Of course, she had to ask. “Summerlin.”
Rawley’s thin eyebrows visibly rose, and she turned toward her partner, who was leaning against the windowsill on the other side of the room. The man met her gaze and cocked his head.
Everyone and their mother knows Bianca Summerlin, and everybody’s always surprised she has a daughter.
Officer Rawley nodded. “Nice to meet you. Listen, Cheyenne, my partner and I are trying to get a clear picture of what happened last Tuesday night at around eleven o’clock.”
“When Ember got shot.” Cheyenne raised her eyebrows.
The officer offered a quick, tight-lipped smile. “It’s part of the process. Every time someone comes into the ER with a gunshot wound, we follow up. What were you doing that night?”
Cheyenne glanced at Ember, who was still apologizing with her eyes. I managed to avoid the cops for a whole week. Might as well face the music now. She stuck her hands in her pockets. “Ember and I went out for drinks at Gnarly’s on East Clay Street—”
“And I told them about the phone call from Trevor,” Ember put in.
Rawley turned to look at the woman sitting up in the hospital bed and nodded. “Ember told us as much as she could, Cheyenne, but for obvious reasons, she can’t remember the key points. She did tell us that you were the one who brought her into the ER, so we’d like to hear your side of the story.”
“Yeah, okay.”
That makes things easier. For the most part. I can keep the magical details out of it.
“You know what?” McMathers pushed himself away from the windowsill and headed toward the door. “Why don’t we step out into the hall? I think visiting hours are about up right now, and I’m sure your friend could get some sleep.”
Ember let out a wry laugh. “I was asleep for a week.”
“Which goes to show how intense the healing process is. We won’t keep you.” The officer nodded, then gestured for Rawley and Cheyenne to join him on his way out the door. “Hope you get some rest, Ms. Gaderow.”
Ember scratched the side of her head and laid back against the raised mattress. Cheyenne met her gaze and gave her friend a reassuring nod. “Don’t let the pizza rolls get cold, okay?”
She walked into the hall with the officers.
McMathers nodded at the closed door to Ember’s room and folded his arms. “How did you end up at the park in time to save your friend’s life?”
“Like I said, we were at the bar together. She got a phone call and said something came up and she had to go. She left quickly, so I didn’t hear anything else about it. But she sounded kinda worried.”
“Worried?” Officer Rawley cocked her head. “How so?”
“I heard her tell whoever was on the phone not to do anything stupid and to wait until she showed up.”
“Do you know who she was talking to?”
“No.”
“Okay.” Rawley glanced at her partner, then added, “So she left Gnarly’s after the call. Then what happened?”
“I followed her.”
“You followed your friend?”
“Yep. She sounded worried, and I was curious. I should’ve told her I was coming with her, I know. But if I had, maybe I would’ve gotten shot too.”
McMathers squinted, one of his eyes nearly closed, and scanned Cheyenne from her dyed black hair to her black vans. “You sneak around after people a lot?”
Cheyenne shrugged. “The people I care about.”
Rawley shot her partner an irritated glance and leaned forward. “Did you see anything we might be able to use to find the person who shot Ember?”
“No. It was dark. She met up with the other people, and I think they were having an argument.”
“You think?”
Cheyenne nodded and forced herself not to mouth off.
You’re okay. Ember told them the story minus the magic. That’s all you need to do.
“Yeah. I was too far away to hear any real words, but they were definitely arguing.”
“Was this before or after Ember joined them?” Rawley asked.
Smart question. “They were already arguing before she got there. Kept arguing when Ember showed up.”
“What happened after that?”
“More arguing. Then I heard gunshots.”
“How many, would you say?”
Cheyenne shrugged. “Two, maybe three. I saw someone drop, and then the rest ran off. Nobody stopped to help the person who got shot, so I went closer and saw it was Ember.”
“Did anyone else—”
“And that’s when you picked her up,” McMathers cut in. His partner shot him another irritated glance, but the guy was squinting so hard at Cheyenne that if he noticed Rawley’s look, he ignored it.
“Yeah.” Cheyenne glanced at the door to Ember’s hospital room. “I picked her up and carried her to the hospital.” And this is where things are gonna get dicey.
“Huh.” McMathers glanced at his partner and raised an eyebrow. “How tall are you, Cheyenne?”
“Maybe five-six.”
“You work out?”
The half-drow spread her arms and cocked her head. “Define ‘work out.’”
McMathers looked her over, his eyes lingering a little longer on her shoulders and biceps. “You’re not a bodybuilder.”
“I’m not out of shape, either.”
“Right. Did you call a taxi or anything? Maybe an Uber?” The man narrowed his eyes again.
“With my best friend bleeding out from a bullet hole and me needing to get to the hospital? I wasn’t thinking about calling anyone.”
“Yeah.” McMathers chewed his lower lip and frowned. “See, that’s what I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around. Ember told us the same thing—that you carried her from Jackson Ward all the way here to VCU Medical Center. That’s over ten blocks. How does a five-foot-six non-bodybuilder carry her five-foot-ten friend with a gunshot wound ten blocks, give or take, to the hospital before that friend loses too much blood for the doctors to operate?”
Cheyenne glanced at Rawley for help, but the woman seemed interested enough in the half-drow’s answer that she didn’t try to change the subject. “Are you asking about my strength or my timing?”
McMathers shrugged. “Both.”
“Adrenaline, I guess. You know, like those stories of moms who’ve lifted cars all the way off the driveway to
