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“Okay, the emergency vehicles will pull out in a minute,” Nutsbe said. “It’s time to head to the hospital.”
“I need shoes. And keys.” She clenched her fists, trying to get her systems to function properly. “I’ve got this. Just need to pull on my big girl panties, and I’ll be ready.”
“Olivia?” Man, this is a hard one. He fought hard to keep his tone even.
“Yes?”
“Did you have panties on when they broke in?”
“No. I was in bed. I sleep in a nightshirt.” She pulled the cloth out as if that gave him more information, then looked down. “Oh, I see what you’re asking me.” She popped her gaze back to meet his. “No. I wasn’t sexually assaulted.”
He nodded. It took him a minute to let that fear go. “Okay. Good.” His voice was gruff.
“Yeah. Whew! Right?” She turned toward the stairs. “Okay, shoes and cellphone.”
Nutsbe reached out and touched her arm to still her for a moment. “Olivia?”
She turned. “Yes?”
“When you go upstairs, sit with your phone and record everything you remember happening. Every little detail that comes to you before anyone else talks to you.”
“Yes. I know that. I knew that. I didn’t think of that. Thank you for that.”
“Panties.” He points up the stairs.
“Yes. Panties.”
***
They had to wait until the last emergency vehicle left before they could get going.
They sat in Olivia’s car with their seatbelts in place and the engine idling.
Olivia was on her phone, waking her best friend, and asking for help with Henrietta. Wheels were turning. Players were in play. Things were humming along.
Just who was it in her house? And what did they want?
He’d push that to the side until the wellness checks were complete. Everyone needed a minute to reach equilibrium, and brains could function alongside the rattle of nerves.
Olivia looked at her phone and found the number of times Nutsbe had tried to call.
She stopped on the text: CALL ME NOW!
Turning the phone to him so he could see.
Nustbe briefly explained his concern when Clive said the motorcycles hadn’t run the night before and what he found when he tracked the ambush motorcycles back to the courthouse.
“That’s how you got to me so fast.”
“Not fast enough,” he said, feeling the ache in his lower leg bones. That had him a bit worried. They had never hurt like that before. It didn’t seem to affect his ability to walk, but he still needed someone to check him out.
The rain didn’t start in earnest until they turned out of their neighborhood, onto the main road, and eased onto the highway.
The ambulance, with Upstairs in the back, was ahead of them on the way to the same hospital. Olivia eased off on the gas and let the flow of cars make a buffer. Nutsbe wasn’t sure that going to the same hospital and being in the same emergency department was a good idea, but Alexandria was the hospital Iniquus instructed Nutsbe to use.
The traffic inched along. Some venue must have just let out.
Behind them, a single headlight wove in and out of the cars, sometimes coming up the middle between lanes. Horns blared, and Olivia turned.
