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“And you didn’t put rounds center mass? You shot him in the shoulder?”
“I thought that I could take him down without killing him,” Paige said.
“You risked your own life doing that,” Christopher insisted. He sounded worried. “What if he’d been on PCP or meth? He was clearly high onsomething. What if he’d just ignored the pain and kept coming?”
Paige shook her head. “You think I should have just killed him?”
“If it was your life or his, yes!”
“But it wasn’t,” Paige pointed out. “I took him down, and he didn’t have to die.”
Christopher didn’t look happy about that. “But you couldn’t be certain that would be the result when you took the shot. You risked your life, Paige.”
“It was my decision to make in the moment,” Paige replied. “And it’s one that means we actually have a chance to question Fabiano.”
That was the part that mattered here. They had a potential killer in custody, one who had already committed a violent crime right in front of them. One who would be going to prison for a long time just for what he’d done tonight. There was every chance that they’d just caught a killer.
It should feel better than this. Previously, when they’d caught killers, it had been a moment of elation or at least relief. Now, Paige was stuck here in a hospital corridor with Christopher, wondering how things had ever been good between the two of them.
A doctor stepped out of the room while Paige was thinking about it all. He was a tall, young man, with sandy hair.
“How is he?” Christopher asked.
“The wound is not life threatening. We’ve stopped the bleeding and bandaged the wound.”
“Is there any news on the other man who was brought in, the one who was stabbed?” Paige asked.
“He’s stable. The wound missed the femoral artery, but there is some tissue damage that will take time to heal.”
“Can we talk to our suspect yet?” Christopher asked.
The doctor nodded. “I don’t see why not. Your presence won’t make his condition worse.”
That seemed to be all Christopher needed. He headed into the hospital room with Paige trying to keep up. She saw Fabiano sitting up in bed, his arm in a sling and his shoulder wrapped with bandages. His other wrist was cuffed to the bed.
“You!” he snarled as soon as he saw Paige. “You shot me. I’ll kill you! I’ll kill both of you.”
He still seemed like he was high. He certainly wasn’t happy about what had happened back at the bridge.
“We want to ask you some questions,” Paige said.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you. I don’t have to say anything.”
“You don’t,” Christopher said. “Butifyou don’t talk, then we’re pretty sure we have enough to charge you with the murders anyway.”
“Murders? What murders? I don’t know anything about any murders.”
Paige doubted that. Even with Arnville’s press trying not to panic anyone, she suspected that it was impossible for anyone not to have heard about the murders.
“The ones on the boardwalk, Fabiano. You work the boardwalk, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Fabiano said.
“That’s not going to work,” Christopher said. “We caught you in the middle of shaking someone down. We saw you stab him. You’re going down for that. The only way you don’t go down for even more is if you start being honest with us.”
“Of course, if you’re the murderer . . .” Paige said.
That got a flash of anger from Fabiano. “I’m no murderer.”
