"Do you think they know something we don't?" Lizzy asked. "Franks and Amy are homicide detectives."
"I think they've got everyone working on this case right now. If they knew something, Franks would have told us. I don't think anyone knows exactly what happened yet. I know the news said investigators were still waiting to get into some areas of the building. It's too soon to guess what caused that explosion," Martin told them.
"I agree. Franks would tell us. He's never kept secrets from us." Lance pushed up from his chair, needing to stretch his legs. He grimaced at the pain in his shoulder. "I feel like I have bug bites all over my legs."
Lizzy laughed. "That's one way to describe it. I swear the small cuts are more distracting than the big one that they operated on. And they itch something fierce. I keep wanting to scratch but know I'll just tear open the scabs that have formed."
"Reminds me of the chicken pox." Martin smirked.
"Then I'm glad I never had chicken pox. This is absolute hell." Lance rubbed his hand down his hip. "Now I know why they put him in a coma. The need to scratch would cause him to move too much." He paused at the foot of Angus's bed, taking in the pale color of his skin. "Do you really think he's in there?"
"I do," Martin said.
At the same moment Lizzy said, "I don't know."
Lance sighed, resting his hand gently on Angus's blanket-covered foot. "He has to be. No one we've talked to has ever seen a body alive without a spirit, right?"
"But I saw him." Lizzy wiped at more tears.
"So did I, but I also saw Betty appear to grab hold of him. Maybe she did something to keep him from fully leaving his body. I've played it back in my mind over and over again, and I can't recall if his whole spirit had left his body. In my mind, I want to say he was only half out of it." Lance continued to hold Angus's foot. "Until it's proven he's not in there, I will believe that he is. I just wish I knew where Betty was."
"I think we lost her. She'd be here if she could. She wouldn't leave Angus and me at a time like this." Lizzy crumpled the tissue in her fist.
Lance's heart ached for her. He was aware of how close Betty and Lizzy were. Even Martin would feel the loss. He might not see or talk to Betty, but she'd always been around. She went everywhere they did. "I wish I had answers." He released Angus's foot and moved around the room a bit, stretching his legs.
"I agree with Lance. We have to stay positive. Angus is here and he'll be just fine once he recovers. There's no reason to think otherwise. And as far as Betty goes, we have to trust she knew what she was doing and what the risk was. If she went into the light while saving Angus, that's exactly what she meant to do. I have no doubt she'd do anything to protect him. She was as much a parent to him as we are." Martin gave Angus's hand a squeeze from where he still held it on the bed.
Lizzy sniffed but said nothing.
"Hopefully, when Angus wakes up, he'll recall what happened. But we have to prepare ourselves for the fact that wemight never know exactly what happened. And we have to make sure Angus doesn't feel guilty if Betty is gone. He loves her as much as anyone, and it will destroy him if he knows she is gone because she saved him. So let's be careful what we say in case he really can hear us. I want him only hearing positive things." Lance was mourning Betty as much as anyone, but he had to focus on the person still alive. The person who he would grow old with.
"You're right. Positive thoughts." Lizzy smiled. "We're going to focus on Angus and the huge welcome home party we're going to throw him when he finally gets out of this place."
Lance nodded, praying that Lizzy was right and even if it took months, he would get Angus back home, where he could hold him close, remind him he loved him, and hope nothing like this ever happened to them again.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Franks glanced over at Amy as she sat in the passenger seat, typing on her laptop. "What's next?" They'd just finished interviewing the last of the patients who had yet to be discharged from Fairway Hospital.
"We have four patients at the other hospital in their burn unit. Head over that way and we'll see if any of them are up to talking to us. I heard one is unconscious, but the other three should be alert enough to speak to us." Amy kept tapping away on the keys.
"Mostly kitchen staff?" Franks asked as he pulled to a stop light.
"Yeah, they were in the center of the blast it seems. At least that's where the fire was. With gas stoves, fryers, and who knows what else, it makes sense that the kitchen was the area to catch fire. What triggered that fire is the question? I can't wait to get the report from the fire marshal." Amy sighed. "It hasn't even been a day and I feel like I've been working this case for weeks. I keep wanting to complain about how long it's taking to get information about the explosion, then realize we're only fifteen hours into this."
"The lack of sleep, the personal connections, and the enormity of the violence makes it feel like longer. Let's hit Starbucks and I'll buy us some caffeine to help get us through. I heard that the feds were coming in to help. ATF should be here anytime and hopefully that will get us some answers. Calling in the big boys makes me think they found something that told them this wasn't accidental. The thing is, for the life of me, I can't imagine why anyone would blow up a restaurant. None of the victim names stood out to me as a possible target." Franks turned into the parking lot and pulled to a Starbucks drive-thru.
Amy gave him her order, waited while Franks ordered, then said, "I would think if one of the diners was the target, the explosion would have been to the dining area. This looks as if it came from the back of the building where the kitchen and storage rooms were."
"Most of the injuries in the dining area were from the glass shattering or objects impacting people, or broken bones like Angus's father has. I saw several broken arms last night while I was checking on Lance. The severe injuries are almost all from the kitchen area." They'd spoken to one waiter who had his hand severed by the blast. "Have we looked through Yelp or other review sites to see if anyone has been seriously upset with the company lately?" Franks pulled up to the window, paid with a wave of his card, and took their drinks.
"I hadn't thought about looking. Good thinking. I was focused on the restaurant's website and information, but I hadn't thought about reviews. We'll look into those once we get back to the station." Amy set her drink in the holder between them. "Thanks for the coffee. I needed it."
"Anytime. We'll grab lunch after we hit the burn unit. It's going to be a long day." Franks focused on the road while at the same time trying to think about what they were missing in their initial investigation. "We need to focus on the owners. Search their social media, speak to their families, and find out if they had any problems with someone. This could be personal and not an attack on the actual business."
"Horrible to blow a bunch of people up to get revenge against one person." Amy shook her head.
"True, but we've seen it done before. I'm just trying to think of everything we need to do. Making a mental list for when interviews are done." Franks' mind was running at full speed, but his body was reminding him how little sleep he'd had in the last day. It was hardly the first time he'd lost sleep becauseof a case, but this case was even more important since Angus was fighting for his life because of what happened. They still didn't know whether the explosion was an accident or a criminal act. The fact that explosions like that very seldom happened by accident had his gut churning, telling him this was something malicious. He prayed he was wrong, but he didn't think he was. Someone caused the building to blow, and he wanted to find that person and make them pay for what they did to his friends and the others in the community.
