“I’ll repeat what you’ve probably heard a couple of times today. If you don’t put your own oxygen on first, you can’t help anyone else.”
For some reason, that image stuck as Bridget accepted the pills. “These are?”
“Tylenol. If you need something stronger, I can have the on-call doctor check on you.”
“I’m not sure I can afford that.” Bridget pulled her water bottle from her bag.
“Sounds like everything that occurred was on the job, so workman’s comp should cover it.”
“If only.” Bridget swallowed the pills and then watched as Rainey checked Eliza’s vitals. “When will she wake up?”
“That is up to Miss Eliza. My guess is that over the next couple of hours, she’ll slowly wake up. She may fight it because she’s got the pain from hitting her head, and now the added pain from surgery. It won’t be fun. We’ll keep a steady drip of pain relief flowing to help control that, but it still won’t be something she’ll run toward.” She scanned the various machines and adjusted a sensor on Eliza’s chest. “Everything looks good for now, so I’m going to leave her alone and monitor as much as I can from the station. That will let both of you rest.”
Bridget edged the chair closer and took Eliza’s hand. She prayed over the girl as she sat there, hoping she knew she wasn’t alone.
Caleb metTodd back at the precinct.
Todd handed his partner a cup of bad coffee. “You didn’t have to come back.”
“I was not going to leave my partner to interview this man alone.” Caleb took the mug, sniffed it, and then made a face. “I’ll sleep when you sleep.”
“Are you sure you should have left Dani?”
“How long have you known us?”
Todd didn’t want to start counting how many years he’d known Caleb. “A while.”
“Right.” Caleb set the mug down and then crossed his arms as he glowered at Todd. “You might not know Dani as well, but would I have left if she needed me?”
“No.”
“Of course not. My priorities are in the right place. When I left, she was relaxing. She wanted some time to process, too.” He sighed. “Frankly, I think she needs a bit of room. I’d be in her space if I stayed home.”
That made sense in a convoluted way. “All right. So how do you think we should approach this?”
“Nope. This is your case.”
Todd appreciated the deference, but his brain had slowed down. He could try to power through, but they needed answers. “I seriously need the help. I’m running on fumes, and Eliza needs her family if she has any.”
“So do you want me to play the good cop, and you’re the bad cop?”
Todd growled. “That’s so Hollywood. Let’s see what he had on him when he was arrested. Maybe that will give us a line of questioning.”
“That could work.” Caleb headed toward the hall.
“Where are you going?”
“To get the evidence.”
Todd watched him go, then thought about what he knew.
This man had killed three people.
He knew it, but he couldn’t prove it.
What had the Brandenbergs discovered that someone didn’t want anyone to know? That was the million-dollar question that had caused the man in custody to allegedly murder three of them. That type of situation wasn’t typical in a place like Lincoln and certainly not in Wayne. Was it as simple as drugs?
With organized crime came other big crime problems.
