Second Time's the Charm

by Knight, Vanessa

  Allison barked out a small laugh and shook her head. She looked at Dale again. It wasn’t guilt in his eyes. Sadness, yes. Fear, definitely. He was a good friend.

  As Dale got himself ready to leave, a small woman wearing a white lab coat entered the room. With the diversion, Dale snuck out the door with one final wave.

  “Good morning, Allison. I'm Doctor Marilu Castillo. It looks like you had an accident. How are you feeling?” she asked as she plucked the patient chart from the foot of the bed.

  “My arm hurts a bit, and my throat, but other than that I feel fine.” The doctor glanced back and forth from the chart to the IV.

  “On a scale from one to ten, one being the least, how would rate your pain?” “About a five.”

  “We can increase your medication, but it might make you incoherent and groggy.” She closed the file and placed it at the head of the bed.

  “I'll suffer through.” Allison cringed. The last thing she needed was to be more dependent. She enjoyed having Loraine help, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be completely loopy.

  “Tell us if your pain becomes unbearable,” the doctor advised as she looked over the bruises.

  “When can she leave?” Loraine asked her.

  “We have a test to run before we can let her go.” “What kind of test?” Loraine asked.

  “We need to perform a non-contrast CT to make sure she has no underlying injuries. The technician should be here to pick her up shortly.” Dr. Castillo smiled and patted her foot. “Once we have those results, we’ll have a better idea of her injuries.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Adam waited for Allison to return from her testing. His mom left to harass the nurses and doctors. She wanted to make sure Allison would have a private room and the best possible care. Ensuring that level of care meant a million questions and obsessive micromanaging on her part.

  He picked up his cell phone and stared at the screen. He had avoided this call, but he couldn’t get around it any longer. He’d had every intention of heading back to Phoenix this week, but with Allison in danger there was no way he could leave her alone.

  The ringback tone from the Phoenix police department chirped in his ear. “Captain Donnelley.”

  “Morning, Captain.”

  “Byrnes. I thought I’d hear from you. I’m sorry to hear about your father’s murder.”

  “You heard?”

  “Yeah. It’s a small world.”

  “Let me guess, your college roommate in the Mayor’s office here in Chicago…”

  “That would be wrong to resort to petty gossip. I only follow proper channels.

  How’s the family handling the news?”

  Adam smiled at the subject change. He might claim to follow proper channels, but Adam knew his boss would do whatever it took to make sure his officers were okay. Even if that meant checking with an old friend to make sure the investigation into the death of an officer’s father was handled correctly.

  “They’re hanging in there. It’s been a rough transition. In fact, that’s what I wanted to talk you about. I need to take a little more time—I still have a few more loose ends to tie up, so I might need to take a leave of absence.”

  “No problem. How much longer do you need?”

  “A week. Two, tops.”

  “Two? You’re not planning on sticking your nose into their investigation?” “I’ll stay out of their way, but this is personal.”

  “Let Chicago handle it. You of all people should know that things tend to get screwed up when they’re personal.”

  “It’s under control,” Adam said between clenched teeth. He knew what he was doing. His captain should know him well enough to know he’d have complete command of the situation.

  “All right. I guess I can transfer your cases to Jacobson and Schell while you’re gone.”

  “Thanks, Captain.”

  Adam hit the end icon and stared out the window. What was he doing? He just signed up for a week—or two—more in Chicago. Why couldn’t he just leave?

  He didn’t have to stay. He could get the Chicago PD to watch over Allison. She would probably prefer having them shadow her, anyway. From all indications, she didn’t want anything to do with him. Even so, he couldn’t seem to go. He couldn’t leave until he knew she was safe. He couldn’t trust the police to keep her safe.

  He heard the pathetic excuses as he made them and shook his head. He could trust the cops, hell, he was the cops. It was hard to admit, but the main reason he couldn’t go was because he was falling hard for Allison. Shit. That was the main reason he should be running back to Phoenix. He wasn’t looking for this. But somehow, he couldn’t imagine life without her. He couldn’t imagine walking away. Somewhere in the midst of all this crap, he’d fallen in love with her.

  His mother’s voice brought his attention back to the hospital, her shrill demands torturing the poor staff. He wondered if she had been this demanding when he was in the hospital getting his tonsils out. He smiled. That could explain why the nurses had avoided his room whenever his mom was around.

  “So, we’ll move her room before she gets back. I don't want her to be a part of it. I want it to appear seamless. She doesn't need the added stress.” Loraine picked up Allison’s personal items and began placing them into a plastic bag adorned with the hospital name. As she folded the clothes, Allison’s broken necklace fell to the floor. A sad smile crossed her lips as she played with the broken clasp.

  “I gave this to Allison for Christmas a few years ago. Your father let me design it for the girls.” She massaged the mangled gold in her hand. “I gave one to Brook, too. The Celtic knot design is said to protect the wearer. It must not have worked.”

  “Well, she’s alive and she’s going to be okay. So maybe it did work, Mom.” He watched as shadows crossed his mother’s eyes. She put the broken chain in her pocket.

