Chapter 5

5

"You're still here," Cut said when he entered the hospital waiting room.

Coy and Kenzie rose, and each met him with an embrace.

"It was getting late. I sent everyone home and promised to call with updates as soon as we had them. How are you, brother?" Coy looked his brother over, noting the blood stains on his dirty, torn clothing and bandages on his battered and bruised face.

"I'm fine. Just banged up pretty good and sore. Bruised ribs are the worst of it. The rest you can see for yourself," Cut gestured towards his injured face as he spoke.

"And Nora?" Kenzie asked.

Cut shook his head, "She's still in a coma. Baby's good, though, in the NICU since it's a few weeks too soon. Doc is pretty optimistic, though. Said we have a big healthy baby and doesn't think we'll be here long. Just need Nora to wake up. Did you hear?"

"About Ran's agent that was with you?" Coy asked, and Cut nodded. "Doc told us he was the one who didn't make it. I'm really sorry you and Nora had to go through that."

"She didn't know. Nora… she, uh…" Cut couldn't contain the emotion any longer, and a sob escaped him.

"It's alright, man." Coy landed a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. "You don't have to talk about it unless you want to."

"I think I… uh… need to. I ain't never seen anything like that before, Coy. I've never seen a dead man like that. I watched him die right before my eyes. And when I looked at Nora to shield her from it… I thought… Oh, Jesus… She seemed lifeless, frail, slumped over. I thought she was dead, too."

Coy pulled his brother into an embrace and gave him his shoulder to cry on. He could imagine what Cut was going through, not knowing if his wife was dead or alive. He'd been there. Coy remembered that feeling of finally finding his own wife. Seeing her lie there, not knowing if she was simply asleep or she was no longer with him. He was damn grateful his brother didn't meet the same fate he had because that was the kind of pain that haunts you in a way that can't even be put into words. It was a pain that reinvented itself and reared its torturous head anytime death and despair were looming.

What Coy couldn't imagine was what it must feel like to know your wife is alive, but without any promises –– he never got that chance. Nora's health was touch and go. There was no telling when she'd wake up, if ever. And to compound the agony, the fragility of a long-awaited child's life hung in the balance too –– Coy never got to that chance with his unborn child either. Witnessing Cutler Stone, the bravest and strongest man Coy knew, reduced to a shattered heart and tormented soul haunted by visions of death and chaos was nearly Coy's undoing.

"It's going to be okay, man. I promise you that. Nora is strong and too stubborn to succumb to this. You watch. She'll be awake and pissed someone got in the way of her seeing that baby be born. God help the doctors and nurses when they don't wheel her right in with that baby, too." Coy chuckled. "In fact, I don't want to be here for that."

Cut chuckled while wiping away his tears, "You're not wrong about that. She's a force, that's for sure. You're right. She's going to be pissed."

"So, what happened? A deputy said you lost control and ended up in a ditch?" Kenzie asked, like she was trying to understand the circumstances from Cut's perspective.

"What? That's not what happened at all." Cut's tone changed to one of concern and frustration, "We were hit, from the side… uh… t-boned and hard. Surely, you can tell by looking at my vehicle. If I merely ran into a ditch, how could both sides be damaged like it is? In reality, the side that wasn't in the ditch is in much worse condition."

"Did you see who it was? There wasn't another vehicle on scene when first responders arrived." Kenzie's revelation only added another layer of complexity to the mystery surrounding the events.

"I didn't. They came out of nowhere and fast. It was only seconds before impact that I finally saw them. I didn't even have enough time to brace myself or warn Nora and the agent."

"There are only a few small dirt service roads along that stretch of road." Coy shared. "They don't handle regular traffic. Why would anyone be coming off that road other than a government or utility vehicle."

"There wouldn't. And neither of those would flee the scene either." Kenzie chided, her anger palpable in her tone. "This was intentional."

"I am so glad you said that." Cut admitted, emotions threatening once more, "The scene keeps replaying in my mind, and I can't wrap my head around why someone would approach any intersection at such a high speed, especially emerging from one of those narrow side roads with so many blind spots."

"I'm so sorry, Cut." Kenzie reached for his hand. "We're going to figure this out. I promise, one way or another, we will find out who did this."

"You know, they didn't even fully assess injuries until after we got here. That's how fast everything happened. By the time EMS arrived, the baby was already coming, so they just loaded her and me up and rushed here."

"Wait, Nora had the baby on the way here?" Coy asked.

"Yep. She was in and out of consciousness with broken ribs, a busted leg, and a massive concussion, but she had that baby like a champ regardless. Like she refused to give into the head injury until she knew the baby was here."

"I've never doubted how tough she is," Coy admitted with a proud smile. "She's a fighter, always had been, and going to come through this just fine, brother. You'll see."

Cut nodded. "She, uh, told me what happened. You know, out in the garden yesterday."

Coy and Kenzie exchanged a glance before discreetly scanning the area for any potential eavesdroppers. They silently agreed to relocate to a small, private family room within the waiting area where Cut could fill them in on the events that transpired the previous day.

Coy pulled out his phone and dialed.

"I want Rip and Dillon to hear this conversation so they can be prepared for… anything." Coy shared as they waited for Rip to answer his phone.

