CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Holden
With two hours left for my official police escort to clear the door to my room, I was still strapped to a bed, an IV attached to one arm and bandages wrapped over my left leg. The pain of the wound had subsided, and once the two hours were up, I’d be released from my makeshift prison and allowed to walk in order to test the weakness or strength of the leg.
Regardless of how strong it was, I was determined to walk on it, if for nothing else but to find Deli and Michaela and hopefully take them home. There was no telling what the police had found since storming the house at three yesterday morning. I’d been fortunate that the nursing staff and physicians had managed to keep Officer Shay out of my room as much as possible, however, I knew the reprieve wouldn’t last once Jack’s body was found.
It was obvious they hadn’t located it already, only because I hadn’t been placed under arrest, but it was simply a matter of time. The police knew he was in the vicinity of the servants’ quarters when he went missing, but I wasn’t sure how much information Michaela had given them as to where, exactly, he’d been waiting.
Resting my head against my pillow, I stared at the ceiling, wishing the drugs hadn’t worn off so much that sleep became impossible. I was going crazy with boredom by the time my door opened again, an older man in a fancy suit strolling through with briefcase in hand. Blinking in his direction, I didn’t recognize him, but I did recognize the determined woman marching in behind him.
“Shouldn’t you be harassing people at the diner?” I asked, my voice teasing, my lips pulling into a grin.
“That’s exactly where I would be if I weren’t busy saving your ass,” Angela snapped back. “But it is what it is and I’m busting you out of here now.”
Turning to glance at Angela, the man shook his head and smiled. “Are you like this with everyone? I could use someone like you in my office.”
“Get in line, pal. Everybody wants me,” she answered, the tinge of pride flashing behind her eyes. “Holden, this is John Grinshaw, the attorney who’ll be getting your dumb ass out of your current problem.”
My gaze slid to Mr. Grinshaw to watch as he pulled a file from a briefcase and approached the bed. “You’ve kept me up late, Mr. Bishop. But only because you have friends in great places.”
Confusion pulled my brows together. “Did Angela hire you?”
Shaking his head, he dragged a chair to sit next to the bed and pulled a pen from his shirt pocket. “No, she did not. I was contacted by Dr. Lucas Silva regarding your situation and I agreed to help. We’ve already met with Ms. Paige and she’s signed the necessary paperwork. In fact, she’s waiting in the hall as we speak. Once you agree to my representation, I’ll have the police escorted from your door so that the two of you can talk.”
“Dr. Silva?”
I hadn’t thought about him in years, not since Deli returned home and I took the job at the diner. He was a good man. That much I remembered, but I didn’t understand how or why he was involved in the problem happening now. “How did he even know I was here? I haven’t seen him since they admitted me to the hospital.”
Mr. Grinshaw smiled. “That’s because he left the hospital over a year ago and started a private practice in a town about two hours from here. He’s driving to the hospital to speak to you and Ms. Paige.”
A memory flashed through my head, there and then gone again, it was a brief image that left a weight on my chest I couldn’t breathe past. Closing my eyes, I attempted to chase the image, but I couldn’t catch it, couldn’t recall why my heart hurt the moment it was there. “Why is he coming? I was shot in the leg. He’s a head doctor from what I remember.”
“You’re correct. He’s a neurologist. But that’s for him to discuss with you when he arrives. The pressing matter now is this contract. Once you sign, I have authority to request the police release this room to visitors. They haven’t arrested you, Holden, and they’re pushing the boundaries of what’s legal by keeping you strapped to this bed and posting an officer at your door.”
Not knowing what was going on, I looked to Angela. Obviously exhausted, her eyes had black smudges beneath them, concern written into the lines of her expression. “What should I do?” I asked her.
“You sign it,” she answered, her voice leaving no room for argument. Trusting her implicitly, I didn’t bother asking another question.
Wiggling my hand where it was strapped to the bed, I waited for Mr. Grinshaw to slip the pen between my fingers and hold the papers so that I could scribble as best as possible in the places he needed my signature. Once the contract was signed and dated, he removed the pen from my hand and stuffed the papers back into his briefcase. Standing, he stared down at me to say, “I’ll only be a moment. Until I return, Angela can stay in the room with you.”
