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"Okay," Zep said, breaking the silence. "Let's move." He pulled his phone from his pocket and sent Dodge a text.
"What are you doing?" Scott asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Zep looked back at the body, then at Scott. "We need to get him out of here. No body, no crime.”
“I'm a cop. I can’t tamper with a crime scene!”
“You don’t have to. Dodge and I will deal with it. When he gets here, take his car and get back to Rachel and Abby. You were never here.”
In the distance, a white car pulled out of the hospital parking lot.
“But…” Scott looked like he might throw up.
As a cop, Zep knew Scott would have seen some things. But being shot at, then watching a man gunned down in front of him was probably a new experience.
Dodge pulled up, got out and left the motor running. Zep opened the tray of the SUV, not bothering to look back as he heard the door close and the car take off. If he could, he’d try to make sure the fallout didn’t land on Scott.
Chapter 26
“Darling, you look terrible.”
Abby hiccupped and snorted at the same time. “Should I get you a mirror?”
“I’ll check with the doctor, but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to say things like that to the dying.” She was pale, and her voice had lost its strength, but there was a twinkle in Rachel’s eye.
“Mum!”
“What! Surely, I’m entitled to a little gallows humour?”
Abby took a deep breath and gave her mother a look of mock exasperation. Truth be told, she’d take her gallows humour over unconsciousness any day. “I’ll guess it will add some light relief to the eulogy.”
“That’s the spirit.” She patted Abby’s hand. “While we have a moment, can we talk about Scott?”
Abby arched a wary eyebrow. Were they really going to discuss her relationship again? And in the face of her mother’s diagnosis, it was not high on her list for concern.
“How do you feel about him?”
The question threw her; she’d been expecting a lecture. “Um, I… love him. You know that.”
“Do you?” Her mother’s gaze was steady.
“Yes.”That’s what I just said.
“So why are you so intent on destroying your relationship with him?”
Abby sighed. She refused to get angry about this, even if the subject made her belly clench. “So much has happened in the last few days, and I’m not sure where either of us are at.”
“Darling–”
“Mum, can we please not talk about this now?” Tears ached in the back of her throat.
Her mother was watching her with patient eyes. “If not now, when?”
The idea that they were running out of time to discuss anything stung harder than her grated pride.
“I don’t know if he can forgive me for not telling him about Zep, or for probably ending his career for him.” Uncertainty swirled in her chest. “But I don’t know if I can be what he wants.”
“What does he want?”
