Chapter 1 #2
For them to ask me again if I’m sure there was someone else in there.
For the cops to question me.
For information on how Blake is.
For a call from Shade.
It’s like years have passed in the space of hours.
I stand on the street opposite the smoking wreck of Wrath, trying to figure out what happened. How it happened. Why it happened. I errantly wonder if I’m in shock.
The detective who took over for Black after he was knifed in this very alley is here, too.
I can’t remember her name, but her suspicious eyes follow me like I’m the fucker who set off the bomb that has hurt me and the people I care about most in the world…
and then, in her mind, I just stayed here to watch the drama unfold at the scene, I guess.
Was it him? The stalker? Did he do this? Is he watching all this right now like the psycho the detective thinks I am?
I glance around, but I can’t see anyone bar the emergency services and some neighborhood rubber-neckers beyond the crime tape. None of them seem out of the ordinary, and none have the blond hair from the grainy video we were able to get, but he could still be here.
My phone beeps.
Shade. He found her.
One of the KIP guys, Jayce, is close by. He’s waiting by the curb down the block with his car, watching me and the scene with scared eyes.
I run toward him. ‘Take me to Richmond Memorial.’
He nods, but before I can get in, that motherfucking detective is in my way. Two uniformed officers flank her.
‘Where are you going, Mr. Shaw? We have questions for you.’
‘Am I under arrest?’
Her eyes narrow. ‘Not yet.’
I barely look at her. ‘Then I’ll be at Richmond Memorial if you want to find me.’
‘Don’t leave town.’
I nod curtly and get in the car, not sparing her, the officers, or the still glowing shell of the club another glance.
The hospital is just on the outskirts of town, so it only takes a few minutes to get there. As soon as we pull up, I tell Jayce to go back to campus, and I’ll call him when I have news.
He looks uncertain, but he leaves and I go inside, messaging Shade as I walk.
Where are you?
ICU
I ask at the front desk and am directed down several hallways. I find the unit and see Shade sitting in a hard plastic chair in the hall.
I rush over to him.
‘Where is she? Is she okay?’
‘Head injury.’ He points to a door. ‘We aren’t allowed in. They won’t tell me anything.’
‘What?’
He sighs heavily, rubbing his face, and smearing some of the dirt and grime around.
‘They let me be with her at first, but as soon as I gave my name, they clammed up. Made me leave the room. Her medical records say something, I guess…like her file on campus did. They’ve called my father. Her guardian,’ he spits, eyes flashing.
‘What the fuck?’ I snarl.
He shakes his head. ‘Don’t get riled. They’ll just get security to escort us out. Pop messaged me. Said he’s coming…’ Shade’s eyes narrow as he looks at the floor. ‘Had a meeting to finish up.’
‘That sonofabitch.’ I sink down next to him. ‘What about Blake?’
‘He’s down the hall. Smoke inhalation was worse than ours. He has a couple burns, too. Nothing major though, they said. He’s on oxygen and his hand is bandaged up, but he’ll be okay. He’s awake. I told him Daisy’s here. He was freaking out when he came ’round.’
I sit back and take a breath. ‘This is so fucked.’
Shade doesn’t say anything.
‘Who did this?’ I snarl low.
‘I think we know who it probably is.’ Shade glances at me.
I nod. ‘The stalker.’
‘But let’s go through the other suspects anyway,’ he murmurs. ‘Make sure we’re not missing something.’
He puts up finger. ‘Sauvage. He wouldn’t hinder Envy production.’
‘What about the Garretts?’ I wonder aloud.
He frowns, his next finger joining the first.
‘Not really their M.O.. And why? Sark is getting his cut. They don’t care what we do so long as they get paid and we stay out of their business.
Plus, Lu is Daisy’s bestie and Pop Pop Garrett knows it.
I mean, he literally met her the other day at the play.
Everyone knows Lu is his favorite. He wouldn’t do something to hurt Daisy unless he had to. ’
‘’Who else is there? And why would they hit the Novelle Center at the same time?’ I mutter. ‘It has to be the same guy. And I feel like it keeps coming back to Daisy.’
Shade lets out a breath. ‘Agreed. I think we can safely assume he did this. Maybe he’s sent her something. A note. An email.’
I nod. ‘He does seem to be ramping up. This. Detective Black’s murder. He’s getting impatient. Blake hasn’t found anything else in the footage from the cameras to go on?’
My friend closes his eyes and leans his head back, shaking it slightly.
‘Nothing from the Forrests’ Christmas Gala either.
I found the butler who gave Daisy the note, but it was laying on a table in the foyer by the front door.
Anyone coming in and out that night could have left it there while the party was in full swing.
