Adam rubbed her shoulder. “Although the odds are that whoever strangled you and left you in the ocean to drown believes you’re dead and thinks he has no need to look for you. Or maybe you did enough damage with that weapon you picked up that he is badly hurt. In the hospital. Or—” He stopped short of suggesting she might have killed her attacker.

“I don’t think so.” She responded to his unspoken thought. “If I’d killed him, I wouldn’t be in such terror, believing he is immortal.”

“She’s right, Adam,” Rune said.

“Too bad,” Adam said regretfully. “Last obvious choice, someone could be gunning for me.”

“Who, Adam?” Rune still frowned. “Who would hate you enough to try to kill you?”

“I’ve made enemies. Who hasn’t?” Adam looked at his wristwatch. “It’s been twenty-seven minutes since the shooting, probably twenty minutes since Rune called 9-1-1, and I’m sure they were inundated with Gothic calls. We should go out to meet law enforcement and give our version of events.” Adam shot a look at Rune. “By that I mean, give a truthful recital and neglect to mention my injury.” Rune’s shirt was big on Adam, and that disguised the careful way he moved out of the bathroom and toward the door.

Elle followed.

Rune stayed where she was. “I respect Elle for all her good traits, and the stitches looked admirable, but why don’t you just tell the EMTs you were hit? They’ll give you the best care.”

Elle turned back. “It’s a gunshot wound. Law enforcement is required to treat a shooting very seriously, with emergency transportation and multiple reports and follow-ups.”

“Yeah, so?” Rune said belligerently.

“Didn’t you hear what Adam said? He believes this was not a random act of violence, not some careless hunter but a targeted attack on one of us.” Elle came back to the bathroom and halted on the threshold. “Probably not you. Women don’t usually resort to assassination. Except for the rampant gossip in the village of Gothic, I’ve kept a low profile, and as Adam said, my attacker probably believes me dead. So logic leads us to the fact that Adam thinks this has to do with him.”

“Then, logically, why not talk to law enforcement? For protection?” Clearly, Rune didn’t get it.

“Adam is a survivalist.” Elle had had her suspicions before. After today, her belief was rock-solid. “I trust him to protect me, and that means he can also protect himself.”

“No one can protect themselves from a well-aimed bullet!” Rune said.

“No. But if you make your way down to Adam’s home and look around, you’ll see that there’s no cover for a sniper. I suspect that is one of the reasons he chose that property.”