About halfway to the hospital they met up with the ambulance. Paramedics put Rosetta on a gurney and placed her in the ambulance. Ericka and Greg were going to drive there themselves.

  Once she was back in the front seat next to Greg the adrenaline kicked in and she started to shake. The heat in the car and the cold of her clothes did nothing to help either way.

  Greg took her hand and brought it to the back of his lips. “You’re freezing.”

  “I know.” Now her teeth chattered.

  “We’ll be there soon. Maybe huddle next to me.”

  “There is a c-console between us. K-kind of hard to do that.”

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as best he could.

  “I’m sorry.” She held her hands fisted in her lap.

  “Sorry for what?”

  “That I couldn’t take the shot. H-he was there telling me how similar we were. Our mothers left us both. We were both from abusive homes. I had terrible foster parents, he had worse. That could have been me.” Her voice lowered on the last word.

  He squeezed her chin and made her look at him as best he could while driving. “That would never have been you.”

  She shrugged. At one time it could have been. On more than one occasion she’d made plans for how to take out Mrs. Drust or even a few of her other foster parents. Elaborate plans for escape and how she would live afterward. On the school internet she’d researched how to get rid of a body and the best way to plan a murder and get away with it.

  She understood where he was coming from in a sense.

  The only thing that had helped her was the group home where she’d been forced into church. Finding Jesus had changed her perspective. Instead of wanting to hurt the people, now she wanted to help the ones they hurt. Except for Mrs. Drust. She might still think about that occasionally.

  They pulled under the emergency room awning. Greg opened her door and took her inside. He explained something about falling into the cold water and then he left. She assumed to park the car.

  He’d been in the water longer than her. She should have been the one parking the car.

  Immediately she was stripped, redressed, and put under warming blankets. It didn’t take long for her to warm up.

  Once she felt more like normal, she called Quinn. “You need to get someone out to, well, I don’t know where we were, but someone needs to go out there and collect Charles’ body.”

  “Already on it. The boss called in about ten minutes ago.”

  “I see.”

  “Are you all right? I hear you’re back at the hospital. Maggie said she is getting you a frequent flyer card.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

  Quinn laughed. “Seriously, do you guys need us to come up there?”

  “I don’t think so. We’ll wait here until Rosetta is released and then we’ll come in.” At least that was her plan. She wasn’t sure what Greg wanted to do.

  “That’s what the boss said too.”

  Ah, so they were thinking on the same lines.

  “One more thing you might find interesting. Tito got a warrant to arrest Yuri Petrov.”

  “Why is that name familiar?”

  “He’s Rosetta’s step-uncle.”

  “Oh.” She paused. “Why is Tito arresting him?”

  “It looks like he might have paid Alexi Romanov a very large sum of money.”

  “For…”

  “We’re not sure, but Tito suspects it was a payoff for him being the person threatening Rosetta.”

  The picture was becoming clearer the more that Quinn spoke.

  “I’ll let you know if we learn anything more. In the meantime, try to stay out of trouble.”

  “I would like nothing more.” Ericka leaned back against the pillows and studied the ceiling tiles. It was going to be a long afternoon.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Tito had Yuri detained. Once he arrived Yuri was almost bouncing off the walls in a train station holding cell.

  “Why won’t you let me out? Can’t I have a drink of water? This isn’t Russia, is it?”

  Tito watched him through a one-way glass. “How long has he been like this?”

  “He started the pacing and the ranting about five minutes after we put him in there. I think he knows whatever he’s done he’s been caught.”

  Tito hoped so. If he was stirred up enough maybe he would reveal everything without too much work.

  Tito straightened his jacket and entered the room. He held a clipboard to make himself look professional.

  He settled in the seat on one side of the table and lifted a blank sheet of paper like he was reading something of great importance. He made noises to go along with the fake reading.

  Yuri dropped into the free chair. “What is it? What are you reading?”

  “I’m reading something very bad.”

  “What? What could be bad? Do I have cancer?”

  Tito had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Why would he be detained at the train station for cancer? This guy didn’t seem very smart. There was no way he was behind the plot to threaten Rosetta. No way at all.

  “No. Something else entirely.”

  “Well, what is it?”

  “Your bank records show that you gave a large sum of money to an Alexi Romanov.”

  “So? He’s a friend.”

  “Did you give him that money so that he would pretend to threaten your niece?”

  “Wh-what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, Yuri, come on. You know what I’m talking about.” Tito had hit record on his phone as soon as he entered the room. He was still shocked at how easy he thought this was going to be.

  “I do not.”

  “Yuri, we know about Ilsa.”

  “You do?”

  “We do.”

  Yuri bit his lip and looked around the room. Then he leaned closer to Tito. “How do you know?”

  “We have evidence.”

  “Evidence…” Yuri rolled his eyes. “I tried to tell her not to stick around after dropping off the bomb. But she wanted to see the boom. She always loved booms.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Oh, yes, she helped with many bombings when we first came to this country. Then after she married the representative Josef wanted other things. Bigger things.”

