He shook his head. “Don’t.” He peered up at her. “Don’t reassure me. You are the victim, Chloe. You. God, he took you from me. He left you in there to—” He stopped.
She knew what he’d nearly said.
He left you in there to die.
But…was that what he’d intended? Chloe wasn’t so certain. If he’d wanted her dead, there were plenty of ways to guarantee her trip to the afterlife. While she’d been unconscious, why hadn’t he just slit her throat? “I’m a little unclear on the things that happened while I was…otherwise occupied.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re going to the fucking hospital.”
“I will but…can I see the crime scene again first? It doesn’t feel right.” Now that she could think past her fear and see beyond the fog of memories that had clouded her mind, Chloe was certain she was missing something. She didn’t like the feeling. Then again, there was very little about the day and night that she had liked.
“Nothing feels right about this shit.” He still crouched before her. “You were taken, Chloe. Wendy was bait to get us near the van. The bombs were triggered—”
Now this part, Chloe understood. “I think they were Kelly’s bombs. She must have made more before the explosions at the Serpent. Whoever she was working for—or with—he took the extras. Put them in the van.” A worry nagged at her. “How is Wendy? There was quite a bit of blood on her.” And Chloe didn’t have any recollection of the woman after the explosion.
“She’s fine. The wound in her side didn’t go deep. Missed anything vital.”
Just like with Joel’s wounds. He’d gotten so many wounds. Wounds designed to hurt so badly, but none of them had hit anything vital. Even as Joel said those words, Chloe could see him making the connection himself.
“Fuck,” he growled.
She nodded. “You’ll take me back inside?”
“Cedric probably won’t even let us in. The guy has bomb squad members all over the place. He tried to keep me out when he started the search, and, hell, as much as I hate to admit it, now I owe that jackass Richardson because he took over the scene and he let me—”
“Speaking of the jackass,” Chloe murmured. Because she’d just seen him shove his head in the open back door of the ambulance.
“Chloe.” Paul Richardson quickly assessed her with a hard stare. “I see you’re still in the land of the living.”
But she hadn’t been. For a while, she’d been sealed up in one of the cities of the dead.
His nostrils flared. “The sonofabitch just tried to run me down. He was waiting outside of the cemetery…” He motioned to Joel. “Just like you said. And by the way, I’ll be keeping that phone of yours. If he tries to reach out again, he’ll be getting me.”
Chloe was missing important points. She knew it. That happened when you were sealed in a vault and not participating in the investigation.
While she wanted to catch up, it was just hard to focus. The past kept clawing at her. She could smell blood. And the darkness of the night was surrounding her just like that vault had done—
“Hey, look at me.” Joel’s quiet voice.
Her gaze darted back to him.
He let go of her right hand. His fingers lifted and brushed over her cheek. He wiped away a tear that she hadn’t even felt escaping. “You’re safe,” Joel assured her. “Baby, I’ve got you.”
Once more, her breath released on a long exhale. She’d once practiced meditation and she knew the deep breaths were supposed to help calm her. So far, though, they were hardly being effective. Yet…
I feel calmer when Joel touches me.
“Hospital, then home,” Joel declared. “There is a whole crime team here. Cedric is barking orders like a boss, and he isn’t going to miss anything.”
Yes, Cedric was thorough, but she needed to do this. If she ran away without a backward glance, what did that say about her? “He put me in that vault for a reason. I didn’t even look when you pulled me out. I have to go back.”
Joel shook his head, but she knew he was going to give in even before he said, “You know there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” His left hand still held hers. He brought it to his lips. Pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “Nothing.”
Once more, tears stung her eyes.
“Uh, yeah…” The EMT had been watching the whole time. He cleared his throat. “You get that she needs to rest, don’t you? She can’t just rush back in there—”
“I’ll carry her,” Joel assured him. “I’ve got her.”
Her gaze drifted over his face as she ignored the EMT and a lingering Paul Richardson. “What happened to your eye?” Not actually his eye, but above it, along the edge of his brow—
“Nothing a little glue couldn’t fix.”
He didn’t even seem mildly concerned.
“Chloe,” Paul said her name deliberately. “I need your help for a minute.”
He needed her? And he was admitting it?
Surprised, she turned her head toward him. Chloe was vaguely concerned she might be having some sort of auditory hallucination. She had to bite back the urge to tell him…Say it again.
The faint lines near his mouth had tightened. “Do you happen to know anyone who drives a silver Porsche?”
She swallowed.
“I got the tag, but the number turned out to be bogus. Seems like an odd car choice for our perp. You would have thought he didn’t want to stick out. The Porsche was damn flashy.”
“What did I miss?” she whispered to Joel.
“After you were taken, the SOB sent a video to me. He showed you being sealed up in the tomb. It was a close-up video, though, so I didn’t realize you, ah, you weren’t alone in there.”
Don’t think about him, Chloe. Don’t.
“Then when we were searching for you here,” Joel added, voice hard, “he texted. Said he was right outside.”
“Joel could have gone after him,” Paul supplied. “Or he could have stayed in and searched for you. Obviously, we all know what choice he made.”
Silver Porsche.
Sealed in with the dead man…
“Didn’t Lucia look just like her?” the gruff voice whispered through her mind. Her attacker’s voice. Such a deliberate word choice. Because Lucia’s crime scene had been deliberately staged for Chloe.
She felt a tremble sweep her body. “I need to go back inside. Now.” She surged up, but Joel caught her.
“Like I said, I’ve got you.”
He carefully took her out of the ambulance. Held her in his arms. Strode back to the cemetery. “I can walk,” Chloe informed him. “This is completely unnecessary.”
“You were drugged. You have five minutes in here, then we are getting you to the hospital.”
“You were nearly blown up,” she reminded him as her arm looped around his neck. “You should get to the hospital, too.”
His jaw hardened.
She was aware of Paul trailing behind them. He wasn’t as adversarial as he usually was. He almost seemed to feel sympathy for her. How odd.
As they crept closer to the crime scene, Chloe couldn’t help but tense.