Her voice was scratchy when she said, “Water, please.”
Jamie moved to the rolling table and poured her a drink.
When she tried to sit up, she winced, so he moved behind her and supported her between her shoulder blades. She took a few sips of water and then said, “Thank you.”
Once he had settled her back against the bed, she said, “Jamie. About the other day...”
The hand he had been stroking through her hair paused. He asked, “Would you rather me not be here?”
He saw the panic and pain flare in her eyes. She immediately said, “Please. Don’t go. I wanted to—”
“Shh. Just relax,” Jamie said. He knew they would resolve things in one way or another at some point. None of that mattered right now though. He was just relieved to know that they would have the opportunity. “We can worry about that later. I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.”
He continued to stroke his fingers through her hair and asked, “Did you need me to call Celia or get anything from your office? Or home?”
“I talked to Taryn this morning. She called her and let her know what was going on. Celia’s going to go in and cancel my appointments for the next week or so, then she said she was going to stop in.”
“I’m surprised Taryn isn’t here,” Jamie said. She took mother hen to another level. The other night when he’d gone to visit them, she’d kept giving him these sad, sympathetic glances. She’d sent him home with leftovers and an extra slice of chocolate cake.
“She was going to take off work today. I begged her not to. The last thing I wanted was her here, worrying over me. She’s got enough going on with the early contractions. Between Evan and me, we kind of bullied her into going.”
“So you’ve probably got about a day of peace before she’s here, fussing and nagging at you, right?”
Cora laughed, and then groaned. She took a breath and said, “Yeah. Sounds about right.”
“Shit. I’m sorry, baby. Relax. And Theo?”
“He called me this morning and told me he was wrapping things up at the office. He’ll be by later today.”
Jamie watched her eyes drift to the clock on the wall.
She asked, “Shouldn’t you be going to the office?”
“In light of recent events, I decided to take the day off,” he said.
“Shinobi, Jamie. You’re right in the middle of the campaign!”
“I’m taking a day. It’s perfectly fine. I talked with Tim about it and he said that the promo can be pushed back as much as two weeks,” Jamie said.
Cora sighed, then winced with pain. “Don’t screw anything up to be here, Jamie. I’ve got plenty of people to watch over me.”
“I’m here as much for me as I am you, Cora. You have no—”
“Excuse me.” A gruff voice came from the doorway. “I’m Detective Jacobs. This is my partner, Detective Manning. We’d like to ask you a few questions, if you’re up for it.”
Jamie watched as they both flashed their badges, and then started to pull back. He was surprised when Cora gripped his hand and said, “Stay, please.”
When he saw the panic flash in her eyes, he said, “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere.”
The police officers eyed him, but said nothing.
“So,” Detective Manning said. “Can you tell me happened last night? Start from the beginning.”
Cora took a deep breath, then winced slightly and said, “I was leaving work, headed for my car. As I turned the corner of the building and stepped into the parking lot, I heard a loud sound. I felt it, but I didn’t realize I’d been shot until I looked down and saw all the blood. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t.”
The police officer said nothing, and wrote furiously.
“I turned around, and tried to go back into the building for help. Warren Aimes shot me two more times. I tried to hit the panic button on my car alarm and then...I don’t remember what happened after that. Nothing until I woke up this morning.”