Liability (Suncoast Society #33)(58)

He’d hit the front door and stood in the cool night air, trying not to hyperventilate. He realized not only had Kim followed him out the door, but so had Tilly. “Yes. Please, tell me he’s okay? He’s supposed to be here for dinner.” God, that sounded stupid to even his ears, but maybe if he kept talking, Mason would be okay.

“Mr. Singleton, Mr. Lange’s been in a very serious accident…”

At some point, he realized he was staring into Tilly’s eyes and she now had his phone. He didn’t know when that had happened, except that it was at some point between the trooper giving him details about what happened and then to what hospital the ambulance had taken Mason. Kim was in his arms, her arms tightly wrapped around him, his around her, and Tilly had taken over.

“We’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Thank you, officer.” She hung up and snapped her fingers at Cole. “Give me your keys.”

“What?”

“You’re not driving. Give me your keys.”

“But our—”

She snapped her fingers again. “Cris will pay the checks and follow us with our food.” Her hand was still out.

Reaching into his pocket meant letting go of Kim with one arm, but he managed it and somehow fumbled his keys out and into Tilly’s palm. She raced back inside and reappeared at lightning speed with both her purse and Kim’s, as well as both their jackets. She hustled them into the car, Cole opting to get into the backseat with Kim.

“How is he?” Kim tearfully asked him.

He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I don’t know, pet,” he said.

Tilly drove like a demon with the entire chorus of angels on her ass and shooting holy water at her through a fire hose. A drive to that hospital would normally take about twenty minutes. Tilly had told the officer they’d be there in fifteen, and she made it in eight.

They were no sooner climbing out of the back seat when Tilly hustled them into the ER, found out where they needed to be, ushered them through getting visitor badges, and got them to the correct waiting room where a state trooper and a Sarasota County deputy were also waiting.

Mason was in surgery, and that’s all anyone could tell them at that moment. A nurse would come update them as soon as they had news. Tilly hit hard and heavy on the fact that Cole was Mason’s boyfriend so no one would give them any grief, and then she tackled the question that had been on their minds.

“What the hell happened?” she asked after turning to the two officers.

The trooper was apparently heading the investigation, which Cole knew was bad.

Very bad.

They usually only brought troopers in when there was serious injury or death.

“From witness statements, Mr. Lange had apparently just put something in his trunk when a car hit him and kept going. We’re still—”

“Wait, what?” Tilly asked. “In his trunk?”

“He was still at home?” Cole managed.

The trooper nodded. “He was in the parking lot at his condo complex. Several witnesses saw it happen. The car sped off. They’re looking at security camera footage now to see if we can get a license plate.”

The trooper explained how the force of the impact knocked Mason through the air, where he slammed into another parked car before bouncing off of that and hitting the sidewalk.

“So whoever it was…they just kept going?” Cole asked. “How could they do that?”

“Unfortunately,” Trooper Borreantz said, “this is not an uncommon occurrence. The driver was probably either drunk, driving on a suspended or revoked license, or isn’t supposed to be driving at all under the circumstances. Or it could be a stolen car.”

He held out a plastic bag. Cole stared at it, mentally and emotionally unable to process the contents, at first. Fortunately it was Tilly who finally reached out and took it from the trooper. Inside lay Mason’s wallet, keys, watch, spare change and bills from his pocket, and his phone. Cole kept Kim’s face pressed against his shoulder so she didn’t see it, especially when Tilly took it and tucked it into her purse to hold on to for him.

“Thank you,” he mouthed to her.

She nodded and engulfed Kim in a hug from the other side.

The trooper and deputy had questions for them about Mason, his activities that day, their plans. Routine questions. They were in the middle of that when the deputy received a phone call on his cell. A moment later, he was showing them a video on his phone, which Cole wouldn’t let Kim watch.

It was a clip of security footage from one camera that caught the way the driver deliberately veered across the lot and into Mason, sending him flying. And another shot, taken from near the front gate, showing the rear of the car leaving the complex, including a clear shot of its Nebraska license plate.

“They’ve already run the number,” the deputy said. “Registered to a Fred Stacker from Omaha.”

“Fred? Tilly, can I have…?” He pointed to her purse, then his ear, not wanting to say it out loud around Kim. He could tell she was barely keeping herself together, and he knew if she totally lost it, he might not be able to stay strong for her.

Tilly dug Mason’s phone out of the bag and handed it to him. It took Cole a couple of tries, but he finally got it unlocked. He hadn’t known Mason’s code, but had seen him unlock the phone enough times he knew the pattern the man used.