Page 91 of Lord Have Mercy Part Four: Big Son

Her gaze was all sparking business when it collided with his, but then widened when she saw Tina, and the flowers she carried. “Oh. Hi.”

Tina slid right into realtor mode, steps light and clicking as she went to set the arrangement on the bedside table. She gave the lilies a few tweaks, and turned to Duet. “These are for you.” Gameshow gesture to the vase over her shoulder, before she stepped forward and offered a manicured hand. “I’m afraid we haven’t properly met, but I can’t thank you enough for your help yesterday. You were so brave! I’m Tina, and I suppose you already know I’m Alex’s mother.”

“Yeah, hi.” Duet sounded a little taken aback, but she accepted the handshake. “Izzy Duet.”

“Izzy, lovely to meet you. I’m so sorry about your arm, honey. What did the doctors say?”

“Oh, it’s fine. Juts a graze.” She touched the bandage, and failed to disguise a wince.

Carl said, “They did X-rays to make sure the bullet didn’t chip bone. We’re waiting on the results.”

“Which is stupid.” Duet folded her arms, made a face, and thought better of it, scowling at the bandages. “I’m fine.”

“We’re waiting on the X-ray results,” Carl said with a pointed look first to her, then to Alex. “What’ve you got?”

“News.” He skated a look to his mom, who rolled her eyes.

“I can take a hint. Official FBI business, I get it. I’ll go down the hall to the Coke machine. Anybody want anything?”

Carl heaved up out of his chair and offered to go with her, for which Alex was grateful: the hospital seemed like a safe placeto be at the moment, but after Regina’s stunt at Tina’s house, he didn’t feel like taking chances.

When the door was shut, Duet glanced over toward the table, and the flowers Tina had left, which surprised him. He’d expected her to jump straight to work. Instead, her lips pursed, and she said, “That was sweet of your mom. She didn’t have to.”

“My mom is the quintessential Southern lady: you take a cake to a cookout, and you take flowers to someone in the hospital.” He smiled, and caught her gaze. “Even if they’re fine.”

Her returning smile was crooked, wry, and reluctant – but there. “I still can’t believe the bitch shot me.”

She won’t be shooting anyone else, Alex thought with an inward shudder, and it must have shown on his face, because Duet lifted her brows.

“Uh oh. What?”

“You don’t wanna know.”

Her gaze narrowed. “What happened to her? The woman who shot me?”

“Like I said: you don’t wanna know.”

“Sure,” she drawled, and tipped her head toward the TV, where two studio anchors were discussing the Quantico murders in grave tones. “Is it anything like what happened to them?”

“I had nothing to do with them,” he said, and it was only partly a lie. “But…speaking of Hames…”

Her gaze narrowed another fraction, and she reminded him, a little, of Maggie Teague. Not quite that reckless, predatory attention of Ava – he’d never met anyone with a stare like hers – but a sharp, no-nonsense attention that said she could handle whatever he said, and was damn well going to make her own mind up about it, too.

“Before he met his end, he admitted some things.”

“Things you know how?”

“Not important. But he confirmed that Boyle is no longer operating on FBI orders, and that no one at Quantico knows where he’s hiding out down here, or what he’s planning. Same goes for Fallon.”

She sighed. “We figured as much, but that doesn’t help much.”

“Hames is gone, though.”

“Until the next asshole takes his place.” She slapped her good hand over her mouth afterward, eyes bulging, shocked by her own words.

He offered a sympathetic smile. “Funny how you start thinking of them as assholes instead of trusted leaders, huh?”

She shook her head, and refocused. “My point stands: if you’re right, and this is higher forces at work, then Hames is just one guy. They’ll replace him.”

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