“Not as hard as your head, evidently.” He smiles back at me. “Do you have a concussion?”

“No.”

He eases me to arm’s length, his hands grasping my biceps with a little too much force, and looks down at me. “You didn’t call.”

“I was about to.” The words sound automatic, so I add, “I didn’t want you to make a fuss.”

He looks past me at the rest of my team, who are standing in a group just outside the waiting area. “How’s Pickles?”

“Stable.”

“That’s a good sign.”

“I hope so. Seeing him … like that scared me, Tomasetti.”

“I’m familiar with that particular emotion.”

I move away from him and press the elevator down button. I know I should be more focused on him and what I just put him through, but I’ve got tunnel vision when it comes to this case. If anyone understands, I know Tomasetti does.

“Who called you, anyway?” I ask.

“Glock.” He comes up beside me, and we watch the lights as the elevator car makes it way to our floor. “I wish it had been you.”

“I was a little busy.”

“So where are we going?”

Only then do I remember I left my vehicle back at the Hochstetler farm. I look at him, trying not to feel like an idiot. “Did anyone ever tell you that you have good timing?”

The door swishes open, and he ushers me inside. “All the time.”

*   *   *

An hour later, Sheriff Mike Rasmussen, Detective Jessup Price with the Holmes County Sheriff’s Department, and I are sitting in an interview room at the sheriff’s office in Holmesville, Ohio, which is about fifteen minutes north of Painters Mill.

“How’s your officer?” Rasmussen asks as we wait for the corrections officer to bring in Ruth Weaver.

“Stable,” I tell him. “He was still in surgery when I left the hospital.”

He taps his temple. “You get that tattoo there in the wreck?”

I nod. “That’s two counts of attempted murder of a police officer.”

“The more the merrier.” He sighs. “She’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Has anyone talked to her yet?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Just ID info. She has not been Mirandized. We basically put her in a holding cell and waited for you.” He motions toward the small audio recorder. “When you’re ready, just hit the On button there, and you’re good to go.”

“I appreciate that, Mike.”

“This is your deal.”