May shushes Clint. She pushes ice chips at Chris.
The doctor comes in and checks on him. Says he’s lucky. He’ll be fine, but he needs to take it easy. They’ll keep him overnight for observation.
At some point—the timeline is fuzzy but it has to be afternoon, as a lunch tray rests on the bedside table—his boss, Henry, appears in the room. He asks to speak with May and Clint outside. They close the door, but if Chris cranes his neck, he can see through the glass window. The three of them are huddled close, talking in whispers.
Something’s wrong. He can tell that much from the grief-stricken expression on Ms. May’s face. Even Clint—who rarely breaks his stoic veneer—appears rattled. Henry comes back inside.
“How you feeling, son?”
“Better,” Chris lies. He’s still having trouble keeping his thoughts straight. Like shaking a table with a jigsaw puzzle on it, the pieces rattling, distorting the image.
“That’s good. I heard you’re quite the hero.”
Chris doesn’t respond. The buildup is nearly killing him. Do they know why he was under the bridge? What’s going on?
“I’ve got some upsetting news. It’s the worst time in the world, but we wanted you to hear it before you saw it on TV or your phone.”
“What is it?”
“Rusty Whitaker was arrested last night.”
The beeping on the heart monitors accelerates. Not because Rusty’s been arrested. That’s good news. Rather, because there’s only one reason Henry would bring this up: he knows that Rusty’s his biological father. Knows that Vince is his brother.
“What’d he do now?” Chris asks, deciding it’s futile to play dumb.
“Murder,” Henry says.
No surprise there. It was only a matter of time. “Who’d he kill?”
Henry takes in a deep breath. “I’m sorry, son. But they think it’s your mother.”
Chris’s head is spinning now. He’s struggling to arrange his thoughts. The beeping on the monitors grows louder. His chest tight.
“What? I don’t understand. My mom left when I was ten. Why would he kill her now? And how would he even find her? I tried for years.”
Henry’s face is pained. “They found remains at a storage unit where he works. The body had been there for … a long time.” Henry stops, studies Chris. He looks concerned. “Are you all right? Do I need to get the doctor?”
Chris is floating now. Out of body. But he understands. And the realization nearly levels him. The woman whom he’d resented for so long, whom he’d hated for leaving him in the brutal care of Rusty Whitaker, whom he’d let go of on graduation day, hadn’t abandoned him after all. A medley of guilt and grief and anger envelops him.
He sits up too quickly and releases a wail. It’s partly from the pressure in his skull, but mostly the sound of devastation.
“Whoa, you need to take it easy,” Henry says, guiding him back down onto the bed.
Chris feels tears on his face. His breaths are staccato. How much more can Rusty Whitaker take from him?
But with the tumult emerges a revelation. A heaviness lifted from his chest. An ugly mass removed.
She hadn’t abandoned him.
“Are you okay?” Henry asks.
May and Clint are back in the room, standing at his bedside.
Chris nods, wipes away tears with his hand. “I’m going to be released tomorrow. I’d like to stay on the case.”
From Henry’s expression, Chris knows that isn’t in the cards.
“Let’s talk about that after you’ve recovered,” Henry says. “For now, you need to rest, take some time off.”
It’s not a request. His short time on the Jesse Duvall case—maybe his time at the PD’s office—is over. And, strangely, he thinks that might be for the best.
CHAPTER 56
ELLA
Ella’s back in her office. She’d considered canceling her afternoon sessions—the meeting with Jesse was a lot. But she didn’t want to let down Layla, the cutter. Ella thinks she’s nearing a breakthrough with the sixteen-year-old, and she doesn’t want to lose momentum. Besides, she needs a mental break from Blockbuster, the Dairy Creamery, Jesse Duvall—all of it.
She fluffs the pillows on the small couch. Puts the box of tissues subtly on the end table. Reviews her notes from their last session.
No matter how hard she tries, though, her thoughts return to Jesse. She still hasn’t had time to digest everything Jesse told them.