Page 41 of Knot A Chance

Wet hair hung loose around my face as I scanned the notifications on my phone. A text from Oakley confirmed that Calvin would clean up from the break-in and then run things at the garage for the rest of the week. Ally had sent three question marks, her no-words-needed way of checking to see how Felix was doing. Clara had asked me to give her an update after I talked to the doctor today. Reid had asked how I was holding up, and a message from Wyatt simply said, “Call me.”

I responded quickly to each of the women and Reid before taking a seat in the family lounge and calling Wyatt. The phone rang and my stomach grumbled, ready for that breakfast Julia had promised.

“Hey, Bennett. How’s he doing?” Wyatt asked.

“Good. Last night the nurse told me they might start reducing his sedation meds today. He could be awake as early as tomorrow.”

“That’s great news.”

“If he’s not brain dead,” I snapped.

Wyatt took a deep breath, and I forced myself to do the same. “I know it’s hard. But you have to hope for the best.”

“Why did you want me to call?” I was fed up with niceties for the time being.

“I’m going to put you on speaker phone. I’m at the station with Donovan.”

“Did Felix ever talk to you about where he got his drugs?” Donovan’s voice was loud and jarring compared to Wyatt’s calm baritone.

“No,” I said.

“So he doesn’t know anything about where they came from?” Donovan asked. The hair on the back of my neck stood up at the question.

“Is that why this happened? Someone thinks he knows something?” I asked. My chest tightened thinking about the drug ring that Felix had mentioned. He’d brought it up so casually though, like everyone knew about it.

What if knowing about that has something to do with why he was hurt?

The last thing I was going to do was offer up any insight into what Felix may or may not know.

“We don’t know,” Wyatt said. “As far as we know this could be an isolated incident.”

“But,” Donovan interjected, “there have been rumblings of increased drug activity and a few of the nurses at that hospital have been under investigation. The name you gave us of the nurse who gave Felix his med yesterday, Carissa, she was one of the nurses who was investigated by the hospital when a batch of fentanyl went missing a few months ago.”

I rubbed my temple. “Look guys, I’ve had about eight hours of sleep since Felix’s accident. Can you spell out your suspicions so I don’t have to think, please?”

“We think you’re right to be wary of Felix’s care team until we uncover more information,” Wyatt said. “I’m sure your instinct is to stay by his side, so do just that. Don’t leave him alone any more than you have to until we know more.”

My heart raced. I need to get back in there now.

“What about the fingerprints in his car? Did you find anything?” I asked.

“They were inconclusive,” Donovan said. “A lot of them were yours. Others weren’t a match for anything in the system.”

“Is Ryder in the system?”

“Surprisingly, no,” Donovan said. “We likely won’t know what happened in that car unless Felix wakes up.”

“Until Felix wakes up,” I corrected.

“Go back to him. I’ll text you if we find anything else,” Wyatt said.

“Any leads on the break-in?” I asked. “Is it related?”

“No, we don’t think so,” Donovan said. “It was most likely someone taking advantage of the situation presented by the open door.”

“Then why smash up the place?” I demanded. “Felix’s battery had a loose connection a couple months ago. And I had a flat tire. Ryder could be responsible for all of this.”

“You’re reaching,” Donovan said. “Best to leave the detective work to the police.”