Page 13 of Heartbeats Amidst Chaos: Part 1

Rissa opened her eyes as Hupp’s face blanched. Still, he did not move.

“You’ve all already conspired to set me up to take the fall, right? What do I have to lose?” Elio said. Rissa found herself momentarily distracted from the pistol against her throat as she registered his words and, at the same time, watched for the cop’s reaction. Would he confirm what Elio had just alleged? Had they truly set him up to take the fall?

Hupp blinked.

Elio stroked the gun barrel down Rissa’s throat and then up the side of her face, bringing it to rest against her temple. Hupp’s eyes followed the weapon, as they were no doubt intended to do.

He called me Rissa,she thought irrelevantly.Not Dr. Mahoney.She wasn’t sure why that should interest her in these circumstances, but she couldn’t help the fact that it did. Maybe it was simply her brain’s way of keeping panic at bay—attempting to catalog and find meaning in a situation that could not feel more out of her control.

“Do both of you confirm that you want to go on living and will cooperate?” Elio asked. “Say it out loud.”

“I’ll cooperate,” Hupp said, his voice wavering only slightly. “I don’t want anyone to die.”

“Rissa?” Elio said. His voice was quieter, almost apologetic. Rissa’s stomach churned with a confused flurry of fear, surprise, and whatever was left over from what she started to feel for him before he’d drawn Hupp’s gun.

“I’ll cooperate,” she said.

“All right,” Elio said. “Let’s go.”

He dropped the gun from her temple and stepped to the side, his arm shifting to her shoulder as Rissa slipped a trembling arm around his waist, bracing her shoulder under his armpit. She glanced up at him, curious to see what face he would wear now that the kind, sensitive mask had been dropped—he’d presented it too well while he’d no doubt been planning this very moment.

His eyes were locked on Hupp as he watched the police officer clumsily scramble to his feet. But once the cop had turned and started toward the door, Elio’s eyes dropped to hers. Rissa felt a start of wonder at the expression there. Elio’s eyes were just as intense and searching as ever. It was as if he saw to her very soul.

“I’m sorry,” he said, so softly she would have thought she’d imagined it had she not seen his lips moving. “I had to.”

They took a step toward the door. The sound of Rissa’s phone ringing pierced the tension around them. Hupp froze, and Elio immediately released Rissa to slip his fingers into her pocket and retrieve the device. She caught a glimpse of the caller ID as he silenced it.

Reagan. She must have found out some things about Elio.Rissa almost wanted to laugh at the irony of it. It was better than crying.I’ve found out some things about Elio as well.

Hupp had half-turned toward them, his eyes dropping immediately to the gun that Elio now held pressed against Rissa’s side, where it could be hidden by the drape of her white coat once they reached the hallway. All Elio had to do was jerk his chin at him, and the officer snatched the phone from his own pocket and dropped it on the floor.

“All right,” Elio said, settling his arm once again around Rissa’s shoulders, pulling her close to his side. “Now, we go.”

Chapter ten

They made it down the hallway without incident. The little office was toward the back of the emergency unit of the hospital anyway. Only two people walking in the opposite direction passed them, and neither paid the three of them any attention.

Elio could feel Rissa trembling against his side, but she stood as strong and straight as ever, supporting his weight as they finally passed through the door into the shallow open-front garage behind the hospital. Aside from the two ambulances parked there, it was empty. Elio immediately switched the gun to point at Hupp as the cop turned toward him, hands slightly raised.

“Now what?” the man asked. His voice was grudging, caught between fear and derision.

“Now,” Elio said, “you take these handcuffs—” he tossed one of the two pairs snagged from the cop’s belt in his direction, “—and you handcuff yourself to that handrail over there.”

For a moment, he thought the cop was going to call his bluff—refuse and see if Elio followed through with his threat to start shooting. But after a second of hesitation, caution won and he stiffly obeyed, slipping the handcuffs around the rail and fastening them around his wrists.

Elio then looked down at Rissa. Her face was pale and set, her eyes strangely hollow as she gazed back up at him, waiting to see what he would do next. He hated that he had done this to her—betrayed her trust andusedher as a means to an end. But it was too late to turn back time, even if he could. And he couldn’t give her up just yet.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but I’m going to have to cuff you too.”

Rissa simply nodded, and she didn’t resist as he tightened the steel bands around her wrists. As a precaution, he also removed the nametag from her jacket, tossing it across the garage.

As it skidded away across the concrete, he was overcome with a sense of urgency. Everything so far had gone without a hitch, but time was passing quickly and the detectives would surely start to look for them. And since they hadn’t shown up here, they were probably checking the airless office at the end of the hall. It wouldn’t take them long to find their way to the garage.

He pushed Rissa toward the closest ambulance and opened the driver-side door, relieved to find it unlocked. The keys were in the driver’s seat.As if left for me,Elio thought, his optimism beginning to soar as freedom became a real possibility.As if all Nonno’s talk about the stars aligning was real after all, and they’re working together to help me prove my innocence.

Grabbing Rissa’s elbow, he nudged her toward the step into the ambulance, but she balked, pulling away from him. Her eyes were full of tears when she turned around.

“Why are you taking me with you?” she asked, an edge of panic in her voice. “Why aren’t you leaving me here with him?” She nodded toward the glowering cop at the handrail.

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