Page 128 of Fall Into Me

“Did he tell you something different?” The shorter and rounder of the two detectives—yes,detectives,cue pants shitting—stepped forward and flipped open his notepad using only one hand before he settled a serious frown on me.

“No,” I replied evenly, despite the tugging in my shoulder and the churning in my gut. “I just didn’t know his last name. Seems too normal for someone who chased me through town, crashed his car into mine, and then broke into my house to try to kill me and my dog.”

There was a beat of silence, and I got the distinct feeling that maybe, just maybe, I should have been a tad more traumatized than I was.

Before we arrived at the hospital and I was sitting, slumped and exhausted in the open back of an ambulance, I waited. Wrapped in one of those shiny blankets they give you that’s supposed to help you with shock, I waited for the little fissure to form in my mental state.

I waited and waited, but honestly, there were only three things on my mind.

The first was that I couldn’t tear my eyes off the bend in the street that would produce Ashton with news of Jerry.

The second was that the same bend would produce my parents, though by some stroke of luck they were in Cullen Grove, the next town over for an appointment for my mom.If they did come screeching around the corner, covering that distance in that amount of time would have been a world record.

Third, it would be Fane.

The thought of it being him made my throat tighten, and the only thing I felt was heartbreaking rage.

I didn’t need to pretend the tears that were falling down my face were real. They just were. Not for myself, but for the way I heard Fane’s voice break when he said my name. For the words I had missed when Declan’s hand was around my throat.

How he had to, for the second time in his life, bear witness to something evil being done to someone he loved without being able to do anything to stop it. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Declan knew just what wound to pour salt on. Just how to break him.

Mostly, I was sick to death of the way Fane continued to punish himself for things that had never been his fault. If I was honest, it terrified me that what had happened would change us for a second time.

I’d only ever experienced one life-altering, terrifying moment before this one, and it ended with me leaving my whole life behind in the blink of an eye.

I knew if I saw him fly around that corner that we would be fine.

I just needed him to come home.

“I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand why you’re here.”

I winced at the first thread of the stitch the nurse made on the cut on my neck, making my breath catch in my throat. The numbing cream she applied did nothing, and based on the look of apology she gave me, I’d say she knew it too. It didn’t stop her from doing it again, though.

Between her heavy-handed suturing and the stark whiteness of the hospital room around us, my head was starting to hurt. “What does this have to do with me?”

“It doesn’t,” said the taller detective, his mustache twitching as he offered me a tight-lipped smile. He reminded me of someone, though I couldn’t place who. “We’ve been watching Declan for a while. He’s been linked to a number of allegations.”

“What sort of allegations?”

The detective’s mustache twitched again, but instead of answering, he asked, “Is your boyfriend returning to town?”

“Fane?” The question came completely out of left field, so much so I jolted. That got a disapproving look from the nurse, who, in my relatively unprofessional opinion, really sucked at giving people stitches. “Why do you—”

“We really aren’t at liberty to say—”

“You should get that tattooed right on your forehead, Beverly,” Ash drawled, strolling into the hospital room, and for one tiny second, my heart lodged itself in my throat, thinking it was Fane.

“Mr. Manning,” Beverly—the short, round detective—let out the most exaggerated sigh I’d ever heard. “Where the odor of illegal activities resides, you’re never too far away.”

My nose scrunched. “Theodorof—”

Ash stopped beside me, his hand covering my mouth much to the horror of the nurse, and kept talking like nothing had happened. “Ah, Bev. You’ve been watchingPoirotagain, haven’t you?”

My eyes bulged so wide I was genuinely worried they might fall out of my head. Ash’s hand clamped down harder, muffling the “SHUT UP!” I still managed to get out.

Beverly’s shoulders straightened, preening like a pigeon. Needless to say, it was one of the less comfortable things I’d witnessed.

“Fane was in Artington for a board meeting with Mackenzie Co. He’ll be back soon. He left when Declan called him,” Ash said evenly.

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