Chapter Sixteen

As Angel and she drove toward the hospital in San Antonio, Mia couldn’t stop the hamster wheel of woulda, coulda, shoulda going on in her head.

She should have checked on Melanie during the night or first thing this morning. That she should have realized the woman was on the edge and about to do something that could turn out to be fatal.

But she hadn’t.

She’d been so wrapped up in her own sleep and Angel that she’d barely spared Melanie a thought. And now, Melanie could be dying.

“Critical,” she heard Presley say as he gave the latest update to Angel. “Lots of blood loss from the stab wounds to her torso. According to the nurse who was just here, Melanie’s in surgery right now.”

That was more info than Ruby had given them. Then again, they hadn’t pressed Ruby for more since they’d been anxious to get on the road when she’d delivered the bad news.

Anxious but not careless.

Angel had taken the time to check his security cams and to send out a drone to make certain that a hired gun or a killer wasn’t waiting at the end of the road for them. But no one had been there. Now though, the diligence was continuing on the drive with them firing glances all around while talking to Presley.

Since Presley had been at SAPD headquarters, he’d only had a short drive to the hospital and was now in the waiting room with RJ. Mia was thankful for that. RJ shouldn’t be alone right now.

“Can RJ hear what you’re saying?” Angel asked.

“No. I stepped to the far side of the room to call you,” Presley explained. “And RJ’s on the phone right now, checking up on their foster kids. CPS has already stepped up to remove them.”

Of course, they had. They wouldn’t have had a choice about that. The kids would need to be in a stable environment, and no way could RJ and Melanie provide that at the moment. It was likely they’d never be able to foster kids again, even if Melanie was cleared of all charges connected to Kenton’s death.

“I need to know,” Angel said, groaning, “is it possible that Melanie’s wounds weren’t self-inflicted, that someone tried to kill her?”

“I can’t swear it on a stack of Bibles, but the EMTs believe she did this to herself.”

“Hell,” Angel muttered.

She totally understood his frustration. Mia didn’t know which was worse. Attempted suicide or attempted murder.

“Who found her?” Angel pressed, still firing glances all around them. She understood the reason for that, too. If Melanie had been attacked, it could have been designed to draw them out.

So they could be killed.

Yeah, she understood Angel’s concern.

“RJ was the one who found her,” Presley explained. “They were still in the hotel, and he went down to the lobby to pick up their breakfast that’d just been delivered. While he was gone, she used a knife that was from their room service the night before, and she stabbed herself in the stomach and chest.”

“And he didn’t see anyone coming into the hotel, someone who might have gone up to the room and attacked Melanie?” Angel pressed.

“RJ said no, that he was only gone about five minutes. When he got back to the room, he saw her on the floor, and she was bleeding. He dropped their breakfast, called for an ambulance, and started trying to slow down the blood loss.”

Mia could picture that. The fear and panic RJ must have felt. And the sense of hopelessness that had driven Melanie to do this.

“Did Melanie leave any kind of note?” Mia asked.

“No, but she did keep saying she was sorry when the EMTs were loading her into the ambulance,” Presley said. “And I have no idea if she was apologizing for stabbing herself or if that was a pseudo confession to her murdering Kenton and then covering it up.”

Mia knew it could be either, but she was hoping that Melanie hadn’t been the one to end her own son’s life.

“There was a complication as they were prepping her for surgery. You probably remember that Melanie has that rare type of blood,” Presley added. “The doctors have been pumping her with blood to keep her alive, but they’re running low on their supply, and they’ve put out the call to get more.”

Mia remembered. AB Negative because she had the same blood type. And that had fueled her urgency to get to Melanie. If the woman needed blood, then Mia could become her donor.

“We just got to the hospital,” Angel relayed to Presley as they approached their turn. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

Angel drove into the multistory garage, continuing to keep watch while he also looked for a parking space. It was jammed so he continued until he found one on the fifth floor. He glanced around, and he must have gotten an uneasy feeling because he sent a text to Presley.

“Meet us on level five of the garage,” Angel dictated to Danno. “You have your gun with you?”

“No gun,” Presley immediately texted back. “There are metal detectors so I locked up mine in the glove compartment of my SUV.”

Mia saw the sign on one of the pylons. Notice: No firearms or weapons allowed inside the hospital .

“Shit,” Angel grumbled.

And she knew the debate he was having with himself. Their instincts had been to rush to Melanie, but that could turn out to be a deadly mistake.

“Come to the garage,” Angel finally dictated in response to Presley’s text. “Parking space A13. When you’re here, we’ll discuss options.”

Everything inside Mia was yelling for her to get inside the hospital. For her to give that blood that Melanie would need. But she also recalled those two attacks and stayed put.

Both Angel and she looked up as a car drove onto the level, and while Mia didn’t recognize the vehicle, she did recognize the driver.

Birdie.

Birdie saw them as well, and she stopped, giving them a nervous little wave before she pulled into the parking space directly across from them.

“Roger’s not with her,” Angel muttered.

“No.” That was a surprise since Roger had been right by her side during the visit at the foster house.

And Mia instantly got a bad feeling about it in the pit of her stomach.

Birdie got out of her car, and Angel drew his gun, confirming his bad feeling about this, too. He didn’t take aim at her but rather kept the gun resting on his knee. Ready in case this turned into an attack.

Birdie made a beeline toward them, and she didn’t look as polished as she had at the reenactment at the foster house. She was wearing black yoga pants, sneakers, and a gray top that slipped off one shoulder when she hooked a large purse over it.

As Birdie got closer, Mia could see that she’d been crying. There were makeup smears on her face, she was wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand as she approached them.

“Make sure your door is locked,” Angel told her in a whisper.

That got Mia’s heart revving, and she checked. It was locked. And she didn’t see anyone sneaking up on her side of the van.

Angel lowered his window just a fraction, not even enough for the woman to stick the barrel of a gun through the gap if that was indeed what Birdie had in mind. Mia hated to think the worst of someone who’d once been her foster sister, but Birdie had a huge motive to want to silence anyone who could spill details about that last night with Kenton.

“Melanie,” she blurted. Birdie looked at both of them and shook her head. “How is she? Is she still alive?”

Angel didn’t jump to answer. He volleyed some glances around them. Aimed some at Birdie, too.

“We’re waiting for Presley,” he finally said. “He’ll be here soon. Where’s Roger?” he added.

Birdie got a deer caught in the headlights look for a couple of seconds and then shook her head. “He doesn’t know I’m here. He, uh, wouldn’t have wanted me to come.”

“I’ll bet,” Angel muttered.

Mia picked up on what Angel wasn’t saying. Maybe Birdie didn’t want her husband to know that she had come here to kill anyone who might be able to put her in a cage for killing Kenton.

“Please don’t tell him I came here,” Birdie said, wiping away more tears. “Roger’s trying to make sure none of this affects his businesses. I’m doing the same. In fact, I’m here to say goodbye to RJ and tell him how sorry I am about Melanie. Then, I’ll be done with both of them. With all of this,” she added in a mutter. “You’re sure she’s still alive?”

Angel frowned. “Yes. Why? Did you hear otherwise?”

Birdie waved that off and made some nervous glances around her. “I have a friend, a nurse, who works here, and I called her. She said Melanie was critical and might not make it through surgery.”

That bad feeling came again, slicing through Mia.

The feeling skyrocketed when Birdie whipped out a gun and fired it directly into the window.

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