Chapter 48
FORTY-EIGHT
Amanda’s bullet landed where she had aimed. The Anaconda Killer’s upper right shoulder. But she’d survive, unlike her victims.
She screamed out in agony and dropped her knife. “You’ll pay for that.”
“That’s my line to you. And because of your compulsion to sign off on your kills, you can be tied to killing seven people. So, thank you for that.”
“Screw you.”
Amanda smiled at her. “You keep saying my lines.”
Trent grabbed her arms behind her back and snapped on the cuffs so hard that the woman howled.
Officers moved into the room.
“An ambulance should be here soon,” one of them said.
Another officer assumed hold of the Anaconda Killer from Trent.
“And I’ll be going with her. I’m not letting her out of my sight,” Amanda told them.
“I’m not her. I’m the Anaconda Killer,” the woman said.
“Call yourself whatever you like, you’re still going away for the rest of your life.” Amanda looked over at Trent in time to see his eyes roll back and him buckle to the floor.
The next several minutes played out in slow motion.
Paramedics swept into the room, and one raced straight to Trent and turned him over.
He hadn’t just been swiped by the blade.
It had pierced his left side, and the wound was bleeding heavily.
Trent must have been in shock to keep going as if nothing had happened.
It took a few minutes for the paramedic to bring Trent around, but he was then loaded onto a gurney and taken out.
“She’s mine,” Amanda hissed, grabbing the Anaconda Killer’s arm and leading her out of the house to another waiting ambulance.
Amanda was torn between going with Trent or going with this murderous woman. She did what she knew Trent would want her to do, and Amanda loaded into the back of the ambulance that would shuttle the Anaconda Killer to the hospital.
She was restrained on the gurney in the back with two sets of cuffs, and a plainclothes officer went along as well.
After they arrived at the hospital, Amanda told the officer, “Stay with her every second. Do not let her out of your sight.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Amanda went to check on Trent, who was being rushed through the emergency room with a slew of doctors tending to him. She jogged up to them. “What’s going on? Is he going to be all right?”
“You need to stay back. Wait in the waiting room, and a doctor will let you know,” a nurse told her.
As she watched Trent being wheeled down the corridor out of sight, warm tears fell down her cheeks.
Time was standing still as Amanda paced the hospital waiting room.
She’d asked for updates on Trent several times in the past hour, but no one was telling her anything.
She couldn’t even pull on her relationship with Carter because she couldn’t get a hold of him.
But if he was home sleeping after a long shift, he’d have his ringer off, and she couldn’t fault him for that.
She left a message though, just in case.
“Tell me everything.” Malone rushed toward her.
She told him what had transpired in the house.
“So back up. No one saw this woman enter the house?”
“Nope. And my mind’s a mess right now, but all I can figure is she must have arrived before us and hid out inside the home.”
“We know she has a way of getting inside without leaving a mark. But shit. What are the doctors saying about Trent?”
The swear word spilled from Malone’s mouth like it was natural for him. She knew he only pulled one out when he was upset. “I don’t know. No one is telling me anything.” She raked her hand through her hair, spinning out. Nothing could happen to him. It just couldn’t.
“Amanda?” Carter jogged toward her. He took her hands. “Talk to me, and I’ll find out what I can.”
“It’s Trent. He was stabbed in his side. They took him in about an hour ago, and I haven’t—”
“Detective Steele?” One of the doctors she’d seen taking Trent away was standing mere feet away. He took off the surgical cap he had on and held it in front of himself.
Her heart was pounding, and her vision was hazy. That posture… it wasn’t good. Her head spun, and Carter moved in and wrapped his arm around her. Just that bit of support helped her find her voice. “I am.”
Malone joined them.
“Trent should be just fine,” the doctor said. “He’ll be admitted, so we can monitor him for a few days. He should be able to receive visitors in the morning.”
Amanda breathed only slightly easier. Nothing was guaranteed.
“Thank you, Dr. Ryan,” Carter told him.
Ryan dipped his head and left.
Amanda turned to Carter. She wanted to hug him, but it didn’t feel right celebrating Trent in the arms of another man. “He was lucky, wasn’t he?” She knew things could have been far worse.
Malone put a hand on her shoulder.
“I don’t want to leave this hospital until I can see him.”
“You just heard that won’t be until the morning. You should get some rest,” Carter told her.
She couldn’t imagine going home and crawling into bed like nothing happened, like her world hadn’t spun upside down. “There’s no way I can do that. The woman who did this to him is somewhere in this hospital, and I need to talk to her.”
“Just tell me her name, and I’ll track her down.”
“I don’t have her name.” Then it was like her mind cleared. She had the officer’s number, and she called him. He answered on the second ring. “Tell me you haven’t let her out of your sight.”
“I’m looking at her right now through the glass. They’re just wrapping up her surgery.”
“The diagnosis?”
“She’s going to live.”
“Good.” Because I’m going to make her regret it!