No, he should check.
Carlos crouched and grabbed the inset handle, then slid the panel sideways, his breath catching in his throat. He found a woman curled up in the cupboard, dressed in a white nightgown. Dark hair spilled over her shoulders, longer than Luci had ever worn it.
He would ask forgiveness later for the things he said in that moment, before yelling, “Lia!”
Carlos slid his fingers under her throat and felt for a pulse. Her skin was warm, and he felt a faint thump. So slow.
Merciful Lord.
Eliana skidded into the bathroom, closely followed by Tony.
“I found her.” Carlos reached in to scoop Luci from the cupboard. “She’s alive.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Eliana looked around the waiting area of the hospital floor where Luci had been taken. The room was almost empty, though a staff member sat behind the desk in the corner by the door to the floor. Someone paged Doctor Jimenez to radiology over the hospital intercom.
Tony tapped the screen of his phone. “Sylvia is on her way here.” He looked at Carlos. “Director Caughton.”
Carlos looked back at him like he didn’t care in the least who she was.
Eliana shifted her weight from one sneaker to the other, wanting to do something, but realizing that thing was probably going to be keeping the peace. “Thanks.” To Carlos she said, “We could sit?” Given his expression, he clearly didn’t want to. But Eliana knew that if he could get a minute to sit, he needed to take it.
Carlos slumped into the chair, and she took the seat beside him, reaching over to hold his hand. Tony sat in the seat across from them.
“Just say it.” Tony opened his hands for a second, then laced his fingers on his lap. “We all missed it. No one knew she was in that closet.”
Carlos just stared at him, his body tense.
“How did she get in there?” Eliana asked. “Did she hide in there, or did someone put her in there while she was unconscious?”
Tony shrugged. “We might never know. But it’s hard to believe she managed to get upstairs and into that closet without help, given the head injury she sustained.”
“There probably would’ve been blood on the walls and the edges of the closet.” Carlos reached up with his free hand and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “It was too clean for someone to have stumbled in there to hide.”
Eliana glanced between Carlos and Tony. “Does it make sense that they left her for dead and split?”
“Why don’t you guys ask your friends at the FBI?” Tony’s expression hardened. “They’re the ones who had the place under surveillance.”
Carlos and Eliana had been so focused on getting Luci to the hospital by ambulance that neither of them had a chance to call Special Agents Fox and Glor—not that Eliana had their numbers. Carlos would probably brief them when he got a chance, but the doctor was supposed to come out any minute now with an update on Luci’s condition.
Eliana squeezed her eyes shut and tried to pray for her friend. But all she could think was how Luci had been tucked in that closet for over a day, bleeding and unconscious. What kind of monster could have hit her and then hidden her?
She would’ve thought Sarah capable of something like that, but she was dead. Maybe it was the work of the two men who had escaped the apartment. Or anyone else in the Reverence Sisters group.
Tony lifted his chin, his attention over Eliana’s shoulder. “The doctor is here.”
Eliana twisted around in her seat and saw the older man with white hair and a square jaw, wearing scrubs under a lab coat, approach them.
“You’re the family of Luci Ryson?” He came to stand near them.
Carlos twisted in his seat, angling his body to face the doctor. He didn’t let go of her hand. “Yes. She’s my sister.”
The doctor’s expression softened with compassion. “Luci has suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. There was significant blood loss, and the impact caused swelling and bleeding in her brain. The next forty-eight hours will be critical. If she wakes up?—”
“If?” Carlos sat up straighter.
“You need to be prepared for this to go a number of ways,” the doctor said. “If she wakes up, she may not be the person you knew.”
