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I expected an argument. Mercifully, both Piper and Eli complied. As soon as they were out of earshot, I felt panic start to rise.

“Is he going to die?”

Honeycutt gave me a tight-lipped smile. “No. Your husband is going to recover. His worst injury is a concussion. He was lucky though. If he’d been struck a few inches lower, his neck might have been broken. He’s got a broken collarbone, some cuts and bruises. But everything on him will heal. He’s a bit disoriented, which comes with the territory for his grade of concussion. I’d like to keep him overnight for observation and until I get his bloodwork back. He says he was drugged. There’s evidence of that in his affect. But I’m waiting on initial toxicology.”

I let go of a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Lock was alive. He would recover. He had been truthful about the drugs. Corrine hadn’t killed him. I felt a stab of horror that Corrine never got to know that.

“Can I see him now?”

Honeycutt gave me a more genuine smile. “He’s been asking for you. Try not to agitate him. I don’t love his blood pressure.”

“Thank you,” I said. I touched Honeycutt’s sleeve and headed for the exam room door.

“Mina,” Roy barked. “I need to talk to Lock before you do. You understand this is still an ongoing criminal investigation.”

Honeycutt gave each of us a look, then stepped away.

“Fine,” I said. “But I’m in the room when you do.”

“I’d rather⁠—”

“I don’t care what you’d rather.” I didn’t wait for him to argue with me. If he wanted to stop me from going into that room, he’d have to handcuff me again. I turned the knob and went to my husband.

I gasped when I saw him. The side of Lock’s face was grossly swollen, making him almost unrecognizable. I replayed Dr. Honeycutt’s words. Everything on him would heal.

“Lock?” I said.

He turned his head toward me. He tried to raise his shoulders off the bed. The effort made him grunt. I rushed to his side and pulled up the wheeled stool Honeycutt had left behind.

“Mina,” he croaked. “It’s you? Is it really you?”

“Of course,” I said, smiling. “Who else would it be?”

Roy stood against the wall, looming like a colossus. Lock looked his way, then settled back against his pillows. He didn’t ask Roy to leave. It seemed he wanted him to hear what he had to say as well.

“You’re okay?” Lock asked. “She didn’t hurt you?”

I shook my head. “Nothing that won’t heal. Same prognosis as you just got.”

Roy stepped forward. “Mr. Manning,” he said. “I know you want to catch up with your wife. But there are some questions I need to ask you about what happened.”

Lock closed his eyes and nodded. When he opened them, he reached for my hand. Something in me hesitated. It was as if his touch could shatter some spell. Bring reality slamming back into me.

“I was abducted by Corrine Egan,” he said. “What day is it?”

“May seventeenth,” I answered.

Lock squinted as if thinking actually hurt his brain. “I flew back on the fourteenth. It’s been three days? Mina, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know who she was.”

“Corrine?” Roy asked before I could. “Are you saying you’d never met her before?”

“No,” Lock said, coughing. I reached for a cup of water at his side and brought it to his lips. “I knew her. I just didn’t know her real name was Corrine until three days ago.”

“Where did you meet?” Roy said, his voice dropping to a lower, grimmer tone.

Lock kept his eyes fixed on mine. “Originally? I met her online. Through WhisprMatch. About five years ago. We had a brief romantic relationship.”

“Stop,” I said. “Lock, you don’t have to do this. Roy, if⁠—”