Chapter 17
The harsh lights of the emergency room made him squint as he paused to orient himself.
“Over here,” Mateo called.
Dante hurried over to his brother. “What happened? Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
Mateo held up his dark phone. “The battery is dead.”
Irrational anger almost made him snap at his brother, but he swallowed it and said, “Where’s Mom?”
“Mom,” Mateo stressed, making Dante aware that his brother hadn’t missed the fact that he hadn’t called her Gwen, his normally preferred form of address, “is having some tests run. Her healer will be out here in a few minutes to let us know where we stand.”
“What happened?” Dante started to pace. His feelings were all over the place.
As angry as he was at his mother for all of her sins, he didn’t want her to be hurt.
That small child inside of him still somehow hoped that she’d be there for him like a mother should be.
The adult in him knew better, but the child didn’t.
Mateo glanced at the door that led to the exam rooms and then back at Dante. “I don’t really know. I came home from the bookstore, expecting to see her in the kitchen cooking. She’d told me she was making lasagna.”
Dante snorted his disbelief.
Mateo gave him a flat stare. “She made chicken and dumplings last night, so I had no reason to believe she wasn’t cooking tonight.”
“She did?” Dante couldn’t even remember the last time he’d had a homemade meal from his mother. It had been all takeout and frozen dinners. Maybe an occasional sandwich.
“Yes. I told you that she seems to be trying,” Mateo said. “She doesn’t have money to help with expenses right now, so she offered to cook. And do you know what, Dante? I would have invited you over, but you made it clear you weren’t interested in seeing her. So I didn’t.”
“That’s fair.” Dante nodded, knowing he would never have accepted the invitation. He was just too angry. He figured that she was trying so hard with Mateo because she knew that after she’d flooded his apartment, Dante wouldn’t so much as even talk to her. “Where did you find her?”
“In the backyard. We’d talked about starting an herb garden, so I got one of those raised planters and the soil to fill it. She was lying next to it.” His voice broke as he added, “She was unconscious when I found her.”
Dante frowned. “Like she’d passed out or…” He didn’t even know what he was asking. Why would someone attack Gwen in Mateo’s backyard when she was gardening?
“She was knocked out. Magic was still sparking over her when I found her.” Mateo’s face twisted with rage when he added, “Someone came to my home and tried to kill our mother, Dante. I don’t know who or why, but I’m going to track them down, and when I do, they’d better have their affairs in order. ”
Life had been hard on the Silva family, but Dante had never heard his brother threaten anyone before. He definitely hadn’t ever heard that ice in his tone or the sheer determination that chilled Dante to the bone. “You don’t mean that. Not really.”
“Don’t tell me what I mean,” Mateo growled.
“She is the only parent I have left. No matter her flaws, she was there for me when I was a kid after both of my shitty parents were gone. She might not be perfect, or even close to it, but she’s the only one who actually cared about me.
I’ll be damned if I’ll let anything happen to her. ”
Dante slowly lowered himself into a chair and pressed a hand to his head. He’d known that his brother had abandonment issues and that he’d clung to Gwen because of it, but he hadn’t realized the depth of loyalty he carried for her.
When Mateo sat beside him, Dante wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a sideways hug. “You know that no matter what happens, you always have me, right, brother?”
“Yeah.” Mateo hung his head, staring at his feet.
“Brothers for life, right?” When his brother glanced over at him, Dante gave him a ghost of a smile.
Brothers for life,” Mateo whispered back, just like he’d done when the two of them were little boys, hiding under the covers while their parents were passed out in another room, high on some magical potion.
“Mr. Silva?” A man with kind eyes and a white lab coat who’d appeared in front of them asked. He had a full head of white hair, but very few wrinkles around his kind eyes.
Both Dante and Mateo stood.
“Healer Von,” Mateo said. “This is my brother, Dante.”
The healer held out his hand, and Dante took it, shaking briefly.
“How’s our mother?” Dante asked. “Is she awake yet?”