"Everything okay?" Rip asked as he answered.

"We're good. I just want you to hear what Cut's about to share. Is Dillon nearby by any chance? I know it's late."

"Nobody is sleeping tonight. We're all up, sitting around the table waiting for an update or the next crisis to occur, whichever comes first," Rip admitted. "You're on speaker phone, Coy. Everyone can hear you."

"I'm with Kenz and Cut. He's sharing Nora's encounter, and I thought you should be part of the conversation. If for no other reason, to be informed."

"Nora didn't kill those men. She was attacked." Cut deadpanned.

"But she was holding the knife…" Kenzie started to speak, but Cut raised his hand to halt her, indicating they needed to hear more crucial details to paint a clearer picture of what happened. "She'd been out in the gardens, collecting vegetables for a big dinner salad. I guess she'd been craving one all day."

Cut paused, then chuckled at mention of the food craving.

"She heard some commotion coming from the other side of the garden shed and thought it was the kids playing over there. Given all that's been going on, she went to check on them as we know it hasn't exactly been safe for them to roam around." Cut shared. "When she rounded the shed, the first thing she saw was the bloodied body on the ground. She slowly backed away, not realizing she wasn't alone, and backed right into the other guy."

"How frightening," Kenzie said under her breath.

Cut nodded, "The guy grabbed her and covered her mouth before she could scream. He didn't expect her to fight back as she did. I guess she got him good, a headbutt to the face, scratched, kicked––"

"Good girl." Kenzie smiled.

"Yeah. She broke free from his grip and ran for the knife he'd dropped in their struggle. She faced him, and that's when she noticed he was covered in blood. He'd killed that man on the ground, and he was pretty beat up himself, and it wasn't all from her."

Coy's brow furrowed in confusion, "He was already injured? How? Why? Were the two men fighting? Is that what she'd stumbled upon?"

"Better question is why were they there to begin with?" Cut added, "And how the hell did they get past all of our security?"

"We have a few known weak spots we're working on, but they're very secluded and hard to find." Coy shared.

"Unless you know where to find them. Say, with a map." Kenzie offered.

"Shit. Owen." Coy shuddered at the thought of being watched, feeling powerless to keep the prying eyes and threats at bay despite his best efforts. "They must've been studying the property and found them. Just got lucky. Or, he could've sent them, but why show his cards and play the hand that way?"

"Hold on," Kenzie interjected as curiosity took over. "Can we go back to the battered guy?"

Cut nodded, "Nora said the man she found looked…"

"Like he'd been dead for quite a while." Coy completed the thought, finding that the same curiosity that had struck Kenzie seemed to overwhelm him as well.

"Yeah," Cut spoke with a hint of bewilderment, uncertain of the direction the conversation was taking.

Coy shook his head in disbelief, "I thought so, too. That wasn't a fresh kill."

"What are you thinking? Third guy?" She asked.

"You're reading my mind, Sheriff."

"What? Like Nora interrupted something bigger?" Cut asked.

Coy nodded, "What if the plan that took her attacker out there was that there was only supposed to be one body, but ended with two?"

"Shit." Rip said through the phone, "That would mean Nora was set up."

"Perhaps." Coy considered, "Or, a convenient way out and someone to throw under the bus."

"So, what…" Kenzie began to piece the theory together, making it clearer for all who were listening: "Two people entered the property with the deceased, who we know as one of Nash's buyers, to what… set Nash up initially? Send him a message about the missing plants?"

"Okay, extending on that theory here –– there was a disagreement or fight between the two men who brought in the body. Over… what?" Rip asked.

"What if only one was supposed to walk out of there all along," Coy added. "He used the other man to get the body on the property and then planned to take him out too as soon as he didn't need him anymore only, our friend who attacked Nora didn't know he was being set up and used."

"The killing was a cover-up," Rip said. "The two dead men knew too much and served their purpose."

Kenzie questioned the theory, aiming to fill in the gaps in their understanding of the suspected occurrence, "Okay, the story works, except for one part… Why attack Nora?"

"She was an unexpected convenience." Rip shared. "Pin it all on her as a direct hit to the family. It's clear you're all targets, so why not her? The opportunity presented itself."

"Perhaps he was disoriented and didn't know who he was going after," Coy said. "If he was already in bad shape before encountering her, anything is possible."

Kenzie nodded in agreement. "All of these ideas are plausible. If there was a third party involved, what if Nora was a sacrifice to get back in that person's good graces? Infiltrate and fracture the Stone family as a good deed."

"Shit." Coy pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head in frustration. His phone pinged, distracting him as he moved to read the message, completing his thought with a sigh. "This is a mess no matter how we spin it, and it just keeps getting worse."

"What the hell is going on here?" Cut fumed, the theory they were discussing igniting a fury they had yet to witness from him. "This sounds like a damn movie –– a twisted one. This kind of shit never happens in Coyote Creek, much less to our family."

"Until now." Coy said, exasperated, sliding his phone aside, "Ransom and Dill, pack up. You're getting out of here. I just got word that there's been a threat to you, and you need to get the hell out of town. I'm sure your detail is being alerted and mobilizing to get you out of there as we speak. You're in danger, Mr. President."