‘That makes me feel better,’ Frederick admitted. ‘I was a little taken aback when he just showed up.’
‘Why are you here?’ Gwyn asked. ‘I thought we were meeting at Clay’s.’
‘We are. I’m here to transport Jamie. Nobody goes anywhere alone for a while. One of the new rules we’ll talk about tonight.’
JD gave a grunt of agreement. ‘And you two don’t go anywhere without me.’
Thorne frowned. ‘What about Detective Rivera?’
‘Joseph needs to pull him into the investigation, so you’re stuck with me.’
Thorne nodded once. ‘I feel better about that,’ he said, because he still felt bad that JD had believed he didn’t trust him.
JD’s lips quirked. ‘Good to know.’
Prew picked that moment to lift his eyes to the door. When he spied Thorne, he immediately came toward him. ‘Give me a second to tell him goodbye and I’ll be out of your hair. Visiting hours are almost over anyway.’
When Prew was gone, Thorne reluctantly let Gwyn’s hand go so that he could take the man’s place. He breathed more easily once he saw that Phil did look better. ‘I feel bad,’ he said when he saw the hardcover on Phil’s lap and the stack of childish crayon drawings on the bed at his side. There were stuffed animals and several Sudoku books sitting atop a stack of three file boxes. ‘Presents galore and I didn’t bring you anything. What is all this?’
Phil smiled and more of the pressure on Thorne’s heart lessened. ‘The drawings are from Prew’s grandchildren and the stuffed animals are from some of my students. The boxes are Jamie’s. Files from your office. Anne brought them, along with the Sudoku puzzles for me.’
Behind him, Gwyn made a growling sound at the mention of Anne, who she’d never liked but who she had no reason to worry about. ‘Ask Thorne to bring you some pictures from his coloring book,’ she said, slipping her hand in his again.
Thorne blushed, thinking about the Kama Sutra coloring book she’d given him – and the positions they’d personally tried that afternoon. ‘The nurse said only two at a time. She’s going to kick you out.’
‘She said I was small and looked quiet,’ Gwyn said, snickering.
‘Boy, is she wrong,’ Jamie drawled. ‘But may I say that you look stunning.’
She lifted a hesitant hand to her pretty hairdo. ‘Thank you. Today was my appointment with Angie.’
Phil’s eyes widened. ‘I’d forgotten all about that. What did you learn?’ He patted the side of his bed and Gwyn sat down. He tugged on one of the curly strands Angie had left free. ‘And you do look lovely.’
‘Thank you.’ She smiled at Phil, and Thorne felt his heart lighten just a little more. This, he realized, was respite. A little pocket of lovely in a storm of shit.
I’ll take it. I’ll take it and keep it and remember it when it gets bad again.
He glanced over at Jamie to find him smiling too, paternal joy in his eyes. That made his cheeks heat and he ducked his head, dragging the extra chair closer to the bed.
Gwyn’s smile faded as she began to tell them what she’d deduced about Angie, Liam and Richard.
Phil’s mouth flattened. ‘Sonofabitch. I knew that boy had hurt her. But it didn’t occur to me that he’d raped her. Goddammit.’
Jamie cast a quick look up at his monitors. ‘Easy there. We don’t want the nurse chucking us all out of here. What are you going to do next?’ he asked Thorne.
‘I need to talk to the other two members of Richard’s posse, so I—’
Gwyn interrupted him with a loud harrumph and arched brows. ‘I?’
Thorne sighed. ‘We – which includes JD, because I know he’s standing in the damn doorway glaring at me – will pay a visit to Officer Chandler Nystrom and Colton Brandenberg’s sister. If for no other reason than to warn them.’
Both Phil and Jamie frowned, and Thorne realized they hadn’t heard the latest. He gave Phil a cautious glance. ‘Because Darian Hinman is dead. Murdered.’
Phil nodded once, his expression lethal. ‘Not gonna cry over him. I can still see your face after he kicked you in the head.’