  “Of course he did.”

  “Josef worried that Vilo wouldn’t win. I mean look at him. His poll numbers have plummeted. He is fat cow. He doesn’t do anything he promises. The people in his district deserve better. But my sister needs him reelected so she doesn’t become a slave to Josef again.”

  “I understand. Who would want to do that?”

  “Precisely. So, we have the plan to threaten Rosetta. Just a little thing. Threaten her for free press. Vilo is broke, you see. No money to run ads. This was the best way, only way. But it got out of hand.”

  “I would say. Whose idea was it for the officer to take her place?”

  He shrugged. “I think Don mentioned it. He didn’t want his real daughter in danger. This way we could continue to threaten but she would be safe. But Rosetta just had to go to the bus. Then we don’t know what happened to her. Ilsa had a great idea to put her on the media to see if someone could find her. Great idea, in principle, bad in practice. She wouldn’t wait. She wanted me and Günter to kidnap the officer at the concert.” He leaned forward. “Did you see the concert?”

  “I did.”

  “The officer was amazing! I could do nothing but listen. Then the concert was over. I had to tell Ilsa that it wasn’t a good time. No good time to snatch her. Ilsa seemed okay with it. I guess because she had a new plan, use the secretary.”

  “I see.”

  “That girl is dumb. She told the press every line that Ilsa fed her accidentally, although really on purpose.”

  “How much does Representative Vilo know of this?”

  “All of it. Ilsa tells him everything. They are very close.”

  Yuri seemed very proud of the fact that his sister was close to her husband. When they both went to jail the closeness might be a little harder.

  “Would you be willing to write all this down?”

  “I don’t spell so good. Could you just record me?”

  “I can. Give me just a moment.”

  Tito left the room. He spoke to station security, who had already filmed the entire interview but agreed to step into the room and pretend to film his confession. The guy hadn’t even asked for council or anything in return for his testimony.

  Tito hadn’t read him his rights or offered it either. Probably everything he’d said would be inadmissible in court. Truth was they would need more than his word to bring down a sitting house representative.

  He put the phone to his ear.

  “Director, here.”

  “Dad, I need your help.”

  It was the first time he’d called him dad in years. It felt good.

  ****

  Greg entered Rosetta’s room. She stared at the window. All her wounds had been cleaned and dressed. Her clothes had been replaced with some from the lost and found.

  The tap of his shoes must have alerted her to his presence because she lunged to her feet and turned to face him with her hands in a fighting stance.

  When she saw him, she lowered her arms to her sides. “Sorry, I thought you might be someone else.”

  She took a seat back on the edge of the bed, and he took a place on the chair. He’d tried to get the two women in the same room, but the hospital staff either didn’t think it was a good idea or hadn’t done it yet. He wasn’t sure which.

  He reached across the gap and grabbed her hand. “Rosetta, I told you that you don’t have to worry. Charles can’t hurt you anymore.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  She’d seen what had happened to him. Greg had tried to shield her by putting her face to his chest, but she’d been turned in the direction to see everything.

  “I’m going to be thinking about what happened to him for a long time. I’ll probably write songs about it one day.”

  “I hope you do write songs, but it doesn’t have to be about that.”

  “Success out of adversity makes the best music.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I’m glad to hear you say that.”

  His phone rang. He held up his finger to indicate he would be right back, and he walked out into the hallway.

  “Where are you?”

  “Nice to hear your voice too, Tito.”

  “No, listen, did you find Rosetta?”

  “We did. She is in the hospital recouping from her Charles experience.” He wished it was that easy for all of them. He knew that Ericka was going to have a hard time with what happened.

  Mainly, her hesitation.

  “Good. I need you to keep her there.”

  “I hadn’t planned on letting her go anywhere else. What is this about?”

  “Family.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Just keep her there. I need to know what she knows before I go off doing anymore. At least that is Director Manis’ take. I’m ready to go off half-cocked and take them all down.”

  “I’m missing something I can feel it. But I’ll keep her here. When will you be here?”

  “In about thirty minutes.”

  “See you then.”

  Greg ended the call and went back into Rosetta’s room. She hadn’t moved, but she was tapping out a rhythm on the hospital bed’s railing.

  He settled across from her and crossed his legs. In thirty minutes, he’d find out what all the secrecy was about. He didn’t know whether to be happy or worried.

  ****

  Ericka looked up at the ceiling and counted the tiles. Over and over, she got fifty-one. The odd number had to mean something was wrong. It just wasn’t possible. Either she was missing one, or she was counting one twice. Something wasn’t right.

  Greg hadn’t been in to see her since they put her in a room to monitor her. Maybe he’d been placed in a room of his own. That would make sense.

  When a nurse came in, she planned to ask.

  She hadn’t slept since the night before the concert. How many hours was that? She’d lost count. She closed her eyelids as a heaviness came over them.

