On instinct, I placed one hand on his head and the other on his back. I didn’t speak, and I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but my heart felt so full of love I could barely breathe.
We lay like that for a couple of minutes before his soft, almost hard-to-hear voice broke the silence. “I was scared.”
“About what?”
“That you would die like Mommy.”
I closed my eyes to keep my tears at bay. “I’m still here, and I’m sorry I scared you.”
“Are you staying?”
“In the hospital?”
He lifted his head so I could see his eyes. So much hope shone there. “No, with Daddy, me, and Livy?”
I ran my hand over his hair, so much like his father’s. “I don’t know exactly where I’ll live, but I won’t leave town, is that fair?”
His nose scrunched up adorably. “I guess.”
The door to the hospital room opened, and I thought it would be maybe Gideon, Rita, or Dean, but instead it was two people in suits. A quick assessment pinged them as detectives. Owen slid to the left of me and buried his face in my chest.
“Can I help you?”
“Mr. Garrand, I’m Detective Hoss, and this is Detective Mueller. We were hoping we could get a statement from you regarding everything you’ve been through.”
I pressed the call button, wanting the nurse to arrive so she could maybe get Owen out of here. I could tell this was upsetting him—he was humming and clinging to me.
“Which part?”
Hoss was a young man, maybe late twenties, blond hair, with all-American charm while Mueller was a woman who looked to be closer to fifty, a tight bun, and no-nonsense expression.
“I’d like to start by asking what happened when you went to the police station.” Hoss wasn’t giving off hostile vibes.
The nurse took that moment to enter. She eyed the detectives but came right over to me. “Is everything okay?”
“Can you find Owen’s dad, Gideon? Or Rita or Dean? He shouldn’t be here for this.”
“Oh, of course. They all went down for lunch, give me a few.” She smiled at Owen and gently rubbed his shoulder. “We havea playroom. Would you like to come with me and wait for your dad?”
He shook his head. “I stay with Penn. Protect him.” While he said it with his face mashed in my chest, it warmed me.
“It’s okay, just maybe tell them to hurry.”
Once she left, Hoss lifted a brow. “So the police station.”
“He’s five, Detective. He shouldn’t be listening to any of this.”
“A five-year-old with a mob boss for a father, I’m sure he’s heard worse.” Mueller sneered. Yeah, totally pegged her for a bitch.
“Evelyn,” Hoss hissed. “My apologies, Mr. Garrand.”
“Look, I’m not talking about this with him here, so either come back later or wait outside until his father arrives.”
“We don’t work on your timetable, Mr. Garrand,” Mueller snapped. “There are a lot of things that don’t add up about what happened before you entered this hospital. Good people are dead, and I think you know what happened and perhaps even had a hand in causing it.”
“Evelyn, enough.” Hoss stepped in front of her, blocking my view. “Go cool off.”
“No! Larry Shaw was a great man trying to better Northchester, and I know that he knows what happened. Suicide? Come on, Jim, you know that’s not who he was.”