“I’m afraid not. Let’s go back to my office so I can catch you up.” Healer Von led them through the emergency room doors and past a number of exam rooms before he opened the door to an office. “Take a seat.”
“When can we see her?” Mateo asked.
“I’ll take you to her in a few minutes. I just wanted to prepare you first.”
Dante’s mouth went dry. Prepare them? How bad was it?
“It looks like your mother was hit with a powerful paralyzing spell. One designed to knock someone out for hours, or if it’s strong enough, make their heart stop,” the healer started.
“Why would anyone do that?” Mateo asked, but Dante had some guesses. His mother had burned many bridges over the years. He’d already wondered if she’d come to Befana Bay in order to outrun someone she’d crossed. Maybe they’d followed her.
“Why does anyone harm another person?” the healer asked.
When neither of the brothers answered, the healer leaned forward.
“This is the type of spell that requires us to call in the Magical Task Force for an investigation. I wanted to warn you that when we go into her room, there is already an agent in there. Normally we wouldn’t let anyone but family see a patient, but in this case, the law takes precedent. Do you have any questions?”
Dante shook his head. “Not about that, but I would like to know when you expect her to wake up.”
“It’s hard to say. Could be any minute now, a few days, or up to a few months.
We just don’t know how strong the spell was.
However, I can tell you that all her vitals are fine, and that means that we do expect her to wake up without any serious complications.
Hopefully she’ll come back to us sooner rather than later.
Then we can do a full assessment of where we stand. ”
Mateo stood and said, “Can we go in now?”
“Of course.” The healer rose and led them back into the hall.
Dante was grateful that his mother would be all right, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d brought the trouble upon herself and straight to Mateo’s door. The old resentment had started to creep back in, and suddenly he just felt tired.
“Niko?” Mateo asked.
Dante wasn’t surprised to see his buddy, Niko Morales, was the agent they’d called to investigate the attack on his mother. They’d learned not too long ago that he’d been an undercover agent with the Magical Task Force for several years.
“Hey, Mateo. Dante.” Niko said as he walked over to give them both a quick hug. “How are you doing?”
“Hanging in there,” Dante said.
“I’d be better if I had answers,” Mateo said, his tone clipped.
“Me, too, man,” Niko agreed. “Me, too.”
“What does that mean?” Mateo demanded. “You haven’t been able to trace the magic?”
That was the entire reason the hospital called in the MTF. Anytime illegal magic was used, they had resources for tracing the magical signature. It was going to get extra messy if the signature was hidden or unidentifiable.
“No, I traced it,” he said. “Normally I wouldn’t be able to tell you the perpetrator in an open investigation, but this is an open and shut case since the MTF doesn’t prosecute individuals that use this spell on themselves.”
“That means…” Mateo started and trailed off.
“Suicide attempt,” Dante finished.
Mateo whirled around on his brother, pain flashing in his dark eyes. “I told you that she was serious about changing her life. That she wasn’t the same person she was before. Did you know that she cried herself to sleep the other night because you wouldn’t talk to her?”
“What?” Dante asked, completely taken aback. “I haven’t heard from her since she flooded my apartment and disappeared. Not one phone call.”
“I asked her about that, and do you know what she said?”
Dante shrugged. How would he know?
“She said she had no idea what you were talking about. She was genuinely confused.”
“You believed that?” Dante asked, feeling a little sorry for his brother. This was why he kept getting swept back up in her drama. He was just too trusting, even though she’d never earned his trust. Not even a little.
“Yes,” Mateo said, his voice chilled now. “I can tell when she’s lying. I know you think I’m just a naive kid, but I can see through people. Like right now, you think I’m lying to myself. But I’m not. I have my eyes wide open, and you know what I see?”
Dante was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like the answer. He stayed silent, waiting for his brother to either drop it or continue.
Mateo stared his brother down and then said, “This is your fault. You’re the reason she tried to kill herself. Because you never gave her a chance. How do you expect people to grow when you’re intent on punishing them forever?”
