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She left and James shook his head. “If he had that sophisticated technology, he would have to know how to clone a phone—and then get close enough to do it.”
Lainie hesitated, bit her lip, then pressed fingers to her eyes before she looked at him. “You mean like when I was sleeping in the on-call room?”
He nodded, awareness dawning. “Do you connect to the hospital Wi-Fi?”
“Yes.”
“Then ... yeah. It’s very possible.”
She took her phone out of her pocket and with a little effortremoved the SIM card, then powered down the device. “Feels kinda like closing the barn door after the horses have run away, but there you go.”
“Guys?” Stephanie stepped into the room. “Dinner’s ready.”
“We’re coming.”
She disappeared back into the kitchen just as his phone buzzed.
He glanced at the text.
When his breath caught and he swallowed hard, Lainie walked to stand in front of him. His gaze lifted from his screen to lock on hers. “What is it?” she asked.
“There’s been an ... uh ... incident at your house.”
HER EYES WIDENED.“An incident? What does that mean?”
“There’s been a small explosion of some kind.”
She flinched like he’d struck her, then swayed, gasping. He gripped her bicep and led her to the sofa, where she dropped onto it.
“What?” She finally spoke. “An explosion? Is Savannah okay?”
Flashes from the bomb that had sent shrapnel ripping into his back and killing three of his friends pulled at his consciousness.
“James! Is she okay?”
He shuddered, forced himself to stay in the present, and read the text again. “Uh, yeah.” He shrugged away the memories that threatened to drag him under, pulled in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “She’s on her way to the hospital.”
“If she’s okay, why is she going to the hospital?”
Get it together, dude.“She got hit with some debris, but it’s minor. They’re taking her in for a few stitches in her arm. I promise, she’s not hurt bad at all. She was outside when the blast went off.” He shook his head. “But Cole said you’re going to need a new front door and probably some work on the front.”
“Oh. My house.” His heart twisted. Her only concern had been for the agent. Now, the news of her home hit hard. “Well, it’s juststuff,” she said, her voice low. “Everything in there can be replaced should I even want to do so. All that matters is she’s okay.” A pause. “When did this happen?”
“About an hour ago.”
Her frown deepened. “But if that was him on the lake, then he knew I was here and not at my house. Why would he blow up my...” She frowned. “I’m confused.”
“If it was him, this guy is doing the complete opposite of what his family believes he’s doing,” James said. “Their argument for believing he’s living under the radar is that he was scared you’d come after him to finish the job should you find out he was alive.”
“And yet he showed himself to me when he ran me off the road.”
“Maybe you weren’t supposed to see him.”
Lainie blinked at him. “What are you getting at? He didn’t seem to mind me seeing him at the hospital, the shelter, and the parking garage.”
“Yeah, true, but—” Laughter spilled from the kitchen, distracting him for a brief second, then he focused back on Lainie. “Maybe when he ran you off the road, he believed you to be dead, looked over the side, saw you looking at him. Realized you’d recognized him ... and now he’s working on another plan.”
“Oh. Maybe.” She raked a hand over her head. “No one’s called me back from the message I left about the autopsy report. Let me try again. Maybe Carina Black will pick up her phone. She’s one of the medical examiners at the hospital. She can pull up Adam’s autopsy and tell me who did it. That should prove once and for all that he’s dead and we can all move on from there.”
