I’m sorry, baby girl. I’m so sorry.
She sobbed and sobbed until a male voice intruded on her pain. “Hey, now. It can’t be as bad as all that.”
The kind voice only made her cry harder.
“Is this about your little girl? I promise the doctor will let you out as soon as you show that you’re stable.”
A harsh laugh scraped her raw throat. She lifted her head and blinked until Jasper’s features were no longer blurry from tears. “Stable? How could anyone in my position be stable, knowing that their daughter is in the hands of a killer? Please, tell me what the acceptable behavior is for this scenario, and I’ll get right to work. How about smiling, is that what the psychologists want to see right now? Here, how’s this?”
Katarina grinned so wide that her cheeks ached, making Jasper flinch and glance away. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. But do you get it now? The most unstable thing I could do is spend my days smiling and giggling and looking on the bright side. That would be the real show of crazy.” Katarina’s fingers latched onto his forearm when he moved close enough. “Freaking out is the normal thing to do. I need to get out of here. Now. Please, help me.”
As she pleaded with her eyes, Jasper’s expression softened. “I’ll talk to the doctor for you, okay? I promise. I’ll try to help you in any way I can.”
Katarina gripped his arm a few seconds longer, savoring the prolonged contact with bare, warm skin before pulling away.
She knew better than to hope. Hell, she knew there were laws that should stop this damn hospital from keeping her tied up so long, but there was nothing she could do about that either.
No one could help her. No one had ever been able to help her.
Defeat crashed over her like a tidal wave, destroying every lingering speck of energy. Katarina closed her eyes.
“Just go away. You can’t help me now. No one can.”
13
The hospital elevator eased to a stop and dinged before the doors slid open. Ellie waited on the two chatting nurses in blue scrubs to exit first before following them into the lobby, her mind reeling from the visit with Katarina. So many shocks in such a short amount of time.
The transformation of the tough-as-nails criminal into an adoring, worried mom had thrown her more than it should have. Now, she had to sit with the discomfort that the other woman might have a point about Ellie’s privilege blinding her to reality sometimes.
Later, though. She needed her mind clear to deal with the other surprise…Kingsley. If Katarina was to be believed, he’d shown up at her bedside.
Ellie didn’t care what the doctors said about Katarina. Apart from that weird chicken wing thing, the woman had seemed lucid. Furious, scared, and snarky, but not at all delusional. Sneaking into a hospital room under everyone’s noses was exactly the type of maneuver Kingsley would get off on.
Her gut tightened as she hurried past the waiting area full of soothing seafoam-green couches and abstract blue and green paintings and headed for the front desk.
A silver-haired man in wire-rimmed glasses offered a polite smile as she strode up to the window. “How may I help you today?”
Ellie showed the CPD badge tucked in her jacket pocket. “I was hoping you could help me view some hospital surveillance footage.”
The employee fumbled his smile but managed a last-second save. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid hospital policy requires a warrant be provided first, due to the private nature of the footage. Do you have a warrant?”
She’d figured as much but had to try. Hopefully, the chief was already working on that warrant request she’d sent via text message while waiting on the elevator. “Not yet, but it’s being processed as we speak. If you could have your security or admin department get that footage ready by the time I get back, I’d appreciate it.”
The employee’s noncommittal “hmm” failed to get Ellie’s hopes up, and she muttered to herself as she left through the sliding doors.
“No, really, don’t put yourself out. It’s only the life of an eight-year-old girl at stake, that’s all. No big deal or anything.”
Shane frowned from where he shadowed her a few feet away, but she ignored her bodyguard’s concerned expression and continued toward the parking lot, shaken by what Katarina had shared back in the room. Kingsley’s old protégé might not want her sympathy, but too bad.
I was just a kid.
Her chest hurt when she remembered how the woman had whispered the words at first, like she was trying to convince herself. How many times had Ellie tried to tell herself the very same thing? Late at night, when guilt over the woman she’d sentenced to die held sleep hostage?
That had been one surprise. The way Katarina had talked about Bethany had been another. The tightness had faded from her jaw, and her eyes had softened with a warmth that Ellie had never expected to witness on that shrewd face. And the things she’d shared about her daughter, well…
Ellie shook her head. Damned if they didn’t remind her of her own mother.
Over the years, Helen Kline had uttered many of those same things about Ellie. About her inner strength and resilience. Heck, her mom probably still bragged about Ellie like that when her daughter wasn’t around to groan and roll her eyes.
In the parking lot, a couple passed her, heading toward the hospital. The man’s brown skin and hazel eyes made Ellie’s mind flash to Fortis’s sightless eyes and pale skin, and she stumbled her next step while she prayed.
She hoped, for the little girl’s sake, that Katarina wasn’t prone to the typical mom hyperbole, inflating their kid’s strengths to make them seem more impressive than they actually were. Because Bethany would need to draw upon a deep well of inner strength if she hoped to survive Kingsley long enough