“That’s not—”
His brother held up his hand, stopping him. “I don’t want to hear it. All I want right now is for my mother to wake up so that I can assure her I’m glad she’s still here. Can you say the same?”
When Dante didn’t answer, Mateo shook his head and then strode toward the door. “I’m going to get a coffee. I want you gone when I get back.”
There was dead silence once Mateo was gone.
Dante inhaled a long breath and then looked over at his mother.
She was lying there serenely, her face a little pale, but otherwise she looked just like she always did.
Except there was a peacefulness about her that wasn’t there when she was conscious.
It hurt that his brother thought Dante was the reason their mother would try to take her own life.
He knew that Gwen was responsible for her own actions, but he couldn’t help the trickle of guilt that settled right in the middle of his chest after his brother’s accusation.
“He just lashed out at you because he’s hurting,” Niko said. “You know that, right?”
Dante nodded and then turned to the healer, who was still standing near the door. “Please call me if there are any updates on her condition. I’m not sure my brother is in the right headspace to communicate with me on a regular basis.”
“Of course, Mr. Silva. Leave your number with my nurse, and we’ll do our best to keep you informed.”
“Thank you.” Dante walked over to his mother, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and whispered, “I’ll be back later.” Then he strode out of the room with Niko right behind him.
Once they were outside, Dante asked, “How certain are you that she did this to herself?”
“Ninety percent. Maybe more. The report I got from emergency services said there didn’t seem to be any foul play where Mateo found her.
With no evidence that anyone else was around, I don’t see how this could be anything other than an attempt on her own life or an accident.
But if it was an accident, that begs the question as to why she was performing the spell and who else it was intended for. ”
When Dante didn’t respond, Niko said, “Sorry, man. I can go and inspect the site to see if any evidence was missed. It’s always possible she was trying to stun a bear or something.”
They both knew that was a stretch. Mateo was renting Niko’s house, a place where, while not impossible, it was pretty rare to see bears or large predators in broad daylight.
“I’d appreciate that,” Dante asked. “Just for my own piece of mind if no other reason.”
Niko eyed him, seemingly trying to make his mind up about something.
“What are you not telling me?” Dante asked, his entire body stiff with tension. “Is Gwen under investigation for something she never told us about or mixed up in something you can’t talk about?”
“No. It’s not that,” Niko said. He paused and grimaced when he continued. “It’s Prim. She’s in trouble.”
Dante stiffened. “I heard. How much trouble?” He didn’t want to tell his friend that he’d been so shaken by Shari’s appearance that he hadn’t gone straight to the jail.
But now that he’d had a little distance and time to think about it, he was certain that his ex-fiancée had somehow had a hand in whatever happened at the yarn store that day.
“I’m not allowed to say much. I just got a call about the case when I was on my way over here, and all I know is there’s an assault charge and that her grandmother bailed her out already. I wanted you to know that I’ve been assigned the case.”
Relief swept through him at the news that his girl wasn’t rotting in jail. Some of the tension eased in his shoulders but then came right back when he reminded himself that Niko was dating Prim’s sister Indigo. “There’s no conflict of interest?”
“I’m not dating Prim, so no,” Niko said. “But depending on how the investigation plays out, it’s possible I could get replaced. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. We need someone who cares about Prim and wants the truth instead of just rubber stamping a file,” Dante said, feeling like his head was going to explode.
“I know I’m going to sound biased since I’m sleeping with her, but I’d bet my last dollar that Prim is innocent and that the person you need to be looking at is Shari. Her fingerprints are all over this.”
“Your ex?” Niko asked, obviously surprised by Dante’s accusation. “But isn’t she in Salem?”
“No,” Dante barked. “She showed up today, and she had this.” He pulled Prim’s phone out of his pocket. “It’s Prim’s. Shari somehow lifted it from her today and used it to catfish me into meeting her at Orca Point this evening.”
“Can I see that?” Niko asked.
Dante handed it over.
“Come with me. I want to dust it for prints.”
“Make it quick. I need to find Prim,” Dante said.
“You got it.”