Page 41 of Seize the Night

Half an hour later, Merrick walked through her hospital room door. He had a file folder in his hand, two ledger books, and a sheaf of printed pages.

“Is that it?” she asked as he sat on her bed and tossed the papers in her lap.

“All of it.” He wore an ear-to-ear grin. The only thing that made Merrick happier than getting into trouble was getting someone else into trouble. “Read.”

She read through everything he’d brought her. On the one hand she was thrilled they had hard evidence. On the other hand, she was more furious than ever.

“I’m going to kill them,” she said once she’d finished reading.

“We’re in a hospital. Good place for a heart attack,” Merrick said.

“They might try to kill me,” she said.

“I won’t let them, Boss. I’d kill for you, die for you, I’d even take a bare bodkin for you.”

“You’d take a dagger for me?”

“I thought a bare bodkin was a penis.”

“It’s a knife.”

“I’ve seriously been misreading the subtext ofHamletthen.”

“Come on. We have two sets of parents to freak out.”

She grabbed the pile of papers and together they found her parents waiting in the lobby. Her father was on his phone, no doubt checking in with the farm. Her mother was flipping through a magazine without making eye contact with any of the pages.

“Good news,” she said to them. “I’ll live. No concussion.”

“Oh thank God,” her mother said, and reached out to hug her.

“You gave us a little scare there,” her father said, stoic as always.

“I’m about to scare you two a little more,” she said, refusing to return the hug. Merrick’s find had implicated not just Julien’s mother and father in this mess, but both her parents as well. “Merrick, what room is he in?”

“He’s in 5515,” he said.

“Who? What are you talking about, Young Lady?” her father asked, narrowing his eyes at her. “And is that my ledger book?”

Remi took a step back and crooked her fingers at her parents.

“I have someone you two need to meet,” she said. “I think you’ll like him.”

The elevator ride to the fifth floor was a bit awkward, but Remi refused to answer any of her parents questions.You’ll see…was all she said. Out on the fifth floor they walked past the nurse’s station. A young nurse demanded to know whose room they were visiting.

Remi sighed. She was afraid this would happen. That’s okay. She had this.

“Julien Brite, room 5515.”

“His parents have requested family only can visit.”

Remi grabbed a sheet of paper off the nurse’s station desk and scrawled a few choice words onto the paper and handed it to the nurse.

“Oh,” the nurse said. “Go right in.”

“Thank you,” Remi said.

“Remi Anne Montgomery, you tell us right now what is happening,” her mother demanded.

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