Chapter Twenty
A s hard as Janice and I clung together, Toby held on to me. We were practically a ball as the terror and disbelief still lingered. It was nearly impossible for me to wrap my head around it. I think I heard a nurse mutter something about shock when she was looking me over, but I wasn’t quite able to grasp it.
I couldn’t grasp anything. I just kept replaying what happened over and over again in my head. The man who wanted to kill Janice. His knife. The way it sounded when it hit the coatrack.
What if I’d failed at blocking it? Would I be hurt? Dead?
Toby shifted, still hugging me to him, reminding me that I wasn’t by myself. I focused on his warmth. Janice’s too.
I shuddered as more echoes of what happened played in my mind. The man’s cold voice whispered, followed by that damn knife again. I blinked furiously, hoping the memory would go away, but it didn’t help.
Toby only realized what had happened after the police arrived. He had texted me and I finally remembered to let him know.
He had joined us so quickly after that and while he hadn’t said much since arriving, every time he stroked my hair, his hand trembled. Then he’d kiss me and pull me closer to him. It was like he was trying to absorb me or something. I didn’t mind. I needed to feel the warmth of his presence, letting it ground me.
“You’re okay,” he murmured for about the hundredth time, his voice low and strained. “You’re okay.”
Every time he said that, Janice’s hand tightened on mine. She needed the reassurance as much as I did. Both of us were shaking and silent. Not really able to talk much, even with the police.
Erica proved how badass she was once again as she talked with the officers and got on their asses to find the bastard. She cursed up a storm and questioned the entire hospital for daring to let it get to that point.
No one had an answer, and I wasn’t able to fully piece together what everyone was saying. Once I was able to think again, I’d have to ask Toby to fill it all in for me.
“This is my fault,” Janice whispered. Then she was standing over me, her eyes wild. “If it weren’t for me, this wouldn’t have happened. I should have known better. I shouldn’t have come back. It still isn’t safe.”
She kept going, and all I could do was stare at her for half her rant. But her words of self-deprecation slowly pulled me out of my numbness.
“Stop,” I said, but it wasn’t loud enough. She only talked over me. I licked my lips and tried again. Drawing in a full breath, I spoke, my voice hoarse and sharper than I intended. “Cut it out, Janice.”
She froze from running her hand through her hair and finally focused on me.
I softened my voice. “This isn’t your fault, so just stop.”
“He wanted to kill me.”
“Then it’s whoever sent him here,” I said. “Not you. You didn’t put the knife in his hand. Or tell him where to find you. You did nothing wrong.”
Janice blinked furiously and then the tears were falling again. I grabbed her hand in a tight grip, wishing I could absorb her guilt along with my own terror.
“You were both incredible,” Erica spoke, her voice weaker. This whole thing exhausted her, but she was still awake, though probably not for much longer.
Her words weren’t the balm I hoped they’d be. I didn’t feel incredible. I felt fragile, like I was about to shatter into a million pieces if I let go of the thin thread of control I had.
I swallowed hard, my voice barely above a whisper. “I was so scared.”
“You were brave,” Toby said in a thick voice as he pulled me closer. “You protected everyone in this room.”
I shook my head, the what-ifs swirling again. “What if I hadn’t been fast enough? What if the knife—”
Toby stopped me, his hands cupping my face, forcing me to meet his gaze. His hazel eyes were fierce, a mix of determination and his own anguish. “But you were fast enough. The knife never touched anyone. You were brave. And because of it, you’re still here with us. Janice is safe. You did it.”
His words crashed into me like a wave, cracking the dam holding everything back. The last thread of control I had snapped and I sobbed. Hard. The tears flowed freely and I broke apart.
Toby pulled me to his chest, holding me tightly.
“It’s okay,” he whispered the mantra of the day. His voice was steady even though I could feel him trembling against me. “It’s okay.”
Janice joined us and we adjusted to welcome her into our little bundle, gripping tightly to each other once again as Toby kept reassuring us that we were okay.
~*~
D avies stared at me . I stared back at him. Once word got back to them who was involved in the attack, both Davies and Officer Brelly showed up. There was no question in anyone’s mind that this had to be related to the Ryder gang. That was the only thing that made sense.
So now I was having a staring contest with Davies, unable to form any words. My eyes ached and exhaustion pulled at me. I wanted to take a hot bath and then crawl into bed and never move for the next week.
“Once we get your statement, we’ll let you head out with your gang outside,” Davies said.
My lips twitched at the thought. Toby’d called in the cavalry. All of them were outside waiting for me now, fighting with anyone who would listen to let them see me.
“Can you walk us through what happened?” Officer Brelly asked. His gentle gaze didn’t waver as he waited for my response, his notepad in hand, ready to write down what I had to say.
“I’m not sure how much help I’ll be,” I finally said, my voice cracking from overuse and exhaustion. “It was fast.”
“That’s okay,” Officer Brelly said. “Let’s take this one step at a time, from the beginning. Any bit of information that you can think of.”
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to focus through the fog in my mind. “The power went out while we were visiting Erica. She asked me to check on her neighbor. When I opened the door, he was just...there.”
“What did he look like?” Davies asked.
“Tall. When I looked straight at him, I was looking at his chest. Black clothes, a black ski mask. Lean.” My voice wavered, and I had to clench my hands to keep them steady as a shudder hit me. “Dark eyes. It took me a moment to even realize he was dangerous. I thought I bumped into a doctor or something. By the time I realized what was happening, he’d shoved me back into the room and pulled out the knife. He didn’t say much, just that he was there for Janice.”
