“Bastard,” she says, curling back into her pillow, and despite myself, I laugh.
“I can think of far worse things to call that sonofabitch,” I say.
Jami smiles just a little bit, and I lean in and kiss her on the forehead again, brushing her hair away from her eyes. She swallows, then winces.
“It wasn’t Kasper,” she says. “I thought it was. But it wasn’t. Does he know what happened? Detective Hill?”
“Jake called him,” I tell her, resisting a grimace. “And he’s got the whole state out looking for this guy, okay?”
“It won’t make a difference if he’s involved, and we both know it,” says Jami. “I wouldn’t put it past him not to have hired this guy out. He has something to do with this. I know he does.”
“Listen to me,” I lean down, squeezing Jami’s hand between my own. “If Kasper Hill is involved, then he’ll go down for this. All of them will, anyone who was involved. We just … we just don’t know who it is yet. Who’s guilty.”
Jami pulls her lip between her teeth to gnaw anxiously on it, then she frowns like she suddenly remembers something important.
“What about Maddy?” she whispers. “Madison. Is she … is she okay? Where is she? Did I get there in time?”
“She’s okay. Physically, at least. She’s with her father.”
Jami cringes at this, and we both know why. Kasper Hill is still a wife-beater and a dirty cop, even if it wasn’t him who attacked the girls in their new home. I know as well as Jami does that she’s not safe with him, but there’s nothing we can do now, not really. He’s still the girl’s father and has legal rights to her.
Jami’s eyes close, and the smile lines fall away. “What about Tara? I didn’t even have time to find her before I was jumped. Is she alive?”
I stay quiet for a moment, wondering if Jami can truly handle the words I’m about to say next.
“She’s critical,” I tell her. “In a coma. She hasn’t woken yet, and we’re not sure if she will.”
“Jesus.” Jami puts a hand on her face and closes her eyes, body silently shaking with sobs. I lean down and hug her, hold her, and whisper in her ear, but she continues to cry. “Who is this man?” she demands, wiping the moisture from her face. “What beef did he have with Tara and Maddy? Why them? Whytheirhouse?”
“I don’t know,” I tell her, and that’s the honest truth. Especially now, when there’s no evidence to explain the break-in.
After a moment, Jami pulls away from me. She’s no longer crying, and now the expression on her face is a dawning realization like it’s been there the entire time, in the back of her mind, waiting to come out.
“He’s involved,” Jami says. She makes an attempt to sit up, ignoring the pain that must be coursing through her veins. I reach out a hand and rest it on her chest, and Jami slaps it away with surprising strength for a woman who has been beaten to hell. “Kasper Hill is involved in this, Ely. I know he is.”
“Kasper?” I repeat doubtfully. “He’s an asshole, Jami, but do you believe he’d have his wife beaten into a coma and his daughter around to watch the whole thing?”
“Yes,” Jami snarls, and the injured, tired girl has been replaced with a fighter, an angry woman … someone out for blood. “I absolutely think Kasper Hill could be a part of this, and I’m shocked that you don’t.”
“You need evidence, sweetheart, not just assumptions.”
“Don’t condescend me, Ely,” Jami says. “You know very well what Kasper Hill is capable of. You do, I do, we all do. Does he have an alibi?”
“Unfortunately, yes. He was threatening me in the staff lounge at the precinct right before you called. So it couldn’t have been him. He wasn’t even in the area.”
“And you believe that makes him innocent?” Jami asks me, and I know it’s time to tread carefully.
“I didn’t say that. I said nothing of the sort. All I’m saying is that we don’t have proof as of right now that he had anything to do with it.”
“Then find proof,” Jami seeths, and I actually lean back a bit to avoid whatever fury is about to be unleashed. “The motivation is there, Ely. His wife pissed him off and took his little girl away from him. She fucked with his job and his livelihood. What other reason does he need?” Jami winces, breathless, and falls back onto her pillow, exhausted.
“You have to take it easy, sweetheart,” I say quietly, squeezing her hand again. “You’re hurt pretty bad.”
“I want to go home, Ely.”
“I know you do, but the doc wants to keep you another night for observation, okay?”
“I don’t want to stay,” insists Jami, and despite all the stress, despite the issues at hand, all I can do is laugh. She glares at me, busted lip curling in a snarl, and I lean in to kiss her.
