“You better be decent.” I rapped lightly on the door before pushing my way in. Even though I had my game face on, I couldn’t help grimacing when I saw Matt who was battered and bruised. Not to mentioned bandaged and bored. I could tell he was bored by the way he was flipping through the television channels, much to the chagrin of his roommate who appeared to be trying to rest.
“Hey, it’s my best girl,” Matt said, setting down the remote. I noticed his roommate, a young guy in his early twenties, perked up as well at my appearance. “Did you get Danny?”
“Yeah, we got him,” I said, sitting in the chair by Matt’s bed. I patted his hand, afraid to touch him for fear of breaking something. “He stayed the night with me, and he’s with my parents right now.”
“I told my parents about him,” Matt said, grimacing as he spoke. His mother was deeply religious, so I could only guess what she’d said to that bit of information. “They want to see him.”
“Sure, if it’s ok with you,” I said cautiously. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”
“Yeah. After my mother calmed down, she was dying to see him. I think she thinks this might be the only chance she’ll have to have a grandchild.” Matt smiled, but it held little mirth. “So, fill me in. Did we get the bad guys? Is Kayla back?”
“We got Digger and Brenda. We don’t have Kayla yet, but the cops are working on it.” I didn’t tell him that they were at a dead end because I didn’t want to cause him any grief. “What did the doctors say?”
Turned out that because Matt was in such great shape, most of the wounds were superficial. Only the one across his abdomen had done serious damage. Oh, there was another semi-serious one on his left bicep, but it wasn’t as bad as the one on his stomach. The doctors wanted to keep him for a few more days, but they were optimistic that he’d regain full mobility if he followed his physical therapy plan to the letter. Knowing Matt, he’d do as much and more than they planned. They would have to stop him from doing twice as much as they wanted because he’d be determined to get out of the hospital as soon as possible.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” I said, punching him lightly in the arm. “Do you know—I thought…” I let my voice trail off because there wasn’t any reason to say what I’d thought now that Matt was going to be ok.
Something was shaking me. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, so I tried to brush it off. I swatted and I grumbled, but the shaking wouldn’t go away. After abandoning my sweet dreams of me and Martinez tangoing in our swimsuits on the beaches of Jamaica, I reluctantly opened my eyes to find Danny staring down at me. For a minute, I thought I’d waken up from a dream into another dream—I’d done that before—but then I quickly remembered the events of the night before. I struggled to sit up, glad that I had remembered to wear shorts and a t-shirt to bed. Wouldn’t want to be charged with child abuse or endangerment or something like that.
“Can I go to bed now?” Danny asked, stifling a yawn.
In my room, I halted before my closet, deciding to see if I could contact Danny again. I sat on my bed and closed my eyes, willing his image to come to me. I breathed deeply, knowing I couldn’t force anything. Danny had to be willing to have me in his head in the first place. Normally, he most likely wouldn’t have a problem with that, but these were not normal conditions. I let those thoughts float through my brain without attaching any importance to them whatsoever. I put my hands on my midsection, knowing that usually calmed me enough to focus on what I had to do. Suddenly, a picture of poor Danny in only his underwear popped into my mind. I stiffened, worried that his captors were taking things to a different level.
“What about Digger?” I asked, more to shake her up than because I thought it was him.
A horrible feeling washed over me. No, not that Danny was dead, but that Kayla knew exactly who had taken Danny and why. If she didn’t know for sure, she could make a pretty educated guess, but for some reason, she was choosing not to share. I knew that Matt was going to have to sweat her to get the information we needed, but I had a feeling that it was going to take a lot to get her to spill her guts. For some reason, and I wasn’t sure why, she was more afraid of telling what she knew than she was of losing her son. I knew Matt wasn’t going to like hearing that, but I couldn’t lie to him. This was too important for massaging egos and tiptoeing around hurtful truths. Matt was a big boy; he could take care of himself.
“Kayla, where the fuck are you?” He burst into her bedroom without knocking. Kayla was bending over something, her body hiding whatever it was. “Fuck it, Kayla!” Matt strode over to her and knocked her gear to the ground.
“Scarlett, thanks so much for doing this.” Kayla’s eyes were reddened as she greeted me, but that might be because of whatever she was on.