“What did his voice sound like?” Officer Brelly asked.
I thought back to it. The very little bit he did say. “Low and husky. Not overly deep. It was a cold voice. Detached. Like this was just a job to him. He didn’t sound angry or anxious or anything.”
“And the knife,” Davies spoke up. “Can you describe it?”
I furrowed my brow as I tried to recall the details. “Maybe a little longer than the length of my hand. The part he gripped was like a reddish brown. Looked well taken care of, or maybe new. Sharp.”
Davies nodded as Officer Brelly scribbled the details. “You said he wanted Janice, did he give you a reason?”
“No,” I said quickly. “But it seemed like...I don’t know. Like his only goal was to kill her and that was it. He was just focused on killing her and didn’t like that I got in the way. I think... I think if I hadn’t stepped in, it seemed like he’d just kill her and then leave. He had no interest in hurting Erica or me. He even said as much.”
“What do you mean?” Officer Brelly asked.
I scrunched up my brow as I tried to remember his exact words. “He said I wasn’t supposed to be there, so if I stayed out of his way, he wouldn’t kill me.”
The two of them glanced at each other before Officer Brelly made another note in his pad.
Davies’ jaw tightened as he pieced things together.
“And then what happened?” he prompted.
I hesitated, the memory still raw and surreal. “I tried to stop him. To distract him, I guess. I don’t even know what I was thinking. Erica got his attention and I grabbed the coatrack. He swung at me and somehow I managed to block him. The knife hit the coatrack.” My voice cracked and I looked down at my hands, suddenly unable to meet Davies’ gaze.
“You did good,” Officer Brelly said, his voice supportive.
I nodded weakly.
Davies cleared his throat. “The man didn’t say anything else?”
“No. I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay. Most likely he was hired to kill Janice now that she’s made herself seen.”
“So you think it’s the Ryder gang?”
Davies glanced at Officer Brelly and there was some kind of silent conversation between the two. Davies tilted his head toward me and Officer Brelly seemed to have caved.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Officer Brelly cleared his throat. “Janice wasn’t the only one attacked tonight.”
“What?”
“I’m only telling you what you’ll hear in the news. Dr. Laflin was killed today. From the timeline, it happened before the lights went out. No one realized what happened until probably during your attack, which is why the alarm went off. Once the alarm went off, protocol would be to secure all the wards, prevent people from moving around. With the power out, they weren’t able to effectively do that.”
“He was free to wander around because the power was out,” I whispered.
“Exactly.”
“So...he was trying to get a doctor and Janice tonight, why?”
“We can’t tell you that,” Officer Brelly said.
I wrapped my head around the information he’d shared. And then it clicked.
“Dr. Laflin was part of the Ryder gang? You said you got them all though.” My heart rate skyrocketed. If there were people who were part of the gang still out there, what did that mean for Janice and me?
“All members have been arrested and they won’t be able to get out of jail,” Davies said.
“But—”
“You’re a smart girl, Cadence,” Officer Brelly said. He glanced again at Davies before sighing. “He was affiliated with them, yes. But he wasn’t part of the gang. We have evidence of him being bought off by them.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” Officer Brelly rubbed at his thighs. “We were keeping an eye on him, but apparently so was another party. We need to look into it,” Officer Brelly said. “See who McCormack or any of them have reached out to. How they’d even be able to afford to hire someone. They don’t have access to any of their funds and many of them don’t have enough money personally to even be able to afford rent, let alone what it’d cost to make a guy think it was worth it to cause a disturbance in the hospital to kill a doctor and attack a young woman.”
“Okay,” I said.
“For now, we’ll make sure you and Janice are protected,” Davies said.
I bit the inside of my cheek. The last time they ‘protected’ me, I became bait. I couldn’t really trust it this time around.
“Cadence,” Davies said. “I’m serious. We’ll make sure you’re protected. Janice is an important witness for the trial against the Ryders. We can’t lose her.”
Exactly. Janice was important. If it came down to it, they’d probably hide her away. But I wasn’t important. I knew that. If anything, I was worth a couple extra charges they’d be able to use on the Ryder gang, but none of that was what was going to end them. My case was simply a little sprinkle on top of the dessert.
I met Officer Brelly’s eyes, but he couldn’t hold my gaze, looking back down at his notepad, pretending to focus on something written there.
Sighing, I stood up. “Right. In the meantime, I’m going home. Janice is staying with me currently.”
Davies nodded. “We already sent a squad car to your house.”
I raised an eyebrow, not having expected that. “Are we free to go home?”
“We’ll follow up later if we have more questions,” Officer Brelly said. “For now, get rest. You’ve been through a lot.”
“Thanks,” I murmured, standing on shaky legs.
As soon as I was down the hall and could see the waiting room, my focus zeroed in on the familiar faces of everyone. All the guys were there. So was Dad. They were pacing anxiously or talking softly with each other. My family.
Dad spotted me first and had me in his arms before I could draw in a breath and say anything. A moment later, I could feel the others gathering closer. No one said anything. There was nothing to say in this situation.
“Janice just went to the bathroom. She’ll be right back,” Seth said.
I nodded against Dad’s chest.
As soon as Janice returned, we were whisked away back home and away from the hospital.
There was a reason I really didn’t like hospitals and today cemented that even more.