“Ike, she’s in surgery,” the woman said.
“Surgery for what, Silvia?” Ike asked.
“She has a ruptured spleen, a perforated intestine, a punctured lung, and there was a fracture in her skull,” Silvia said. Ike swayed on his feet. He put his hand on the desk and let his head hang low.
“Ike, Dr. Prithak is one of the best thoracic surgeons in the entire state. Mya’s one of us. She’s been here for ten years. She’s like everybody’s mom. We got her, Ike. Believe me. Just go back out to the waiting room, and I’ll come get you when she’s out,” Sylvia said. Ike’s heart was beating so hard his ears were ringing.
“What about Arianna? Where’s Arianna? Where’s Buddy Lee?” Ike asked. Once the road was finally cleared, Ike had driven like a bat out of hell over to the trailer court. He’d alternately continued to call Mya and Buddy Lee as he chewed up the road. When he pulled up to Buddy Lee’s trailer and saw that Mya’s car was gone, he’d experienced a terror so complete it felt like he was about to have an out-of-body episode. That terror had been replaced with despair moments after he answered the call from the hospital where his wife worked.
“I think I can answer your questions,” a deputy said. Ike straightened and faced the man. He was a wiry specimen. The brown-and-tan uniform of the Red Hill Sheriff’s Department clung to his sharp, angular physique.
“What happened?”
“Let’s go over here and talk, Ike,” the deputy said. Ike didn’t recognize him, but everyone in Red Hill knew Ike. They either remembered the criminal he used to be or they were familiar with the man he’d become. Such was the curse of a small town. Ike followed the deputy through the vinyl doors and down the hall to the chapel. Red Hill General’s chapel was a shabby thing made up of two short pews, a picture of a Gregg Allman Jesus, and a couple of fake stained-glass windows. Ike stood near the pew as the deputy stopped just inside the door frame.
“I’m Deputy Hogge. I’m so sorry about all this, but we have some things we need to clear up,” he said.
“What. Happened?”
Deputy Hogge’s shoulder stiffened. “Just stay calm, Mr. Randolph, I’m gonna tell you.”
“I can’t stay calm because no one will tell me a goddamn thing. So can the next words out of your mouth be how my wife and my granddaughter and our friend ended up in the hospital?” Ike said. His brain registered that he had called Arianna his granddaughter and Buddy Lee his friend, but he couldn’t ruminate on that now.
“Sir, I’m trying to tell you, but you need to calm yourself. Now, what did the hospital tell you when they called?” Deputy Hogge asked.
“You already know what they said. There’d been an accident. My wife and her passenger Buddy Lee Jenkins had been injured. They didn’t tell me about Arianna and they didn’t tell me what happened. This is as calm as I’m gonna get,” Ike said.
“This wasn’t an accident, Mr. Randolph. A person or persons unknown intentionally ran into your wife’s car. They set fire to your home, assaulted your neighbor and…” Deputy Hogge paused. Ike’s chest tightened.
“They took your granddaughter. They kidnapped her,” Deputy Hogge said. The ground beneath Ike’s feet vanished. He collapsed in the pew. Deputy Hogge sat next to him.
“I talked to your friend but he wasn’t much help. Now, please don’t take this the wrong way, but is there anyone you can think of that has a problem with you? You know, anybody from back in the day?” Deputy Hogge asked.
“Leave me alone,” Ike said.
“Ike, we are gonna do everything to find that little girl and the people who did this, but I need you to be honest with me. Stealing a child and burning down a house are personal attacks. Extremely personal. You know who did this. Tell me so we can get her back before it’s too late,” Deputy Hogge said.
“I don’t know anything,” Ike said. That wasn’t a complete lie. His life was a roundabout spinning out of control. Isiah was dead. Mya was fighting for her life on an operating-room table. Arianna was gone. Their house was a pile of cinders. He didn’t know how to stop the chaos he and Buddy Lee had unleashed. He didn’t know how to protect the people he loved. He didn’t know anything anymore.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Just go, man. Please, just go,” Ike said.
Deputy Hogge stood and adjusted his uniform.
“If you change your mind, you know how to reach us. And if you don’t change your mind, you might wanna get ready for another funeral,” Deputy Hogge said.