I don’t know how long we stay like that, but the door to surgery eventually swings open, and we both open our eyes to an exhausted-looking doctor who waves Cameron and I over to speak to her.
Chapter fifty-three
GUARDIAN ANGEL
Thesurgeonpullsdownher mask so that it rests under her chin and cuts right to the chase. “He’s stable,” she starts, and Cameron instantly sags with relief. I continue to hold my breath, though, because the surgeon’s face is still etched with concern. “Your brother lost a ton of blood. Most of the time we had him under was just to stop the bleeding, but when we finally got him stable, I was able to successfully remove the bullet. He’s not out of the woods yet, and he will need to stay here to recover for a few days, but he was lucky that you got him here quickly.”
“Thank you so much, Doctor.” Cameron looks down at me with such relief that I can’t help but smile in return.
“You’re welcome. Although I have to give some credit to whatever guardian angel was watching over him tonight. If your brother had been hit just a centimeter lower, then the bullet would have clipped his left subclavian artery, and we may have had a different outcome.”
Cameron’s and my eyes meet again for a brief moment at that detail and then return to the surgeon as she starts to make her leave. “He’s in recovery now. As soon as he’s awake, a nurse will come to get you. Hang tight.”
The second we turn around to tell Cartwright the news, his knees buckle in relief just by the looks on our faces, and he sinks into his chair to cover his eyes with both hands.
This time it’s our turn to comfort him, so we each take one of his shoulders to put a reassuring hand on. He keeps his face covered, but I can just make out enough to hear him repeating the phrase, “Thank you, Lord,” over and over again.
Cameron and I stay standing, renewed from the encouraging report, and I happily step forward into his arms when he opens them up to me. I rest my ear against his chest and listen to his heartbeat as we gently sway in this quiet in-between moment while Cartwright composes himself. When he finally does, he gets right back on the phone, and we overhear him telling everyone who answers thathis boy is going to make it.
With Cartwright busy for the next few minutes, I pull back just enough to start a conversation with Cameron about logistics. “I think that you should be the first one to see Jalen. Cartwright and I can come back after he has a little more time to recover.”
I half expect him to argue, but after searching my eyes, he agrees. “I want to stay here with him overnight too. Just in case anything changes.”
I nod, relieved that we are on the same page.
“You don’t have to go to the station until you’re ready. I’ll take you in a few days once I feel comfortable leaving Jalen, and they will just have to be patient.”
“It’s fine,” I say. “I just want to get it over with. As soon as the nurse comes to get you to see Jalen, I’ll have Cartwright take me over there, and then I’ll find a new place to stay for the night. Although I am probably on some sort of blacklist at this point,since I am currently oh-for-two with wherever I stay becoming a crime scene. I might need to go to the next city over for someone to accept my reservation.”
“Don’t worry about finding a place. Cartwright can take you to my apartment after you give your fingerprint, and I’ll have him assign someone on patrol outside my building so that you will feel safe until I get there.”
I don’t love the idea of staying in his apartment without him, but my stomach does a small flip at the idea of staying therewithhim too. I take a deep breath and rest my ear back against his chest to get as much of him as I can before we have to go our separate ways for the evening. Cartwright wraps up his phone call at the same time that a nurse comes to tell us that Jalen is awake.
“Thanks for everything, Cartwright,” Cameron says with a handshake, because he is apparently unwilling to let go of me until the very last second.
“You’re welcome, Son.”
“Take care of Drew while I’m here, please.”
“You know I will.”
He leans down to give me another chaste kiss goodbye, and we make promises to keep each other updated on everything that happens while we are apart.
Once back inside Cartwright’s truck, we drive in contemplative silence towards the station, and I decide to ask him a few questions. “Cartwright?”
“Yeah?”
“I still don’t understand why Madeline killed Delaney. I’ve thought about it from every possible angle, and I don’t see the point other than bloodlust.”
He sighs heavily but does not speak as he puts on his blinker to pull into the parking lot. Part of me thinks that he’s going toleave it at that, but as soon as he puts the truck in park, he turns to face me. “Haven’t you heard more than enough for tonight?”
I laugh despite the fact that this whole situation is not the least bit funny. “I’ve probably heard more than enough for a lifetime, but I can’t stop thinking about it. I’d like to hear her reasoning, if you know what it is.”
He mulls it over for another moment and then shifts his gaze out the front of the windshield into the dark night. “I don’t know if you would have heard about Nash’s trial all the way out in California, but his case was big news out here in Charlotte. He was a local kid who made good, and soccer is pretty big out here, too, so there was a lot of interest. When he teamed up with Cameron, he told any media outlet that would listen about how he and his childhood buddy were going to fight the charges and that he would be fully exonerated.”
I wince, already knowing what comes next.
“So, when Cameron stepped down last minute,” he continues, “it obviously painted a picture, which made the media even more desperate for details, because you know, scandal sells. This next part is all unverified, but it seems that Madeline came to the retreat with the intent of killing a random guest so that Ravenwood would be in the news. She thought that a murder at a book retreat would be interesting enough to at least catch some media attention, and once that interest was already in place, she was going to kill Jalen, so that Cameron had to go through the same thing she went through.”
