AllFreeNovel
Share Us
GRACE
My mind wasa haze of pain and confusion.
I could hear muffled sounds around me. Beeping. Voices. A door clicking shut.
I tried to open my eyes, but the lids were heavy. I succumbed to the fog and let it claim me.
Sometime later, I became aware of voices again. A male and a female, both familiar. I strained to make them out. Was the man Nate?
“Nate,” I murmured, butchering the name because my tongue felt thick and my mouth like it was full of cotton wool.
“Gracie?”
Definitely Nate.
A gentle touch smoothed over my forehead.
“Are you awake?”
My eyelashes fluttered, and I fought to hold them open. Light burned into my retinas, and I flinched.
“Shh, it’s okay.”
The light dimmed, and I blinked a few times as the world slowly came into focus. I tried to move my hand, and it throbbed painfully. When I struggled to sit up, someone urged me back down.
“Take it easy,” Nate’s gentle, reassuring voice said. “You’re safe.”
I turned my head to the side and finally laid eyes on his gorgeous face. His eyes were bloodshot with dark circles underneath, and he looked as if he hadn’t slept in a month.
“Wha’ hap’n’d?” I rasped.
“Here.” Something touched my lower lip. A water bottle. I sipped, the water relieving the dryness of my mouth.
“Grace?” a hesitant voice asked. Female. Tess? The little girl came into view as she leaned over me. “Are you awake?”
“Yes.” The water had helped. I sounded stronger already.
“Good. I was so worried, but Dad said I shouldn’t be because you’re the strongest person he knows.”
My heart squeezed, but then something lower in my chest began to burn. I frowned, finally recalling what had happened.
Alice had stabbed me.
Alice, my friend.
I didn’t understand. Had she been the person behind everything that had gone wrong recently? I tried to think it through, but my mind was too muddled.
“Alice?” I asked.
Relief flooded Nate’s face. “She was the one who did this to you?”
I started to nod, but pain burst through my temples, and I stilled. “Yes.”
He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “I’m glad you remember. We’ve already arrested her on suspicion of attempted murder, but your testimony will be the nail in her coffin.”
I glanced at Tess, wondering how much we could discuss in her presence, but my need to know the truth outweighed my hesitancy. “How did you find out it was her?”
“She wasn’t present at the scene when, according to Kennedy, she should have been. She had an excuse for that, but even after we spoke to Warren, who was supposedly her alibi, the timing didn’t quite work out, and she was behaving strangely. When we questioned her, she demanded a lawyer. She hasn’t spoken to anyone other than her lawyer since then, but we got a search warrant for her house and found traces of blood that match your type. There were no bloody clothes, but we’re scouring the neighborhood’s dumpsters and trash cans. She’s smart enough to dispose of them somewhere they won’t be directly linked to her. We’ve also confirmed that her blood type matches traces of blood recovered from Duke’s teeth, and she has puncture wounds that are consistent with a dog bite. We’re going to take a cast of his teeth to prove they match.”
