Page 73 of The Irish Redemption

Somehow.

When I open my eyes again, Detective Cogs remains beside me, her thin brows pinched with worry. As my sluggish thoughts catch up with my wakefulness, Cormac fully enters my thoughts, and Istruggle to sit up. “Am I okay?”

“Mostly.” Sarah sighs. “Some bruised ribs and you sustained a head wound from the side window. Luckily, the driver was already trying to brake when he hit you. Your driver took the brunt of the impact.”

My driver.

Cormac.

Thinking of him with a detective right next to me is more sobering than being dunked backward into ice water, and stress chases away the last lingering sluggish fog clinging to my thoughts. I see Sarah as clear as day, and the hospital room I’m in is less fancy than the one I woke up in after the stabbing. It seems when Cormac is awake and able to care for me, he ensures more than a regular room.

“Is he…?” I’m almost too scared to ask about Cormac’s condition, and cold fear grips me like a vise.

What if it was terrible and he’s dead? What if I’ve lost the first man I’ve fallen in love with? The revelation makes my stomach churn, and something about my face must have given me away because Sarah quickly reaches for the dish nearby and holds it near me. No vomit comes, just a cramp in my gut.

“If you’re asking me if the driver of your car is injured, then yes, he is. He’s alive, but like I said, he took the brunt of the impact being in the driver's seat and hasn’t woken up yet,” Sarah explains. “Which is why I'm here to question you.”

“Question me?” I take the dish from her as another uncomfortable roll of tightness moves through my abdomen.

“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for a few days,” Sarah says. “I went to your apartment and you were gone. Your neighbors hadn’t seen you. So imagine my surprise when I get a call from the cop in charge of this crash and learn that you are here in the hospital. After being dragged from a car wreck, the same car that Cormac Gifford was dragged from.”

My heart leaps into my throat while I stare at Sarah. Her face twists slightly, as if she knows everything and she’s just waiting for me to trip up so she can catch me in a lie. Cormac never explicitly told me not to talk to the cops, and Sarah felt like she was on my side since the murder. But right now, she’s looking at me like I’m a suspect and I have no idea how to navigate this.

Do I lie? What if Cormac dies? Who will be in my corner then?

Do I tell the truth? Would the cops be on our side?

Thinking back to the bugs I was forced to place, I already know the answer. If she were on our side, I wouldn’t have had to do that.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I say softly. “What’s wrong with Cormac?”

“You want to play it like that?” Sarah sighs. “Really, Evelyn? Playing dumb isn’t a good look for you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My head swims again, and an ache pulls like a hot band through my skull. Lifting my hand, I’m met with gauze across my forehead.

“Cormac. The man you were in the car with? Are you telling me you didn’t know he is the brother of the man whose body you found?”

“Oh, no. I knew that,” I reply as casually as I can. “But I don’t understand what your issue is. Shouldn’t you be talking to the person who hit us?”

Sarah’s eyes narrow. “Who is he to you?”

“Cormac?”

“Yes.”

“He’s… just a guy. He came to find me and explained who he was. His brother just died,” I say sharply. “He was pretty broken up about it.”

Sarah scoffs in disbelief but doesn’t speak.

“He had a couple of questions for me, but I didn’t know anything, and then we had coffee and I guess became friends.” It’s a version of the truth. Technically.

“What questions?”

“The normal questions. Asked if I saw anything, if I knew anything about his brother. I told him I didn’t.”

“And you didn’t think it was strange that he found you?”

I shrug and immediately regret it as the bruises on my ribs complain painfully. “I figured you guys told him. It’s not like I’m a suspect or anything.”

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