Her voice caught, she gulped and wiped at her eyes, but Blaze came in before Rory could say anything and she moved back for him to be examined.
“I’m going to send you down for an MRI and get some x-rays of your neck and head just to make sure there is no damage, but I think, all things considered, you’re doing well.”
He was too tired to argue. “Sure.”
“It will be a bit, so sit back and relax while you can,” Blaze said, his hand landing on Rory’s arm. “I’m sorry this happened, but glad it’s behind you, and thrilled you’ll be okay.”
“Me too,” he said.
Blaze left a minute later and Rory shut his eyes. The emotions of the day were too hard to handle, but there was one more thing he had to do. He reached in and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“Are you calling your mother?” Gale asked.
“It’s time to meet her and she needs to know,” he said. He hit the button and let it ring.
“Rory,” his mother said. “How are you doing?”
“We got him, Mom. We got him.” The tears rushed down his cheeks, his throat closing and making it impossible to talk.
Gale took the phone out of his hand while he silently sobbed.
“Hi, Katy. This is Gale.” He heard her sniffling too. “We are in the hospital right now. Rory is going to be fine.”
Gale put his mother on speaker. “What happened to Rory? Rory, are you there?”
“Here,” he said, clearing his throat. He needed Gale to tell his mother what happened.
“Your son is a hero. He never gave up even though there were threats made on his life. That’s how we got him.” As Gale explained the rest, his mother was crying on the other end, Gale shedding some tears too.
“I knew you could do it, Rory. But don’t you ever scare me like that again,” his mother said.
“Or me,” Gale said. “But Rory is right, he got him. He got Rocco. Rene can finally get justice. You finally get justice.”
“We got him,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Wedid.”
40
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
Hours later, Rory and Gale were back at her condo, her heart still not level enough in her eyes.
“I feel like such a fool for not seeing it,” she said.
“Don’t,” he said. “No one did. He told me he was in college when it happened and his mother kept him informed.”
There was a knock at the door and she got up and opened it. Ford was standing there, though it was late and everyone should be sleeping.
“Hey, come in.”
“How are you feeling?” Ford asked Rory.
His neck was swollen and bruised, but there was no permanent damage. Other than to his psyche. Hers too.
“Like someone tried to kill me. Twice.”
“Rocco confessed everything. Didn’t even want a lawyer. He said he couldn’t live with it another day,” Ford said.
“You’re kidding me,” she said. “Why would someone do that?”
