Amy laughed as she unlocked his phone and sent a quick text message to Lance. "Does this mean you keep it simple and use that for everything?"
"Maybe. At least on ones I can. Some stupid apps want me to use letters and punctuation. Those get a bit trickier to remember. It's not like I use it for anything important. If someone wants to try and hack me, they can have at it. I'll track their ass down and arrest them."
Amy bit her lip but set his phone back in the console. "I do not understand what my sister sees in you."
"Have you asked her? You keep giving me shit about being friends with her, but have you asked her why we're friends?"
"Friends? Is that really what you are?"
"Maybe a bit more. I don't push. Besides, it's none of your business. If she wanted you to know more, she'd tell you."
"I don't want to give her the third degree. I'm glad she's finding her own path. She's got a job she loves, and she's making friends in the area. I just worry about her. She's been through so much. Her ex was a piece of work. You don't understand what her life was like." Amy reached for his phone as it dinged. She unlocked it again and read the response from Lance. "Nothing new to report. Lizzy and Martin will be by after dinner. Angus's vitals are stable. Still nothing from Betty." Amy glanced over at Franks. "Who's Betty?"
"A friend of Lizzy's." Franks had no idea what to say. Since he was texting Franks' phone, Lance wouldn't think twice about mentioning Lizzy.
"Was she at dinner with them last night? I heard her mentioned earlier."
"Um, I think she might have been there but not with them. I'm not sure. I know she's always with Lizzy, so it was strange she didn't show up at the hospital with them last night while Angus was in surgery." Franks took a deep breath. He was not going to be the one to tell Amy that ghosts were real and actively hanging out with everyone. There were some days he still struggled to believe in ghosts despite all the evidence he had that they existed.
"I'll have to look at the reservation list. Do you know her last name?" Amy asked.
"Nope. No idea. I've never met her in person. Just heard about her." That much was true. Since he couldn't see ghosts, hehadn't really met her. He might have had a few conversations with her through Lance and Lizzy, but he'd never heard her voice or laid eyes on her.
She typed something back to Lance, then set his phone back in place. "I told him we'd drop by later today once we finished a few more interviews. I feel bad for not being there more, but we do have jobs to do. There's not much we can do for Angus now other than find out what happened last night. He'll want answers when he wakes up, and I hope we will have them for him."
Franks agreed. They needed answers. But sitting down for interviews with no clue what they were looking for didn't seem to be getting them answers. They needed information from the scene. From the fire marshal and A.T.F. to know exactly what happened. Was someone to blame or did a gas line have an issue? So many questions. All he wanted was to turn back time and keep his friends from being at that restaurant last night. Since he couldn't do that, he'd do the next best thing and figure out exactly why his partner was lying in a hospital bed, fighting for his life.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lance sat curled in the chair beside Angus's bed, scrolling through his phone and looking for any new updates about the explosion. While there were hundreds of reports about what happened, not a single one hinted at what caused it.
It was frustrating not knowing. He wanted someone or something to blame for what happened. He needed a place to send all his anger and grief. Between his shoulder hurting and emotions spiraling, he wasn't sure what to do with himself.
The nurses and doctors came and went, none of them having anything new to report. Angus was stable and that was all they could tell him. At times, he swore he saw Angus move. Just a small twitch of a finger or a curl of his lips, but Lance knew it was just his imagination. It happened at the morgue sometimes. He'd swear a body moved. Sometimes it was simply nothing more than air releasing from the body. Other times, it was his imagination.
"Lance, I'm sorry I wasn't here last night. I just found out." Cel rushed into the room to stand beside Angus's bed. She glanced at Lance, then back at Angus. "Tell me everything."
Lance smiled. "Thanks for coming."
"I would have been here last night had I known. Someone should have come for me." She appeared to rest her hand over Angus's.
Cel was one of their best friends. She'd been a famous chef when she'd been alive and now spent her afterlife watching over her family and teaching Lance how to make her favorite dishes. He loved the time they spent together. She always made him laugh. She was a large black woman, and even though he knew her hand was nothing more than an illusion he could see,her black skin stood out as it appeared to cover Angus's hand, reminding Lance how pale Angus was right now.
"I wasn't thinking about anything but Angus last night. There was nothing you could have done anyway." Lance pushed up from the chair and came closer to the bed.
"Nonsense. I could have been here for you. I could have gone back and forth from the surgery to keep you updated. I could have prayed." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Look at you. Bethany didn't tell me you'd been injured as well." She shook her head. "How bad is it?"
"Not as bad as it looks." He told her about his injuries and explained about the explosion. "I don't know what caused it. I keep hoping the news will update us, but so far, nothing."
"Give them time. It hasn't even been twenty-four hours. Things like this take time. I'm sure people are looking at every possible angle. When you get the answers, you want them to be factual, not some half-assed guesses at what happened." She reached up and appeared to caress Angus's hair. "He's strong. He'll pull through this."
Lance blinked back tears. "I hope so. I'm so worried. So scared I'll lose him."
"Not going to happen. You two have a long life ahead of you. He's not going to leave you anytime soon. Bethany told me about what you saw. I know for a fact that he would not be here, breathing on his own if he wasn't inside that body. It's just not possible. If he moved on, his body would show no signs of life. You have to trust he's just healing and in no time at all, he'll be back to doing all those little things that drive you crazy."
"I'll never bitch about him leaving the toothpaste uncapped again." Lance smiled.
"There ya go. Keep thinking about that stuff. Think about that next vacation you two take. Once he's home and has theenergy, you and I will come up with a huge dinner menu and cook all his favorite foods."