  “Maybe. I suppose I should have it fixed and get it back to her, then. Anyway, they’re preparing a private room for Allison. It’s depressing enough around here. She should at least have her own room. We need to pack up all her personal items to take with us. Oh, and that reminds me— We need to hire a moving company to get Allison's apartment cleaned out. I just spoke with Brook, and her lease is up in a few days.”

  “You were able to reach her? I tried calling her, but she wouldn’t answer the damn phone.”

  “Adam Montgomery Byrnes, don’t swear in a hospital. I taught you better than that.”

  “So, I can swear outside of a hospital?”

  “Don’t get fresh. If you need something to occupy your time, go call the moving company,” she scolded.

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  “I'm sure you will Later. Let’s talk now.” She sat down in a visitor’s chair.

  Whenever his mother wanted to talk, she was up to something. Or worse, she knew something. The question was, which was it? He had always been an expert at interrogation and there was no doubt where he inherited that skill.

  “So, what's going on with you and Allison?”

  She knew. Although, knowing her, this could all be some elaborate fishing trip, where she pretended to know things so Adam would stupidly give her the real details. Her skills were good, but his had gotten better over the years.

  “What are you talking about?” A weasel tactic? Yes. He just asked a stupid question. But diversion was the best tactic. He powered on his phone and opened the Internet. “Did her sister tell you if Allison has a preference for moving companies?”

  “No preference, and don't change the subject.”

  “Why do you think there's something going on with us?” He continued to stare at the small screen, scrolling through the search results. Not really seeing a darn thing, just hoping the action would stop the line of questioning.

  “Oh please, I'm not blind. I saw the way you were looking at each other. You two have been a relationship waiting to happen since she came into our life.”

  His eyes lifted from
the screen and he stared at his mother in disbelief. He didn't think he treated Allison any differently than he treated anyone else. In fact, he was, generally, more aloof with her.

  “Don't try to tell me stories, young man. I can read you like a book.” “Fine. We were seeing each other.”

  “Were?”

  “I fu… messed up. I don't know if she'll forgive me.” He hung his head and prayed she didn't ask why. He didn't need his mom on the warpath. He was having enough trouble dealing with one woman’s disappointment. He didn’t need another woman unhappy with him.

  “She'll forgive you,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “How can you be sure?” He loved the confidence she had in Allison, in him. “Anything you might have done was out of love. You love her.” She got up

  and walked over to him, placing a hand on his arm. “And I can see it in her eyes. She loves you.”

  He stared at his mom. He didn't know how Allison felt about him, but he doubted love was involved. He thought about the pain in her eyes as she walked up to the table at the restaurant. It seemed like a lifetime ago. He wished he felt that sure about impending forgiveness or love.

  A nurse entered the room. “We have a private room available if you'd like to follow me.” She picked up Allison's chart, and Loraine and Adam took her personal belongings.

  As they walked along the corridor, Loraine bombarded the nurse with another round of a thousand and one questions. Adam followed behind, praying the staff didn’t hold his mother’s tormenting against Allison. Loraine had a kind heart, but sometimes she could be overwhelming.

  Once they arrived at the new room, they didn't have to wait long. A technician appeared, wheeling Allison inside.

  Adam couldn’t fault his mom for her initial reaction to Allison. His heart broke at the bruising on her neck and face.

  She rose from the wheelchair and then let the nurse help her into bed. She tried to hide the cringes when she bumped her arm or turned her neck too far, putting on a brave face as she climbed into the bed. She tried, but he could still see her pain, her fear.

  No, he wasn’t going anywhere. There was no way he could leave her like this.

  * * *

  Allison’s tests had taken some of the fight out of her. She only had enough energy to complain about the room change and the extra cost associated with the private room for a few minutes, but eventually she’d given up. She hated that the Byrnes were spending the extra money, but she knew it was futile. Loraine was a force of nature, and anyway, Allison was hoping this whole thing was temporary. She was banking on being sprung by tomorrow at the latest.

  No matter how much she enjoyed the mom-helicopter hovering around taking care of her, she was tired of spending time with the traitor. She was actually looking forward to moving into Loraine’s house. Adam would go crawl under his rock at the hotel, and she could spend some time in peace.

  Allison started to drift as Loraine and Adam watched the flat screen hanging on the wall, some show about a group of ghost hunters. Her eyelids popped open when Detectives Washington and Perretti walked in the door.

  Shay inhaled and said, “I’m sick of seeing you both.”

  Allison smiled at the warmth in the woman’s tone, and muted the TV volume. “You’re not exactly my favorite person these days either. You only come around when bad things happen.”

  “Sorry, we’ll have to make a social call one of these days,” Detective Perretti ribbed.

  “Believe it or not, my life doesn’t normally suck this bad.” Allison huffed in frustration.

  “I would hope not. We need to talk to you both about the latest attack. Are you up to a few questions, Allison?”

  “Sure.” She had no desire to relive the events of the past twenty-four hours, but without the rehashing, they couldn’t find the jerk and put him away, preferably for a long time.

  “So, you walked up the stairs at the condo?”

