Not having the energy to take the stairs or the will to face another stairwell, he took the elevator up. At the door, he dropped his keys. He made a pot of coffee and poured himself a mug and carried it into the bathroom with him.

He turned the shower handle to as hot as he could stand it and got in to let the water pour over him, hoping it would take away some of the chill that seemed to have seeped deep down into his bones. He shut his eyes, but all he could see was Lexas cold pale face. His knees stung and he looked down, surprised to see scrapes across them. He frowned. Hadnt the ones on Lexas knees been nearly identical?

He got out of the shower to inspect them more carefully. Where would he have gotten those? He cast his mind over the last twenty-four hours.

The only time hed been on his knees was when hed knelt next to Lexas body and attempted CPR. He should have known it was fruitless. He would have if hed let himself look at what had been done to her. Maybe it was a blessing in its own way that hed been so consumed with trying to help her that he hadnt looked too closely.

He had now, though, and Lexa had the same scrapes on her knees. Where the hell would they have come from? The scrapes had to be from within the last twenty-four hours. They were much too fresh to be any older than that.

He wrapped a towel around his waist and went to his bedroom to get dressed, automatically pulling out dress slacks and a button-down shirt and a tie. He brushed his sandy brown hair that needed to be trimmed and finished his coffee. Then he gathered his wallet and keys and other items and headed back out the door to go to the hospital.

On the drive to the hospital, his mind kept returning to the scrapes on Lexas knees. When would she have knelt down on a rough surface like that? Not out in that alleyway. Shed been dragged there, fighting all the way.

He pulled into his parking spot in the hospital garage and got out of the car, opting to take the stairs instead of the slow elevator. He entered the stairwell and it hit him.

What about the stairwell at Lexas apartment building? Based on the smears of blood hed seen, that was where shed been attacked in the first place. Hed been in a hurry when hed gone through there, focused mainly on finding Lexa. His mind, however, had a way of cataloging information no matter where his focus was.