Daniel swallows. “They’re working on her.”
That answer nearly puts me through the floor.
Ryker turns away, both hands going to the back of his head. Knox steps toward me before I can move deeper into the hall.
“Cade,” he says.
“What room?”
“They’re not letting anyone back yet.”
“What room?”
Knox’s eyes sharpen. “Listen to me. You losing it in this hallway does not get you to her faster.”
I look at him, and for half a second, I think he sees exactly how close I am to breaking something that will not go back together.
Ryan steps up beside me. “He knows.”
Knox’s gaze flicks to him, then back to me. I drag one breath in through my nose, and it burns.
“What do you know?” I ask.
Knox’s face hardens, grateful maybe that I can still form the question. “Two witnesses found her on the shoulder near Main in front of the campus entrance. They saw a black Ford leaving fast. She told them it was Luke before she passed out, and they didn’t get a plate, but they got enough of the truck and enough of him to confirm it was Dempsey. Her Jeep is going to impound. He shattered her driver window to get her out of the Jeep. Forensics will process it for prints, blood, glass, anything he left behind. We’re pulling cameras from campus routes, traffic lights, nearby businesses, whatever we can get. If he crossed into any lot with cameras, we’ll find him.”
“He ran,” I say.
Knox nods once. “Yes. She called me, but I sent her to voicemail. Didn’t realize why until I got the call from those two officers that my sister was brought in badly beaten.”
“Find him and put whatever you are feeling on him. None of us thought he was this stupid.”
“We will.”
It isn’t enough.
Nothing is enough.
Daniel steps closer, and his voice is rougher than I have ever heard it. “She told me everything when I first got here, but the medical staff asked us to hang tight while they check her and do X-rays and shit.”
I go still.
Daniel’s eyes fill, but he doesn’t look away. “Not everything, but enough. She told me you convinced her, that you promised you would help her through this.” He closes his eyes as his voice cracks. “Thank you for making my baby feel safe when I was too blind to see she wasn’t.”
My chest cracks open so hard I almost stagger seeing Daniel Bennett thanking me for something she had the courage for, not me.
“I wanted her to start fighting,” I say, but the words barely make it out. “I didn’t want her doing it alone.”
Daniel nods, and the motion looks like it hurts him.
Ryker turns then, eyes locked on mine. “Did you know?”
I look at him.
“During street hockey,” he says, voice shaking with something ugly. “When you went at him. Did you know what he was doing to her?”
“No.”
The word is immediate, and Ryker’s face twists.
