From the moment she stepped on the scene of the emergency, Lucy was all business. Since Mr. Gregory insisted on driving them to the hospital, she spent the ride there making phone calls to Reese, Cassie (unsuccessfully), Maura, and the Wiltons. When they arrived at the hospital, she led Natalie and Vince into the emergency room where she arranged to use an unoccupied examination room and made sure she was notified as soon as there was any news about Blaine.
She was relieved that neither Vince nor Natalie had any injuries beyond a few scrapes and minor cuts from broken glass. They both seemed shaken up by the ordeal and not inclined to do much talking. Lucy worked in silence, trying to focus on just one thing at a time as she cleaned and bandaged Natalie's wounds.
She was just finishing up with Natalie when there was a knock on the door and a nurse showed a very worried Reese and Simon into the room.
"Are you alright?" Reese asked, hurrying to her daughter's side. Between Natalie and Lucy's assurances that she was fine and seeing Natalie with her own eyes, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. She had so many questions, but that was the only one that mattered right now. Everything else could wait. "Are we good to go home?"
"Can we stay?" Natalie spoke up. "I want to see how my dad is."
When Reese seemed unsure, Lucy chimed in. "I asked to be updated as soon as the doctors have news. I can give you a call or find you in the waiting room as soon as I hear anything."
Reese looked from Natalie's pleading eyes to Simon who nodded his approval, then back to Lucy. "We'll be in the waiting room."
"I'll find you when we're finished here." She glanced at Vince and then back to Reese. "I may need to talk with you about something later."
"Okay."
"Oh, and while you're waiting, can you call Cassie?" Lucy added. "I tried to get a hold of her, but there was no answer."
Reese hesitated. She was probably the last person Cassandra wanted to hear from, especially regarding bad news about her husband.
Luckily, Simon was there to rescue her from the awkwardness of the situation. "I can take care of it."
As they were on their way out of the examination room, Natalie looked back at Vince and smiled at him when she caught his eye. "Thanks . . . for everything."
He nodded and managed to croak out, "sure," before they left the room. At any other time he would have been thrilled at a hint of affection or admiration from her, but now he just felt like a fraud.
Once the others had left, his mother started tending to his wounds.
"So what happened tonight?" she asked as she worked.
"You heard."
Lucy set down the cotton swab and looked him in the eye with her full attention. "I want you to know I will always support you and I will always have your back, but to do that I need you to be totally honest with me. I know those friends of yours have been hanging around. Are they the reason you were out tonight instead of at the school where you were supposed to be?"
He wanted to deny everything, but he could tell that she already knew the truth.
"They were," he admitted quietly.
"Oh, Stuart."
"I tried to tell them I was done with them and to leave me alone, but they wouldn't. They wanted me to meet with them one last time and they threatened Maura if I didn't. I had no choice."
"You had plenty of other choices! You could have let me know what was going on."
He shook his head. He couldn't have done that.
"Why did they want to meet with you?" She hated to ask the next question, but she needed to know what they were facing. "Were you involved with the fire?"
"No! I had nothing to do with that, I swear," he insisted. Part of him wanted to tell his mom the entire truth, but he couldn't put that burden on her, and he couldn't take the disappointment she was sure to feel. He knew his involvement had to be worse than whatever she might be imagining. "Like I told the cop, they wanted me to give them some papers for a project and after that we'd be through."
"Do you think they mean it?" Lucy asked as she picked up the medicine bottle again. "Or will they be after you about something else again?"
"I think this is it," he said, but his tone was unsure. "I've been trying to do the right thing. I really have. I just got in too deep and I didn't know how to get out."
"Don't give up," she said, taking him by the shoulder. "Whatever trouble you've gotten into; we can get you out of it. I will do everything I can to make sure of that."
* * * * *
In the waiting room, Reese listened patiently to Natalie's account of what had happened that night while Simon called Cassie.
"Why were you at the office tonight?"
"I overheard you and Simon talking about the problems Dad was having at home and that he was sleeping at his office. I wanted to see if he was alright. And," she added quietly, "I wanted to make sure it wasn't my fault."
"Of course it isn't your fault," Reese insisted. She glanced over at Simon with a knowing look, just as he was moving the phone away from his ear.
"Still no answer," he declared as he hung up the phone. "Shall I try one of the neighbors? Have them check and see if anyone is home?"
