Page 373 of A Matter of Time

There was rubbing against the phone, muffled sounds, and bumping, it sounded like she was driving through a tunnel, even though I knew she wasn’t even in a car. Throat clearing and coughing before the voice I knew.

“Baby,” he said, and his voice was rough, full of gravel.

“Sam,” I whispered, frozen on the sidewalk, the relief swamping me, the sting of tears instantly in my eyes. I was so happy to hear him.

“Love.” He coughed softly. “I need you… I need to see your face.”

“I—”

“You should be here right beside me. Why aren’t you?”

“I gotta find the guy that hurt you, Sam. I can’t let him ever hurt you⁠—”

“It’s how I feel about you. Now you get it. Makes you nuts, right?”

“Yes.”

He knew exactly how to talk to me, and I had to smile listening to him being so calm, so matter-of-fact. We were talking like nothing special was going on, just like of course I would be doing precisely what I was.

“So you’ve been out there on your own, what—six days? Seven? Since I got hurt?”

“I think it’s more like five, but I’ve lost count.”

“All by yourself for a week, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“And you found the place, huh? Good job—real good. Now call Hefron and Moore and they’ll take it from there. You have no experience in securing a crime scene or what to touch or what not to touch. If you wanna catch this guy, you gotta leave the next step to the professionals, all right? Makes sense, right?”

It did.

“I know you wanna see, baby. I know you’re dyin’ to go in there, but don’t. Please don’t. Tell me where you are and I’ll call them. You wait there for them, and they’ll bring you to me.”

“I’ll call, Sam, but I’m not waiting here. I’m gonna see who else this guy knew. Other people have gotta remember him.”

“I need to see you.” He coughed again. “Did Rego James put his hands on you?”

“Yeah, but I let him. I used him because I needed a couple of his boys to show me where the car was. He’s kinda pissed at me right now, I think.”

“What did you let him do to you?”

“I didn’t kiss him.”

“I didn’t think you would.”

“He just touched me, Sam, nothing else.”

“Well, then, that makes it all better.”

“Sam—”

“I want you back here now. I want you next to me now. I cannot believe that my family, your brother, all our friends, and an entire police force can’t keep tabs on one twenty-six-year-old graphic designer who thinks he’s fuckin’ Batman.”

He was very funny. “First off, no one’s actually looking for me, they’re looking for whoever hurt you. I’m right, aren’t I?”

No answer, so I knew I was. It only made sense.

Sam’s fellow cops were running down whoever made the bomb that nearly killed him. That was their angle. Also, they were looking at the bigger picture of who would want to hurt Sam Kage, and since that was a long list, they more than likely had their hands full. On the other hand, there was me. I wasn’t in protective custody, I wasn’t breaking the law, I was simply running down my own lead that they didn’t have because putting Zach and Billy in jail wasn’t on my bingo card. They’d saved me; the least I could do was keep their names out of any official report.