The two of them came in and rushed over to the bed, stopping short at the sight of my collection of bandages. I reached out with my free arm and took them both in at the same time.

“How long do you have to be here?” Jannie asked into my good side.

“Should be going home in a couple of days,” I told her.

“Looks worse than it is,” said Nana.

Damon stood up again and looked at the truss. “Did it hurt really bad?”

“Badly,” Nana muttered.

“I’ve had worse,” I said. They both looked at me with the same neutral, almost reproachful expression. Who was the parent here, anyway? Somehow they seemed older than the last time I’d seen them. I felt a little older myself.

These two were going to grow and change, whether or not I was around to watch. Such an obvious thing, but the truth of it—the reality of it—suddenly inhabited me.

I finally gave in. “Yeah,” I said. “It did. It hurt a lot.”

And then, that terrible thought again—don’t make them orphans, Alex—and I held my kids so tight, even as my shoulder ached, but I couldn’t let them go, and I couldn’t let them know what I was thinking, either.

Chapter 121

Chapter 121

I STAYED AT THE FLETCHER ALLEN HOSPITAL in Vermont for nearly a week, which was my longest hospital stay to date, and maybe another warning to me. How many warnings did I get?

Around 6:00 in the evening on Friday, I received a call from Detective Jeanne Galletta out in L.A. “Alex, has anyone told you the news yet?” she asked. “I assume they have.”

“What news, Jeanne? That I’m being released from the hospital tomorrow?”

“I don’t know anything about that. But yesterday, Mary Wagner confessed to the murders here in L.A.”

“She didn’t commit those murders. Michael Bell did.”

“I know that. Even Maddux Fielding knows it. Nobody believed her, but she confessed. Then, sometime last night, poor Mary Wagner hung herself in her cell. She’s dead, Alex.”

I sighed and shook my head a couple of times. “I’m really sorry to hear that. It’s just another death Bell is responsible for. Another murder.”

The following morning, and much to my surprise, I was released from the hospital. I called home with the news, and I even managed to get on a flight to Boston. From Boston I caught the hourly shuttle to D.C. Never been so happy to get on a crowded commuter plane in my life.