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Clare blinked awake, lying in a hospital bed. IV in her arm. Covers up to her chin. Her mother in the chair beside her. “Mom.”
Letitia’s eyes blinked open, and she sat forward in the chair. “Hey, honey.”
That word brought everything flooding back. She remembered Selena in the bathtub, and the cabin exploding. She shifted in the bed, and pain shot down her leg.
“Easy.” Letitia stood and laid her hand on Clare’s arm. “You broke your ankle. You’ll need to keep still for a while.”
Clare said, “Selena. Gage.”
Letitia nodded. “They’re both here.” Her eyes were slightly glassy. She’d been hit in the head just a day or so ago. Now she was up. “Gage was knocked out. Selena woke up first, and she’s being treated. There are cops here taking her statement.”
“What about Aaron? Did they catch him?”
Letitia shuddered. “I hope so, but I hadn’t heard yet.”
The door opened, and Ember stuck her head in. “Oh, I’ll come back. But I’m glad you’re awake.”
“Come in.” Letitia waved a hand, and her gold bracelet slid down from her wrist. “Please.”
Ember closed the door. She came over. “You okay?”
Clare was more inclined to tell Ember the truth than her own mother, but the sad fact was that Ember had earned that place in Clare’s heart. Her mother had always kept her at arms’ length, as though the point was to prove to people you were better than them.
Like Gage.
Her mother hadn’t wanted Clare to date him in the first place. Which was a lot of the reason Clare had responded to him. A small act of rebellion that lasted a minute until she realized that the most good-looking guy in sophomore year was also a great guy.
The way joining the army had been a rebellion. The furthest thing from what her mother wanted her to do—and that was exactly what she did.
Her thoughts inevitably drifted back to Gage. Who made a point to be kind these days? She’d seen him showing kindness to a kid who was bullied and fallen hard. Part of her had loved him every day since. Even when she thought he walked out on her.
“I’d like to say I can’t believe you offered Gage money to leave me.” Clare shook her head at her mother. “But I can absolutely believe it.”
Ember gasped. “You didn’t.” She coughed. “I mean, sorry.”
“No.” Letitia actually shook her head. “You shouldn’t be. The truth is, it’s me that should be sorry.” She shrugged. “Only, partly I’m not. You didn’t need to be in a relationship that young. It was a sure thing, and I knew it.”
Maybe her mother would never completely come around. She would always be true to who she was, but it did make Clare feel better that she at least admitted sheshouldbe sorry. Even if she wasn’t. “Thank you for saying that.”
Things weren’t always perfect. Actually, Clare wondered if maybe they were almost never perfect. Right now she was content for just this moment with her mother.
Ember leaned against the bed.
“How is my building?” Clare asked.
Ember actually winced. “No structural damage that we can tell, but an inspector needs to confirm that. The damage looked mostly cosmetic.”
“Where did Aaron get bombs?” She hadn’t been able to figure that part out.
“We found a guy in town. Like the laundromat people he killed, the guy and his secretary. There was another homicide the police were investigating. A man who contracts that kind of thing. There was a payment between him and Aaron. We confirmed all the bombs are accounted for. They all went off.”
“The cabin?”
Ember nodded. “That one was on a timer. I think he wanted Selena, you and whoever else showed up dead in there. Maybe he thought he’d get away.”
“Did the cops catch him?”
“I asked Captain McCauley. He said Sergeant O’Connell was bringing the suspect in.”