Before Reese could answer, the outer doors swung open and EMTs wheeled Cassie into the emergency room with Vanessa following behind.
Cassie was awake, but frantic. When she saw Reese and Natalie, the paramedics had to hold her down to keep her from getting off the gurney.
"Is he here? Is he okay?" she called out.
"Settle down, hon. You're going to hurt yourself," Vanessa said calmly as the medics tried to keep her restrained.
"I'm fine. I just need to know that my husband is okay."
"And you will. Just stay calm."
"We're waiting for news," Natalie called out as she made her way over to Cassie, followed closely behind by Reese and Simon.
"Tell me what happened."
"Ma'am, we need to take you back to an examination room."
"No, stop. I can wait." She waved the EMTs away and focused on Natalie. "I just need to know what happened to my husband."
Natalie explained quickly. "There was a fire at the law office and then an explosion. He was knocked unconscious. We're waiting for news."
Cassie grasped at her chest and laid back. She was still heartsick that Blaine was injured but knowing that he was alive and being taken care of let her feel like she could breathe again.
"We're going to take you back to an examination room now, Mrs. Kitteridge."
"I told you, I'm fine now. I'm fine," Cassie insisted, but she was starting to put up less of a fight.
"Do what they say, hon," Vanessa said soothingly. "We'll let you know as soon as we know more about Blaine."
Cassie nodded in resignation, but before the EMTs could wheel her back, someone called out her name.
"Cassie?" Lucy called out, surprised to see her neighbor as another patient tonight. She hurried over, followed by another doctor who she had been speaking with and Vince who trailed behind. "What happened?"
"She was very upset earlier and passed out," Vanessa explained.
"You have news about Blaine?" Cassie asked hopefully. All eyes were on the doctors, eager for an update.
"This is Mrs. Kitteridge," Lucy explained to her colleague.
"Yes, ma'am. Your husband is unconscious but stable. He took a serious blow to his head and we are monitoring him closely. If we can't get the swelling to go down, we may need to prep him for surgery."
"Can I see him?" Cassie pleaded. "I promise I'm fine. I just need to see him."
The doctor nodded hesitantly. "Just for a little bit."
As the doctor showed Cassandra to Blaine's room and the EMTs wheeled the empty gurney away, the neighbors were left standing the in the emergency room waiting room.
Vanessa spoke up with what they had all been thinking. "My! What a night this has been!"
"I almost forgot," Natalie said to her mother. "Just before the explosion we found out who was stealing money from the law firm."
"Really?" Reese said with surprise. In the excitement of the evening, work had been the farthest thing from her mind. "What did you find out?"
"It was Mr. Lind's son. The evidence is on my Dad's laptop. He managed to lower it out to us before he was thrown from the window."
Natalie's voice trailed off at the end of her sentence and her mother set a reassuring hand on her shoulder. This should have been a happy moment, but now it was bittersweet. Blaine had completed the job he had been tasked with, but it was not worth the cost.
Meanwhile, Vince just felt sick. If Scot had been found out, it was likely that his role in everything would be revealed too. He looked up at his mom and hoped she couldn't tell how much guilt he was feeling, but she wasn't looking at him at all. Her eyes were on the front door and Mr. Gregory who was waiting on the other side.
When she excused herself and walked outside, he followed. He needed the fresh air and he felt too guilty to be around Natalie at the moment.
"You're still here?" Lucy asked, both surprised and flattered.
"I knew your car was still at the school and you would need a ride."
"You didn't need to wait but thank you," Lucy said. She retrieved her keys from her pocket and handed them to Vince. "I might need to be here awhile. I'll let Vince go with you to get the car."
"Are you ready?" Mr. Gregory asked. When Vince nodded, they started toward the parking lot.
"I really don't know how to thank you enough for everything," Lucy added. "You really went beyond for us tonight."
Mr. Gregory shrugged. "Hey, it's what I do."
* * * * *
Cassie's heart was racing as the doctor led her to Blaine's room. All she wanted was to see with her own eyes that he was alright. When they entered the room and she saw him lying in the hospital bed bandaged and attached to monitors, her heart broke.
The doctor touched her arm to steady her and pulled up a chair for her at his bedside.
Cassie collapsed into the chair and reached for Blaine's hand. 'I'm so sorry. Please, please be okay.'
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