Vicious Carousel (Suncoast Society #25)(8)

Not deep inside her soul.

The deputy returned with Bill and Gabe. Ted resumed his seat in the corner of the room while the deputy took Betsy’s report and more pictures of her injuries to supplement the ones the ER staff had already taken. Before she’d finished, a male detective had arrived, shaking hands with Bill when he spotted him there.

They all once again stepped out into the hall to talk while Ted returned to Betsy’s side. “Looks like that’s Bill’s friend he mentioned.”

“Good,” she said. “Will they arrest Jack tonight?”

“Probably. There’s pretty conclusive evidence. And there’s the damn chain.” Ted’s face went dark, unreadable. “Let me tell you something,” he softly said. “If you ever find yourself in trouble again, ever, you call any of us. Day or night. We’ll get you a cellphone, program everyone’s numbers into it, and you keep it on you always. Understand?”

“I can’t afford—”

“Stop. We get it. He isolated you from everything and took everything from you to keep you dependent upon him. After you’re healed up, we’ll work with you on your resume and get you another job somewhere, start getting you back on your feet. Between us, believe me, we can afford a cheap-ass pre-paid cell phone just so we have peace of mind that you are safe.”

She wanted to cry, felt like crying, but maybe it was the meds or that she’d already cried what felt like gallons of tears, because she felt empty, barren. “Thank you.”

“No worries.”

Everyone returned. After another round of questions interrupted by a trip to radiology for an X-ray, she finished her talk with the detective, who’d phoned in a request for a search warrant for the apartment.

Oh, the irony. Technically they didn’t need one since she was a resident of the apartment and gave them permission to search it, but out of an abundance of caution to not to do anything to mess up the case, they requested one.

Despite the ER doctors wanting to keep her for observation, Betsy signed herself out against doctor’s orders and made sure to give the rest of her friends hugs in the waiting room as Gabe wheeled her out.

Tony and Kel had returned. “We called Ed Payne,” Tony said. “He’ll be meeting with you in the morning to help you file an emergency restraining order.”

“Thank you.” Everything felt like a pain-filled, nightmarish blur. “Thank you, everyone. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”

With a smaller contingent this time, she rode with Bill, Gabe, and Sully back to the apartment, while Kenny and Nolan, the deputy, and the detective followed.

Two more patrol deputies and another detective arrived at the apartment as the first detective was taking pictures of the chain, the dried blood on it, for evidence.

“Search warrant,” the newly arrived detective said, holding up one piece of paper. “And bench warrant,” he said, holding up the other. “Two officers are already heading toward the bar to pick him up.”

“Do I have to be here when you get him?” she asked, terrified to face Jack this soon.

“No,” the detective told her. “We’ll need you to come in in the morning and answer some more questions, but you don’t have to see him right now.”

“Thank you,” she said.

They got her back in the car. Then, she figured the pain shot she’d received had knocked her out at some point. She awoke to Gabe gently touching her shoulder.

They were parked outside an unfamiliar house, and Bill, Sully, Kenny, and Nolan stood waiting.

“We’re here,” Gabe said.

“Where?”

“Kenny and Nolan’s. Remember? We told you you’ll be staying here with them.”

“Oh. Okay.” She did remember something about that, but everything hurt, and now her right ankle, which before had been sore, felt like it had rusty barbed wrapped around it.

Hell, everything hurt.

Jack. Oh, yeah. Jack happened.

They finally got her out of the car. Gabe and Bill, with Sully close behind, walked her up to the front door where Nolan and Kenny led the way inside and down a hallway.

They flipped the light on in a strange bedroom she’d never seen before, but she recognized her things—what things she’d still had—stored around the room.

“Tony put your stuff in the bathroom across the hall,” Nolan said. “That’s all yours to use. There’s towels and stuff in there, too, when you’re ready to take a bath.”

Kenny pulled down the covers for her as Gabe and Bill carefully lowered her to the bed. Sully knelt and helped her remove her shoes, a pained hiss escaping her when he did the right one.

“Sorry, honey,” he apologized. “Consider that a badge of courage when you’re in a better frame of mind. That was a brave thing you did tonight. You have no idea.”

“I don’t feel very brave,” she softly said.

Gabe rooted through her things and found a pair of sweatpants for her to put on instead of jeans, which meant getting her back onto her feet and down to the bed again.

Gabe and Bill helped her lie down, tucked her in, and Kenny left the bedside lamp on for her when she asked for a light to be kept on.

They all bid her good-night and closed the door behind them.

Before she could even roll over, she felt blackness take her.