Roxie Hank’s phone rang.
I was warm and cozy, stuck between the heat of Hank and our chocolate lab, Shamus. I felt the cold air as Hank rol ed away.
“Yeah?” I heard him say. I was already fal ing back to sleep, cuddling into Shamus’s warm, soft fur when I heard Hank say in a quiet, tortured voice I’d never heard him use before, “No.”
I turned and looked at him in the dark and as I did that he sat up, twisted and switched on the light. Then his whisky-colored eyes moved to mine and what I saw there made me stare.
“We’l be there. Yeah. Shit. Yeah.” He flipped his phone shut.
“Whisky?” I cal ed.
He put his hands under my armpits, pul ed me toward him, across his lap and buried his face in my neck as his arms went tight around me.
“Whisky,” I whispered, beginning to tremble. Something was wrong, real y wrong.
His head came up and his eyes found mine. “Sunshine, Jules has been shot. Twice. It’s bad. We gotta go.” My breath caught painful y at this news but Hank either didn’t notice or he wasn’t going to be delayed. He got up, arms around me taking me with him. When he was standing, he set me on my feet.
We dressed silently. Hank finished first (as usual) and let Shamus out the back for a quick break before we left.
We made it to the hospital and I saw Eddie and Jet first.
They were already in the waiting room. Jet was sitting with Sniff, arm around him and he was staring at the floor. Eddie was pacing. My eyes scanned the room and I saw Indy with Jules’s Uncle Nick, both sitting, Indy holding his hand.
I kept scanning and Vance was there too, standing and staring out a window. Lee was with him, not close, but also not far.
Hank started to go to Lee but stopped when the door opened behind us and Bobby walked in. Lee’s eyes had come to us when we arrived but when he saw Bobby he came our way.
“What?” Lee asked Bobby when he arrived at us.
I peeked at Vance, his eyes hadn’t moved from the window.
I found this alarming. Vance was a Nightingale Man, an action man, Mr. Alert and he hadn’t even moved, not a muscle, not when Hank and I arrived, not even when Bobby arrived.
My gaze swung to Jet, who caught my look and shook her head then to Indy, who did the same. I felt suddenly cold and was about to move to Vance when Hank’s hand squeezed mine and Eddie hit our huddle.
“We had to lock Luke down,” Bobby told Lee and I drew in my breath at this latest bit of shocking news. “Mace did it.
Luke lost it. Total y pissed at Hector for taking Jules to Cordova. Doesn’t give a shit that Hector didn’t know about Shard,” Bobby’s eyes moved to Vance. “I thought you might need me… Vance.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about but whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t good.
“Vance is hangin’ in there,” Lee said.
Bobby nodded and his eyes moved from Vance to Lee.
Then Bobby drew in a deep breath. “I waited,” Bobby said on an exhale and he blinked slowly then kept talking, “until Vance got up to the offices. I saw him on the monitors parking the Explorer. I figured I could wait to tel him about Hector breaking into Law’s place until Vance got upstairs.
Five minutes could have –”
“Get it out of your head,” Lee ordered.
“I shouldn’t have waited,” Bobby replied.
Lee leaned in, face tight and serious. “Bobby, right now, get it out of your fucking head.”
Bobby nodded once then his gaze sliced to Vance. He shook his head sharply then he turned and was gone.
We al watched the doors close behind Bobby and my heart went out to him because obviously he was blaming himself for something but I turned as Lee spoke.
“Fuck,” Lee whispered, “he shouldn’t have fucking waited.”
I leaned into Hank and Hank’s lips went to my ear.
“Go to Vance now,” he told me.
I nodded. Hank dropped my hand. I walked across the room and slid my arm around Vance’s waist.
He turned to me and when his eyes hit mine, I blinked.
His eyes were dead. They weren’t blank, they were dead.
I felt my nostrils burning as I stared at him and I knew I was going to cry. I turned into him, pressed my forehead against his shoulder, breathing deep to control the tears and his arms went around me.
We stayed that way for a long time and I managed to hold back the tears. He let me go and I took his hand.
We stood together, Vance looking out the window, me standing beside him. Daisy arrived with Marcus; Shirleen arrived with Darius; Al y arrived with Carl; Tex arrived with Nancy; Duke arrived with Dolores; Heavy and Zip came separately. May charged in like a madwoman, tears streaming down her face. Final y Tod and Stevie walked in carrying enough donuts from some al night Winchel ’s to feed an army.