Chapter 27

"What are you still doing here?" Agent Jameson Barry asked as he jumped into the ambulance and captured her in his arms. Bel stiffened for a second before relaxing into his embrace. They were colleagues, but it seemed coming back from the dead erased professionalism, and she returned the agent's hug.

"I needed to stay," she answered as he settled beside her. After recovering from his shock at finding two bloody women in the snow, the truck driver loaded them into the heated cab before calling 911. Within the hour, the mountainside was crawling with police, followed shortly by the FBI, and Agent Barry had flown in on a helicopter himself to confirm Detective Isobel Emerson was, in fact, alive even if she wasn't entirely well. The EMTs had confirmed Annalise was in rough shape, and they'd immediately left for the hospital, but Bel had refused to leave. She was stable enough, even if her body ached, but she needed to stay.

"I can't leave yet," she explained. "He killed me, to the world, at least. He made my father grieve my death. He planned to destroy my face, and when I escaped, he tried to gun me down. I can't leave until he's in handcuffs."

"I don't think we're going to find him." Barry reached out and rested his palm on her bandaged hands. "His helicopter is gone. There are no signs of him, either. The entire nation is on alert, but we've yet to locate him."

Bel turned to watch the flashing police lights dance with the falling snow. She didn't want to cry. Not in front of an FBI agent, but she couldn't stop the tears.

"Did you find the cabin?" she asked as she tried to wipe her face, but her bandages made it difficult.

"We did." Barry wiped her tears for her, which only made her cry harder. "We found all the Annes too. There's enough evidence there to convict him one hundred times over." He located some gauze and dabbed it against her cheeks until her tears slowed. "We also uncovered proof that Blaubart is Hyde. If we… no, when we find him, there'll be no escaping justice. We have him."

"Except you don't." Bel sagged against the gurney, Blaubart's cursed scalpel burning her nerves where it hid in her jeans pocket. He no longer had magic, but he was still an expert in hiding identities. They knew about Blaubart and Hyde, but she bet there was a horde of aliases tied to him. The mountain cabin was proof of that, since it was under yet another false name.

"He had the ability to turn women into his wife," she continued. "I have no doubt he'll change his face and name and then vanish in his helicopter."

"Hey." Barry leaned forward and cupped her cheek. "We'll find him. I will find him." He emphasized his promise as he held her gaze. "I was watching the news when the report of your death came on. I realize we aren't close, but I respect you, Detective. I like you a lot, and to hear you died struck me harder than I expected. I'm incredibly thankful you're alive, but that man tricked everyone who cared about you into thinking you were dead. We will find him. I swear it."

"You aren't supposed to promise the victims success." She smiled at him with a tease in her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." He swatted the air. "For you, I'll promise this. I don't care what it takes. He won't get away with this."

"Oh my god, my baby." Reese charged through the hospital room door hours later and captured Bel in a hug before she could so much as blink. He pulled her against his chest, sobbing uncontrollably as he kissed her cheeks over and over, and she wrapped her arms around him so tightly that she worried she was choking him, but she couldn't stop herself. The room was filled with pain and relief, with love so raw and intense the very air vibrated with their emotions, and she could barely breathe through her hyperventilating sobs.

"Tell me it's you," her father gasped, his tears making it almost impossible for him to speak. "Tell me you're alive, that you're my baby girl."

"It's me, Dad." She kissed his cheek, afraid to look into his eyes. She'd never seen her father like this, and she was nervous about what seeing his fear would do to her. "I'm here. I'm okay."

"But you were in that morgue," Reese choked. "I saw you dead and broken, but now you're here. How are you here? How is this possible?" He pulled back, cupping her face so gently that she cried harder. "Tell me it's you."

"You had a bag of frozen broccoli in our freezer when we were growing up," Bel said, realizing that all five of her sisters were suddenly surrounding her bed. "You hid chocolate in it, assuming the broccoli would keep us from finding it, but you forgot to consider that Briar was always trying to get you to eat healthier. She found that chocolate right away, so we constantly stole from you."

"Oh god," Reese gasped, dragging Bel back into a hug. "Oh, sweetheart. I knew you girls found my stash. Why else do you think that broccoli bag was always stocked?"

"I knew it!" Odette said as her sisters swarmed her bed. "I told you guys Dad knew we knew."

"We all knew that," Briar said. "But we didn't say anything because we didn't want Dad to stop hiding his chocolate there."

"I didn't," Bel said as she kissed each of her sobbing sisters. "I always thought we were being sneaky."

"Oh, Isobel." Briar cupped her face with older-sister affection. "You were young, and you had so much fun stealing his chocolates that we couldn't ruin it for you. We let you believe you were getting one over on your poor father."

"Is that true?" Bel scanned her siblings' faces, hating how they all stared at her as if she wasn't real.

