My eyes began to open.
The room was dark, but there was light spilling in from somewhere. As my eyes adjusted to the dimness, I could see just enough to know that I was in unfamiliar surroundings, hearing an unfamiliar sound. A soft beep… beep… beep.
With growing consciousness came the awareness of pain. My head throbbed. My whole body hurt. I couldn’t move my left arm.
Where am I?
As my vision sharpened, and objects near me came into focus, I realized I was in a hospital bed. I couldn’t move my left arm because it was in a cast.
Trying to ease the pain, I shifted my body and moved my right hand-and felt another hand.
A third hand?
I groaned.
And the extra hand closed over mine.
“Hey… you’re awake.” A man’s voice broke through my haze. A familiar voice.
“Nicholas?”
He leaned toward me and I saw his face. Nicholas was in the chair next to my bed.
I’m alive.
“You gave us one hell of a scare,” he said. “How do you feel?”
“Everything hurts. What time is it?”
“A few minutes after three o’clock in the morning. You had a big crowd here until midnight: me, O’Hara and his wife and daughter, Liddy and her husband, and Phil Logan acting like General Patton, demanding the best care for you, threatening to sue the hospital if your broken arm didn’t mend perfectly. The attending doctor finally threw us all out. As we were going down in the elevator, Phil Logan was grinning. He said that your solving a murder was going to be great for your ratings.”
“If everyone had to leave, how come you’re here?”
“I waited downstairs for a little while, then I came back up and used my charm on the floor nurse.” He moved his face closer to mine. “Do your lips hurt?”
“That’s about the only part of me that doesn’t.”
His mouth descended on mine for the lightest, most gentle kiss I’ve ever felt. “Hello, Sleeping Beauty,” he said.
“Not such a ‘beauty,’ I’ll bet.”
“You are to me,” Nicholas said.
“What happened-how did I get here?”
“You fell off a third-floor balcony.”
“No.” My memory came back in a rush. “No, I didn’t fall. He tried to push me over, but I fought-oh, my God. We went off the balcony together. Is he…?”
“The bastard’s alive,” Nicholas said. “But that’s only because the paramedics and the police got to him before I did. Thank God you fell into a garden and not onto some cement patio.” He shuddered and took a breath before he went on.
“Parker has two broken legs and a broken wrist,” Nicholas said. “Maybe some internal injuries. You two may have gone over together, but he hit the ground first. You landed on him. That’s why you’ve only got a broken arm. They’re letting you go home tomorrow.”
“Home… Tuffy and Emma! Who’s taking care of them?”
“Shhhh. Don’t try to sit up. There’s nothing to worry about. Eileen’s at your house. Everybody’s fine-except you and Parker. Roland Gray is in custody. It was Gray who called 911 and told them you’d fallen from the third floor. He was on his way to the airport-”
“He was going to Rio. Both of them were.”
I saw Nicholas nod. “ Brazil -where there’s no extradition to America. But after he called 911 he went back to his building and gave himself up to Detectives Hatch and Weaver. He said he couldn’t live with the guilt anymore.”
“And without Will Parker, he doesn’t think he can write. Parker murdered Ingram, and he killed Yvette’s husband in London.”
“I know. The police found your purse with the tape recorder in it. Their own words are going to convict them.”
“I feel sorry for Roland.”
Nicholas looked shocked. “Why?”
“He’s a weak man,” I said. “Parker controlled him.”
“I don’t think that’s much of an excuse, but because he came back to try to help you, I’m willing to cut him some slack. In fact, I recommended an attorney for him to call.”
I smiled. “Olivia-your favorite criminal lawyer.”
“That’s the one. She said to tell you that because she’s going to soak Gray for everything he’s got, she’s decided not to send you a bill after all.”
“That’s nice… What’s going to happen to Yvette?”
“Parker claims she had nothing to do with the murder of Ingram, and he’s claiming that he killed Talib years ago in London because he caught Talib beating her after she told him she was leaving him. Parker said he wanted to protect her, so he staged Talib’s death to look like she hit him in self-defense.”
“Parker really loves her,” I said.
“Let’s not talk about them. Can I get you anything?”
“You,” I said.
“You’ve got me,” he said. “You’ve had me ever since you came to my house and started ripping my clothes off. Stupid me, it took a while before I realized you’d taken me off the market.”
I yawned. “I’m so sleepy. Would you lie down here next to me?”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Umm humm.”
“All right.” I saw his lips curve into a teasing smile. “Promise you won’t get frisky.”
“I won’t… At least not until tomorrow.”
“I think we’ll wait a little longer than that.”
He gave me another gentle little kiss before he eased his weight onto the far edge of the hospital bed. “I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am that you’re alive,” he whispered.
“Me, too,” I said. Then my eyes began to close.