I can’t lie to her, even though the words tear into me like the rounds I unloaded in that alley.
“Yes.”
Greer sucks in a short breath and her hand goes to her mouth. Her eyes squeeze shut, and each tear that falls is another jab through my heart.
What kind of man makes his girl cry?
I have to make her understand. “I did it to protect you.”
Her eyes snap open, confusion clear on her face.
“What?” It comes out as a whisper.
“He didn’t tell you everything. He couldn’t tell you everything because he doesn’t know everything. You got one part of the story without any context, and I swear to you, whatever you’re thinking right now is going to be different when you know it all.”
Greer drops her purse to the floor and jams both hands into her hair. “Then tell me everything because I’m seriously losing my shit here, Cav. I don’t know whether to call the police or call you a lawyer.”
Another direct hit. I can’t lose her. I have to talk fast. She needs to understand what happened.
“Do you remember the day you called me to meet you at the hospital because Tracey had been killed in a hit-and-run?”
Just saying the words brings the memory back in vivid detail . . .
I knew something was wrong the moment Greer’s shattered voice came on the line.
“The hospital just called me. I’m Tracey’s emergency contact on her phone. Something happened, and they need me to come down there.” Her voice shook. “It’s gotta be bad. They don’t call you like this unless it’s bad. They won’t let me talk to her. Will you please come?”
She was right—it had to be bad. A pang of sympathy went through me for whatever was about to unfold.
I’d met Tracey a few weeks before, and she was a sweet girl. She and Greer had been attached at the hip before I entered the picture. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’d watched the two of them together before I’d crossed the line and started talking to Greer. If I hadn’t known Greer was the only girl in the Karas family, I might have mistaken them for sisters. Both had long dark hair, similar builds, and shopped at the same stores.
I grabbed my tool bag and headed for the maintenance closet. “Of course. Where are you? Where do we need to go?”
She breathed into the phone, and it sounded like a sigh of relief.
“I’m at my place. I just got done with a meeting with Creighton. I’m walking out the door now for Harlem Hospital. I don’t know why they’d take her there.”
“I’m at the school. I’ll be out in front of your building in fifteen. Wait for me, baby girl. I’m coming with you.”
When we entered the hospital twenty-five minutes later, Greer’s grip on my hand threatened to break it, her growing fear palpable with every step.
I squeezed her hand back, wanting to remind her that she wasn’t alone. Whatever happened, we would face it together.
The woman at the desk directed us to a private waiting room, and I already knew what was coming. Tracey was dead. They were going to tell us.
Greer hadn’t realized it yet, but she clung to my side as though her body already knew.
A doctor came in, looking haggard in her white coat and blue scrubs.
“Are you Greer Karas?” she asked.
“Yes, that’s me. I . . . you called about Tracey? Is she okay? What happened?” Greer asked all the questions any person in this room would ask.
The doctor’s face turned sympathetic. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Karas. Ms. Mullins was in an accident . . . and she didn’t make it.”
Even though I knew it was coming, the words still punched me in the gut.
“No!” Greer’s wail echoed in the tiny room as she threw herself into my arms, tears already falling and soaking my shirt. Maybe she knew it was coming too.
“I’m very sorry for your loss, Ms. Karas.”
“What happened?” I choked out the question.
The doctor lifted her gaze from Greer to me. “There was a hit-and-run. Ms. Mullins was jogging, and according to the eyewitnesses, the car failed to stop at the light and hit her.”
Greer’s body shook with sobs as I wrapped my arms around her tighter. She sounded like she was being destroyed from the inside out.
“Who would do something like that?” Greer’s question came out somewhere between irate and heartbroken.
“We’re not sure, Ms. Karas. The driver didn’t stop. The police have been notified, and there will certainly be an investigation.”
Greer pulled away from me to wrap her arms around her waist and hunch forward, rocking back and forth. She didn’t know how to process this kind of grief. I laid an arm across her shoulders and tugged her against my side again, hoping the contact would give her strength.
“Would you like to say good-bye?” the doctor asked.
My heart cracked at the tears streaking Greer’s face when she raised her head.
“Good-bye?”
“Yes, Ms. Karas. We’re going to move Ms. Mullins shortly, so if you’d like . . .”
I held my breath, waiting for Greer to respond. Would she want to see her friend?