First, though, we have to get Eve and the baby to the hospital. There is a lot of blood.”
“Are they going to be okay?” I asked.
“Take that up with Doc and Tinkie.”
I walked closer and knelt beside Doc, who gave me a tired smile as he rocked back on his heels. “The delivery went off without a hitch, thanks to Tinkie. I might train her for my midwife.”
“No thanks,” Tinkie said. She had wrapped the baby in Mitch’s shirt. “This isn’t the most sanitary place to deliver a baby. We need to get to the hospital.”
My worry tamped down a little. Doc looked in control and competent, and instead of a frown of worry, he wore a bemused smile. Doc loved delivering babies.
“Where’s the ambulance?”
“En route.”
Like a miracle I heard the siren as the transport bumped toward us. In another twenty minutes, mother and child would be at the hospital.
Just as the ambulance pulled up, the squall of a baby cut the night. The EMTs came out of the ambulance at a dead run. When I glanced back at the vehicle, for just a moment, I saw Jitty sitting behind the wheel. She gave me a thumbs-up and suddenly the ambulance radio came on.
“Oh, Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.” The carol rang out over the snowy scene, clear as a bell.
“It’s a boy!” Tinkie called out. “A healthy baby boy. And Doc says Eve is going to be just fine!”
Tinkie and Cece joined hands and practically danced together. The young man jumped into the back of the ambulance with his sister and the newborn. In another few minutes, the ambulance pulled out, headed to the hospital with its precious cargo.