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Father, protect her.
“Caroline!” She didn’t respond. The line was still open. He couldn’t bear to disconnect, but had she called 911? Was anyone else on the way? Why had she called him instead of Michael or Dalton?
He put the phone on speaker and grabbed the radio. He called the dispatcher, requesting an ambulance and backup. Then he called out to Michael and Dalton and told them to get in the house even if they had to break down the doors.
In the months since he’d returned to North Carolina, he’d been frustrated by his home’s nearness to the Harrisons’. Every time he drove past her driveway he knew he should call her. Every time he didn’t he felt guilty.
But this morning, he was thankful to be at the gate in two minutes. He punched in the code she’d given him last night and set the delay on the gate to keep it open for ten minutes. That should be long enough for the ambulance to get here before it closed. Then he sped up the drive. There was no unusual activity at Blake and Heidi’s. Nothing at Jeffrey and Eleanor’s, either.
He pulled up to her front door, slammed on the brakes and raced to the porch. The door stood open, and he could hear an ambulance screaming its way toward them for the second time in less than twenty-four hours.
“Caroline?”
“Back here,” Michael’s voice came from the hallway that led to Caroline’s room. “I think she passed out. I can’t get her to come to. The baby is breathing, but I can’t wake him up, either.”
Jason knelt by Caroline. Her face was ashen. Her breathing shallow. Michael was alternating between checking on her and Henry, while Dalton was fighting with the blinds on the window.
“Dalton, what are you doing, man?” Jason asked.
“Trying to get this stupid window open. I’ve seen this before.”
“Seen what?”
“Carbon monoxide poisoning. You said Caroline was throwing up, right? And the baby is out? It’s textbook.”
He was right. “Forget the windows. Let’s get them outside.” Dalton moved toward Caroline. “I’ve got her. Michael, get Henry,” Jason said. “Babies are most at risk.”
Dalton looked worried. “He doesn’t have a coat.”
“The cold isn’t our biggest problem right now,” Jason said. “Get him outside!”
He scooped Caroline into his arms and raced to the porch, Michael on his heels, holding Henry. As they stepped onto the porch, he could hear Dalton explaining the situation to the EMTs.
They didn’t mess around. They checked Caroline and Henry for CO levels. It took no time at all to determine they’d both been exposed to dangerous amounts. As an EMT strapped Henry into a harness on the gurney, another held an oxygen mask over his face.
Jason hovered near the chaise where Caroline lay on the front porch. Her eyes fluttered open and she clutched at his arm. “Where—”
The words were cut off as her body heaved. She turned away from him, and vomit hit the porch. All he could do was rub her back as violent shudders tore through her.
“Henry!” she gasped.
Jason held on to her. “It’s carbon monoxide, Caroline. They’re giving him oxygen.”
A flurry of activity caught his eye.
“Hey, little man’s coming around!” The young EMT didn’t try to hide her joy. “That’s right, Henry. It’s okay, buddy.”
“Hear that, Caroline? He’s waking up.”
“I want to see him,” she said, struggling to her feet.
“Whoa,” Jason said. “Do you think you can walk?” He scrambled around the chaise and put an arm around her. She was so focused on Henry, she didn’t seem to notice the condition of her pajamas. Her pants and T-shirt were flecked with the remains of her stomach’s contents.
He held her tight as she shuffled toward the ambulance. “Are you sure—”
“I’m fine.”
He had to admit, for someone who’d been puking her guts out two minutes earlier, and unconscious three minutes before that, she seemed remarkably steady on her feet.
Michael and Dalton hovered near the gurney where little Henry was blinking groggily.
“Hey, baby,” Caroline said.
One of the EMTs took her arm. “Ms. Harrison, how are you feeling?”
Jason released her to the EMT and motioned Dalton and Michael over to the side.
“Did either of you see anything suspicious last night?”
“No. We walked around the house twenty times at least,” Dalton said.
Michael smirked. “Yeah, so we wouldn’t fall asleep.”
Jason couldn’t fault them for that.
“Dalton,” Jason said, tossing him the keys to his car. “Trunk. Grab the duffel bag.”
The kid ran in the direction of his car.
“What are you thinking, Michael?”
