Chapter Nine
Something was wrong with JJ.
Price knew it—knew it in his bones—but had no right to confront her about it. To ask her what was bothering her. To say he had his finger on something but he wasn’t sure what. It wasn’t just her being uncomfortable in a hospital room. It was something else.
But he couldn’t say anything of that. All he could do was go along with the plan he’d unknowingly already made the second JJ had admitted she had no one to call to the hospital.
He was going to make sure she wasn’t alone.
Not after what she’d just been through.
Which meant another Collins had to be brought into the fold.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” Price asked. “You can say no and I won’t kick up a fuss.”
Winnie had her book bag slung over her shoulder and put on a look that was slightly annoyed.
“I already told you I don’t mind,” she said. “But if you keep asking me, I’m going to start.”
She shook the pillow she had under her arm. He knew there was a blanket and a change of clothes in her book bag too. Winnie handed him the keys to his truck. She kept her voice low as she continued, both trying not to let anyone in the hospital hallway hear their conversation.
Especially not the woman they were talking about in the room behind them.
“I don’t mind keeping JJ company while you go home. I like her, remember? So this will be kind of like a sleepover. So don’t worry about it.”
Price still hesitated.
“I’d stay with her, but I don’t think she’s comfortable with the idea,” he explained again.
Winnie snorted.
“Have you smelled you? I wouldn’t want you just chilling in my room while I’m trying to sleep either.”
“She’s probably not going to be quiet about you staying either,” he pointed out. “You might have to do that stubborn thing you do sometimes.”
Winnie rolled her eyes and swiped a hand dramatically beneath her chin.
“She was against you being here,” she said. “Me? I’m a delight.”
Price couldn’t help but smile.
After he’d gotten to the hospital, he’d made sure to call Winnie’s cell and let her know that he and JJ were okay. It was the only part of his job that he’d never liked—worrying her then hearing her try to pretend it didn’t.
Even now, between her small jabs, he could see she was straining a little. Just as her hug after arriving had been more tight than normal.
“You’re a delight,” Price repeated. He meant it.
Winnie dropped her teasing with a nod of her head.
Her expression became serious.
“Go take care of yourself for a change, Dad. We’ll be okay.”
Price knew enough about himself to understand he would never not worry about Winnie but, in the moment, he accepted that it was time for him to step aside.
At least, for a little while.
That didn’t mean he liked it.
“Call me if anything happens,” he said. “And regardless, call me in the morning when you’re up.”
Price didn’t say goodbye to JJ for a second time and instead took his truck straight home. There, he did as all three ladies he’d talked to in the last few hours had instructed: he showered.
The water was hot, and it beat against his back without mercy.
It distracted him from his past conversations with Detective Williams and Rose and the sheriff. Then the loop of what-ifs and whys they all had been asking since Josiah Teller’s attack. After that, he landed on Good Samaritan JJ, as Rose had started to call her.
There after, and then during, the last two attacks.
Blood on her clothes for both.
A hospital visit after too.
The shower ended and Price wrapped himself in a towel and perched on the edge of his bed.
His back hurt. His whole body hurt.
His ankle hurt too.
If his trip in Jamie Bell’s backyard had been worse, it could have been a lot harder to get JJ and Georgie out of that house.
Price tipped backward onto the bed. The intention was to stretch out the soreness radiating through him, then get back up, get dressed and head back to the hospital to wait in the lobby for the morning.
But his intention passed by his follow-through like ships in the night.
Then exhaustion pulled them both under.
* * *
Price woke up thirsty, confused and still in his towel.
It took him several minutes to realize that, not only had he fallen asleep, he had managed to stay asleep for hours.
His cell phone’s clock let him know it was almost five-thirty in the morning, and no texts from anyone let him know that if anything exciting had happened since his slumber, it wasn’t being reported to him.
Price sat up and put his head in his hands. He took a few breaths to try and wake up some more. Instead, he got the nasty reminder that his body had done some more extreme exercises than usual the day before.
He got up and went straight to the bathroom counter. He took two ibuprofen, dressed as fast as he could stand, made some coffee and was headed back to the hospital before five forty-five had rolled around. He was riding the elevator up to the second floor a few minutes later.
