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“As long as it takes, until he’s stabilized,” Ellis said. “Eddie told me a little bit about what’s happening out here. I’m sorry about your sister.”
“Thank you.” I blew out a deep breath. “We’re working on getting her back. I’ll bring her to see Wes once we do. I think it’ll help.” I gave him my cell phone number, and he promised to call as soon as there was an update.
I called Gabe as Timmy and I headed back to the car. I felt lost—it was a weekday morning, and I should be at work, but everything was coming unraveled.
“Babe—how’s Wes?”
“Not good. He had a minor heart attack. The doctor’s worried that his heart’s working too hard, trying to repair his body. He’s concerned there may have been brain damage. But they don’t know anything yet.”
“Oh fuck. That’s fucking terrible.” I could feel his pain through the phone.
“His brother’s here—Ellis. He said he’d text us any updates.”
“I’ll call Dr. Kim too, and see if he can give us any details.”
“Listen, I talked to Hannah this morning. She looked terrible. She had a huge bruise on her face and neck. Her eyes couldn’t focus—she said they’d given her a sedative.”
“How were you allowed to speak with her?”
“Because I asked to.” I swallowed hard and prepared myself—lying wasn’t an option this close to the closing. “Li Na texted me last night. They’ve scheduled the closing for Friday. She wanted to make sure that I was on board with all of her demands. I said that in order for us to go forward, I needed to speak with Hannah again.”
Dead sil
ence radiated from Gabe’s end of the line.
I licked my lips nervously, desperate to change the subject. “So why didn’t you come home last night? Timmy mentioned they might have found a lead?” With all the bad news this morning, I hadn’t been able to focus on the glimmer of hope Timmy had mentioned earlier.
“Ash thinks he found something. We’ve been watching this one condominium.”
“Watching for what? What did he see?”
“Just part of a plate, one that could be on our watch list—don’t get your hopes up yet.”
“Don’t worry.” I laughed, but it sounded bitter. “Getting my hopes up isn’t really my thing right now.”
He cursed under his breath. “I hope Ash’s right, because you are not getting on a plane to go to motherfucking Shenzhen! Do you understand?”
“Do you understand that I can’t handle fighting with you right now, on top of everything else?”
Gabe exhaled in a hiss. “Yes. I don’t want to fight.” But he was fighting to keep his voice even. “What are you doing this morning?”
I bit my lip, staring out the car window. “I guess I’m going to work. I need to…wrap things up.”
“Is Timmy with you?”
“Yes. Are you staying in Oakland?”
“Yes—at least until we figure out if this is actually a lead. I’ll call you in a little while, okay?”
“Okay,” I said. But as the driver headed toward Paragon, I had never felt less okay in my life.
GABE
The scalding coffee burned my throat, but I drank it anyway. The burn was better than feeling out of control. I could barely process the morning’s events.
Wesley—young, strapping Wesley—had suffered a heart attack.
Hannah had been drugged.
