“Why did you come here? What exactly did you want to discuss with her?” he asked. He remained next to Angelique, who was in excruciating pain.
“George’s birthday is coming up and I just wanted to see if she wanted to help me throw him a surprise birthday party,” she replied.
“Sh…she is the one who attacked me be…before,” Angelique managed to gasp out. “S… She wanted to k…kill me.”
“Don’t try to talk,” he said to her. She saw the concern on his features. Heck, she was concerned for herself. It was gettingharder and harder for her to breathe and the dark edges of unconsciousness encroached closer and closer.
The darkness finally overtook her. Her eyes slowly closed and she knew no more.
Chapter Twelve
Horror swept through Daniel as he realized Angelique had fallen unconscious. He was afraid to try to help her as in doing so he didn’t know if he’d hurt her more than she’d already been hurt. And how badly was she hurt? He could see the blood on her arm and shoulder, but more horrifying was the blood on her chest, indicating that she’d been stabbed there. How deep was the wound?
Desiree continued to profess her innocence and insisted she had acted in self-defense. But Daniel knew the truth and as Desiree continued to talk, the reason for the attacks on Angelique became clear.
It was all because George often spoke highly of Angelique. It was sick and twisted and right now his biggest fear was that Desiree had been successful in her desire to kill Angelique.
Thank goodness help arrived fairly quickly. Luke and Clay showed up at the same time that the EMTs came into the shanty. The EMTs immediately got to work stabilizing Angelique. Daniel watched them, his heart in his throat as they put an oxygen mask on her and got an IV going. Then they strapped her to a board and carried her out.
“Go,” Luke said to Daniel and pointed to the shanty door. “Clay and I and a couple of the other men can get Desiree to the jail and we’ll process the scene here. You go on to the hospital. That’s where you belong.”
“Thanks. I know you all can handle things here.” With that, Daniel left the shanty and hurried after the men who carried Angelique.
How bad were her wounds? Both women had been covered in blood but it was the blood on Angelique’s chest that scared the very hell out of him. She’d been stabbed and he had no idea what damage had been done. She had to be okay, she just had to be.
It seemed to take forever to get through the swamp, but finally he was in his car and following behind the ambulance with its swirling red and blue lights and blaring siren.
She was still unconscious when they arrived at the hospital, where she was whisked away into the emergency room. Daniel checked in at the front desk and let the receptionist know he wanted to see the doctor the minute he was available.
He then sank down in one of the beige plastic chairs in the waiting room. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes as his mind replayed that moment when he’d walked into the shanty and had seen Desiree on top of Angelique, her knife raised to deliver a killing blow.
Thank God, he’d entered the shanty when he had. If he’d been a moment longer, Angelique would have been stabbed again. With Dominique’s words ringing in his ears, he’d decided to make an impromptu visit to Angelique’s. And thank God he had heard screaming coming from inside the shanty. He’d been lucky that the door had been unlocked. Had it been locked, Angelique would be dead.
Now all he could do was pray that Angelique was going to survive this night of horror. She had to be all right. She just had to be. His heart couldn’t stand it if she wasn’t okay.
A long hour passed and then another one and finally Dr. Gregory Harmon came out to talk to him. Daniel stood at thesight of the older man, who was also Daniel’s own personal doctor.
“Dr. Harmon…how is she?”
“She’s going to be just fine,” he replied. The words caused a rush of shuddery relief to sweep through Daniel. “She required stitches on her shoulder and more stitches due to an arm wound. The biggest issue she has is the wound in her chest. The tip of the knife managed to hit her lung. The wound is small and so it’s a wait and see situation. I’m hoping the lung will go ahead and heal itself. If it doesn’t, then I’ll have to go in to surgically to repair it. But right now things look good.”
“When will you know if surgery is necessary?” Daniel asked.
“Within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours,” Dr. Harmon replied. “Needless to say she’s going to be my guest here for the next couple of nights.”
“Can I see her?” Daniel asked anxiously.
The doctor frowned. “I would prefer she have no visitors tonight. She was in a mild state of shock when she first got here, but I now have her resting comfortably and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Understood,” Daniel said with a bit of disappointment. “Can you tell me what room she’s in so I can see her tomorrow?”
“She’s in room 103,” the doctor replied.
Minutes later Daniel stepped out of the hospital and met Dominique and Monique coming in. “Is she all right?” Monique asked urgently, tears glimmering in her eyes.
“She’s going to be just fine,” Daniel replied and then told them everything the doctor had told him.
“I can’t believe it was Desiree all this time,” Dominique said. “I would have never guessed she was behind the attacks on Angelique.”
