“Baby, come on, baby, wake up.”
A sigh, another flutter, then a little sound.
Chapter 54
Private notes: Detective Callum Baxter (LAPD)
Date: Aug 17
Time: 16:12
Still haven’t talked to the friend who stayed with James Whitby prior to Virna’s accident. Whitby was happy to provide her name and contact info, but turns out the woman is a professor who studies remote tribes or something and has been incommunicado in the Amazon since the start of June.
Per Whitby, “She’ll come out when she comes out. Never ended up missing yet.”
Not much I can do but wait.
Time: 23:09
Decided to drive by Tavish Advani’s condo, and Jesus, he has a woman living there with him. I was hoping it was just a hookup when I spotted her out onthe balcony, but I managed to chat to a neighbor of his who was returning from a party, and he confirmed that the woman moved in recently—he couldn’t give me an exact date.
I have to warn her.
Chapter 55
It took Diya four hours to fully wake, and even then, she was groggy and lost.
Ackerson had got wind of her stirring consciousness and was hovering near the monitoring station, but the head nurse stood her ground and said the patient needed to see a familiar face first.
Now the nurse and Dr.Chen kept Ackerson at bay as Diya focused on me at last. “Hi, baby,” I said, fighting to keep my voice from shaking. “You’re in the hospital. You’re fine.”
When she tried to speak, nothing came out.
“I have water.” Picking up a water bottle into which the nurse had placed an extra-long bendable straw, I put the straw to her lips.
Diya managed to take a sip or two before whimpering, “Tavi, it hurts.”
My heart broke. “I know, baby, I know.” Dr.Chen had warned me that she might wake in pain since he had adjusted her pain medication to assist her rise to consciousness. “If you press this button”—I touched the pressure switch taped to her finger—“you’ll get a hit.”
I’d been told it was controlled, so there was no risk of an overdose.
Her finger moved.
It took several minutes, but the fuzziness finally faded from hereyes, the lines from around her mouth. “Why?” she rasped. “Hospital?”
My throat dried up. “Baby, what do you remember?”
I could all but feel Ackerson straining at the seams, wanting to take over, but I’d also heard what the doctor had said: If she madeanyattempt to question the patient, Chen would ban her from the entire ICU.
“I…” Diya’s eyes welled up, her breathing shallow gasps. “Fire. Fire everywhere. I can’t…”
“Her vitals are starting to deteriorate,” the doctor warned in a quiet tone.
“Shh,” I murmured to my wife. “You’re fine. The fire didn’t burn you.” I stroked her hair, careful to avoid the side where she’d suffered a head injury. “It’s all okay.”
A shaky smile. “Really?”
The vulnerability in her voice twisted me up. “Just rest now. We’ll talk about everything else later.”
