One of Us Is Next(86)

She hesitates, and my breath catches in my throat. “His arm?”

“No! No, no,” Addy says quickly. She tugs harder at her earring. “God, sorry. I was trying to remember the word for, like…flying bits from a bomb.”

“Shrapnel,” Luis says. I go limp with relief as Addy nods.

“But he’ll be okay?”

“That’s what they say. I don’t know how bad his arm is injured, though.” Addy lowers her voice, flicking her eyes toward the middle-aged woman sitting next to Bronwyn. “It’ll be terrible if he can’t work. Nate needs that money so he can stay in his apartment. His mom’s living with his dad, even though they don’t really have a marriage anymore, because his dad’s still in and out of rehab and somebody has to take care of him. It’s so tense in that house. That can’t be Nate’s life again. It just can’t.”

There’s too much information coming at me all at once, but still so much I don’t understand. “Why would anybody do something like this?” I ask. “You said Knox and Maeve are heroes. What did they do?”

Addy exhales. “It’s still sort of jumbled up. We haven’t had much of a chance to talk to either of them, so we don’t have the full picture, but…there was this guy Jared Jackson, I guess? His brother is one of the police officers in the news for framing people on fake drug charges. He’d been sending threatening letters to Eli, and he decided to follow through on them tonight. Knox and Maeve were tailing him—I’m not clear how they knew to do that, to be honest—and followed him straight to Talia’s.” She shudders and hunches down in her chair again. “We’d probably all be dead if they hadn’t. The bomb was literally right below the deck we were standing on.”

“At least police arrested the guy pretty fast,” Luis says grimly.

“Thanks to Maeve and Knox,” Addy says. “Knox caught the whole thing on video. The worst thing is, police were there, at the restaurant. Eli took precautions because of the threats. But they were inside. Nobody planned for this.” Her lips form a tight line. “Like, is this my sister’s life now? She has to deal with terrorists and death threats? I love Eli with my whole heart, I really do, but this is horrible.”

Maeve stirs but doesn’t wake, and Luis presses a light kiss on the top of her head. “Is the wedding still on for tomorrow?” he asks.

Addy sighs. “I don’t even know.”

My phone starts ringing in my pocket. I pull it out and stifle a groan when I see that it’s Derek, calling me back already. His timing sucks, but I don’t want to play phone tag with him. Might as well get it over with. Maybe by the time I’m done, Knox will be back to explain more of what happened tonight. “I have to take this,” I murmur to Addy.

I stand and pick through the crowded waiting area until I’m in the corridor. “Hello,” I say, plugging my free ear with my index finger.

“Phoebe, it’s Derek. I’m really glad you got in touch.” His voice sounds far away, and if I didn’t already know who it was, I’d never have recognized it. I have no idea who this person really is, I think as I lean against the wall.

“Why,” I say flatly.

Derek clears his throat. “Well, to be honest, the thing is…ever since that party at your friend’s house, I can’t stop thinking about you. I feel like we could have something special if—”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I don’t realize I’m yelling until a passing nurse gives me the evil eye. I lower my voice. “Do you realize Emma is in the hospital?”

“She’s what?” Derek sounds bewildered. “No. How would I know that? I haven’t talked to Emma in months. What happened?”

“She’s falling apart! And I think it has something to do with what happened between you and me—which, by the way, was not special. It was stupid. But anyway. Emma found out about us last month, and now she’s suddenly drinking herself to death. So who did you blab to? Did you stop to think for one second that running your mouth might get back to Emma?”

“I…” Derek falls silent, the sound of his breathing the only sign that he hasn’t disconnected. I’m feeling a surge of righteous satisfaction that my words must have hit their mark when he adds, “Phoebe, I told Emma. The day after it happened.”

I plug my ear harder against the noise of the corridor. I can’t have heard him right. “Excuse me? What did you say?”

“I told Emma about you and me. I felt like shit and I figured you were gonna tell her, so I just…wanted to get it off my chest, I guess.”

“You told Emma,” I repeat. I pull the phone away from my ear and stare at it, like that’ll help me make sense of his words, and a series of texts from my mom flashes across the screen:

Phoebe, are you still here?

The nurses said you went downstairs.

I need you back in Emma’s room.

Right now.

Oh shit. That doesn’t sound good. I bring the phone back to my ear just long enough to tell Derek “I have to go” before I disconnect and retrace my steps upstairs.



* * *



—

I was steeling myself for lots of things when I reached Emma’s room, but a police officer wasn’t one of them.