‘You’re not suspected, are you?’ Jamie asked, frowning.
‘No,’ Thorne said simply, because he’d already given Phil too many surprises for the day. The two of them didn’t need to know that his own medal had been found in Hinman’s body. ‘And after I see them, I’m going to check on Ming, Mowry and Laura. I called them all this morning. They were okay. Not happy about having arrest records, but hopefully we can get those expunged once we clear everything up.’
‘But first, we’re due at Clay’s for a meeting,’ Gwyn said, kissing Phil’s scruffy cheek. ‘So we need to say goodnight.’
‘Visiting hours are over anyway,’ Jamie said. He wheeled his chair closer to the bed. ‘My ride is waiting outside in the hall. You kids skedaddle. I’ll meet you there.’
‘So is ours.’ Thorne leaned in to whisper in Phil’s ear. ‘Love you. Take care of yourself.’
Phil’s eyes softened. ‘Love you too, and I will.’
Thorne rose and offered Gwyn his hand. ‘See you at Clay’s, Jamie.’ They left the two alone to say their goodnights and went into the hall. ‘I don’t think they’ve spent a night apart in years,’ he murmured to Gwyn.
She patted his arm sweetly and tilted her head so that she could meet his eyes. ‘He’ll be out soon and they’ll be together again, and then this experience will just be a bad memory.’
And once again he found himself thinking about her bad memories and wondering what exactly had happened to push her into checking out of life for four years. Stop wondering for now, he told himself. For now, enjoy the smile on her face, because it’s real and it’s all for you.
That was sound advice, he decided. ‘You’re right. Let’s go.’ Because the sooner they got this meeting done, the sooner he’d be back in her bed, holding her in his arms.
Hunt Valley, Maryland,
Tuesday 14 June, 9.40 P.M.
Dinner at Clay’s was pizza, and Gwyn’s stomach started growling as soon as the scent of cheese and pepperoni hit her nose. ‘Oh my God,’ she groaned. ‘We forgot to eat today.’
Lucy met them at the door, giving JD a kiss hello before slinging her arm around Gwyn’s shoulders. ‘You didn’t feed them, JD?’
‘They never said they were hungry,’ JD protested, then bent down to scoop up the toddler racing toward him. ‘Hello, you,’ he said, then blew raspberries on his son’s stomach. ‘I’m starving too. Bailing out your friends is hard work.’
He started to walk to the pizza boxes stacked on the living room coffee table, but Jeremiah had other ideas. Lurching out of JD’s arms, he leapt into Thorne’s, smacking a kiss on his stubbled cheek.
The little boy giggled, rubbing his chubby fingers over Thorne’s jaws. ‘Tickles. Up. Wanna fly.’
Gwyn stopped walking at the look on Thorne’s face. He was smiling at Jeremiah with a love so pure it almost hurt to see. How had she missed this? Did he want this? A family with babies?
Do I? Can I? She’d been content to hold Lucy’s babies, believing it was likely as close as she’d ever get to having another child of her own – something she’d long ago promised herself she’d never, ever do again.
But it would be different this time. She wouldn’t be young, broke, uneducated and terrified. I’d be pushing forty, juggling a business that I hope I still own after all this is over . . . and terrified.
‘What?’ Lucy demanded. She gripped Gwyn’s chin and tilted her face up. ‘You look like you just got diagnosed with a terminal illness.’
Gwyn blinked, quickly bringing her expression back to neutral, but it was too late. Lucy had already seen. ‘It’s nothing.’ She shot her best friend a pleading look when Lucy opened her mouth to argue. ‘Please. It’s nothing.’
‘But . . .’ Lucy frowned, clearly upset. ‘I heard you were all sexy together this afternoon. Wasn’t that true?’
Gwyn wanted to roll her eyes. ‘Ford and Alec are little gossips.’
‘Well, yeah. But were they wrong?’