  “Yes. The penthouse elevators were being repaired, and I was freezing after being caught in the rain and coming into the air conditioning. I just wanted to get home.” She sighed as she played with the IV line attached to her arm, and looked around the room at the apprehensive faces. She must sound like an absolute lunatic. She felt the embarrassing redness creeping up her cheeks.

  She recounted the events of the evening, with Adam adding his bits and pieces to round out the story. After a grueling hour of redundancy, Allison’s heavy eyes fought to close.

  “Can we call it a night? She’s exhausted,” Loraine asked as Allison’s eyes drooped. The detectives must have agreed, because the last thing Allison remembered was drifting off to the sound of Adam sinking into the chair beside the bed.

  * * *

  The noise of his cell phone woke him from his sound sleep. He rolled over and grabbed the chirping annoyance from his nightstand. Still half asleep, he flipped it open without checking caller ID.

  “Hello.”

  “What the hell?” the familiar voice growled into the phone, making him regret even answering the damn thing. “Why am I still waiting? It’s bad enough you let someone else figure out the specifics of our arrangement, but now I have to sit and wait for the evidence. If that information gets into the wrong hands… I have enough problems. I don’t need to worry about your screw-ups.”

  “There’s nothing to worry about, Paul,” he assured the man on the other end as his eyes flew open. He tried to keep the annoyance out of his tone. He didn’t need to coddle this psychopath on a regular basis. “I have everything under control. You just worry about staying out of trouble, and for God’s sake, quit talking to the media. Even stupid politicians figure out when to shut the hell up.”

  “Are you telling me what to do, you sonofabitch?” Mörder screamed. He could almost hear the spit hitting the phone. “You forget who runs this operation. I own you! If you don’t like the way I’m handling things, I’ll send over my complaint department to hear your grievances. I guarantee you won’t be complaining when they’re done with you.”

  His annoyance morphed to anger. “Are you threatening me? I told you I didn’t want to do this.”

  “You weren’t so against it when you were cashing my checks. Don’t forget. If I go down, I’m taking your ass with me.”

  “You know what, Paul? Don’t call me anymore.” He slammed the phone shut and threw it against the wall. Hanging up on a member of the Russian mob just put him in a whole new class of trouble. He needed to get that information to Mörder before he became just another casualty.

  * * *

  Adam squinted as the sun’s rays peeked out of the darkened sky. He had slept a few hours, but this video kept calling to him. He couldn't get his mind off Allison, guilt coursing through his veins when he thought about the other night. The television in his father’s home office washed the room with blue as he scanned the security footage from Allison’s building. So far, nothing stood out on the night she was attacked. No obvious crazies had wandered the halls or stairwells.

  In fact, there wasn’t a whole lot of action of any kind. It was almost as bad as sitting through a stakeout, but at least a stakeout had the chance of excitement. He thought about pulling a few strings and getting the case file from the Chicago Police Department, but he’d promised his captain he’d stay out of it.

  He’d tried to stay out of it. Well, he’d like to think he tried, but now Allison was involved. There was no way he was sitting on the sidelines. He would stay out of the way, but he had to make sure she was safe before he went back home.

  Home.

  Somehow, the word felt so hollow. A few days ago, he knew where he belonged. He had known home was in Phoenix. He craved the life he had back in Arizona. Now he didn’t know what he wanted. So much had changed, and yet nothing had changed.

  He still missed work. He still missed his friends. Yet, the empty house and the occasional attention of random police groupies had no draw for him any longer. He hated thinking about leaving his mom and Allison. The thou
ght of walking away twisted him in knots. For the first time, he considered a life in Chicago.

  Running a hand through his hair, he pushed the thoughts away. No matter what, he still wanted to follow protocol as closely as possible. He was not going to rock the boat and ask for the files from CPD. He needed his captain on his side, and with his ties to Chicago politics, any move Adam might make would get right back to him. He couldn’t risk it. So instead, he sat through the video, hoping for any sort of clue on who would have attacked the woman he loved.

  Loved? He loved her. Why did that phrase keep running through his mind? She hated him. He leaned his head against the office chair. What the hell was wrong with him? He must be hallucinating due to lack of sleep.

  He lifted his head and stared through the empty halls flickering on the television screen. This was getting him nowhere. Whoever attacked her knew how to avoid the cameras. He clicked the TV off and threw the remote on the desk.

  Shit.

  So far, he hadn’t come across anything that would help, and he was running out of time. Allison’s doctor had advised her not to drive because of her pain meds, and Adam’s mother was pushing that restriction. The few times Allison was let out of the house, family surrounded her, but he heard she was off the medication now and close to being released from house arrest. Once that happened, he would have a hell of a time making sure she was safe.

  The whole thing was ludicrous. He’d talked with anyone who might be able to shed light on the situation—Brook, Julie, his mother—and they all basically said the same thing. “Allison has no enemies.”

  He was coming up blank at every turn and running out of time. He stared at the security discs on his desk, frustration oozing from every pore. Who was out to get Allison? And what did this whole thing have to do with his father?