Page 77 of Criminology of a Character

“Except you don’t.” Bel sagged against the gurney, Blaubart’s cursed scalpel burning her nerves where it hid in her jeans pocket. He no longer had magic, but he was still an expert in hiding identities. They knew about Blaubart and Hyde, but she bet there was a horde of aliases tied to him. The mountain cabin was proof of that, since it was under yet another false name.

“He had the ability to turn women into his wife,” she continued. “I have no doubt he’ll change his face and name and then vanish in his helicopter.”

“Hey.” Barry leaned forward and cupped her cheek. “We’ll find him. I will find him.” He emphasized his promise as he held her gaze. “I was watching the news when the report of your death came on. I realize we aren’t close, but I respect you, Detective. I like you a lot, and to hear you died struck me harder than I expected. I’m incredibly thankful you’re alive, but that man tricked everyone who cared about you into thinking you were dead. We will find him. I swear it.”

“You aren’t supposed to promise the victims success.” She smiled at him with a tease in her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah.” He swatted the air. “For you, I’ll promise this. I don’t care what it takes. He won’t get away with this.”

“Oh my god, my baby.”Reese charged through the hospital room door hours later and captured Bel in a hug before she could so much as blink. He pulled her against his chest, sobbing uncontrollably as he kissed her cheeks over and over, and she wrapped her arms around him so tightly that she worried she was choking him, but she couldn’t stop herself. The room was filled with pain and relief, with love so raw and intense the very air vibrated with their emotions, and she could barely breathe through her hyperventilating sobs.

“Tell me it’s you,” her father gasped, his tears making it almost impossible for him to speak. “Tell me you’re alive, that you’re my baby girl.”

“It’s me, Dad.” She kissed his cheek, afraid to look into his eyes. She’d never seen her father like this, and she was nervous about what seeing his fear would do to her. “I’m here. I’m okay.”

“But you were in that morgue,” Reese choked. “I saw you dead and broken, but now you’re here. How are you here? Howis this possible?” He pulled back, cupping her face so gently that she cried harder. “Tell me it’s you.”

“You had a bag of frozen broccoli in our freezer when we were growing up,” Bel said, realizing that all five of her sisters were suddenly surrounding her bed. “You hid chocolate in it, assuming the broccoli would keep us from finding it, but you forgot to consider that Briar was always trying to get you to eat healthier. She found that chocolate right away, so we constantly stole from you.”

“Oh god,” Reese gasped, dragging Bel back into a hug. “Oh, sweetheart. I knew you girls found my stash. Why else do you think that broccoli bag was always stocked?”

“I knew it!” Odette said as her sisters swarmed her bed. “I told you guys Dad knew we knew.”

“We all knew that,” Briar said. “But we didn’t say anything because we didn’t want Dad to stop hiding his chocolate there.”

“I didn’t,” Bel said as she kissed each of her sobbing sisters. “I always thought we were being sneaky.”

“Oh, Isobel.” Briar cupped her face with older-sister affection. “You were young, and you had so much fun stealing his chocolates that we couldn’t ruin it for you. We let you believe you were getting one over on your poor father.”

“Is that true?” Bel scanned her siblings’ faces, hating how they all stared at her as if she wasn’t real.

“Yes,” Rose said as she, Luna, and Giselle hugged her tight, crowding out their two oldest sisters. “But it’s okay. It was fun watching you get excited.”

“We love you,” Briar said. “You know that, right? We love you so much. Don’t ever do this again. I won’t survive it.”

Bel slipped her arm through her sisters’ bodies to grab Briar’s hand. “I love you too. Thanks for being here.”

“We wouldn’t miss you coming back from the dead,” Odette said.

“Odette,” Reese warned, clearly afraid her second oldest sister’s words would trigger her, but Bel just laughed.

“It’s okay, Dad. Being resurrected feels pretty good, even if my fingers feel awful.”

“Will they be okay?” Luna grabbed her bandaged hands.

“Yeah,” Bel said. “No permanent damage. The doctors said that supporting Annalise down the mountain helped. Her body heat and the coat kept my fingers from getting too cold. They also put me on antibiotics for blood-borne diseases, but it looks like I’m out of the woods.”

“Isobel.” Briar rolled her eyes at the pun.

“You saved her, and she saved you.” Luna stroked her hand. “I’m?—”

A desperate bark cut her off, and before Bel could brace for the impact, Cerberus plowed into her chest. Mother and dog fell back onto the bed, and she burst into another fit of tears as her beloved pitbull tried to lick her to death.

“Baby Beast!” She kissed his beefy head so many times that his fur stuck to her lips and got into her mouth. “How did you get in here?”

“I lied and said he was a police dog,” Olivia said as she hovered in the doorway. She wore an odd expression, and she refused to cross the threshold. Bel squinted at her partner, wondering why she seemed afraid to come close, but her sisters were swarming. It was hard to sneak past her family, but Olivia’s frown told her the distance was for another reason.

“Thank you,” Bel said as she clung to her squirming pitbull. “I needed him. I’m glad you’re here too.” She hoped her words would soften Olivia, but her partner simply nodded and faded into the background, leaving a hole in Bel’s heart.

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