24. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Davina

Once I was dressed, Tripp escorted me to his office, just down the hall from his bedroom. "You sure you want to be here for this?"

"Positive. I need to know what she's been up to and how close we are to catching her."

As soon as we entered the office, Tripp's former brother-in-law stood there and eyed me curiously. "Vina," he stated. It wasn't done coldly, but there was no warmth in his greeting either. I guess I couldn't blame him since Tripp had once been married to his sister and I was the new woman. According to Mitzi and Dee, when they came to see me, some of the club girls were circulating a rumor that I'd gotten pregnant on purpose and only left before telling anyone because I got scared about what the men might do to me. Mack's less than inviting greeting made me wonder if he thought the same was true.

"Not sure you want her in here for this, brother."

"She wants to be here for updates on June, and considering she and Coral are both in that bitch's sights, I thought it was prudent that she hear this shit firsthand."

Mack sighed. "You might regret that in just a few minutes."

"Grady said she'd been found."

"Nah, Grady said she's been sighted. Scout has been getting help from some biker chicks upstate in the mountains. Turns out their little hacker has an in with law enforcement databases that Scout sometimes has a problem with. Keys, the biker chick up there, put feelers out and added a few names to her search parameters. One of them got a hit this morning. There was also a credit card purchase by one June Hargrove Whitaker not fifteen miles from where Barry Whitaker was found butchered in his brand-new condo."

"Barry is dead?" Tripp asked, sounding shocked by that news.

"He and his bedmate were both hacked to death. Barry was stabbed 72 times while the woman with him had her throat slit. According to the file Keys pulled and sent to Scout, the woman died first. The assailant apparently didn't have beef with her, except that she was in the wrong condo at the wrong time. Barry-boy wasn't so lucky. His death was prolonged. He was tied to the bed, and she sliced and diced him with minimal cuts at first. Then she started going deeper and hitting sensitive areas along the way too."

"What did they consider sensitive areas?" I asked.

Mack turned his eyes to me and spilled the details I should have never asked for. "Barry's cock was chopped off and stuffed up his ass. His balls were also severed from his body and stuffed in his mouth. A whole fuck of a lot of rage went into his death."

"Jesus fucking Christ." Tripp muttered. "Fuck, sweetheart, I'm sorry I brought you in here now. You didn't need to hear any of that." Tripp pulled me into his body and cocooned me in his arms as Mack spoke.

"Sorry about the graphic details, but she wanted to know, and she asked for more."

"There's a way to deliver that shit," Tripp scolded him.

"No," I shook my head where it rested on his chest. "Mack is right. I wanted to know and now I do. That woman cannot get anywhere near my daughter. Who is with Coral right now?"

"She's fine," Mack answered. "Star, Bagger, and Kip are all there. Breakneck would be, but he has his own shit going down with Knox's very pissed off nanny. My wife has Knox right now, since he can't be at the hospital, and she's here hunkered down since we're spread too thin on security details to keep them at everyone's private residences."

"So, the only thing we have on June is that her credit card was used not far from where Barry was found?" Tripp asked.

"Yep. Barry was found at his condo in Savannah and June's card was used for gas at a station near Pembroke."

"We don't have eyes on her?"

"Not currently. Gas station didn't have cameras, so that was a bust, but between Scout and her buddy, they're trying to backtrack her possible steps to see if they can find her on any other cameras, so we can get a fix on what kind of vehicle she's driving."

"Thanks, Mack. Keep me posted. I'm going to get another quick nap with Vina before we head back to the hospital."

"Give that sweet girl a kiss for me when you get there." Mack stated, but then he looked my way and offered up a wink to let me know he didn't intend to be mean to me. At least, that was how I took it.

I nodded and Tripp said, "Will do."

We were back in the bedroom before anyone spoke again. "Tripp, it sounds like she's escalating in a big way, if June did this."

"I have no doubt June did this. My only question is why she did that to Barry. He gave her the divorce she wanted."

"Yeah, but maybe he didn't do it soon enough, since you know… You said that you saw her with him and froze her out for a few months, but during that time, you were with me, and I got pregnant. Maybe she blamed him for that happening."

"Could be. Could also be that she found out one of his mistresses was her cousin, Anna."

"Has anyone bothered to check on Anna?"

"No, I'll get a team together and go check her place, but she isn't my priority. We'll do that after."

"After?" I asked.

"Yeah, sweetheart. After I have you again and we get some shut eye. Once I deliver you back to the hospital – with security – I'll go with some of the guys to check on Anna."

"Okay. I hate that you have to go there, though. What if Anna's place turns into a trap?"

"Never been there before, so I don't see how that could be possible."

Tripp held up his end of the deal and thoroughly ravished me before we got our nap in, and he took me back to the hospital.

About twenty minutes after Tripp left the hospital to go check on Anna, Doctor Jenkins came in to see me.

"I hear you've had quite the change in circumstances, young lady." His warm smile let me know that he was not judging those changes. The kind man patted my hand and then gave it a little squeeze before he let go. "It's a good thing to have more family at your back as you and your daughter go through this challenging process. I'm glad you're back today because I wanted to talk to you about Coral's latest results."

He must have seen the panic in my eyes because Dr. Jenkins quickly shuffled me over to a chair and had me sit. Then, he took the one that was next to me and slid it around so that we were face-to-face as he gave me the results.

"Breathe, I promise it isn't bad. You were worried because Coral has been sleeping a lot more, but I'm here to tell you that the sleep has been restorative. I think you'll start seeing a turnaround in your little one's energy levels from here on out. Her labs were just this side of glorious," Dr. Jenkins crowed, and I could see a little mistiness in his eyes as he teared up.

"Wait," I took a moment to get my breath. "You're telling me that she's doing better?"

"I'm telling you that her labs looked amazing. We're not totally in the clear yet, but the latest round of meds seem to be doing the job."

"So, what about the bone marrow thing?"

"With any luck, she will continue to respond well to the regimen she's on now and a transplant won't be necessary."

"Okay, so if she goes into remission, what are the odds that it comes back?"

"We'll have to bridge that gap when we get to it. The good news about not needing a bone marrow transplant now is that it will remain an option in the future. Not that she'll need it, but with this type of cancer, there really are no guarantees. The fact that she got this so young is testament to that. She's the youngest case on file in this country. Let's hope she continues to be a record-breaker, but in a positive way."

"Thank you so much for coming to tell me. I wish Tripp had been here, but he had business to attend to."

"Understandable. If Coral's father needs to contact me, he can reach me here," Dr. Jenkins held out his card for me to take.

"I can't thank you enough for taking such good care of my daughter and being so kind to us."

The doctor shook his head and patted my hand once more. "You and Coral had a rough start of things. It's the least I can do to mitigate the harm done in the early stages when you were vigilant in trying to obtain care for your daughter while this hospital's staff denied you doing what was best for her. You both deserved better. I'm just happy I was there to intercede for you and get your daughter on the path to healing."