Chapter 42

He knelt by the side of the bed so that he could see Jake’s face. It was relaxed as if he was sleeping, which Russ decided he was, even if it was drug-induced. Touching Jake’s cheek, he whispered, “You’re going to make it through what happened. I’ll be with you every step of the way, I promise.” He saw movement behind Jake’s eyelids and wondered if it meant that he’d heard him, and understood. Whether he did or not, Russ had every intention of repeating his words as often as necessary until they came true.

Too soon, the nurse told him it was time to leave. He did, returning to the waiting room by the nurses’ station, where he found Ogden talking to a very distraught Kelly while a man Russ presumed was her husband watched.

“You should have stopped it before it happened,” she was saying. She rounded on Russ when he joined them. “Why the hell didn’t you call me?”

He held up his hands, replying, “I don’t have your number.”