Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Aiden leaned back in his chair. “It happens, man. You would’ve figured it out eventually.”
“Yeah, but I have two bodies on my conscience now, Saul and Lenny.”
I didn’t like seeing the shadows in Pierce’s eyes. “They chose to go into business with Wayne Wilson, AKA sexy Cupid.” I tried not to gag. To think that I’d thought he had a sexy body. It was shocking. He really had camouflaged it perfectly with clothing and posture, down to the fake liver spots on his hand. I was quite irritated with myself that I hadn’t caught it. “What about Lisa Robinson?”
“She’s fine. She gave a statement and has already parlayed the situation into some good PR for the Rustic Relic. She gave Jolene O’Sullivan a full interview, just so you know,” Pierce said.
I shrugged. “Fine by me, so long as I’m not involved.”
Aiden and Pierce winced in unison.
I sat up straighter. “What?”
“She might’ve gotten a picture of you being brought into the hospital,” Pierce said, looking away.
“I tried to block her,” Aiden added. “But I was helping your nonna over the ice.”
“Okay,” I murmured. “That is a worry for another day.”
More footsteps sounded, and my parents ran into the room, followed by Aunt Yara, Uncle Buddy, and Violet.
Violet reached me first. “Are you okay? I can’t believe you’re back in the hospital.” She patted my arm nervously. “You got shot. Are you sure you’re okay?” Tears filled her wide eyes.
“I’m fine, Violet. Just a couple of stitches to the leg.”
She looked around. “You come here a lot.”
Aiden chuckled, but the sound completely lacked humor. “Yeah. We’re going to have a little talk about that later.”
“This wasn’t my fault,” I protested again.
“Nobody said it was,” Aiden said.
I thought fleetingly to his comments about locking me down.
Violet wrung her hands together nervously. “How long do you have to be in the hospital?”
“I should be out in about an hour,” I said.
“No,” my mom contradicted instantly, her slight Irish brogue coming through. “You’re here until tomorrow. I spoke to the doctor.”
Nobody moved. Nobody protested. Nobody even thought about arguing.
“Until tomorrow?” I asked.
She patted my blankets back into place. “Yes, tomorrow’s Wednesday. You don’t have anything going on. I already spoke with Pauley at the office.”
“If I recall, I have a couple of meetings,” I said weakly.
“They’ve been moved,” she said.
Truth be told, the hospital had excellent ice cream milkshakes with extra vanilla. I wouldn’t mind a little rest. “Fine, but we have Violet’s hearing on Valentine’s Day.”
Violet’s eyes widened. “We can move that, right? We don’t have to go.”
“Oh, no,” I said. “The hearing’s happening. You’ve been seeing the psychiatrist recommended by the court since you’ve been home, right?”
“Yes. I saw him two days in a row, and we had another home visit just to be certain,” she said.
We needed to get in front of the judge. Soon. “Okay, I have all the other paperwork from the school counselors at your old school and your new one, as well as some family affidavits. We are having that hearing on Thursday, Violet,” I said firmly.
She gulped. “What if he says no?”
“If he says no, we’ll just ask for more time. Next time, he’ll say yes. It doesn’t matter. You’re family,” I said, looking at her. “How much did you panic when you learned I’d been shot?”
She paled. “I seriously panicked. You’re going to be my cousin. You can’t get shot all the time, Anna.”
“Amen, sister,” Aiden said.
Yara put her arm around Violet. “We just wanted to make sure you were okay. We’re going to head out to dinner.”
Tessa and Donna looked up. “We’ll come with you. The nurse is about to kick us out anyway.”
“I’ll see you all soon,” I said. They left, soon followed by my parents.
Aiden looked at Nonna and me. “I’m going to run back and check on Bud. He’s been cleared, but the doctor wouldn’t let him leave last time I checked. After that, you and I are going to have a little talk, Anna.”
“Great,” I mumbled.
He left. Nonna watched him go. “He is very sexy, even though he isn’t Italian.”
My heart warmed. “Thanks, Nonna. I appreciate that.”
She chuckled. “That was a fun case, wasn’t it? I will get better at this, sweetheart. You shouldn’t have gotten shot.”
It was a chance I’d had to take. If he’d gotten us to his cabin, he would have killed us, and I’d figured ramming Aiden’s truck would at least get him involved in time to save my nonna, even if I got shot—which I had.
“You were very brave. I spoke with Thelma and Georgiana earlier when you were still getting stitches,” Nonna said.
I sat up fully. “You did?”
“Yes. We decided to offer you a position with Three Hens Investigations. We think you might be a valuable asset to our firm.”
I lay back against the pillows, trying to find the right words. “Nonna, I don’t think you should be in a business where people are shooting at you.”