Cat. R C Hilty
good.”
“Yes, we have him stabilized. His blood pressure and pulse are good. We’re getting ready to load him in the ambulance. You can ride with us to the hospital if you want.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he came to for a minute and asked about you.”
Cat stood up, picked up her shotgun, and responded, “That’s great.”
“I’ll tell you what. How about you give your shotgun to one of the officers. I’m sure they’ll give it to your dad when they go back to town.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Cat opened the action and handed it to the officer. “Will you give this to Dad and tell him I went to the hospital with the warden?”
“Sure, I’ll do that. You did a fine job.”
“Thank you.”
*****
Cat sat in the waiting room while the warden was in the emergency room. Dave and Betty walked in. Cat looked up.
“Hi, Mom, Dad.”
Betty gave Cat a big hug. “Oh, I am so glad you’re all right.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Dave said, “How’s Conrad?”
“Haven’t heard anything yet, the EMTs had him stabilized before he was put in the ambulance.”
Betty hugged Cat again. “You sure you’re okay? You just added more gray hair to me.”
“Mom, I’m fine. I’m just worried about the warden.”
Dave said, “Oh, by the way, they gave me your gun.”
“Thanks.”
The ER doctor came to the waiting room walked up to Cat. “I take it you’re the one that’s called Cat.”
“Yeah, that’s me. This is my mom and dad.”
“The warden’s left leg is broken. X-rays show two broken ribs and three cracked. We suspect some internal bleeding. He is in surgery now. After that we’ll do an MRI to see if there are any head injuries. We need to get the bleeding stopped before we do anything else. Before we put him under, he told me to tell you thank you. I told him he can tell you himself when he wakes up. He said, ‘I know, but just in case.’”
“I told him not to die on me.”
The doctor cracked a little smile. “He’ll be able to thank you himself. He’ll probably be in surgery for at least two hours. By the time he gets out of recovery and to his room, it will be quite a while. Why don’t you go home and get some rest and come back later in the morning. Leave your number with the desk, and we will call you if anything changes.”
“I want to stay here till he gets to his room.”
Mom said, “Now, Cat, you can’t do anything while he’s in surgery. Let’s get you home. You can take a shower, get some clean clothes on, and grab a bite to eat. Your dad can bring you back after that.”
“Well, okay.” She looked at her dad. “You’ll bring me back so I can wait here?”
“Yes, I’ll bring you back.”
The ER doctor said, “Well, I’ll see you later. Be sure to leave your number at the desk.”
5
It had been nearly a week since Officer Conrad had been taken to the hospital. Every day after school, Cat went to the hospital to visit him. It was more or less a one-way conversation. The warden was still quite heavily sedated. He would open his eyes every once in a while, crack a smile, and nod.
The doctor started weaning Officer Conrad off of the pain killers. Cat was hoping the nurse was right, that he would be more coherent this afternoon.
Cat walked into the Conrad’s room. He was sitting up, eating, and watching TV.
“Glad to see you are back amongst the living.”
“If you call it that.” He lifted his arm. “Still hooked up to all these wires and tubes.”
“Well, at least you are eating on your own.”
“Yeah, Jell-O and chicken broth. I want some real food.”
“It shouldn’t be too long till your body can handle a steak and potato.”
“So tell me, what were you doing out there that night?”
“Since you were there, you already know.”
“Well, I had my suspicions.”
“You know what I was doing. That’s not the first time you saw me there.”
“You’re right, it wasn’t.”
“Why don’t we leave this conversation for another time?”
“You’re right. Anyways, I want to thank you. I heard you did a fine job getting me to the cave and covering me up. You saved my life. I don’t know how I can repay you.”
“Oh, I don’t know. How about a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card?”
The warden smiled. He liked Cat. She had a heart of gold. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“I am glad you’re awake. It was getting kind of boring me just doing the talking.”
“I heard you’ve been up here every day.”
“Yep, well, I had better get going. Have some chores to do at home. Let me know when your stomach can handle it, and I’ll bring you a steak and potato.”
“Venison?”
“Season’s not in yet.”
Conrad smiled. “See you tomorrow.”
*****
Judge Bean went to the hospital to see how Officer Conrad was getting along. He walked into Conrad’s room.
“You’re looking a lot better than the night they hauled you in here.”
“I would hope so. From what I hear, I was in pretty bad shape.”
“That would be putting it lightly.”
“Cat just left about an hour ago.”
“You had her worried. She’s been up to see you every day since you’ve been here.”
“That’s what the nurses told me.”
“So what were the two of you doing out there at that time of the night?”
Conrad sat up in his bed. “You probably already know.”
“I have an idea, but go ahead and fill me in.”
“Well, you know how Cat likes to bend the law a little.”
Judge Bean laughed. “A little?”
Conrad smiled. “I guess maybe more than a little. You know that Cat has been helping a lot of the poorer families in the area.”
“Yeah, like Widow Johnson and her young’uns.”
“I heard a couple of women talking to each other about how Cat was keeping their freezers full of meat. I stopped in to see old man Smith, who lives in that small cabin by the abandoned railroad depot.”
“He tans animal skins and peddles them at rendezvous?”
“Yeah, him. He was tanning a fresh deer hide when I stopped by. He told me that he had a few left in the freezer from last season.”
“You didn’t think so?”
“No, I started putting two and two together and decided to start following her.”
“And…?”