I confirm with a nod.
“Definitely later.”
Then I watch as she returns to her son’s room, darting a quick glance over her shoulder before she disappears inside.
It’s well after midnight by the time I roll into my bed, but I can still taste her lips.
Chapter9
Tessa
I’m convincedmy mother is looking down, laughing her ass off.
Guess this is karma, having a son who is at least as pigheaded and defiant as I was at his age.
I’m really itching to shake some sense into him, like my mother used to do to me, but he looks pretty vulnerable lying in that hospital bed.Plus, I’m pretty sure any shaking would be frowned at.
Since Remi woke up in the hospital three days ago, he’s stubbornly persisted in the bullshit story his injuries were the result of a fall.It’s beyond frustrating, but nothing or no one seems to be able to get him to talk.
He’s lying, I know he’s lying, and he knows I know he’s lying, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference.
Who the hell is he protecting?Ishe even protecting someone?Or is he embarrassed for some reason?It doesn’t make sense.
Hugo was able to piece together a timeline and a theory with the aid of the security footage from Clem’s shop, and from the pharmacy on Main Street a few doors down from the alley.
The pharmacy cameras picked up a light-colored Chrysler 300—it looked to be a later model—slowly driving by several times until it stops right in front of the alley at seven thirty-nine.The license plate on the vehicle is illegible, but you can see two individuals get out and enter the alley.
On the feed from the firehouse, a flatbed truck pulls in to the lot.Clem and Remi get out, have a brief conversation, and Remi takes off on his bike, turning right down the alley.When Clem disappears from camera range as he heads inside, you see a shadow come into view from the left, running down the alley after Remi.The time signature on this footage also indicates seven thirty-nine.
Hugo thinks, whoever these guys were, they were on the lookout for my kid.Somehow, they must’ve discovered he was out with Clem to be circling around the firehouse.God knows it might’ve been Remi himself who tipped them off.Notably, his cell phone is nowhere to be found, so we think they may have taken it, which is suspicious in itself.Unless there is something incriminating on the phone, I don’t see why someone would steal an old, banged-up Android phone with a cracked screen, and leave behind a fairly new, expensive bike.
The whole thing looks organized and intentional, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why they’d be targeting Remi.I’ve been studying the video clips Hugo sent me, over and over again, hoping for something to jump out at me, but nothing has.I’ve been tempted to confront my kid with those clips to see if he’ll come clean about what happened, but I can’t bring myself to badger him when he’s lying in a hospital bed.
Right now, he’s sleeping—he’s been doing a lot of that these past days—while we wait for the doctor to do his rounds because, word is, we might be sent home today.I’ve been here for most of the past three days and four nights and I’m ready to sleep in my own damn bed again.
Not that Remi wanted me here all the time, but I simply wasn’t comfortable leaving him alone.The only two times I actually left the hospital was to run home to grab a shower and get some clean clothes, and both those times someone was here to sit with him.
Call me overprotective, but I’m not taking any chances with my baby.
How’s the kid?
I’m aboutto go over the footage one more time when the message pops up on my screen, and I crack a small smile.
Clem.
We’ve texted back and forth a few times, and early yesterday morning he dropped in with a large black coffee for me and a bag of pastries from Strange Brew.Remi barely said hello before diving into the baked goods.It was a nice surprise.I mostly listened to the two of them talk about the pickup truck my son apparently bought for twelve dollars.
It was all news to me, since he hadn’t bothered to tell me a thing about this truck, but rather than get pissed at him, I sat back and enjoyed the smile and excitement on my son’s face.
God, I’d missed that.Something else I have Clem to thank for.
Waiting to hear if he can go home today.
That’s good.
The little dotsare bouncing on my screen, indicating he may have a follow-up, but then they suddenly disappear.
Yeah, he’s happy to get out of here, and I can’t wait to get back into a normal routine.
