Page 50 of Wired Fear

But she’d made choices too!

“Damn fool thing to do, going in there alone,” he muttered, pulling up and parking at the South Hilo police station’s strip mall parking lot. “Damn it, Sophie, you have another life to watch out for, now!”

The baby had begun to feel real to him, someone to be protected and cared for. He worried about the baby—because even if it wasn’t his…it was hers.

Jake waited in his car outside the police station, knowing there was nowhere but the tiny doorway reception area to sit inside. He went through his isometric seat workout, discharging tension through exercise as he always had. Then he paced back and forth in the deserted parking lot on his crutch, watching dawn bleed up and listening to the waking mynahs and doves, and the last of the coqui frog chorus.

He whirled around as the door of the police station opened.

Hamilton had his arm around Sophie as the pair exited. Sophie looked gray with exhaustion, and Hamilton’s sharp dark eyes, behind those hipster glasses, flicked over Jake with contempt.

“Sophie.” Jake ignored Hamilton and hobbled forward, tossing his crutch aside, pulling her into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

She stood stiffly in his arms, her hands at her sides. She smelled of the tear gas bomb, and the sweat of fear and exertion. With his cheek close to her hair, he spotted an oozing patch of bare scalp that had to hurt. Little bits of glass were still caught in her hair, sparkling like snowflakes. “It’s over now. He’s dead,” she whispered.

“You have to tell me what happened.” Jake moved back, holding Sophie’s arms, trying to get eye contact. She stared down at the boot on his leg.

“I’m really tired. I just want to get a shower and go to bed.”

“I need to know…” He couldn’t seem to let go of her.

“What you need doesn’t matter, Dunn. We’ll have a meeting tomorrow to go over everything. Chang’s killing looks enough like self-defense for the cops to let her go for now. I’m having a medical team meet us at the jet to check Sophie out and make sure she’s okay. Bix will contact you with the time and location for our meeting, since the office is a crime scene.” Hamilton rewrapped his arm around Sophie’s shoulder and tugged her against his side possessively.Was Hamilton making a move on Sophie?Had something developed between them while they spent all that time together on Kaua`i?

Jake’s brows drew together as Sophie went unresisting with their boss toward a Security Solutions SUV driven by Thom Tang. Sophie looked back over her shoulder. “Please don’t forget to take care of the dogs,” she said.

Jake’s fists clenched but he made himself smile reassuringly. “Don’t worry about a thing. They’ll be waiting for you. And so will I.”

Jake had to watch as their boss helped her tenderly into the back of the SUV and got in beside her, and Thom drove them away.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Day Nineteen

Sophie rubbed the scar on her cheek. The ridged line of the skin graft that ran up over her artificial cheekbone felt numb, yet tingly under her fingers, as it always did. She looked around Dr. Wilson’s office, her gaze tracking over the familiar surroundings. The leather couch she sat on. The psychologist in her comfortable-looking lounger. The plain wood coffee table with its round ceramic sand tray, little rake, and bowl of clay figures. Amateurish paintings on the walls, seascapes mostly.Probably done by a client.

“My son did those paintings.” Dr. Wilson must have been tracking Sophie’s gaze—and reading her mind, too, as she often seemed able to.

Dr. Wilson wore a turquoise-colored wrap dress and a small, sparkly gem on a chain at her throat. Her blonde hair was tousled perfection brushing her shoulders, and her blue eyes were filled with worried compassion. “It’s been too long, Sophie. I understand from Connor, who called to get this emergency appointment, that you shot Akane Chang yesterday.”

“Pim Wat shot him.” Sophie hadn’t meant to say it so immediately and baldly, but relief followed the confession.Dr. Wilson knew everything already; Dr. Wilson and Connor were the only people she had no secrets from.“Mother broke into the office during the attack and shot him. I’m not sure what would have happened if she hadn’t.”

Dr. Wilson blinked. “Why did you lie and say that you did it? To the cops, to Hamilton?”

“Pim Wat dropped the gun into my lap. Said she’d see me later, and that she had never been there.” Sophie blew out a breath. “It never occurred to me to tell them she’d done it.”

“We need to talk about why you automatically covered for Pim Wat, and if that’s the best thing foryou,” Dr. Wilson said. “But first, let’s go back in time a bit. I’m glad we were able to have a phone session while you were on Kaua`i, but I feel way behind the eight ball, as usual. Catch me up to what prompted you to go into the office late at night, alone.” The psychologist’s brows drew together in a frown. “That doesn’t seem to have been the best idea.”

“I know. But I was upset. Jake was with Felicia instead of with me.” Sophie described the series of events. “I believe her, that they didn’t…do anything. But clearly, while I was gone on Kaua`i and Jake was injured, they developed some kind of relationship. She is infatuated with him.”

“Oh dear. And he chose to let you sleep instead of joining you, and then hung out with his gal pal or whatever she’s become.” Dr. Wilson pointed her pen at Sophie. “Kind of like what Connor is to you.”

“Connor is no gal pal with movies and pizza. He is…” Sophie twisted her fingers together, unable to come up with words to describe Connor’s unwavering commitment. “Connor is the only one who is unequivocally supporting me. He’s been there for me, no matter who I’ve slept with. Last night—or I should say, yesterday morning—when the police let me out of the station, I was totally dead on my feet. Jake tried to talk to me after the attack, but I just didn’t have the strength to get through the discussions I know we need to have. Connor knew that, too. He fended Jake off and took me to the jet. Had a doctor come and assess me there.” Sophie smiled. “The doctor even brought a portable sonogram machine. I saw my baby for the first time.”

“Oh, my dear. How was that?”

“Just…magic.” Sophie shut her eyes a moment, remembering her first sight of the tiny, curled, shrimplike shape of the child in her womb as the cool, gel-covered sonogram wand slid over her abdomen. She’d been gripping Connor’s hand, and he’d squeezed hers back, so hard it hurt. “The baby is healthy. The heartbeat was normal. We even saw it move.”

“Could you tell what sex it was?”

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