Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 100608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“Callan has a depressed skull fracture,” Boaz says, his features grim. “It requires immediate surgery because there are fragments of his skull pressing into his brain.”
Shelly whimpers and Dante sways. I wrap an arm around his waist to keep him steady.
“The surgery should be fairly uncomplicated,” Boaz assures us. “We see this type of injury a lot with the fishermen who fall and hit their heads on boats while at sea. Dr. Olson is the surgeon here. He’ll remove the fragments, put them back into place, and make sure it holds together with metal wires or mesh. Callan is young and he should heal nicely from this.”
The relief is palpable. Dante’s body relaxes slightly.
“He’ll be moved to private recovery room after the surgery until he’s stable,” Boaz explains, “but I’m confident that he’ll make a full recovery. He’s going to be sore because though the skull fracture was the worst of his injuries, his bruising is extensive. We’ll be able to further asses him once he’s conscious and the surgery is complete.” His eyes skate over to me, briefly glancing at the way I hold on to Dante, before meeting my gaze, his eyes somehow kinder than before. “I trust you’ll find the monster who did this, Sheriff?”
“You better believe it,” I vow.
“Very well. I’ll get back to it and will return with updates as soon as he’s out of surgery.”
As soon as he’s gone, I turn to look at Dante, cupping his cheeks in my hands. “Will you be okay with Shelly and Hans?”
His hazel eyes are glazed over. “Hmm?”
“He will be,” Hans assures me. “Now go find the monster who did this.”
Quickly, I press a kiss to Dante’s lips. “Let me borrow your keys. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Cormac swipes at another tear, his bottom lip wobbling. His eyes are bloodshot and his hair is wrecked, sticking up in different directions from him pulling at it.
We’ve been at this for hours, and so far, Cormac is our best lead since he found Callan. I’m hoping by him telling us again what happened, that maybe he’ll come up with some new clue for us.
“We were supposed to meet up,” Cormac says, shivering. “After Callan got out of PE. All week we’ve been meeting near the library since we have history together.”
“He didn’t mention he’d be late?” Brie asks.
Cormac shakes his head. “The bell was about to ring and he still hadn’t shown up, so I went to look for him.” His eyes water. “You know the rest. I walked into the locker room and he was lying in a pool of blood.”
“Has he mentioned anyone following him or giving him trouble?” I stand and walk over to the mini fridge at the station to retrieve him another soda.
“No, but…”
I pop the tab on the Coke and hand it to him before sitting back down. “But what?”
“He was being weird today. Seemed tense and fidgety. I was going to ask him about it during history class,” Cormac chokes out. “I should have asked him sooner.”
“Hey,” Brie murmurs in a soothing tone. “It’s okay. You didn’t know.”
“Was there anyone else at school behaving strangely that you noticed? Anyone outside of the school loitering who shouldn’t have been there?” I scrub my palm over my face, wishing like hell I had answers to bring to Dante. “Anything could help.”
“I’m sorry,” Cormac whimpers. “I wish I knew more.”
“It’s all right,” I assure him. “Let us know if you think of anything else.”
“Do you need a ride home?” Brie asks. “I can take you.”
He shakes his head, his eyes shifting to his lap. “I can walk.”
“Nonsense,” I say to him. “I’m about to head back to the hospital. I could drop you off along the way.”
“No,” he clips out. “I can walk. If we’re done here, I’m going to go.”
“Sure, Cormac. Keep us informed,” I say with a frustrated sigh.
He grabs the coat I’d given him the day I met him and pulls it on. With a quick wave, he slips out the door and into the cold.
“We’re getting nowhere,” Brie huffs. “Tomorrow, I’ll go back to the school and question more people.” Her phone buzzes and she glances at it. “What kind of pizza do you want? Hank is grabbing us food since neither of us has eaten all day.”
“I’m not hungry,” I grumble. “Plus, I need to get back up there to check on Callan. When you see Hank, though, ask him if any students were late for his class besides Callan and Cormac.”
“How’s Zak handling it?” she asks. “I know they’re joined at the hip lately.”
“Devastated. Furious. Frustrated. Just like the rest of us. He went up to the hospital not long after I left this afternoon and has been feeding me updates since Dante’s phone went dead. Since he just left for his shift at the bowling alley, I’m going to see if I can’t get Shelly and Dante to go home for a bit and rest.”