Chapter Five
Caroline
––––––––
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHERdoor, except that time, the thin piece of wood preventing me from entering the room was based at the hospital instead of the police station.Fatigue gnawed at my brain, the tiredness combining with my boredom to goad me, but there was nothing I could do save for wait.
Wait for Kaspar, wait for Michel, wait for news about Harper.
“Another coffee, Miss Craness?”
Michel sounded even more exhausted than I felt, the bags under his eyes heavier than the night before.For a split second, a twinge of culpable guilt stabbed at me for those bags.Michel was only doing his job, and I knew I was, at least in part, the reason for his over-tiredness.
“No, thank you.”I dismissed the idea with a flick of my hand.“Any more caffeine and I’ll be flying around Zurich.”
He smiled wearily.“I understand.”
“You grab one, though,” I told him.“I know you didn’t get much sleep, either.”
I’d managed to achieve about four hours of rest in the end before adrenaline at the thought of seeing Harper again had splintered my sleep and woken me.I suspected Michel had gotten even less rest.
“You will wait here?”His tone was more imploring than commanding, a timbre that resonated with me from the months of my captivity I’d endured.During that time, I’d had no choice but to comply, but in the white-washed hospital hallway, I did have a choice.Even as a refugee, I could leave the corridor if I chose to.
“I’ll wait.”I had nowhere else to go, and I wasn’t leaving until I’d seen Harper.
“Okay.”He rose from his chair and blew out a breath.“I shall be back as soon as I can.”
“Take your time.”I yawned as he wandered away.
We seemed to have been waiting outside the room for hours already, but predictably, I’d lost track of time and had no way of knowing how long we’d been there.At any rate, there was nowhere else in the universe I wanted to be than back with the man I loved.
Harper was my anchor, and without him, I could sense myself drifting.I needed his calm authority to soothe me, and his caress to keep me strong.I didn’t feel whole without him.
I startled as the door swung open, leaping to my feet to greet the women who had left the room.The one Kaspar had told me was Harper’s doctor swept past me without so much as a word, but the other—a nurse—paused with a sympathetic smile.
“Miss Craness?”Her voice was quiet.
“Y-yes.”
I had no idea how she knew who I was, but I had to trust that her stopping to speak was a positive sign.Perhaps Harper had mentioned me.I certainly hoped so.
“Be gentle with Mr.Harper.”She looked me up and down, though I couldn’t tell what her expression conveyed.“He still needs to recover.”
“Is he okay?”I peered at the partially open doorway.No one had given me an update on Harper’s condition, and all I knew was that he’d woken up.The lack of information was absurdly frustrating.
“Miss Craness.”Kaspar’s harder tone drew my attention from the nurse’s warning, and I took a step toward the officer as she closed the door.
“You can see him now.”She signaled to the room.“But I must tell you, he’s suffering from a bout of amnesia and doesn’t appear to remember much about you.”
“What?”In that moment, the Earth beneath my feet shifted.
