THE SWITCH
Hank Flynnand I stand next to her bed, explaining the situation to MacKenzie. While she seems to take the news in stride, I get the sense she’s relieved to be leaving this hospital.
“Maybe I should stay here,” she says unexpectedly.
“What? Why would you stay here?”
“Well, if I’m here, maybe the guy will come here and the police could catch him?”
I look over at Hank and watch as his brow rises. I know the look. He’s thinking about it. “Over my dead body,” I growl at him. I look at MacKenzie. “If they want to catch the guy, they can use an undercover cop. Or hey, call the FBI. They’re trained for this shit.”
Hank nods and steps out of the room. Cops hate when the Bureau gets involved, but tough shit.
“Good work, baby. You’re pretty damn smart,” I say, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “You just gave the Chicago PD a great idea. But you’re not going to be bait. You’re coming to my place.”
Her mouth falls open. “Your place? Why?”
“What do you mean, why?” I run my fingers through my hair. “Because you can’t go home.”
“Sure, I can. I want to go home. All of my stuff is there.”
“I’ll get whatever stuff you want and bring it back to my place.”
“Sam,” she says stiffly. “I’m not going to impose on you.”
“You’re my girlfriend. There’s no such thing as imposing on your boyfriend.”
She sputters before she gathers herself. “Girlfriend? You ghosted me all last week, and now you’re referring to us as boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“That was a momentary lapse, sweetheart. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“You can’t promise that.”
I sure as hell can. “Look, MacKenzie. It’s not safe for you to go home right now. That guy is still out there.” We haven’t told her we think he’s the guy who broke into her place. Hank thought it would freak her out, and I agreed.
“It’s safe now. You put all of those locks and that fancy door on my place. No one can get through that door.”
Why is she giving me such a hard time about this? “Why don’t you want to come to my place? You don’t have feelings for me anymore?” I know I’ll get her with that. Guilt works great in a case like this.
“Of course, I have feelings for you, but… well….” She sighs. “It’s just temporary, right?”
“Right.” Not. As far as I’m concerned, this is for the long haul.
“All right. I guess you’re right. I’d be safer at your place.”
I nod and ring for the nurse.
“Yes?” we hear over her intercom.
“We need to speak to her doctor. Can you let her know?” I want her release to be as quiet as possible so the cops can set up their little sting operation.
The nurse responds, “I’ll give her a call.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
HOME SWEET HOME
We pullinto my underground garage and park. I look over at her; she’s sound asleep. Her clothes were taken by the police, so she’s in scrubs from the hospital. I step out of the car, walk around, and open her door. I lean down, sliding one arm around her back and the other beneath her legs, careful not to bump her wounds. She wakes up when I move her. “Sam? What are you doing?”
