Page 69 of Long Road Home

“Looks like your deal caught up with you.” Gingrich stopped beside the bed. “Theo hit his head, like you, but he’s awake and giving the nurses grief. Betty is asking them what kind of muffins they want. Trying to smooth things over. Alonzo is in with a doctor having his leg sewn up. They’re both going to be fine.”

“And Forrest?”

“Maybe right now you need to be more worried aboutyou.” Gingrich pointed at her, to emphasize that last word, but it just looked patronizing.

She looked on both sides of the bed and found the buttons, holding down the one that raised the back of her head. She didn’t like being at a disadvantage, and him standing over her left her uneasy. As her upper body rose to sitting, she said, “I need my phone. Or any phone.”

She’d have to remember Maizie’s number. Or Jax’s. They were saved in her phone.

Could she recall the digits?

He pulled her phone from his pocket and handed it over. The screen was shattered, and the whole device had been bent in half, like someone had been trying to fold it.

“Great.”

He sat at her bedside. “I’ll get the nurse to bring you a phone. She wanted to know who your next of kin was, but I didn’t know who to tell her.”

“After all, you arrested my landlady.”

“And your RV is locked up, so I couldn’t find any personal information on you.”

“Good,” she muttered. The word slipped out like that before she could work out if she needed him on her good side—or if she didn’t care right now.

He let out a sigh, as though she was an imposition he didn’t want to deal with but had no choice.

“What’s going on?” She shifted slightly and turned her head so she could stay still but facing him. It ached more than she wanted to admit. How long had she been out? The clock numbers made sense this time. She’d been out for hours apparently.

“You’re in protective custody as of now, by order of the FBI.”

Kenna blinked.

“Yeah, that was my reaction, too. They called not long after my deputy got to the scene. So now you’ve got a permanent babysitter until their agent gets here and we can get this Stan Tilley business taken care of.”

She’d rather he worked on finding out if Forrest had actually killed anyone at all. Then her friend could be released.

“I’ll send Kobrinsky to do the overnight shift,” he continued. “He needs to rest, but if he can do it on detail, he’ll keep from going crazy.”

“The way I will with him in my RV?” Maybe he could sleep in Forrest’s house. Or in his car on the drive.

“We all have to deal.”

“Why? I can just leave.”

Gingrich shook his head. “I know you won’t do that. You’re too loyal to leave town with Forrest still in custody. Which is why I want you on that protective detail. The fed can help. You can draw out Tilley and keep out of the way of my citizens. So no more of them get caught up in your business.”

Her mind couldn’t even process that right now. Questions popped into her mind, but she couldn’t figure out how to get them out.

“We’ll get to that.” He waved a hand. “You can rest up for now.”

“You’d better not rest. I want Forrest out of that cell.”

Gingrich sighed again, looking exasperated with her. She was about to call him out on it when he said, “I know she didn’t kill the pastor. The profile matches J.Pierce, but that also makes no sense. So right now I have no idea who did.”

She blinked. “What?”

He’d let the state police arrest Forrest when he knew she hadn’t done it. Why do that? Just so she was out of the picture and he could find the real killer? Everyone had written it off as natural causes, and Kenna hadn’t even been to the scene.

Gingrich said, “J.Pierce can’t be the one trying to frame her for murder. That’s impossible.”

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