“Besides that you’ve got puke all over you and don’t seem to care?”
“Besides that.”
“Well, if that’s off the table, then I’m thinking maybe we know what our intruder was up to when he broke in last night. Since Caroline confirmed nothing was taken, we knew it hadn’t been a robbery. This might have been what he was after all along.”
“Yeah. That’s what I’m thinking, too.”
Dalton ran up with his go bag.
“Thanks, Dalton.”
“Sure thing.”
Jason peeked around the corner of the ambulance door as they loaded the gurney with Henry on it into the back of the ambulance. Caroline took a seat beside the gurney, and they strapped an oxygen mask to her face.
Jason patted her knee. “I’ll be right behind you.”
As the ambulance pulled away, Jason turned to Dalton and Michael. “I’m going to change. There’s no way this place doesn’t have at least one CO detector. Find them. Or find where they used to be.”
“Think they’re defective, boss?” Dalton asked.
“Something like that,” he said.
* * *
Caroline held Henry’s hand with one hand and her oxygen mask with the other as they made their way to the hospital.
Carbon monoxide poisoning?
How?
She had smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, motion detectors and who knew what other types of detectors, thanks to Heidi.
How could this have happened?
She looked at her pants. Then her shirt. Oh, no.
“It’s okay, Ms. Harrison,” the EMT said as she handed her a towel.
“It’s Caroline.”
“Hi, Caroline. I’m Lucy.”
Caroline tried to wipe away the worst of the spots.
“Vomiting is a good sign,” Lucy said. “It means your exposure level isn’t so bad that it’s started to affect your brain function.”
Caroline appreciated Lucy’s effort to make her feel better.
“It may be a good sign, but I’d really like some clean clothes,” she said.
Lucy adjusted the oxygen mask on Henry’s face. “I’m sure that cute cop will bring you some. Is he your boyfriend?”
Lucy’s words unleashed a new horror.
Jason. She’d thrown up in front of Jason. Why had she called Jason?
She knew why.
He’d programmed his number into her phone last night. Tested it before he left so it was the last number dialed and the first one to pop up when she’d frantically grabbed it.
But that wasn’t really why.
She’d called him because she knew he would take care of it. Take care of her. That despite the past thirteen years of awkwardness, he would come when she called.
He’d come.
And found her covered in vomit.
She glanced at her clothes again. Correction. Pajamas. The Duke pajamas she’d gotten for Christmas her senior year of high school, right after she was accepted.
She dropped her head into her free hand.
“You okay, Caroline?” Lucy’s concern popped her head back up.
“I threw up in front of him,” she said.
Lucy smirked. “He didn’t seem to mind.”
Caroline groaned.
“Don’t worry,” Lucy said. “We’ll get you some scrubs to put on when we get to the hospital.”
“Thanks.”
Caroline tried to pull her mind back to more pressing issues. Like how had this happened? Why?
What kind of sick person would be willing to kill a baby?
Because there was one thing she was sure of.
This hadn’t been an accident.
* * *
Thirty minutes later, Caroline rested on the hospital bed in the small emergency department room. Lucy had come through with the scrubs. Henry was curled beside her wrapped in a tiny hospital gown. Both of them still wore their oxygen masks, but their CO levels had dropped significantly. The doctor had indicated he would run a few tests, but they’d probably be able to go home in a few hours.
“Knock, knock,” Jason’s soft voice preceded his head peering around the door. A smile lit his features. “You look so much better,” he said.
“Thanks a lot.”
His face fell. “No, I didn’t mean... I mean—”
“I’m just giving you a hard time.” Which she shouldn’t do. He’d been amazing today. “I’m sorry. I can’t thank you enough. I’m sorry about your clothes.”
His smile was tender. “You can throw up on me anytime, Ms. Harrison.”
She groaned.
“I’m afraid your phone didn’t survive.”
His words pulled the unpleasant memory to the surface. “I’ll get another one. I was thinking about an upgrade anyway.”
He smiled. “Well, it isn’t a new phone, but maybe this will cheer you up.” He placed a small bag beside her on the bed. “I hope you won’t get mad.”
She peered into the bag. “You brought me clothes?”
