“I know I don’t have the right and you have a daughter waiting on you, but would stay with me for a while?”
How could she say no to this man? He’d been there for her ever since Zoey had called him.
“Of course.” She scooted the easy chair next to his bed, never releasing her hold. “Get some rest.”
A few minutes later, his breathing evened out and his hand went limp. She curled up in the chair and watched him for the next hour.
Her heart twisted when a nightmare struck, and David twitched and groaned.
She rose and smoothed her palm over his forehead. A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Who did this to you, tough guy?”
Chapter 11
Wednesday 11:00 a.m.
The aches and pains from yesterday were hitting a new high today. Stiffness had set in and moving was a new experience in pain. David rubbed the back of his neck wishing he could turn back the clock and start his truck while inside the station. He should be thankful he’d decided to cool down his vehicle before he got in it.
The hospital room door opened, and he glanced up to identify his visitor.
“Looking good for a man who got blown up yesterday.” Brandon grinned.
“It’d be funny if it wasn’t true.” David waved the man toward the easy chair. “Have a seat and tell me you brought those files we discussed earlier this morning.”
Brandon tapped the corner of the file with his palm. “Got ‘em right here.”
David adjusted his bed to a sitting position. His bruised body protested the new angle. “Never thought it’d hurt so bad to be thrown to the ground.”
“You did hit the pavement pretty hard. You’re fortunate there wasn’t more damage to your head.” His partner lowered himself onto the seat.
David couldn’t argue with that. The phrase ‘hit by a Mack truck’ came to mind. He blew out a breath. “Let’s see what you brought.”
Brandon studied him for a moment then nodded. “Not all the results are in, but the preliminary findings show that Eddie Winters was murdered—”
“Well, duh. We knew that.”
“Would you let me finish?”
“Go ahead.”
“As I was saying, it appears that someone beat Eddie and then put a slug in the man’s chest. What wasn’t apparent during the walk thru was that the same someone must have been looking for something, ‘cause Eddie’s pictures, email, and website had been tampered with.”
David stared at his partner. “You think this was about his crimes against children?”
“I do. But the question is who?” Brandon pinned him with a stare.
His muscles tensed. “It’s not Jennie if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“And why would I think that? First of all, Eddie might have invaded Zoey’s privacy and tried to lure her in, but that’s where it stopped. He never laid a hand on her. And second, if this was a woman, she had to be a body builder to leave his face in that bad of shape.”
David rolled his shoulders. “Sorry. Guess I jumped to conclusions.”
“No kidding. Now, let’s talk about some serious suspects.”
“Who do you have in mind?” David held out his hand for the report and Brandon obliged. He scanned the document.
“I have to confess, I was hoping you had an idea.”
