Chapter 55

Dalton

“That’s what I want to know.” I stood by Devolin’s room’s entryway, arms crossed over my chest. “Who the fuck was that I saw walk out of here five minutes before your mom showed?”

“That would be my father,” Devolin growled.

“What?” Joleen shrieked. “He’s here?”

My woman skewered her with her eyes. “You didn’t know?”

“I was with him when I got the call from Dalton that you’d been shot.”

“Mom!”

“It’s not like I get to pick where the man gets his coffee,” she said.

I smelled bullshit, but I wasn’t about to give my two cents. The woman was still pissed at me for failing to find and protect her daughter, like I’d promised I would.

“I think we should go,” Morgan said, trying to usher Dad and Theo toward the door, but my father wasn’t moving.

His eyes were fused to Joleen, much like hers now were on him.

“Officer Kippers?”

“Just Hank, Jo-Jo,” his voice came out deep.

What the fuck?

“You two know each other?” Devolin shrieked.

The two simply nodded.

It was Dad who answered everyone’s lingering question. Somewhat. “How’s business at the bookstore?”

“Good.” The older woman smiled. “We haven’t seen you visit in a while.”

He nodded. “Been busy.” Turning to me, he added, “I’ll get going.”

Without waiting for an acknowledgement, he was out, Theo saluting me as he followed, Morgan offering a sweet smile, stopping in front of me so I could bend over and kiss her cheek.

“See you later, mama.”

Before we could get into it with Joleen, for a more in depth explanation as to how she and my father knew each other, Shane and Will walked through what could have been Devolin’s revolving hospital room door.

“Hey.” Devolin forced a smile at the two officers.

“Ma’am,” Will greeted Devolin’s mother. “We’ll have to ask you to leave the room for the moment.”

When he and Joleen left the room, Shane stared at me.

“Am I in trouble?” Devolin asked. “Can he stay?”

Shane turned to her, a soft smile at his lips. “He can stay,” he confirmed. “And no, you’re not in trouble from what I’m able to tell, but your statement will help us close things down.”

She nodded. “How’d you want to do this? I can tell you what went down since that night Gordon tried to take me, or is this a Q and A kind of deal?”

I laughed internally. Here she was, looking at accommodating an investigating officer over him accommodating her.

“How about you tell me everything from the time you left NSI headquarters, to when we found you? Then we’ll fill the gaps if you leave any.”

“Okay,” she said softly.

“I hope you don’t mind that I’ll be taking notes?” She shook her head to indicate that she wasn’t bothered with it. Opening the file he’d brought with him, he clicked his pen, then said, “Whenever you’re ready.”

That had possibly been the longest two hours of my entire life.

Hearing practically a minute by minute account of what Devolin had been through in the last five days had been torture for me. She hadn’t left anything out; talking about our fight, how she walked out with vengeance on her mind. My blood boiled as she recounted how she’d snuck up on Marcello Mancini as he’d beaten my dad down, then proceeded to give chase to her, but she’d shot him with his own weapon. A weapon she’d kept, telling us that it was at the bottom of the bag she’d left on her bedroom floor.

I felt guilty that my secretiveness had contributed to her running. She explained that she was so used to working on her own, that at first, it never occurred to her that she could reach out for additional help.

Devolin explained how she’d managed to get the information JPD needed to put Gordon Hewitt away.

“And what made you come home?” Shane asked.

Her eyes met mine, then just as quickly, fell to her clasped hands on her lap.

“I almost fell for Skylar’s email,” she explained.

“You tapped into the hospital’s database, didn’t you?” I asked her.

“If you were me, what would you have done?” She speared me with a look. “I had to make sure.” Turning to Shane, she continued. “I came. It was late, last night…or more like early this morning.”

My eyes widened. “You did?” Then I thought about it. “The blanket.”

“Yeah.” She smiled. “Your dad didn’t tell you?”

“No,” I grumbled. “Old man’s got some explaining to do.”

“Let’s get back on point,” Shane reminded us. “What happened after you left the hospital?”

She’d gone back to the hotel, stating that seeing me so beaten and exhausted, then having spoken with Dad, she knew she’d made a mistake by running and trying to handle things on her own.

Once she’d finished her long crying jag, she’d packed up and gone back home. Where she was met with Suzanna.

When Devolin recounted how my ex and Hewitt were linked, I almost lost my damned mind. Turns out that Psycho Suzie—as Shane and some of the others on the team had dubbed her—was a lot more crazy than I’d ever imagined. She’d been involved with Hewitt for a number of years. It had been about the money. Forget love, that woman had not one idea on how love worked. When Hewitt voiced his infatuation with Devolin, Suzanna had set a plan in motion that would ultimately lead to her demise.

“She shot at me, catching me in the side when I told her I wasn’t going with her. We were in my bedroom.” Devolin winced as she tried to readjust. “I remember watching or reading something on the Internet about not letting your captor take you to a second location.”

“That’s right,” Shane said. “What happened next?”

“I jumped her. I managed to knock the gun out of her hand, but we both ended up on the floor, me on top of her legs. The gun landed just outside my bedroom door. I managed to straddle her. I sent my elbow into her face, then I rushed out into the hall, to get to the gun.” She struggled to take a breath, her eyes cloudy as she relived the entire thing for a second time. “I made it to my knees to get up, but she hit me in the back with one of my bedside table lamps. I went down, and flipped onto my back just in time to kick her in the stomach. I got to the living room and pointed the gun at her. She was screaming that I’d hurt Dalton like I’d ruined Hewitt. I don’t even know what that means! Gordon and I were never involved in more than an employer-employee type relationship.” Her eyes were wild. “Then she yelled that she was going to kill me.” Closing her eyes, a singular tear trailed down her cheek. “There wasn’t any time for me to get my phone to call anyone. I’d left it on the couch when I first got home. So I lifted the gun and started shooting. I knew she wouldn’t stop until I was dead.” By now, Devolin’s eyes were clenched shut and her body shook as she sobbed. “I shot her. I don’t know how many bullets came out of that gun, but she kept coming at me, and I kept shooting until I ran out of bullets. That’s when you all came in.”

Knowing how the rest unfolded, I got up from my chair and took a seat on the edge of Devolin’s bed, cradling her head in my chest as I let her cry things out.

Shane met my gaze with his own sympathetic one. “Devolin, I’m going to step out for a bit and let you get some rest.” Devolin nodded. “I’ll be back in a bit so we can go over everything before you sign off. Would that be okay?” Another nod. “Okay, Huss.” That got him a humored hiccup. Setting a hand on her shoulder, he gave it a slight squeeze, then leaned down to kiss the back of her head. “You’re a true fighter, Huss. You’ll get past this, you’ll see. We’re all here for you.” Her sobs only got louder.

His eyes coming up to meet mine, we gave each other a nod, then he turned and took his leave.