Chapter 67

67

Powell was a woman on a mission. None of this locking her away at Houghton's and just waiting for everyone else to find the answers. Maybe she wasn't a big tough cop like the rest of them, but she had the right to know what was behind what had happened to her.

Now that she was a bit more back in her right mind, she had questions.

Gunnar Erickson had the answers. Powell just had to find her man first.

"Heather checked herself out of the hospital AMA a few hours ago," the man in the middle of the dining room said. Rafe, Zoey's brother, was obviously irritated. But…he was often irritated. Powell didn't care. She wanted to know about Heather.

And Rafe was the source of information she needed. "Why?"

Powell was a lawyer—she could do the interrogating thing just fine. Even with this reluctant witness in front of her.

"She said she couldn't afford the bill. She declared that Colesons take care of Colesons, and her family was going to take care of her at home, and that was all she was saying about the matter. Then she told me I wasn't to even try to argue with her because I would simply lose. And…she's my auntie, whether I like it or not, and that means she gets to be in charge. I was not to even think about backtalking, or she would make me stand in the corner for thirty whole minutes. That is a seriously stubborn woman," said one of the most hardheaded men Powell had ever met.

"Stubborn may be a family trait, actually," Rafe's wife said. "Considering. It does rather seem to be genetic. We have plenty of evidence to support that, from Luc all the way down to…this child of yours right here."

Rafe scowled at her. Then his face softened as he looked at his baby in Jillian's arms. Powell refused to look at little Taney Deane—she could not afford to get distracted. And that sweet little man was very distracting.

"Luc is on his way down," Houghton said just randomly. Like that was supposed to make sense to anyone. Until it sank in. Luc. Money. Hospital bills. "She should have stayed. There is no reason she should be worried about the hospital bills right now."

"Why? What is Luc up to?" Powell asked. She turned to her second source of information. There were two men in her world who would know what Davis Lucas was up to. And they were both right there.

She turned to the one she had been training her entire life first.

Mac was picking at his lunch, a tight expression on his far-too-pretty man face. He hadn't said much since she'd made her way to the dining room other than to scoop her close and hug her and tell her he loved her forever. Powell had barely resisted the urge to cling to her big brother and let him make the world right for her again somehow.

Well, it didn't really work that way, did it?

"That is Luc's business and the Colesons'," Mac said. "Client privilege, little sister."

"Heather is at home now?" Powell asked Rafe. "That's where she went?"

Of course, she had. Her babies were there, waiting for their mother to get back to them. Thank God Heather had gotten back to her babies.

"I assume so. She was scooped up by the rest of them. All sixty-five thousand Colesons, I think. Dark-eyed women with bad attitudes everywhere. I know Eden and Samia traded shifts and schedules so that they could be with her today," Rafe answered, a hard look in his own dark eyes. Eyes the same color as Heather's. "I wanted to give them a few days off, but we just couldn't make it work right now."

"Izzie's been off for the week, complications from the asthma and her pregnancy," Jillian said. "And we've had a few others out. Cashie is going to work a double shift tomorrow, to cover, and I'm going back a few days early to help."

Jillian's own maternity leave was supposed to end next week, Powell thought.

Heather's family was shuffling things around to be with her. The way a family pulled together. But Heather never should have felt like she had to leave the hospital because of money in the first place. The TSP should have covered what happened completely. Just like they had Haldyn's injuries. So why not Heather's?

"Where is Gunnar?" Powell asked. She had noticed his absence immediately. Finding her Viking barbarian was her second priority. She looked at Haldyn. Haldyn wouldn't lie.

"He and Daniel went to ask the Colesons some questions," Haldyn's new love stud answered.

"You mean ask Heather questions about what happened?" Powell shot Jarrod a pointed glare. He nodded. "She's been home, what, a few hours? No way. Daniel needs to back off. Right now."

"They need answers, kid. And something came up with DNA results or something," Jarrod said. "The faster the questions are asked, the faster we catch the bastards. It's pretty much how the whole thing works."

Powell stood. "I am going over there. Right now."

"No, you are not," Mac said, standing just as quickly. "You are staying right here behind these walls until we are absolutely certain this is over where you are concerned. I am keeping you safe no matter what."

Protected behind the gilded walls. Of course.

"Because money buys safety? Well, screw that."

Haldyn made a choking sound. Powell's eyes met her bestie's. Haldyn nodded. She had one Dr. Haldyn Devyn Harris in her corner, no matter what.

"Powell Melissa," her father started…

Powell pulled in a deep breath. She had things to say. "No. No, Dad. It's not going to work this way. I would be dead if it weren't for Heather. I will never deny that. The things she did in that warehouse to protect me, I will never forget. Or repay. She drew them away from me on purpose every single time they got close. Every single time they touched me at all, she did something to draw them to her instead . And they hurt her every single time instead. Every single time. I probably still have my baby because of what she did. Do you think I will ever forget that?"

Mac stood abruptly. Went to the window. He braced his strong arms on the sill and just looked out over the garden, over Houghton's ridiculous private waterpark in the center. She'd very rarely ever seen her brother look like he did right then.

Powell's mother gasped. Reached for her. Powell hugged her quickly, resisting the urge to cling. She had something to say to the people looking at her right now.

"And yet I get to stay here all safe and cozy and protected with armed guards and servants waiting on me hand and foot while she can't even have the basics of medical care? Because she's worried about money ? No way. I don't think so. If Gunnar Nils Erickson has questions about what happened to us out there, he can damned well ask me. And not badger Heather. I am not going to let him." She looked at her best option for getting there. Her oldest brother just stared right back. "As for Daniel McKellen, I don't know what is going on with that lunatic, but I am going to find out."

"Daniel's problem is Heather ," Jarrod said quietly. Powell looked at him. Everyone looked at Jarrod. "Something about that woman has him going a little crazy right now. Like off his rocker crazy where Heather is concerned."

"Just bet he is," Mac said almost under his breath. Like he was angry now. With Daniel?

Powell was going to figure this out herself.

Powell just had to plan. How to make what she wanted happen. Which meant she needed resources.

Right there. Next to the back wall. The man she wanted. "You, Alexander Kinsey Barratt. You are taking me to the Colesons right now."

"No, he isn't." Of course, Mac would have something to add to that. He was one of the most hardheaded, difficult Barratts on the planet, after all.

"Why not? I am thirty-one, of sound body and mind, and keeping me here against my will constitutes kidnapping. Isn't that right, Detective Foster?"

"Technically, yes," Jarrod said. "But?—"

"No, buts. Someone is taking me to the Colesons—or I'm going to drive myself. So who will it be?" Powell prepared to dig in. She had been dealing with Barratts her entire life.

She knew how to get what she wanted.

Powell just waited. And waited. And waited.

And waited some more.

In the end, it was her father. And two of her brothers.

And Rafe, who said he was going along to check on Heather. And, well, Haldyn and Jarrod, who said they were going along to check on Hope and Heather.

And Murdoch and Zoey who had arrived during the middle of Powell's standoff with her family. Murdoch wanted to go kick Daniel's butt for his Auntie Heather.

Zoey was going along to protect Daniel and check on her family.

It was a regular party now.

But Powell was determined. She needed to see Heather. She just did. This…this wouldn't feel over until she knew Heather was going to be okay too. She just needed to see Heather. That was all.