“Thanks, Prez. We’ll head to Irene’s now.”
On the way to Irene’s house, I couldn’t stop thinking about Daphne. I’d only met her one time, but she’d left an impression. I wanted to know what happened to her and if she was okay. Apparently, I wasn’t doing a good job of hiding my inner thoughts.
“We can stop by the hospital first if you want,” Ink said.
“What?”
“Come on, man. You’ve been in your head since Phoenix said Daphne’s name. There’s no reason we can’t stop by the hospital and check on her.”
“You don’t think it would be weird if we showed up at the hospital?”
“Tell her Irene asked us to stop by on the way to her house. We can get flowers from the gift shop and say they’re from Irene.”
It was completely out of character for me, and I couldn’t explain it, but I had to know what happened.
“All right. Let’s do it.”
When we arrived at the hospital, I started to second-guess our decision, but Ink didn’t let me back out.
“Come on. We won’t stay long if she seems uncomfortable. Just act like we’re doing Irene’s bidding.”
With a confidence I was completely faking, I waltzed up to the front desk and asked to see Daphne Clark.
“She’s in room two,” the lady said and pointed to a door. “I’ll buzz you in.”
When I heard the lock click, I pushed the door open and walked over to room two. It was closer than I expected, and I wasn’t prepared for the door to be opened, or for Daphne to be looking directly at me.
I lightly knocked on the door as a formality and gave her a sheepish smile. “Can we come in?”
She seemed to recognize us and nodded. “Uh, sure. What are you doing here?”
“We’re going over to Irene’s house to make sure it’s secure. She asked us to stop by and check on you first. This is Ink, by the way.”
“Hi,” Ink said. “You doing okay?”
“Irene’s such a nice lady. I’m okay. I mean, I’m not, but I will be. Just some bumps and bruises … and I may have cracked a finger or two.”
“You’re going to have one hell of a shiner by tomorrow.”
She sighed. “Yeah, that’s what the doctor said. Thankfully, that’s all it is.”
“Can we ask what happened?”
Without hesitation, she told us the story of how a masked man attacked her at Irene’s house.
“So they got the guy?”
“Yes, they did. He was here, too, but I think they’ve already taken him to jail.”
“Do you know who it was?”
“Yeah, they said his name was Daniel Garrison.”
“I meant, doyouknow him?” I clarified.
“Oh, no. I have no idea who he is or what he wanted.”
Something about the way she answered didn’t sit right with me. “Are you sure about that?”
