Page 8 of Cassidy

“Yeah, that is troubling. Why was he all the way out near the Wildflower Motel in the first place?” Rhy asked.

“No idea. And his car is in the garage at his place, so he must have gotten a ride or taken a rideshare. His phone is missing, along with his wallet, but I was thinking it might be good to get his phone records to trace his actions prior to the assault.”

“Yeah, only Gabe is the one I’d usually ask to take care of that.” Rhy sighed. “We’ll work on that first thing in the morning.”

“Sounds like a plan.” It felt good to know there were actions they could take to get to the bottom of this. “And once Gabe’s memory returns, that will help us figure out what happened too.”

“I’ll pray for him,” Rhy said. “In the meantime, get some sleep. Oh, and you should probably check on Gabe throughout the night. I think that was what Quinn did for Sami when she was injured.”

“Good to know. I really wanted to take him to Trinity Medical Center, but he refused.”

“They would have done a CT scan of his head to make sure there was no internal bleeding,” Rhy said. “But as far as the amnesia side of things, there wasn’t much the doc did for Sami. If his condition doesn’t improve, we’ll make sure he goes in to be seen tomorrow.”

“I’ll need you to give him the order,” she said. “He emphatically told me his instincts were telling him to stay off the grid.”

“He said that?” Rhy sounded surprised. “That’s strange.”

“Tell me about it.” There were several aspects to the Gabe she’d picked up tonight that didn’t mesh with the man she knew. “He was right, though, based on the extent of damage found at his place. I was worried his laptop might be used to access the precinct.”

“It should be well protected,” Rhy said. “And again, Gabe is the one who would know that better than I would.”

There was a brief pause as that sank in. Was this part of the reason Gabe was targeted? Because someone wanted to eliminate him to get access to the inner workings of the Seventh Precinct?

It didn’t make sense, but they needed to keep all options open.

“Just because his memory is broken doesn’t mean he won’t know the computer side of things,” she finally said. “We’ll talk to him about this in more detail tomorrow.”

“Okay. Good night, Cass.”

“Good night.” She ended the call, plugged her phone into the charger, then set an alarm for three hours from now.

She closed her eyes and prayed Gabe’s condition would improve and that his memory would return.

When her alarm went off, she bolted upright, her heart thumping. Normally, she didn’t need an alarm, her internal clock was set for six a.m., and she always woke up on her own.

But it was three in the morning, not six. She tiptoed from her room and carefully opened Gabe’s door. He appeared to be asleep, his head on the pillow. He’d covered the pillow with a towel to protect the pillowcase from being stained with blood.

As if she cared about that when he was injured. Shaking her head, she moved silently across the room until she was near the bed. She hated to disturb him, but if Rhy thought he needed to be awoken frequently, then that’s what she’d do.

“Gabe?” she whispered as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

He reacted as if she’d stuck him with a hot poker, rearing up and spinning toward her with his hand lifted as if to strike out. Caught off guard, she reared back to avoid being hit.

“Who’s there?” Gabe asked.

“It’s me. Cassidy.” She put her hand out. “Take it easy, you’re safe.”

“Cassidy.” He let out a heavy sigh, then scrubbed his hands over his face. “Sorry about that. I—was confused for a moment.”

“It’s my fault.” She took a step closer so he could see her better. “I spoke to Rhy, and he mentioned that when his sister-in-law Sami had amnesia, the doctor advised waking her throughout the night.”

“I see. I didn’t realize Rhy had experience with this sort of thing.” He grimaced. “I don’t really remember him, but I get the sense I should.”

“Yes, you work very closely with Rhy.” She rested her hand on his shoulder. “How’s the headache?”

“A little better.” He managed a lopsided smile. “I’m sorry I almost hit you.”

“You didn’t.” Although she was still reeling over how fast Gabe had reacted. It was something she’d never seen him do before. He was normally an easygoing guy. His comfort zone was his office, functioning as their computer expert, a virtual whiz at decoding technology. He was always ready and able to assist their tactical team in every way, often working late into the evening when things were not going well.

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