“No, I’m okay…. Sorry, I think I’m just really overtired.” For all he knew, the guy had simply moved over to the left and was now, at this very moment, striding out of the ER and into the night.

Vin tugged Gretchen down next to him. “I feel like it’s over now. This whole thing.”

Well, over except for the fact that his visions were back to stay—at least according to Eddie. But maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. Maybe he could find some way of channeling them or using them for good.

With a frown, he realized he’d found a new purpose. Only this one would serve others, not himself.

Not a shabby outcome, all things considered.

Gretchen opened her hand and the jewelry, especially the diamond, gleamed. “If you don’t mind, though, I’m going to put these in a safety-deposit box.”

As she shoved them down deep into the pocket of her jeans, Vin nodded. “Yeah, let’s not lose those again, shall we?”

“Nope. Never again.”

CHAPTER
42

When the taxi pulled up in front of Gretchen’s rental house, the light of dawn was breaking over Caldwell in a lovely wash of peach and golden yellow. The trip away from St. Francis had been a hell of a lot better than the one to the ER in the back of that ambulance, but it was clear to Gretchen that Vin was far from well. With his pale green, rigid face, he was obviously in pain, and mobility was going to be a problem with that arm of his in a sling. Plus he looked like a homeless man in the floppy shirt the hospital had given him, its wide-open collar showing off the super-white bandage that ran from the base of his neck all the way across one side of his chest.

“Next stop the Commodore, right?” the driver said over his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Vin replied in an exhausted voice.

Gretchen stared out the window at her little house. The babysitter’s car was parked in front on the street and there was a light on in the kitchen. Upstairs, Robbie’s room was dark.

She didn’t want Vin to go back to the duplex by himself.

She wasn’t sure how Robbie would take to meeting him.

And she felt trapped between the two.

Turning to Vin, she searched his familiar, handsome features. He was talking to her…patting her hand…probably telling her to get some rest, take care of herself, call him when she was up….

“Please come in,” she blurted. “Stay with me. You’ve just been shot and you need someone to look after you.”

Vin stopped in midsentence and just stared at her. Which was precisely what the cabbie did in the rearview mirror. Then again, both the invitation and the gunshot part were no doubt equally surprising to each of the men, respectively.

“What about Robbie?” Vin asked.