“I’m here, Mommy.” Ayla’s voice. When was the last time she’d called me “Mommy”? “I’m not hurt.” Relief whooshed through me. My girl was OK.
I dragged my eyes open. Ayla’s concerned face hovered over me. Nasser knelt beside her.
“How did you find me?” I whispered to keep my head pain from skyrocketing.
“I knew you were too worried about me to stay gone this long,” Ayla said. “Once I figured something was wrong, I tracked your phone.”
“I turned off location services.” My voice was barely audible.
“Adam and I can tell when you turn them off, you know. We just turned them back on the next time we were home.”
“So sneaky,” I breathed.
“We were worried about you,” Ayla said. “Why do you think we’ve been home so much since Dad died?”
My heart contracted painfully. Despite everything that Ayla had been going through, she’d still been concerned about me? “And I thought you came home because you needed to be with your mommy,” I said hazily. “How did Nasser get here?”
“I called him on my drive over.”
“That’s not your job, to worry about me,” I whispered. Loud sounds hurt too much. Especially ones coming from inside my head.
“Oh, Mommy.” Tears filled her big dark eyes, droplets catching in her lush eyelashes. She had Ali’s lashes. “I’m so glad you’re OK.”
Another blurry face appeared behind Nasser and Ayla. The features sharpened into focus. “Detective Fox?”
“I’m sorry I missed your call. I came as soon as I got your message.” She wore her usual humorless expression. “How are you feeling?”
“Like someone hit me over the head with a weight.”
She cracked a smile. “We’re interviewing Bill Warren and Lizzie Martins. They both say you’re the one who attacked Lizzie first with pepper spray.”
My throat was so dry. “I recorded our conversation,” I rasped.
Behind her, Detective Lloyd appeared with my phone and looked through it. “I checked the voice notes. You didn’t record anything today.”
“Not that phone. Check my jacket pocket.”
Ayla went through my pockets and pulled out the device. “Why do you have Dad’s phone?”
“I always double record my interviews,” I explained as Ayla handed the phone to Detective Lloyd. “In case one of them messes up.”
“Poor Dad,” Adam said. “What assholes those people were to let Dad think he’d killed someone.” He’d driven down from school after Ayla called to tell him what happened.
“Definitely a very troubled family.” I was lying on a gurney in the emergency room, where I’d been taken from Lizzie’s hotel room. So far I’d had a CT scan and other tests. We were waiting for the ER doc to come in to talk with me.
“And they arrested this Lizzie person and her brother?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ayla said. “I was afraid the brother was going to come after me after Mom pepper sprayed his sister, but Uncle Nasser showed up. And the police came right after.”
“Thank goodness.” I rubbed my aching head. “Hopefully they’ll lock both of them up and throw away the key.”
Adam looked relieved. “I knew Dad wasn’t some loser who’d buy a house for his girlfriend. Seriously, Dad wasn’t cool enough to have a side piece. He was kind of a nerd.”
“Thank goodness for that,” I murmured.
“Adam, don’t be an idiot.” Ayla rolled her eyes. “Cheating on your wife isn’t cool.”
He dismissed her. “You know what I mean.”
