Page 79 of Estranged Heart
The detective is sitting behind his desk when I reach his office, clicking away at his mouse. He quickly stands when his gaze lands on me, gesturing for me to come in. “Mr. Pena, please have a seat. You’re really going to want to sit for this one.”
“Yeah, okay.” Hope and fear dance around in my heart. He lowers himself into his seat after me, spreading his fingers out on his desk to bring himself closer.
“It turns out you were right about the hospital. There was an unauthorized transplant that took place there by a Dr. Cole.”
Blood pumps in my ears. “And? Did you find him?”
“We did.” He lowered his head, scrubbing at his jaw. “But he was already dead by the time we reached him. I guess he was threatening to rat out whoever was running the operation out of fear for his family.”
My heart falls into my stomach. Figures we’d get so close only to take three steps back again. “You don’t know who else worked with him that day?”
“No.” He looks up at me again with turned-down brows. “Unfortunately, his name is the only one on the form aside from the patient.”
I scoot to the edge of the seat, anticipation causing an uncomfortable itch to spread along my skin. “So you know who got my husband’s heart?”
“Not exactly. We think a false name was jotted down to protect all involved. We haven’t been able to pull up anyone with that name who matches all the other information on that file. All we know is he’s a male in his twenties.”
“So why tell me to meet you here when there’s no new information linking the men who did this?”
“We’re so close. I know we are. But if this operation is as big as we think it is—”
“Then we’re basically fighting a losing game. I don’t care. I want you to keep going anyway, taking down as many of these fuckers as we can.”
“We’ve been after this organization for years and I want nothing more than to bring the whole damn thing down, but these cases take time.”
“And it just so happens to be something I have a lot of these days.” I stand from the desk, shoving the chair forward, and the loud bang startles him. “Next time, call me when you actually have one of these fuckers in custody.”
With a ball of rage and fury expanding inside me, I exit the room before he can respond. The door shuts hard behind me with one swift pull of my hand and I storm out of the station, wasting no time getting in my car.
My phone lights up on my seat and a message from Silas waits for me. A part of me considers canceling, but the other part needs to be anywhere but my house right now. Anywhere that won’t remind me of the disappointing news I received today. To this day, it’s hard to believe all of this is happening. Out of all the people in the world to take, why Landon? What do they do, lay out photos and bios of prospects, allowing a buyer to choose which one sounds more appealing?
My pulse pounds in my ears, dread filling me when my mind wanders off in the wrong direction instead of holding on to the excitement of going skating with Silas. I think about Landon’s cold face and unconscious body. That look he had in his eyes, full of fear and horror.
Jaw clenching, bile rises from the pit of my stomach and I pound my fists on my steering wheel. Even the picture of his smiling face on the dash changes—lips turning purple and chapped, hair charred, and skin blackened from his chest down. My stomach lurches and a soft sob crawls up my throat, my chest feeling like it’s been clawed at. I can’t move for a long time, sitting in my car until raindrops tap the windshield. Landon hated the rain, and he’d hate me sitting here remembering him this way too.
With slow movements, I reach for my phone and I have more than one message waiting for me. All from Silas.
Silas: I have my skates out of the box and ready to go.
Silas: It was probably a bad idea for me to try them on while unsupervised.
Silas: I tried to break them in before you got here but I think I broke my body instead.
A soft chuckle I didn’t think I had in me breaks free from my lips and my phone vibrates again.
Silas: I hope you’re on your way and only ignoring my messages because you don’t want to delay your drive here.
Me: I’m coming, Sunshine. I was in a meeting and didn’t have my phone on me.
Silas: See you when you get here then. Hopefully by the time you get here I’ll be able to peel myself from the floor.
A laugh erupts from me.
Me: Take the skates off and back away. Save it for the rink. We’re going either way. Whether I have to carry you around in my arms all night or not.
Silas: And all that makes me want to do is keep falling before you get here so you have no choice but to carry me around all night.
Me: You don’t have to hurt yourself for me to carry you all night. Say the word, Sunshine, and you won’t have to use those legs of yours ever again when you’re around me.
