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The threat of being taken to jail for trespassing scared most of them off. The others, we placated with a press conference. Being in front of the cameras again wasn’t how I would have chosen to spend our first days now that our family was whole, but after we gave the reporters the sound bites they were so hungry for, they eventually began to lose interest and fall away.
One bright, warm day, we went to visit Denny at Evergreen General. His wounds had been serious, but he’d pulled through. As we neared his room, we found a familiar face already waiting outside.
“Special Agent Cordova,” Xander greeted her dryly.
“Mr. Miller. Miss Jordan,” she replied. As she looked to Xander, she arched an eyebrow. “You and your friend Mr. Kerry have a fascinating knack for breaking rules, you know.”
“You here to arrest us?” Xander asked.
“I’m not. I just… thought I would pay Mr. Kerry a visit. I heard he was wounded during the recovery of your son.” She pursed her lips. “I was very sorry to hear about his injuries, and very glad to learn that you all made it out all right.”
Xander’s expression was stony and unreadable. “Didn’t have any other choice, did we?”
“No, you didn’t.” Cordova’s sigh was heavy. “We failed you. The Du Pont estate was off limits to me and my team. If you hadn’t decided to go there on your own, I don’t believe your boy would ever have been recovered. I’m just sorry I couldn’t help more. I don’t mean to make excuses, but…”
“Your hands were tied,” I finished for her.
She gave me a solemn nod.
“You know, if you ever want to talk about the order you received, the one about leaving those old money packs alone, we know a reporter who might like a word,” Xander told her.
She tilted her head to the side. “Do you, now?”
Xander asked for her notebook and a pen. She handed them to him, and he wrote down Ava-Rose’s information. I wasn’t sure if she’d reach out, especially after she tore the page out, but at least she pocketed it instead of throwing it away.
“I’ll leave you to it, then,” she said in parting. “Good luck to you both.”
Inside Denny’s hospital room, we found him in high spirits.
“What’re a few more battle scars?” he joked, gently patting the bandages wound around his abdomen.
“I suppose I owe you hazard pay,” Xander said.
Denny nodded. “And overtime.”
I couldn’t tell if they were kidding or not.
We stayed to chat with him for a while. I noticed that he and Xander were both avoiding speaking about what had happened. Killing Lizbeth seemed to weigh heavier on Xander than I’d imagined, but I suspected there was something else they were holding back. Dylan had felt it as well, and knew as little about it as I did.
“I figure it must be something they saw inside the manor,” he’d confessed. “I don’t know what it could be, though. I was only standing watch.”
Several times as we sat there in Denny’s hospital room, I considered asking them about it. I didn’t like being out of the loop. Ultimately, I decided against it. Hearing Xander and Denny joke and banter and snip at each other had created an air of normalcy that I wasn’t entirely prepared to shatter.
They’d fill me in when they were ready. Until then, I could live with being kept in the dark for a while.
We were just saying our goodbyes when I heard a familiar voice bellowing from out in the hall.
“Where is my daughter?”
My shoulders slumped and tensed all at the same time. Like a levy had just broken within me, all the energy in my body rushed out, leaving me immediately spent.
I should have known better than to think that just blocking my mother’s number on my phone would ever be enough.
“Get away from me! Don’t you touch me! I have every right to be here, how dare you—” Whatever poor soul had been trying to hold her back must have lost their grip, because a second later, Mom burst into the room.
Her face lit up when she saw me. “Felicity! My baby! Good God, sweetheart. When I saw you on the news, I caught the first flight here. I’ve been looking all over for you! You’ve had me worried absolutely sick, and—”
I sighed. “Hey, Mom.”
