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104
When Haldyn opened her eyes she was in a hospital room with pale yellow walls and industrial tile common to hospitals everywhere. She heard the sounds and knew exactly where she was. It was the same room as she had been in last time, she was almost certain of it.
She turned her head.
There was a woman asleep in the chair next to her bed. It wasn’t Powell. But she was dark-headed. Zoey. It was Zoey this time. Maybe—it could be Heather. The room was too dark, and without her glasses, Haldyn couldn’t be sure.
Haldyn kept looking around the room, even without her glasses. She thought she’d had her glasses before.
She tried to put together what had happened. She remembered Kimball. Detective Bell. And Detective Wilson. Lieutenant Costovia. Detective Naylor.
She remembered Madison.
And she remembered Hope.
She must have cried out.
Then Zoey was leaning over her bed. It was definitely Zoey. “Hey, Hal. You’re okay. It’s all okay now. I promise. We’ve been waiting for you to wake up. They are getting ready to move another bed in here with you. That is probably what you heard.”
“Where… Hope… Mads?”
“Madison is at Melody’s right now. They are keeping her there for a while. With her mom and brother and stepfather. She’s okay. A little bruised and sore, but she’s going to be okay.”
“Hope?” Haldyn’s chest hurt. She tried to look down. She’d been shot. Hard to forget that. She would never forget that. Nor would she forget Hope asking her what she was supposed to do after being shot like that.
The shock and hurt in Hope’s words would haunt Haldyn forever.
“Did they find her in time? Please tell me they found her.”
Zoey nodded. But she hesitated. Haldyn’s throat clenched. “Handley Barratt found Hope and Mads. He was driving along in a limo, of all things. Playing rescuer again. I think Mads is completely in love with him. They brought her and Hope to the hospital, dropping them off three blocks away. They couldn’t get closer—he probably would have driven them right up to the doors if he could have. Mads practically dragged her the rest of the way.”
“How is she?”
“The bullet wound was shallow, I heard. But it worked its way down, toward her heart. They had to do open-heart surgery, I think. I’m not clear on all the details. No one on the Coleson side really shares with our side yet.”
No. Because they’d closed ranks to protect themselves from the hurt. That family—the hurts just kept coming for them all. “Is Hope going to be okay?”
“Yes. I think so. They are going to bring her in here shortly. They are keeping guards on you both. Until all the details are…known.”
“I just want this all to end. Where’s Jarrod?” She would never forget him promising he would never let her go, when they were lifting her on to the gurney.
Zoey shot her a wicked grin. “Something you need to share about that man, young lady?”
“I… it just happened.” And she wanted him there. Wanted to see him. To know that everything was going to be okay. “I can’t explain it. We argued so much before… but now…”
“Speaking to the choir here,” Zoey said. She fussed with the blanket, then grabbed another from the cupboard nearby. “You need to rest. I’ll have your Major Crimes major pain here as soon as we can get him free. Major Crimes is trying to figure out what exactly happened last night. Mads gave a pretty clear statement, but we have a few gaps to fill in. He’s prowling around the waiting room down the hall. He’s a bit preoccupied with getting in here. Well, back in here anyway. He was in here for hours. Just watching you, him all broody and sexy in that particular way he has. I made him go find something to eat. He was going to waste away.”
Haldyn nodded. “He’s okay?”
“He will be.”
Haldyn would have said more, but there was movement by the door. She immediately looked that direction. They were wheeling a bed in. There was a dark-haired woman in it.
One who looked so incredibly young. Defenseless.
She almost looked like a kid there.
Haldyn’s eyes filled. “I’ve never seen her that still before.”