His eyes slid to her. “That is, as long as you can stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
She shrugged. “Hey, don’t look at me. I was downgraded from suspect to interfering with an investigation. Next thing you know, I’ll just be a nuisance and nobody will care about me anymore.” Swiping at a non-existent tear, she added, “It sucks to be invisible.”
Mr. Grinshaw’s laughter filled the room. “Try to stay invisible while I’m gone.” With that he left and Angela approached my bed to steal the seat he’d previously occupied.
“How are you feeling?”
Ignoring her question, I asked my own. “Did you find my sister?”
It didn’t matter how I felt, didn’t matter what would happen to me once Jack’s body was found. What mattered was Deli and Michaela, two women who didn’t need to become caught in the trap Tranquil Falls has laid out for me since the day I refused to conform and join the ranks of the football team. Until the day the coach begged me to play, I’d been nothing more than a shadow, a nobody, a person as forgettable as any stranger passed on the street. But the minute I turned him down - and thus snubbed my nose at Jack Thorne and Clive Stanton - I’d been a target worthy of the smear campaign that had destroyed almost everything in life that I’d loved.
Angela’s eyes glanced away, the rims stained red and swollen as if she’d been crying. “Uh, yeah,” she answered, “I found her.”
I wanted to feel relief at her response, but her eyes told me something was upsetting her, I just didn’t know what that something was. “Is she okay? Did they hurt her?”
The volume of my voice climbed with every question, fear bleeding into anger until it was a toxic mixture pumping through my heart.
Something was off in her expression, but she smiled regardless, placing her hand on my shoulder as if to comfort the chaotic fear pulsing just beneath my skin. “She’s exactly as she was before you were arrested. You don’t need to worry about that. She’s not scared, or in pain, or worried.”
Relief weighed down on me like a heavy blanket, wrapping me in solace like the hugs my mother gave me as a child. Able to breathe again, I reached to squeeze Angela’s hand in my own. “Thank you.”
With that worry off my plate, I caught her eyes and asked, “Michaela? Are they giving her a hard time? She didn’t do anything wrong, Angela. She doesn’t deserve being harassed and -“
Her laughter cut off my words. “Are you kidding me, right now?” Shaking her head, Angela squeezed my hand before cocking a hip. “Your girl is something else, Holden. She’s been holding her own. I’ll admit when she first called me, I was pissed to find out you’ve had anything to do with her. But after talking to her, and after seeing how concerned she is for you, I may have to change my opinion. She’s stronger than she looks, even if she didn’t act like it while dating Jack.”
Is it weird that pride surged through me at her words? I wasn’t the cause of Michaela’s strength. But I liked to think I was a catalyst. Perhaps truly loving a person can bring out their best qualities. Perhaps forgiveness can lift the veil of remorse to reveal the true character lingering beneath. No. Michaela’s strength was hers alone, every glorious bit of it. But had love, and a few harsh words spoken to teach rather than insult been part of the breeze that lifted the veil allowing her to step into a life where she was free to reveal who she’d always been inside?
“I need to see her,” I whispered, the pain in my leg returning as the effects of the medications continued to taper. The fog in my head cleared away and, without the worry for Deli holding me hostage, I smiled despite the pain, knowing that Michaela wasn’t just fighting for herself, she was fighting for me.
“You’ll see her as soon as your attorney gets the warden away from your door. Shouldn’t be too long. He freed Michaela in a matter of minutes.” Angela chuckled. “I guess the Tranquil Falls Police Department doesn’t like it when people who actually know the law start talking.”
My appreciation bled away to be replaced with confusion. “Why would the doctor pay for my attorney?”
Sighing, Angela took a few seconds before answering, “I’m not sure. But once the warden is gone, I assume we’ll find out. Just rest, Holden. Stop trying to put the cart before the horse. At this point, we just need to the two of you away from the police. After you’re free, we’ll discuss the rest.”
Suspicion deepened inside me, barely tempered by the pain increasing in my leg. I was ready for more pain medications, but afraid to ask for them. The hesitation I felt from Angela concerned me, the feeling that there was more to this entire situation than I understood. But demanding answers from her was as good as trying to force a mule forward. She would only dig in her heels and tell me to wait for when she ready to divulge them.
Gritting my teeth, I nodded my head and closed my eyes. I hoped the lawyer would hurry to get me released. Between the pain in my leg and the worry of not knowing, lying in this hospital bed was becoming utter torture.