Page 103 of Glimmer in the Darkness

“Wanna tell me what happened?”

She watched as James and Ella were loaded on the helicopter. Ella was safe. James was safe. The killer was in custody.

She’d done what she’d come to do. Now she had to face the rest of it.

“Yes, I do.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The hospital was cold and sterile. As James followed nurses onto the elevator from the helicopter pad to the ER, Ella in his arms, he spotted hospital personnel, patients, and visitors, all acting as if life were business-as-usual. As if James hadn’t just shot a cop, shot his friend. As if he weren’t holding a little girl who’d been missing for eight days.

She’d cried the entire flight, terrified.

The moment the helicopter had touched down, she’d screamed for James to hold her. The paramedic released her from the bed, and she’d scrambled into James’s arms and held on tight.

James followed nurses down a corridor and around a corner and down another corridor to a double door.

The nurse in front of them pressed a button on the wall, and the doors opened.

And there was Reid.

“Daddy!” The single word was broken by a sob as Ella leapt from James’s arms into her father’s.

Reid snuggled his daughter, tears streaming down his face.

James had to wipe his own away. Not that anybody noticed. As Ella’s grandparents crowded around, James backed up, gave the family space for their reunion.

So few words were spoken. Just gentle touches, praises to God.

James was stepping out the door when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned.

Reid pulled him into a hug. “I can never… I’m sorry about—”

“We’re good.”

Reid backed up. “Where’s Cassidy?”

“Cote told me he was going to take her back to the station.”

“She in trouble? She didn’t do it, right? Not Ella, not Hallie. Was it Vince all along?”

“Yeah. Not sure if Cassy’s in trouble. I’m going to go find her now.”

Reid squeezed his shoulder. “Thank you. Thank you for”—he glanced at Ella, who was in her grandmother’s arms.

“I’m glad we found her. But the person you should be thanking is Cassidy. She made it happen.”

“I will. I can never…” But his voice faded as if there were no words. Maybe there weren’t.

After a quick kiss on Ella’s cheek and a promise to stop by the following day, James stepped into the ER waiting room, trying to figure out who to call for a ride home.

He realized he needn’t have worried when a uniformed Coventry police officer approached. “Mr. Sullivan?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, sir. Just have orders to bring you in.”

They stepped into the warm summer evening and walked to the waiting cruiser. “Am I in trouble?”