Stella is kneeling on Madison’s bedroom floor as we enter, her head tilted down and peering under the bed. I can’t see anything past Stella’s thick ponytail, but when she withdraws, I catch a glance of Madison huddled as far as possible under the bed, legs clutched to her chest, head down, and that ragged old bear secured under one arm. She won’t look at us, but I can hear her sobbing softly from her hiding place.
“She won’t come out,” Stella says as I get down on my hands and knees to peer under the bed. “Shock, maybe?”
I glance back at Jake, who nods, then turn my attention back to the little girl. “Hi, Maddy,” I say softly. “My name is Ely Burton. I’m a friend of Jami’s. Do you remember me?”
After a moment that drags on for far too long, Maddy looks up, her skin stained with tears, her lower lip trembling as if she might just cry again at any second. She stares at me for a moment, trying to place me, and then she nods, just once, and throws herself forward into my arms, tiny body wracking with sobs.
“Everything is going to be alright,” I murmur as Maddy cries into the front of my shirt. Jake helps me to my feet as I continue to hold Maddy in my arms.
“Do we call Kasper?” he whispers, and I shake my head no. As far as Kaper Hill knows, we’ve responded to a break-in that has nothing to do with his wife or kid, and that’s how I like it. Especially not knowing who exactly is involved in tonight’s call.
“Let’s just get everyone to the hospital and settled in,” I tell Jake. “She has a restraining order against him, anyway. We’ll let him know soon.”
I walk outside with Maddy still clinging to me like a baby monkey. The second medics are securing Tara to a backboard, and Matt and Paisley are getting ready to leave with Jami secured to a gurney in the back of an ambulance.
“Can we ride with you?” I ask Matt, and he nods, helping me into the back of the bus so I can sit down while Paisley checks out Maddy for injuries. The girl won’t speak, not even when asked, and I’m pretty sure she’s still in shock. Jami is unconscious on the gurney in front of us, but I know she’s breathing, and all I can do the entire ride to the hospital is try to comfort Maddy and pray for Jami at the same exact time.
ER staff are already waiting for us in the ambulance bay as we pull up, and Maddy wraps her limbs around me once more as I hop out of the back of the ambulance, giving Matt and Paisley room to unload Jami.
“Ely,” Renee says in surprise. “What are you doing here?” Her eyes land on Madison, and before I can say a word, Matt and Paisley lower Jami’s gurney to the floor, and Renee spots her best friend unconscious, battered, and bruised.
“Oh my God,” she says, her voice catching. “Jami! What in the hell happened?”
“She went to check on Madison and Tara Hill,” I tell her as we jog alongside the gurney. Madison is still glued to me, and briefly, I wonder if she’ll ever let go. “Someone was there. Someone jumped her. She and Tara both. The second ambo is on the way.”
“Jami,” Renee says, leaning down to talk quietly into her friend’s ear. “I’m here, lady. Just hang in there, okay? Just stay with us.”
“Is she okay?” I ask over the pitiful noise of Maddy’s muted sobs. “Is she going to be okay?” I barely notice Doc Shaffer as he gently grabs my arm to turn me away from the trauma doors. Resisting, I try to follow, but the doctor holds me back.
“Let us work,” he says quietly. “We’ll take care of her.”
I open my mouth to argue, but Jake’s hand is on my arm suddenly, pulling me back.
“Trust them, Sarge,” he says. “If anyone can help her, it’s them.”
“Is the girl okay?” Doc Shaffer asks, trying to peel Maddy away from me to check her for injuries. She only clings harder, still crying, and finally, he gives up.
“She was hiding. We didn’t see any injuries. Shock, mostly,” Jake tells him, and the doc nods, turning around to follow Jami’s medical team into the OR.
“I’ll keep you both updated,” he calls over his shoulder. “She’ll be okay.”
I don’t want to stand back and hope for the best, but I know I have no choice, especially since Madison is still fastening herself to me, so I follow Jake back to the hospital’s staff lounge for some privacy, and it’s only once we’re there and offering her a candy bar that she finally lets go of me and settles into a cozy lounge chair, nibbling on her candy while silent tears still stream down her face.
“Maddy,” I say softly, taking her hand in mine to squeeze it. “Can you tell me what happened?”
She doesn’t speak, only looks past me at the wall. I turn to look at Jake, who shrugs, and I know that for now, we might not get anything at all out of Maddy. And for all any of us know now, we might not get anything out of anyone, not if both women, including the one I’m falling for with every passing second, die.
It’s nearlytwo hours later when Doc Shaffer comes to find us in the lounge, and I’m so afraid of what he’s about to say next that I’m not even sure I can handle it. Madison is asleep now, curled up on the staff couch with a small throw blanket and her teddy bear.
“Jami,” I say because that’s all I can think about. “Is she alive?”
“She’s alive,” says Doc Shaffer, and the tightness in my chest that’s been suffocating me since the moment I found her on the apartment floor eases up just a little bit.
“Can we see her?”
“She’s resting in the ICU right now,” Shaffer says. “The pain meds she’s on make her tired, so I can’t guarantee she’ll be able to tell you anything, but yes, you can see her.”
“What about Tara?” asks Jake, and I feel guilty for almost forgetting about her. “Did she survive?”
