Whispers of You (Lost & Found #1)(70)

A woman who looked to be in her fifties was bent over, holding a small penlight.

My legs carried me toward the group, but it was as if I were on autopilot. Everything in me had gone numb.

Clint took one look at me and stepped back, clearing the way.

Wren lay on the table, an ice pack pressed to her head. It wasn’t until I saw her chest rise and fall that I took a full breath. But as soon as I did, rage filled my lungs.

Wren shifted as she saw me, the ice pack slipping. The side of her face was already turning black and blue. Angry scrapes stood out against her smooth skin, and blood seeped through her long-sleeved white blouse.

Blood.

Wren was bleeding.

In a flash, she stood and moved to me. The ice pack fell to the floor as she grabbed my hands. “I’m fine. A little banged up. That’s all.”

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. All I could do was stare at the blood staining her T-shirt.

“Tell him I’m fine, doc.”

“Wren will be perfectly all right,” the doctor said.

“You’re bleeding.” The words were raw, as though they were wrapped in barbed wire, and someone had ripped them from my throat.

Lawson cursed. “She scraped her arm when she fell. It’s nothing serious.”

My head snapped in his direction. “Someone. Attacked. Wren. Outside your damned police station. How is that not serious?” I growled.

Lawson winced. “Bad choice of words.”

Wren looked up, wariness seeping into her expression for the first time. “I’m okay. I took a knock on the head. I’ll look rough for a couple of days. That’s it.”

“You promised me.”

Her brows furrowed.

“You promised me you wouldn’t go anywhere alone.”

How could I believe anything she told me? How could I trust her to keep herself safe?

Wren stared at me. “I stepped out our back door in an extremely lit police station parking lot because I needed a second to breathe. There were people right inside.”

“He got to you!”

The words vibrated the air as I bellowed them.

A single tear slid from Wren’s eye, but she wiped it away quickly. “That’s not on me.”

I reared back. Of course, it wasn’t on her. I squeezed my eyes closed, struggling to breathe evenly. I was screwing this all up. And I couldn’t. There was too much at stake.

I moved in a flash, wrapping Wren in my arms. I fought the urge to tighten my hold, the instinct was so strong, but I didn’t want to hurt her. “I can’t lose you,” I croaked.

“I’m right here,” she whispered.

But someone could take her from me at any moment. How could I have forgotten that?





34





WREN





“It all happened so fast. I don’t think I saw anything.” My head pounded as I tried to search through my memories. “I heard gravel crunch and started to turn, but whoever it was, hit me before I saw anything.”

Holt’s hand tightened reflexively around mine.

Lawson gave me a gentle smile. “That’s okay. What about after they hit you? Did you hear or see anything?”

“Just a boot. They tried to kick me in the head, but I rolled, and they got my shoulder instead.” I glanced at the man beside me. “Holt gave me one of those personal alarm things. I managed to get it from my pocket and pulled the pin. It scared them enough that I heard them running away.”

“Probably pierced his eardrum, too,” Clint said with a small grin.

Holt scowled at him.

Lawson cleared his throat. “Did you get any sense of the person’s size?”

I shook my head and instantly regretted the action; the throbbing in my skull only intensified. “I don’t think so. They hit me before I could see them, and then I was on the ground.”

Holt’s hand tightened again, and I traced circles on the back of it, trying to soothe the demons that had clearly taken hold.

Lawson typed a few things into his phone. “We’ll have an officer pull any security camera footage we can get from the local stores tomorrow.”

“I want to see it,” Holt said.

Lawson’s mouth pressed into a hard line. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Holt narrowed his eyes as if to say, you’d better. “Are you done? I want to get Wren home.”

Worry etched itself across Lawson’s face. “Sure. We can talk tomorrow, Wren. I’ll have patrols going by the cabin.”

Holt nodded. “Thanks.”

But there was nothing in Holt’s voice. No emotion. It sounded dead. I’d heard that tone before. When I was in the hospital and in a rehab clinic. It was the sound of Holt turning off. Of blaming himself.

He turned to me. “Will you be okay to walk?”

I blinked up at him as the blood pounded in my ears. “Of course.” I slid off the massage table, ignoring the twinge in my shoulder and along my ribs. Things were going to be black and blue for a while.

“Call if you need anything,” Lawson said.

“Thank you,” I replied softly.

He reached out and gave my hand a quick squeeze. There was so much in that simple gesture. Lawson was telling me to hang on. To stick with Holt.