Chapter 33
Harlan ran a hand over his face. His entire body ached from his scalp to his big toe. He hadn’t been this tired since hell week. He never wanted to be this tired again, but there was more to do.
He entered Storm’s hospital room. She was in and out of consciousness, but she was alive and she was safe. There was a police officer stationed outside the room, thanks to Glenn Gadsden and Hawk Hawkins from the Brotherhood Protectors. Kian had called Gadsden for backup. Now, Kian and Raider were in the waiting room and keeping an eye on the elevators.
The small room was made smaller by the number of people in it. Robin, Randal, and Kenneth all sat vigil around the bed. The space smelled like nervous sweat.
He’d be nervous too if his second attempt to murder someone went wrong. One of them knew the whole story and he was about to let them know he knew too.
He took a deep breath. “How is she?”
Kenneth looked at him with pain etched in his eyes. “She’s doing better. The doctor said she’ll be okay in a few days.”
In a few days, he would fly her anywhere she wanted to go and take care of her until she told him to go away. He hoped she never said those words because whether he liked it or not, whether he believed it was too soon or not, he loved her. Love made no sense to him. But there it was all the same.
“I think I’m going to go back to the hotel. It’s the middle of the night. I’m exhausted,” Robin said.
“I can’t let you do that.” He held up a hand to stop her.
“Why not?”
“I think you know why.”
“I do not. There isn’t anything more I can do here. I’ll come back later this morning.”
“I have something I need to say to all of you.”
“Spare us the love speech.” Randal rolled his eyes.
He guessed he had been more obvious than he realized. “It’s nothing like that. It’s about who poisoned Storm.”
“You know?” Kenneth said.
“I do.”
“Who is it?” Robin asked.
“It’s you,” he said, holding Robin’s wide-eyed stare.
“Are you crazy? I didn’t try to kill her. I wasn’t even at the college when she was poisoned.” Robin fluttered around the room like a bird.
“You claim you weren’t. And you were there tonight.”
“So what? So were Randal and Kenneth. They had more reason to kill her than I did. You’re insane. I knew it. I tried to tell her.”
“Robin, shut up,” Kenneth said. “I want to hear what Harlan has to say. What do you mean she claims she wasn’t at the school? Tell us how you figured out that Robin, my daughter’s friend and colleague, poisoned her.”
“I wasn’t sure at first. You saying you weren’t at the school threw me. But I had one of my teammates do a little checking. There isn’t a single piece of footage from the college’s security cameras, showing you leaving any buildings. And a quick stop on the internet filled me in the rest of the way.”
Randal wrung his hands in the corner. “I can’t believe this.”
“There’s also no camera footage anywhere between the school and the gym that shows your car. In fact, the place we got a ping of your phone was from the school that night around the time Storm was vomiting.”
“Does Dennis have something to do with this?” Kenneth said.
“He does, in fact. We dug up evidence of an affair between Robin and Dennis. Dennis wanted Storm’s job. He’s always had it in for Storm.”
“That’s nuts. You have no proof,” Robin said.
“Well, we have your digital footprint, linking you and Dennis on a number of occasions. I thought you might have done it yourself. You came on pretty strong against me. That was a mistake. You were trying too hard to convince Storm to stay away from me.”
“She should stay away from you. You’re a killer. Not me.”
“You’re referring to the young man who died during training. He had a heart condition that he didn’t reveal and was missed on medical tests. And actually, you weren’t the killer the first time either.”
“Now I’m confused,” Kenneth said.
“You see, sir, Robin and Dennis worked together. Robin had to pretend to leave the school that night. She was too much of a likely suspect and needed an alibi. You poisoned her. Dennis wanted to do it for you, but you refused him. Dennis told us that.”
“What?” Robin shrieked.
Storm stirred but didn’t wake.
“He’s in custody and turning on you fast.”
“I never liked you, Robin,” Randal said.
“I still don’t understand how you put it together,” Kenneth said.
“When we came to meet you at the shelter, there was a man standing alone that continued to stare at Storm. I didn’t like it, but I tucked that suspicion away. Then before I called Dennis Friedman to talk to him about finding Storm that night, I searched him on the internet. His picture on the college’s website came up. It was the same man. And then I knew.”
“Knew what?” Robin said.
“I knew that he had come out with you on your flight before the planes were delayed. He must’ve been able to catch another afterward and had returned to work by the time I called him. I don’t know why you brought him, but I don’t care about that. The authorities will fill in those blanks.”
“And then tonight?” Kenneth asked.
“Robin again. The hotel camera caught her walking away from Storm and then returning from behind the bonfire. I had chosen that spot specifically because of the security camera up in the tree.” Harlan pushed open the door and nodded to the police officer in the hall.
The officer entered and pulled out his cuffs. “Robin McNamara, you’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Storm Richards. Please put your hands behind your back.”
“I will do no such thing.”
“If you don’t, they’ll get you for resisting arrest too.” He was weary. He wanted to crawl onto that bed next to Storm, hold her, and sleep for a day.
Robin went reluctantly. Harlan had expected more of a fight, but what was the point. Robin and Dennis had wanted to get caught. They were sick and needed help.
“Why don’t you two get some rest now? I’ll stay with Storm,” Harlan said to Kenneth and Randal.
“I really don’t understand what happened,” Randal said.
“I’ll explain it to you.” Kenneth patted Randal on the shoulder. “I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat. Harlan, can I bring you back something?”
“No, thanks. I’m good.”
Kenneth and Randal filed out of the room..
Now he was ready to put this behind him. He only hoped that Storm would want that too.
He dropped into the chair by the bed and grabbed her hand. Her eyes fluttered open. She gave him a weak smile.
“Hey, beautiful.” His heart collided with his ribs. She was the one.
“Hey.” That one word came out broken into syllables.
“You’re going to be okay. Did they tell you that?” He leaned closer and kissed her cheek.
She nodded.
“Who…” She swallowed the rest of her sentence.
He reached for the cup of water and held the straw for her to sip from. “I’ll tell you everything after you’ve rested. In the meantime, I’m going to stay right here until they send you home. Unless you want me to leave.”
“Never leave.”
“Never?”
“Ever.”