Josie, still behind him, pressed her face into his back. “They shot Josie too,” Matthew said, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief he pulled from his back pocket.
“We’ve got help coming. Let me take a look,” Butler said. Josie remained behind her grandfather.
“It’s okay, Shoo,” Matthew said, moving aside so that the girl came into view. “They’re here to help.”
Levi gave a low whistle. He didn’t understand how the girl could still be standing. Josie swayed on her feet, and her grandfather grabbed her uninjured arm and guided her to the truck’s running board where she sat.
“Don’t worry, honey, an ambulance is on its way,” the sheriff assured her. “You said they shot Josie. There was more than one person?”
Matthew leaned against the truck to steady himself. “I don’t know. I don’t know who did this.”
“You think they’re gone?” The sheriff’s eyes scanned the property.
“I didn’t see anybody else in the house,” Matthew said. “Aww, Jesus, it’s bad. It’s really, really bad.”
“You went inside?” Butler asked.
Matthew nodded. “I found Lynne in her bedroom and William in Josie’s room. I don’t know where my grandson is.” A new wave of tears overtook him.
“We have to make sure the house is clear before we send the EMTs inside,” the sheriff said apologetically. “You understand that, don’t you, Matthew?”
“Not much you can do for them now,” Matthew whispered.
Josie reached up and tugged on his shirtsleeve. “Don’t say that, Grandpa. They have to try,” she insisted. “They can take them to the hospital and make them better.” Josie cried, her tears carving a path down her dirty face.
“You let us take care of things now, darling,” Sheriff Butler said in a low soothing voice.
“I need you to move away from the house now,” the sheriff said. “Let us do our job now.” He and Levi needed to view the crime scene then secure it. For all they knew, the perpetrator was still inside the house. And there was the outside chance that one or more of the victims was still alive. Precious seconds were being lost. Seconds that could never be retrieved.
The sun had already burned away the morning moisture. With a sweat-slicked hand, Matthew held Josie by the elbow as she limped over to the old maple tree and sat beneath its green canopy to wait. The sheriff and Levi moved cautiously through the back door, weapons drawn.
The next moments passed in a hazy blur. More deputies arrived, and Matthew once again told them what he knew.
The cry of an oncoming ambulance filled the air and Matthew joined Josie beneath the maple tree. He wrapped his arms around his granddaughter, being careful to avoid her injured arm, and Josie buried her face in his shoulder, inhaling the scent of tobacco mixed with the harsh detergent used to wash his work clothes.
“We’ll have them check you out, Shoo, while they look for Ethan, okay?” Matthew said, wiping Josie’s tears from beneath her eyes with his thumbs.
The ambulance turned down the lane and came to a stop just beyond the crime tape. Out stepped two paramedics, a man and a woman. They opened the back doors, scanned the scene in front of them, and waited for direction from one of the deputies.
Matthew waved the EMTs over. “My granddaughter was shot,” he told the paramedics, who quickly grabbed a gurney and rushed toward them. They transitioned Josie to the stretcher and carried her to the ambulance’s back deck where they could get a better look at her injuries.
“You won’t leave just yet, will you?” Matthew asked the female paramedic.
“We’ll check her out, but by the look of that arm, we’ll need to take her to the hospital in Algona. We need to get going soon, but I’ll let you know before we leave,” she said, giving Matthew a reassuring smile.
“I’ll be right back, honey,” Matthew said, and Josie clutched at his hand, not wanting him to go. “I won’t go out of your sight,” he promised. Josie reluctantly released his grip.
Once through the unlocked front door, Sheriff Butler made a mental note to ask Matthew Ellis if he had just walked into the home or used a key.
The house was dim and quiet and had the feel of being empty. Butler and Levi started in the living room, looked behind the heavy drapes and in the closet, cleared it, and then moved on to check the first-floor bathroom.
“No one in here,” Levi declared, “but it looks like we’ve got some blood in the sink.”