No one noticed anything and there was nothing on their cameras either. ’
‘This fucker has resources. He’s connected. Has to be.’
‘Yeah.’
After that, we don’t talk anymore. We wait out in the hallway for three hours with no one telling us anything.
Our questions are met with apologies and shrugs, some with outright animosity as if we were the ones who hurt Daisy.
And no one will let us in to even see our girl until John Novelle says it’s okay.
I seethe in my chair until the sonofabitch finally shows up.
I see him first, sauntering up the hallway with his phone in his hand. He glances up and nods at Shade.
‘My secretary said your stepsister has been in some kind of accident.’ He yawns. ‘Not a great time. What did she get mixed up in now, Jack?’
Like this is on Daisy, her fault. Like her getting hurt is an inconvenience to him.
My eyes narrow at John and my fists clench. But I reel in my anger. Instead, I glance at Shade, wondering how he’s going to spin what happened.
‘At the club. Our club. Gas main caused an explosion.’
John’s eyebrows rise a tad. ‘I told you that building was a liability when you bought it.’
Shade doesn’t rise to the bait though. He gestures to Daisy’s room. ‘They won’t give us any information on her condition without you here.’
John nods, looking a little smug, and everything in me coils tight. God, I want to crack his skull against the wall so badly that I have to sit back down in case I launch myself at him.
‘What was she doing there? Why wasn’t she at the KIP house?’ John asks accusingly.
My eyes narrow further. Does he expect us to keep her there under lock and key? Never let her out unless she’s going to class?
‘You told me to keep an eye on her. I was at the club all day, so I brought her with me,’ Shade shrugs.
John snorts and stops a nurse as she walks by. ‘I’m Dr. John Novelle.’
Her eyes widen and I see Shade’s roll a little.
His father has a doctorate, but he’s not a medical professional. People in Richmond know the Novelle name, though.
‘I’m here to see my stepdaughter, Marguerite Novelle. Find me her doctor, would you, sweetheart?’
‘I’ll just get him for you, sir,’ she squeaks out and walks down the hallway quickly.
In record time, an older man in a white coat and holding a clipboard approaches.
‘You’re here about Miss Novelle?’ he asks.
John nods once. ‘I’m her guardian.’
‘Of course. I’m Doctor Redel. I was on shift when your daughter was brought in.’
He eyes me and Shade. ‘Your daughter—’
‘Stepdaughter,’ John corrects, looking bored.
‘O-of course,’ Redel stutters. ‘Your stepdaughter came in with a traumatic brain injury sustained, I gather, from a gas explosion.’
I side-eye Shade. How many people has he said this to and how are we going to keep the real story under wraps?
‘And?’ John says impatiently. ‘What’s the prognosis?’
The doctor looks surprised. ‘I won’t sugarcoat it, Mr. Novelle. Her brain is swelling. We have her in a medically induced coma for now.’
John huffs. Actually huffs. He doesn’t even feign concern for her.
Fucker.
‘This is all I need with the Bandervilles breathing down my neck to set a date for the wedding. Idiot girl. How long will she be in here?’
‘It’s difficult to say. We’re doing everything we can, but we won’t know more until the swelling goes down. That could be hours, or it could be days.’
‘Fine.’ John turns to Shade with an annoyed expression. ‘I’m flying to Calgary in the morning. Keep me posted.’
Shade glances at the doctor. ‘They won’t even let me in the room, Pop. You need to give them permission to speak to me.’
John looks annoyed, but he turns back to the doctor. ‘Well?’
‘There’s, uh, a form to sign. If you’ll come with me to the desk, the nurses will get this done for you now, sir.’
John makes a show of checking his Rolex and nods, following Redel in haughty silence.
I lean into Shade. ‘Good job. At least we’ll be able to be with her now.’
‘I need to call Sauvage,’ he murmurs back.
‘Why?’
‘He has the Chief of Police in his pocket even more than my father does. He can make sure the gas leak story is the only story. Maybe it’ll get that detective off our backs for now, too.’
He opens Daisy’s door, and we walk into her room with a hard look at one of the nurses who’s been stopping us from seeing her for the past few hours. He doesn’t bat an eye at us now. Guess he was listening in on Novelle and Redel’s conversation.
I take in a quick breath when I see her. She’s in the middle of the bed, machines beeping, lines coming out of her.
Her head is bandaged. Her closed eyes are bruised. Her face looks almost as white as the sheets.
‘Daisy,’ I whisper, going to her and taking one of her cold hands in mine.
Shade drags a seat over to the bed and sits down on her other side.
I belatedly see that he’s holding a shopping bag and give him a questioning look. His jaw tenses.