"How's he holding up?" Amy asked.
"You can tell he's starting to feel the stress. He needs to go home and sleep a good ten hours, but no one can get him to leave Angus's side." Franks paused to place his order, then focused back on Amy after she'd given hers. "I think once they bring him out of the coma, he might relax a bit and be willing to leave for afew hours, but right now, he's not sure Angus will wake, so he's scared."
"I thought the outlook was good for him." Amy took a sip from her water glass.
"It is, though they won't know for sure until he wakes if there was any kind of brain damage or long-term issue with his throat, but they all say they think he'll be fine and make a full recovery. When I spoke with Lizzy the other day, she said Angus will end up going to rehab for a bit probably to get his strength back. She warned me it could be months before he's back to work."
"Yeah, I was thinking about that. We have to hire at least one or two new detectives or we're all going to burn out. I have three new cases on my desk that I haven't given more than a glance. With all our focus on the explosion, everything else is on the backburner."
"Then we need to close this case quickly, because I'm not holding my breath that we get a new detective or two. We've been promised that for a few years and it never happens."
"True, but with the old mayor gone, we might just get a budget increase," Amy pointed out.
"We can only hope." Franks sighed.
"So, what are our plans?" Amy raised a brow at him.
"Call Hillary Hilton and get her in for an interview. Maybe meet up with someone from ATF or the fire marshal and find out exactly what could have been done to cause the explosion. How much knowledge would she have to have to pull this off? I mean, I know the basics on how gas is supplied to a house or business, but I wouldn't have a clue what I'd have to do to blow a place up." Franks shrugged.
"Not just one place. That explosion took out three business and damaged many more on the block. I'm going to step outside and give Hillary a call. Once we get her interview scheduled, we'll have a better idea on how our afternoon will look."
Franks nodded. "I'm going to text Lance and see if he needs anything."
As she left the table, Franks stared at where she'd been sitting. Usually, Angus sat there. He wondered how long it would be before they were here together again, telling jokes, talking about life, and acting like everything was right in their worlds.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
"I hear Mom and Dad," Angus told Betty. "It's getting easier to hear them."
"That's because you're getting stronger. Your body is healing and your soul isn't as focused on keeping the connection to your physical form. I think now would be a good time to test if you're ready for me to let go of my hold on you."
Fear raced through Angus. "No, we can't be sure. What if it goes wrong? I could die."
"Silly, you act as if you think death is such a bad thing. You know it's not. But even so, I don't think you'll die. If your soul starts to detach from your body the way it did before, I'm right here. I can grab hold again. The only real risk is that we redamage your cord and have to stay together longer while I hold it together."
"What are the chances of that happening?" Angus asked, wishing he knew how to hold on to Betty and keep her nearby.
"Very slim. I think you're healed enough that you can get through this." Betty's voice was calm and soothing.
"Will you be able to speak to me once you aren't inside my physical form with me?" Angus didn't want to be left alone.
"I'm not sure, but I don't think so. I've never tried to sneak into someone's physical body before this. But I didn't think I could do it to save your life, yet I did. If you're ready for me to let go of your cord, I will go, but I promise to try and connect with you after to remind you that you must heal and get better. Your friends and family are all waiting for you. Right now, my soul is wrapped around your cord, holding it together. When I pull back, I'll be able to see if it's healed. Any sign that it's not fully connected, I'll go back to holding it together. You have toremember that I'm as new to this as you are when it comes to holding a cord. I don't know what will happen."
"You mean there's a chance it hasn't healed back together and may never?" The thought of really dying scared him. Yeah, he knew about the afterlife and that he could go on as a ghost, but he had stuff he still wanted to do. Things he couldn't do as a ghost. He wanted to grow old with Lance. Make love to him again. Feel him sleeping against his chest. So many things he'd left for another day, and now he may not ever get a chance to do those things.
"It's possible. We won't know until I release you from my hold. But I promise I'll do everything to keep you here if it's still broken. We'll just have to find another way."
Angus didn't like how that sounded. What if there wasn't another way? What if he was meant to die in that explosion and no amount of trying to reverse it would change things? Had they just been wasting their time trying to hold his cord together? No, he couldn't think that way. He had to have faith that this worked and that what Betty did had saved him. "When?"
"Now?" Betty asked. It's just your parents and Lance in the room. It's a good time to test it, because the moment I leave your body, Lance and Lizzy will both see me."
He thought about how hard this must have been on his mother, not knowing what had happened to Betty. He wanted to give Betty back to her, but the risk of losing his life doing that had him hesitating.
"You're going to be okay. This is the next step in getting you back to normal. Your physical body is healing, and I believe so is your cord. Let's test it out and see. I'm just barely pulling back to see what happens. I'll wrap myself around it again if I need to." Betty started humming.
"Betty, before you go, thank you for what you did. Even if it doesn't work, you tried and I can't tell you how much that meansto me. To everyone. I'm going to miss talking to you, hearing you sing."
"My boy, I'll still be humming and singing for you even if you can't hear it. I've been doing it since you were a baby. We'll see each other again when your true time comes. I hope that's not for a very long time. I enjoy watching you and Lance experiencing life together. You're like my own sons."
