Harper completely lost it. She was sobbing uncontrollably and clinging to Phoenix for dear life. I looked at the trauma surgeon and asked, “Have the police been notified?”
He nodded, “Yes. It’s hospital policy to report these types of injuries to the authorities. Since no one was here for them to speak with, the detective left his card with one of the nurses. He also said he would be back later this morning to see if the family had been found.”
“Where did they find Duke, I mean John?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that. I was paged to the ED and we were taking him into surgery within minutes of getting the call. I’m sure the detective can answer that for you. I will say that the stab wounds appeared to be intentionally placed.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“Well, multiple stab wounds are usually all over the place, with some vertical, some horizontal, or some diagonal. Mr. Jackson had four vertical stab wounds evenly spaced down the left side of his torso and the right side mirrored the left. I’ve never seen anything like it. I can’t say for sure, but I would guess that he was already unconscious when they occurred because the wounds are very straight and clean, no tissue tearing or jagged edges, which are commonly seen when one is trying to fight off or escape their attacker.”
“Thank you, doctor. Both of you,” I said as I extended my hand to one then the other. Those words weren’t enough. Duke was one of my closest friends and these two men likely just saved his life.
They both nodded and turned to Harper, “Do any of you have any other questions?”
Harper was still somewhat hysterical so Phoenix answered, “I can’t think of anything right now. Can she see him now?”
“I’ll go check and see if he has been moved to his room. If not, it shouldn’t be much longer.” Phoenix shook their hands while I tried to comfort Harper.
As soon as we were alone, Phoenix asked, “What the fuck, brother? Eight damn stab wounds? Strategically placed? Who would have done this? Shit! We should have asked if he had his cut on.” He was pacing back and forth, hands tugging on his hair.
“We can ask for his belongings if they aren’t in his room when he gets there. You know he was wearing it. You think somebody took it off of him?”
“They would have had to in order to stab him like they did. Fuck man, we gotta find that and his damn bike. But first, I want a brother in or outside his room at all times and we’re going to move Harper to the clubhouse.”
Harper’s head shot up. “No. I am not moving into the clubhouse,” she vehemently stated.
“Sweetheart, we don’t know what happened to your brother other than somebody attacked him and damn near killed him. He would want us to make sure you are safe,” Phoenix explained softly.
“Then put a tail on me, post one of your boys at my house, but I am not moving into the clubhouse.”
Phoenix sighed and ran his hand down his face. “Will you give me two weeks? You can stay in Duke’s room and you can come to the hospital as much as you want. If we haven’t taken care of this within two weeks, you can go home and I’ll put a man on you.”
She huffed and gritted out, “Fine. Two weeks and no more.”
“Agreed. Good to see you with a little backbone, Harper,” Phoenix told her.
She blushed and turned away from us. “Yeah, I’ve been working on it.”
CHAPTER 14
Ember
I woke to an empty room. I guess Reese stayed in Carbon’s room last night. I was hoping she would have come back to the room before I fell asleep. I wanted to talk to her about what happened with Dash. I needed to talk to her about what happened with Dash.
When I went out to get breakfast, there were several bikers scattered around the room, but there seemed to be a quiet tension in the air. A quick glance around the room revealed no Reese, but Carbon was at a table in the very back corner. I made my way over to him. “Hey, have you seen Reese this morning?”
“Yeah, she’s in my room sleeping. You need something?” he answered without taking his eyes off of his food.
“No, I just wanted to check on her since she wasn’t there when I fell asleep last night or when I woke up this morning.”
“She’ll be all right,” he said casually.
“Why do you say that? Did something happen?”
Carbon looked shocked, “You don’t know?”
“Know what?” I almost yelled.
