Cuff Me(90)

It was the longest ride of Vincent’s life, and he could have sworn his heart stopped a million times along the way.

But when he finally pulled up in front of Dorothy Birch’s apartment building, his heart really did stop.

There were the expected squad cars, of course. A half dozen of them.

But there was an ambulance too. And there were his brothers. His brothers who beat him, because they were already in Manhattan when shit went down.

Luc’s and Anthony’s faces were unusually somber as they watched a stretcher be loaded into the ambulance then.

He saw it then. The blond hair. The small frame.

“No. No!”

Even in the chaos, his shout had carried, and people turned to stare as he half ran, half stumbled toward the ambulance as the stretcher disappeared from view.

His brothers caught both of his arms before he could throw himself into the back.

“Easy,” Anth muttered. “Let them work.”

“What happened?” his voice cracked. “What’s wrong with her?”

“They found her unconscious,” Luc said quietly. “They think she was drugged, but they don’t know with what. They’re searching the place now.”

Drugged. That old bitch had drugged her.

“Where is she?” Vin snarled, glancing around at the squad cars, searching the backseats for a white head.

Both brothers were silent for a moment.

Anthony finally answered. “There was no sign of Dorothy Birch when the uniforms got here. It was just Jill slumped on the couch. Judging from the open dresser drawers and clothes strewn on the bed, we’re guessing she made a run for it.”

Vincent’s eyes came back to Jill’s body. He could barely see with the paramedics moving in every direction, but she wasn’t moving.

She wasn’t moving.

“I’m going to find Dorothy Birch,” Vincent said, his voice harsh and grating. “I’ll f*cking find her!”

One of the paramedics started to close the back of the ambulance door, and Vin reached out to grab it before it could shut in his face.

“Sir, you can’t—”

“I’m a cop,” Vincent ground out as he launched himself into the back of the ambulance.

“And this is my partner.”





CHAPTER FORTY-ONE


Jell-O.

She’d been eating Jell-O for days.

Or at least hours. Jill had definitely been eating Jell-O for hours.

And it was freaking fantastic.

At least until the last nurse had brought her the orange kind. She started to hand it to Elena who was sitting in the chair to her right, but Elena didn’t look up from her magazine, and merely pointed across the bed to Ava.

Jill handed the orange Jell-O to Ava, who plucked it out of Jill’s hand with a tsking noise. “Now how can they expect you to get better on orange Jell-O?”

“I know,” Jill pouted. “Don’t they know I was drugged with dog tranquilizers?”

“The indignity. I can’t even. I’ll take care of this straightaway.” Ava handed the orange Jell-O cup to Luc. “Luc, take care of this. Straightaway.”

He stared at the cup in his hand before shooting a puzzled look at the women. “And by take care of this, you mean…”

“Get her red Jell-O,” Maggie said from the chair in the corner. “Obviously.”

Luc glanced at Anthony with a what-the-f*ck expression, but Anth held up his hands and shook his head. “Hey, man. She’s right about the dog tranquilizer. Maybe it made her weird. Weird-er.”

“Heard that,” Jill said, shooting a finger pistol at Anthony. “And for the record, I liked red Jell-O before that old lady tricked me into taking doggie sedatives.”

“Everyone likes red Jell-O,” Elena pointed out. “It’s pretty much the only Jell-O worth eating.”

“I like green Jell-O myself.”

Jill glanced at the door and grinned when she saw the Moretti grandmother. “Nonna!”

“There’s my girl,” Nonna said, moving toward the bed and giving Jill a none-too-gentle hug. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it here earlier. I had another of those dang colds. Boogers the size of—”

“Nonna, for the love of God,” Luc said. “Not after you just talked about preferring green Jell-O. Actually, not ever.”

Nonna ignored her grandson as she studied Jill with a slight frown. “So where is the old biddy that landed you in this horrible place, and got you dressed in that ugly gown that makes your boobs look like pancakes?”

Anthony grabbed the Jell-O cup out of Luc’s hand. “I’m going to go find the red Jell-O.”

“I’ll help!” Luc said, half running after his brother.

Jill glanced down at the gown. “Not my best look, huh? And as for that biddy… still on the run.”

Nonna huffed and shoved Ava out of the chair so she could sit down. “I’m not surprised. Everyone underestimates us old farts, but we can be surprisingly crafty. A wobbly hand and a shaky voice are all it takes to do surprising misdeeds.”

Yikes.

Jill plucked at the hospital blanket, remembering all too well how Dorothy had played her with the shaking hand routine. She’d replayed yesterday over and over—at least the parts she could remember—and had concluded that Dorothy must have drugged her first cup of tea while she was still in the kitchen, and then the second cup of tea when Jill had looked away to let the elderly woman save her pride.