"Yes," Rose said as she, Luna, and Giselle hugged her tight, crowding out their two oldest sisters. "But it's okay. It was fun watching you get excited."

"We love you," Briar said. "You know that, right? We love you so much. Don't ever do this again. I won't survive it."

Bel slipped her arm through her sisters' bodies to grab Briar's hand. "I love you too. Thanks for being here."

"We wouldn't miss you coming back from the dead," Odette said.

"Odette," Reese warned, clearly afraid her second oldest sister's words would trigger her, but Bel just laughed.

"It's okay, Dad. Being resurrected feels pretty good, even if my fingers feel awful."

"Will they be okay?" Luna grabbed her bandaged hands.

"Yeah," Bel said. "No permanent damage. The doctors said that supporting Annalise down the mountain helped. Her body heat and the coat kept my fingers from getting too cold. They also put me on antibiotics for blood-borne diseases, but it looks like I'm out of the woods."

"Isobel." Briar rolled her eyes at the pun.

"You saved her, and she saved you." Luna stroked her hand. "I'm?—"

A desperate bark cut her off, and before Bel could brace for the impact, Cerberus plowed into her chest. Mother and dog fell back onto the bed, and she burst into another fit of tears as her beloved pitbull tried to lick her to death.

"Baby Beast!" She kissed his beefy head so many times that his fur stuck to her lips and got into her mouth. "How did you get in here?"

"I lied and said he was a police dog," Olivia said as she hovered in the doorway. She wore an odd expression, and she refused to cross the threshold. Bel squinted at her partner, wondering why she seemed afraid to come close, but her sisters were swarming. It was hard to sneak past her family, but Olivia's frown told her the distance was for another reason.

"Thank you," Bel said as she clung to her squirming pitbull. "I needed him. I'm glad you're here too." She hoped her words would soften Olivia, but her partner simply nodded and faded into the background, leaving a hole in Bel's heart.

"He really was right about the dog," Reese said, scratching Cerberus' head, which wasn't an easy feat since the pup refused to stay still.

"Who was right?" Bel asked, returning her focus to her family.

"Eamon," he answered. "He was the one who realized the accident victim wasn't you. When we didn't believe him, he brought Cerberus into the morgue to prove it. He ignored the body, and as horrified as I am that the poor woman had to die, I'm glad the dog avoided her. He wouldn't even look at the body, and seeing him with you proves he knew we shouldn't worry."

"You are a good boy." Bel hugged her pitbull's neck, and Cerberus plopped all seventy pounds down on her chest. "My best boy. Thanks for telling everyone I was alive." She kissed his snout as a thought entered her mind.

"Where is he?" she scanned her gathered loved ones, his absence suddenly painfully obvious. "Where's Eamon?"

"I don't know, baby." Reese looked at her with an apology. "No one does."

Charlie Bleu strode into his hotel room without bothering to turn on the lights. He'd had a successful day, if his situation could be called successful. He'd chosen Venezuela because of their limited extradition with the United States, and he'd found a building for sale within his budget. He would start over here after he contacted an old acquaintance. Jax Frost wasn't the only monster he knew, and it would only be a matter of time before he reclaimed his scalpel from that detective. He wished she'd died in the snow. He hated he hadn't put a bullet in her brain. It made this next part of his plan difficult, but not impossible. His past had helped him forge many deadly connections. Plenty of dangerous men owed him, and they would be more than willing to butcher that pretty detective for him.

"Charlie Bleu," a deep and menacing voice interrupted the silence, and Charlie jerked backward, tripping over his feet to crash into the desk. "Or shall I say, Charles Blaubart?" The intruder flipped on a floor lamp, and Charlie gawked as Eamon Stone's massive form emerged from the shadows.

"You took what belongs to me." Eamon stepped forward, his movements a death threat. "You tried to kill what I love most in this world."

Charlie whirled on his heels and charged for the front door, only to collide with a solid wall of muscle. He stumbled back to find Ewan Orso blocking his escape, but before he could aim for the window, Sheriff Griffin stepped out of the closet to block his last hope.

"You took what was mine," Eamon repeated. "No one takes what's mine and lives unpunished." He lunged for Charlie and caught him by the throat with unnerving speed. "Isobel Emerson is under my protection. She belongs to me, and if it were up to me, I would peel your skin off your flesh while you watched. But the sheriff prefers you pay the legal way, so I helped him find you. It doesn't matter that Venezuela's extradition is limited at best. I made it my purpose to return you to the States, where the FBI will be waiting. There will be a trial, and you'll go to prison. I promised Griffin that I wouldn't kill you before your sentencing, but who knows? Accidents happen in prison, and my reach is wide. I would sleep with one eye open. You never know which day will be your last."