  Charles was there.

  He was on his knees begging and pleading for her to take him out of the world.

  Let it end. Please let it end. I don’t want to do it anymore.

  Help me.

  Help me.

  Ericka woke to the bright white room. Her right hand shook. He hadn’t been on the ground. He’d been coming for her. He’d had a large rock in his hand, and he was in the process of swinging it at her head, and still she didn’t pull the trigger.

  The pleading had gotten to her.

  Obviously, it was false. He hadn’t meant any of it. He was just trying to distract her so he could take his moment and take her out.

  And she’d almost let him do it.

  She’d stood right there with a gun in her hand and almost let him kill her.

  Blood had pooled on his chest in a round circle. He’d looked shocked and then he’d smiled. Greg’s gun had smoke rolling from the tip.

  He’d killed Charles.

  He’d saved her… again.

  Ericka would be the one that needed therapy.

  Maybe Dr. Ellen could help. She knew she needed to talk to someone about what happened. But not Greg. She was too close to him.

  A streak of someone moving fast passed the open door. She caught the hint of a familiar aftershave.

  “Tito!”

  The figure must have stopped suddenly because he appeared at her door in the next moment. “Hey, there. I thought, well, what are you doing in here alone?”

  “I’m waiting on Greg. Do you know where he is?”

  “Well, I hope he is in the room with Rosetta. When I called him about thirty minutes ago, he said that was where he was and where he would stay until I could get here.”

  “What happened?”

  “New information. Questions that I have to ask the pop singer. You want to come?”

  “Absolutely.” She swung her legs off the bed and put her feet into some provided slippers.

  Tito didn’t let her walk though. He grabbed a wheelchair and cocked his brow until she took a seat.

  “I don’t need this thing.”

  “Maybe not, but maybe I want to wheel you around. I might even do a wheelie if you promise not to tell.”

  She laughed.

  Down the hallway, he turned to the right and stopped at the last door on the left. Inside, Greg sat across from the bed. Rosetta was there stretched out with her arm flung over her eyes.

  She rose to a seated position as they entered the room. She looked between Greg, Ericka and then to Tito.

  “He’s safe. He’s with us. He just needs to talk to you before we take you home.”

  “All right. What about?”

  Tito settled Ericka in the wheelchair then he took a seat himself. Probably to look less intimidating than staring her down.

  “Do you know a Yuri Petrov?”

  “Of course, he’s my stepmother’s brother. Is he okay?” Now she sat up even straighter.

  “Yuri was caught paying money to Alexi Romanov.”

  “Money? But why? He was the one that you traced back to my threats, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “But that doesn’t make any sense. Uncle Yuri, wouldn’t, I mean, well, he’s not really smart enough to do something like that. Even though I’m not really sure what that is.”

  Tito drew in a deep breath. Ericka felt for him. She had a feeling she knew what was coming and she was glad that she wasn’t the one doing the questioning.

  “Rosetta I’m sorry to say this, but I think your stepmother was plotting to kill you to get free press for your father’s campaign.”

  Rosetta laughed. Then she stopped and then laughed some more. Then suddenly she stopped. “You’re not joking.”

  “No, I’m not joking.”

  “But, why? I mean, my dad’s polling numbers are fine. He’s got lots of money for advertisements and lots of popular people have endorsed him. Why would Ilsa think she needed to do that?”

  “Yuri told us, and I checked, your father is broke.”

  “Broke, but, how? When my mother died, he inherited her entire fortune.”

  “I don’t know the how of the money; I just know he doesn’t have it. And I also know he had to win to sign bills for someone named Josef.”

  “Ilsa’s father.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Ericka had a feeling that Yuri hadn’t mentioned that.

  “He’s not Yuri’s father, but he is Ilsa’s.”

  So Ilsa’s father wanted Vilo to vote for him, that was why Vilo had to win.

  Made a twisted kind of sense.

  “Back to my father using my threats to win the election, I don’t understand how that would help him.”

  “Yuri’s explanation was that they planned to threaten, blow up the bus, and other things if necessary to get free media coverage. When you went to the bus to do the recording it through everything out of whack.”

  Rosetta nodded.

  That action had caused her to lose her manager and friend. Ericka was sure she didn’t want to relive it.

  “So, what do you want from me?” Her voice was a hoarse whisper as if she tried to hold back tears.

  “You’re saying you didn’t know anything about this?”

  “I did not. If I had, I would have offered money for advertising. I could have given way more than what he got with free media coverage.”

  “I believe you. That means I have another favor to ask.”

  “Anything I can do to help, I will.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The trip to North Carolina had left little time to make an appointment with Dr. Ellen. In fact, Ericka hadn’t even had time to go home and pick up fresh clothes. She’d grabbed them from her go bag at the office and changed there in the locker room.

  During the drive from the airport, Rosetta bounced her leg and tapped her fingers on her thighs.

  “Nervous?”

  “A little.”

  “I understand.”