And, before six a.m. had a chance to grace Seven Roads, Price was standing outside of a hospital door, looking with concern at JJ Shaw.
The interesting part, however, was the placement of JJ in relation to the hospital door. Instead of being asleep inside of her room, she was standing in the hallway, hovering next to the door. A door that didn’t actually lead to her room.
Price gave her a quick once-over—she was still in her hospital gown but no longer attached to an IV pole—before clearing his throat as quietly, but noticeably, as possible.
The noise came through quiet but clear.
JJ whirled around, eyes wide and fists balled.
Price raised his eyebrow at the move. He smiled too.
“I know you said you don’t like hospital beds, but staying in hospital hallways is a little extreme, don’t you think?”
JJ surprised him with an eye roll. He was glad to see at the same time that she lost some of the tension in her. The fists she had balled opened. She also took a small step toward him and got right to the point before he could ask about it.
“Jamie Bell came in a few minutes ago.” She pointed to the door she had been slinking around outside of. “I saw him go in after talking to the doctor, but I couldn’t hear what they said.”
Price was no longer in a teasing mood.
He stood straighter.
“He hasn’t come out yet?” he asked.
JJ shook her head.
“I was hoping to bump into him to ask how Georgie was doing but, well, it hasn’t—”
The door they were staring at started to open. JJ was faster. She went from being next to it to next to Price’s side. On reflex, he angled in front of her.
They went from looking like eavesdroppers to looking like they were simply going back to her room.
Not that Jamie Bell seemed to mind either way.
The second he caught sight of them, his attention was locked on who they were, not where they were. Once the door clicked shut behind him, he was talking fast.
“Deputy Collins, I was going to try to find you later this morning.” He didn’t leave JJ out. His gaze shifted to her. “And you? You’re JJ, right? They said you’d been admitted but I didn’t want to bother you or your daughter until everyone was awake.”
Price mentally stumbled over the mention of daughter, then realized that Jamie must have been talking about Winnie.
JJ didn’t skip a beat though.
She put a hand on Price’s elbow and took a step forward.
Her voice changed as she spoke. It was, for lack of a better description, more syrupy.
“We’re the ones who didn’t want to disturb you.” She nodded to the door he’d just come through. “How’s Georgie doing?”
Jamie looked like he hadn’t slept at all in the last twenty-four hours. His face was haggard.
“He’ll make a full recovery. He should be able to go home in the next few days.
” He paused. A look Price had seen a few times before passed over his expression.
Anguish. He met Price’s gaze again. “He’s my home.
Losing the house is hard but losing him would have been…
” He shook his head. “Thank you. Both of you for what you did.”
Price waved off the gratitude, but JJ answered before he could.
“We’re happy to have helped,” she said. “And we’re glad that Georgie is going to be okay. The whole situation was scary enough without adding a long hospital stay. Speaking of, would you like to grab a quick coffee in the cafeteria with us? They should be open now.”
Price was surprised by that but, just as quickly, he was on board.
He knew that Detective Williams had already talked to Jamie, and probably would again now that he was in town, but Price hadn’t had the pleasure yet.
And he was mighty curious about a few things.
“It’ll be my treat,” Price added on. “I’m sure you could use a pick-me-up.”
Jamie looked between them and then nodded.
“I wouldn’t mind a cup, if I’m being honest.”
The hospital cafeteria was small but there was enough seating that the three of them settled near the entrance to the only public patio. It gave them a big window and a nice view of the sun still rising.
It also helped show that Jamie Bell was, in fact, in deep need of a caffeine boost.
Price felt bad for his plan to pry into the man’s already-chaotic affairs.
Jamie, however, dove in first.
“I still can’t get over all of this,” he said, hands wrapped around his Styrofoam cup as soon as they were seated.
“I had just talked to Georgie half an hour before I got the call from the department. Everything had been fine and then suddenly he was unconscious in the hospital and my house had burned down.” He shook his head again.
“And this guy? The one who broke in? I don’t understand it. ”
Price knew the story of events from Georgie’s retelling after he’d regained consciousness an hour after the attack. He had been packing up some things in the upstairs bedroom when the man in the hood had come into the room.
He’d instantly fought with Georgie, and it had been vicious. Georgie hadn’t stood a chance and had been laid out quickly.