Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Pennsylvania
Through all the activity of everyone fussing and talking, I became exhausted. While I didn’t feel pain, my body was healing and that depleted a lot of my energy. My eyes closed, the sounds of voices mashed into one creating an almost white noise, and soon enough I was asleep.
When I woke, it was quiet aside from a low scraping sound. I peeked through heavy lids to find Owen sitting at the bottom of my bed drawing with marker on my cast, nobody else in the room. I didn’t want to spook him, but I wanted to see what he was doing, so I released a breath louder than normal.
His eyes darted to me, and I smiled. “Whatcha drawing there?”
His words were coveted since he didn’t speak often. I tried to hide my surprise as he whispered, “Everyone.”
I mean, he was five. Was I expecting an answer much more in depth than that? I lifted slightly and made out a line of what appeared to be people all holding hands.
I was able to make out some of the people—Olivia and himself for sure since they were the shortest. Matteo was the next in height, and Rita seemed pretty clear too. Everyone else confused me. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I made sure to make it sound like I couldn’t see.
“Wanna tell me who everyone is? Because it’s hard to tell from here.”
His gaze flickered from my cast, to me, and then the cast again. Maybe it was a lot of words for him; perhaps he was uncomfortable. I was about to tell him not to worry and that I’d figure it out when he spoke.
“This is Daddy, me, Olivia, and Mommy. She has wings cause she’s in heaven.”
“That’s lovely, Owen.”
He went on. “That’s Auntie Rita and Uncle Dean and Matteo.” I nodded. “And next to Daddy here.” He pointed to another guy. “That’s you.”
I was dressed like Batman and I chuckled, both amused and touched. “You put me there, huh?”
“Family,” was his answer, as if it were completely obvious.
“Thanks, bud.”
He colored for a few more seconds but dropped the marker and carefully crawled up the bed. I wasn’t sure exactly what he was doing until he rested his head on my chest and wrapped his arms around me as best as he could in this position.
On instinct, I placed one hand on his head and the other on his back. I didn’t speak, and I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but my heart felt so full of love I could barely breathe.
We lay like that for a couple of minutes before his soft, almost hard-to-hear voice broke the silence. “I was scared.”
“About what?”
“That you would die like Mommy.”
I closed my eyes to keep my tears at bay. “I’m still here, and I’m sorry I scared you.”
“Are you staying?”
“In the hospital?”
He lifted his head so I could see his eyes. So much hope shone there. “No, with Daddy, me, and Livy?”
I ran my hand over his hair, so much like his father’s. “I don’t know exactly where I’ll live, but I won’t leave town, is that fair?”
His nose scrunched up adorably. “I guess.”
The door to the hospital room opened, and I thought it would be maybe Gideon, Rita, or Dean, but instead it was two people in suits. A quick assessment pinged them as detectives. Owen slid to the left of me and buried his face in my chest.
“Can I help you?”
“Mr. Garrand, I’m Detective Hoss, and this is Detective Mueller. We were hoping we could get a statement from you regarding everything you’ve been through.”
I pressed the call button, wanting the nurse to arrive so she could maybe get Owen out of here. I could tell this was upsetting him—he was humming and clinging to me.
“Which part?”
Hoss was a young man, maybe late twenties, blond hair, with all-American charm while Mueller was a woman who looked to be closer to fifty, a tight bun, and no-nonsense expression.
“I’d like to start by asking what happened when you went to the police station.” Hoss wasn’t giving off hostile vibes.
The nurse took that moment to enter. She eyed the detectives but came right over to me. “Is everything okay?”
“Can you find Owen’s dad, Gideon? Or Rita or Dean? He shouldn’t be here for this.”
“Oh, of course. They all went down for lunch, give me a few.” She smiled at Owen and gently rubbed his shoulder. “We have a playroom. Would you like to come with me and wait for your dad?”
He shook his head. “I stay with Penn. Protect him.” While he said it with his face mashed in my chest, it warmed me.
“It’s okay, just maybe tell them to hurry.”
Once she left, Hoss lifted a brow. “So the police station.”
“He’s five, Detective. He shouldn’t be listening to any of this.”
“A five-year-old with a mob boss for a father, I’m sure he’s heard worse.” Mueller sneered. Yeah, totally pegged her for a bitch.
“Evelyn,” Hoss hissed. “My apologies, Mr. Garrand.”
“Look, I’m not talking about this with him here, so either come back later or wait outside until his father arrives.”
“We don’t work on your timetable, Mr. Garrand,” Mueller snapped. “There are a lot of things that don’t add up about what happened before you entered this hospital. Good people are dead, and I think you know what happened and perhaps even had a hand in causing it.”
“Evelyn, enough.” Hoss stepped in front of her, blocking my view. “Go cool off.”
“No! Larry Shaw was a great man trying to better Northchester, and I know that he knows what happened. Suicide? Come on, Jim, you know that’s not who he was.”
Wow, she was unhinged and obviously had a thing for the commissioner.
Owen began trembling in my arms, and that wouldn’t do. “Get. The. Hell. Out.” I growled the words, and when they looked at me, their eyes widened. “Or you’ll find out just how much of a monster I really am.”
“Are you threatening us?” Mueller appeared a little nervous, but she was a tough lady and wouldn’t stand down.
“If he’s not, I am.” Gideon stepped into the room, Rita and Dean on his heels.
Rita came right over to Owen and tried to pick him up, but he was clinging to me.
“It’s okay, Owen. You go with Auntie Rita. Your dad’s here. Is it okay if he protects me for a bit while you play with Olivia and Matteo?”
He swallowed, squeezed me once more, and nodded. “Okay.”
No one dared utter a word while Rita stepped out of the room with the boy. Dean closed the door behind her and leaned against it.
“How did either of you get past my men?” Gideon moved closer to me and as soon as he was able, he took my hand.
“We’re detectives, Mr. Hendrix. But to answer your question, neither was there.” Hoss removed a small pad.
“Dean, find out where Toni and Danny went?”
He nodded and stepped out of the room, and then Gideon’s attention was back on the detectives.
“I’m sorry for upsetting the boy.” Hoss apologized, but before he could go on I interrupted.
“Why are you apologizing?” I glowered at Mueller. “She’s the one who should say she’s sorry—not just to me but to him, but I don’t think it would be good for her health to approach Owen.”
“More threats, Mr. Garrand. I could place you under arrest.” She took a step forward only to be stopped by Hoss.
“Let’s just get these questions over with, and we can all be on our way.”
“Fine.” I relaxed into the pillows, fighting off the stupid exhaustion my body was determined to annoy me with. “Ask your damn questions.”