God, he’s a sexy man.
Ely sets the food on the table, gets a beer from the fridge, and then sits down across from me to eat. Something seems off with him, something strange, but I can’t place it. He looks like he wants to say something but can’t quite find the way to say it. Finally, his heavy silence weighs on me, and I put down my fork.
“Don’t tell me you’re breaking up with me,” I say, only kind-of teasing. “Out with it, man. You’re bursting from the seams.”
Ely sighs and takes my hand across the table, which I already know isn’t a good sign.
“It’s Tara Hill,” he says, and his eyes cast to the floor, unable to keep looking at me. A growing mass of fear expands in the pit of my stomach, and I don’t know why yet, but I feel sick like I could vomit all over the dinner table and keep vomiting until I just die.
“What about her?” I ask, but my voice comes out in a tiny, timid squeak. I’m not even positive he’s heard me, but when he meets my gaze again, I know he has.
“She’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“Dead,” Ely says, and his voice hitches. “She threw a clot earlier and there wasn’t anything anyone could do.”
“Oh, my god.” The nausea crawls like insects up my throat and I take a breath, trying to ease the acid in my stomach. I reach for my refilled glass of wine and take a healthy drink.
“Yeah. The doctors think she might have been brain-dead at this point. Doc Shaffer thinks it was a matter of time.”
I don’t want to ask, but I have no choice. “Is Maddy okay? Does she know?”
“She’s still with Kasper,” Ely says, and I cringe just hearing his name. “They both know. He left work early after the news. Maddy spent the day with a sitter.”
“And everyone’s positive he didn’t somehow tamper with Tara?” I ask, drawing a frustrated grunt from Ely.
“He was at work with me, Jami,” he says. “He couldn’t have. Just like before.”
“Wow, he’s just getting one happy coincidence after another, isn’t he?” I say, drawing in a disappointed grimace from Ely. I shrug and take another sip of my wine.
“I’m sorry about Tara,” Ely says, pushing his plate of untouched food aside. “I know you feel guilty about the entire situation, even though none of it is your fault. If anything, you gave her a fighting chance.”
“Or I got her killed.” I start to stand up to refill my glass, but Ely beats me to it, and I settle back into the chair as he goes to the kitchen to pour me more.
“You didn’t do anything,” he says, handing me my glass, “but try to help that family. That’s it. End of story.”
I ponder this for a moment, thinking at once of Madison, and how terrified and devastated she must be knowing that her mother is dead and she’s back under the guardianship of her abusive father – a man she spent years watching beat her mother right in front of her.
“Do you think he’s hurting her, Ely?” I ask finally. “Maddy, I mean?”
When he doesn’t answer immediately, I feel my heart drop into my stomach.
“If he is, there’s no evidence of it,” he says quietly. “And Madison hasn’t said anything to anyone.”
“Jesus Chris.” I steady myself on a chair, shaking my head, still fighting the urge to puke. “And still no one knows who broke in? Whodidthis to them?”
“Not yet,” Ely says, and I can tell he’s trying not to let me fall down that rabbit hole again.
“How did this even happen?” I whisper, and my hands and fingers begin to tremble. Ely crosses the floor and walks around the chair to take me in his arms, to hold me against him and steady me. I feel so sick like I might never feel okay again, and as soon as Ely wraps himself around me, I begin to sob.
“Nothing you did, we did, or anybody did led it to this,” he whispers, stroking my hair. “If Kasper Hill is behind this, Jami, there’s a good chance he will never be taken down for it. He’s a cop, and he’s good at hiding things. He has contacts.”
“We said we would protect her. I promised we would protect her.”
“And you did,” says Ely. “But sometimes there’s nothing you can do.”
“We should have moved them away.” I pull away from Ely, angry suddenly, wanting to hit the wall, pummel something until my fists are bloody and ragged. Preferably Kasper Hill’s face. “We should have moved them out of state for a fresh start. What were we thinking, letting them stay in Colorado, let alone Denver? Did we just assume that they’d be safe from the very man who could have been involved?”
