Page 48 of Hush

Abuzzing startled Ben awake. He blinked his eyes open to a gray dawn just beginning to break. The sound buzzed again, and he realized it was coming from his front door. How had he slept so late? Jumping out of bed, he pulled on a pair of sweats and a hoody before hurrying downstairs.

A bright-eyed woman with long, brown curls stood on his stoop.

“Caitlin?” Ben asked, huddling against the cold.

“We need to talk,” she said, stomping her snowy boots on the mat before stepping inside. “You got coffee?”

“Uh, sure,” Ben said, then led the way up the stairs, trying to ignore the way his heart dropped into his colon when they passed the location where he had devoured Elise.

After lying awake for hours last night, unable to sleep, coffee was about the only thing he was capable of at this moment, so once they reached the kitchen, he added the beans to the grinder before setting the machine working.

“You Seattle people,” Caitlin said.

“What?” Ben replied. “You’d prefer Folgers?”

“It’s what my parents drank.”

“Huh,” Ben replied. “Well, here,” he said, tossing her a bag of beans. “Next time you see them, give this a whirl. It’ll blow their minds.”

“Maybe,” Caitlin said.

The coffee dripped into the carafe. Ben set out two mugs. “Cream, sugar?” he asked.

“Cream, if you have it,” Caitlin replied.

Ben removed the small carton of half and half from the fridge, then set it on the counter in front of Caitlin, catching her watchful gaze.

“Mind telling me what you’re here for?” he asked, crossing his arms.

Her face broadened with a sly grin, as if this were a quiz show and he had just asked her the winning question. “Just so we’re clear,” she said, “two weeks ago, I wanted to wring your neck.”

Ben nodded. “Okay, I deserved that.” He leveled a steely gaze at her. “I’m not exactly thrilled with you, either. You dug up that stuff about Ashley, then shared it with her. Why?”

She shrugged. “I gotta protect my baby sister.”

Ben poured them each a cup of coffee, then set one down in front of her. Caitlin poured cream and stirred with the spoon he had placed nearby.

Caitlin blew across her coffee before taking a tentative sip. “When you withdrew your application for U.W. Medical Center, I knew something didn’t add up.”

“I didn’t assault her,” Ben said, feeling his defenses rising like an army preparing for battle.

“I know,” Caitlin said, her eyes flashing. “Ashley Cullen was once Faith Lomax.”

Ben took this in. “Wait. What are you saying?”

Caitlin’s smile went all the way up to her eyes. “You aren’t the first one she’s blackmailed.”

Thirty minutes later, Ben burst into the hospital room, startling a dozing Elise and Jaden, whose drowsy eyes swam a bit as he tried to focus.

“Hey, buddy,” Ben said, grinning as he approached.

Jaden’s pale face lit into a smile.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, glancing at the monitors.

“Okay,” Jaden said.

Unable to resist, he stepped close and stroked Jaden’s head, feeling all the emotions come crashing together: protectiveness, hope, love, fear. “I’m glad to hear that.”

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