The Stranger's Sin by Darlene Gardner Read Free Book Online

Toby with a woman he’d just met. A woman he’d convinced himself not ten minutes ago was lying.
    “I need to take Toby with me,” he said.
    “Don’t worry about Toby,” she said. “I’ll stay here with him.”
    “But—”
    “Listen to me,” she interrupted in that same calm, authoritative voice. “You need to get your father to a hospital. I promise I’ll take good care of your son.”
    Her eyes bored into his, clear and convincing. His father groaned, the sound causing pain to Chase’s own heart.
    “If it’ll ease your mind, call a neighbor while you’re on your way,” she suggested. “But you need to go. Right now!”
    She was right. It was vital to get a heart-attack victim to a hospital as quickly as possible. Doctors could administer drugs that broke up clots, stopping the heart attack in progress and limiting damage. Chase made a snap decision, the only one he could make.
    “Okay, I’m going.” He rushed around to the driver’s side of the Jeep and got in.
    His father was slumped in the seat, secured by the seat belt that Kelly had already fastened.
    “Kelly’s a good woman,” his father muttered out the side of his mouth. “Toby’ll be fine.”
    The fate of his father was less certain. His face was frighteningly pale. Chase turned the key in the ignition, mentally reviewing the winding route to the nearest hospital, figuring out how fast he dared drive to give doctors the best chance to save his father.
    The trip passed in a blur, with Chase dividing his attention between the road and his father. It seemed an eternity before he pulled up to the emergency room.
    Incredibly his father was able to walk into the hospital under his own power, with minimal help from Chase. The E.R. staff didn’t take any chances when Chase reported his father was suffering from chest pain. The nurses hustled him into a wheelchair and transported him into an examining room.
    Somebody asked Chase to move his pickup from the emergency-room entrance. When he returned to the waiting room, an admissions clerk summoned him to her cubicle and instructed him to fill out paperwork.
    Only then did Chase have time to phone Judy Allen, the mother of three who lived a few doors down, to ask her to check on Toby and Kelly. He got a return call an hour later, shortly after the E.R. doctor informed him they were running tests on his father.
    “Kelly has everything under control. She was putting Toby to sleep when I got here, and we’re just sitting here talking,” his neighbor told him. “How’s your father?”
    Chase didn’t find out the answer for another hour, adiagnosis his father was still marveling over much later as they drove home through the dark night, traveling at a much lower rate of speed.
    “Heartburn,” his father repeated. “Can you believe it was only heartburn?”
    “Now that I know you had chili for lunch, yes,” Chase said. “I should have asked what you’d had to eat, but the back pain threw me. That’s a warning sign.”
    “In this case, it was only a sign that I’d been working in the yard,” his father groused.
    “Hindsight,” Chase said, as he pulled the Jeep into the garage. “Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
    The house was silent, the peace almost absolute, suggesting that no one was awake. Chase put a finger to his lips and peeked into the family room.
    Kelly was asleep on the coach, one hand resting on a slightly flushed cheek, still wearing her tennis shoes. Judy was gone.
    “She’s asleep,” he whispered to his father.
    “This old fool needs to get some sleep, too,” his father said. “But better an old fool than a dead fool.”
    His eyes moistening at the thought that his father could have met the same end as his mother, Chase impulsively embraced the other man. “Good night, Dad,” he whispered.
    “Good night, son.” His father clapped him on the back, his voice as unsteady as Chase’s.
    After his father went upstairs, Chase quietly approached the sofa.