Page 156 of Forever Dead
CHAPTER TWENTY
Less than an hour after leaving Connor’s hospital room, Selena was driving toward the Ellison farmhouse.
Chuck had authorized the visit, and Price would be with her. She doubted Connor would find either detail reassuring.
Halloween morning had brightened while she was inside the hospital. Thin sunlight spread across the county roads, catching orange leaves gathered in the ditches and plastic decorations tied to mailboxes. Children would be out after dark carrying buckets and pillowcases, moving from porch to porch while parents waited at gates.
For now, the roads were quiet.
The Ellison property appeared above the fields before Selena reached the turn. In daylight, the farmhouse seemed smaller than it had in the television footage, a white two-story building sitting alone on the ridge. Patrol vehicles crowded the drive. Matt Price’s forensic van was parked near the barn, and yellow tape crossed the front yard.
Beyond the slope, Meekie’s corn maze stretched across the lower ground.
Selena slowed.
Somewhere inside that field, Connor had nearly died.
Her hand tightened around the wheel before she forced it loose.
She parked outside the taped perimeter, secured her pistol beneath her jacket, and reached for the cane.
Arnold was coming toward her before she had both feet on the ground.
“How is he?”
No greeting. No attempt to hide the worry.
Selena steadied herself against the car door. “Out of surgery. Blethan says he’ll live.”
Arnold stopped.
His shoulders dropped.
“Thank God. Been waiting for an update but our hands have been full with this murder.”
“He lost a lot of blood, but the surgery went well. They’re watching him for complications.”
Arnold rubbed both hands over his jacket. “I kept calling the hospital. They wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“I had Blethan.”
“Is Connor awake?”
“Barely. I spoke to him for a few minutes.”
Arnold looked back toward the farmhouse. “He’s going to hate being stuck in a hospital.”
“He can complain when he’s strong enough.”
“That sounds like him.”
Selena closed the car door. “Has Chuck’s appointment as acting Sheriff been confirmed?”
“This morning. He’s inside with Price.”
Near the barn, a plainclothes investigator stood beside an unmarked car, comparing a map with a uniformed trooper.
“State Police?” Selena asked.
