Page 21 of Christmas Homecoming Secrets
“Say what you need to say, Jade.”
“I think we should get a cadaver dog out to the mill where we found the shirt.” The words rushed from her mouth, and Bryce’s head whipped around to stare at her. She bit her lip and looked away from him.
Captain Colson grunted. “All right. I’ll get one out there.”
“Thanks.” She hung up and shot a look at Bryce. The tight set of his jaw said he wanted to protest and was keeping his tongue in line with great effort. “I just want to rule it out.”
“I know.”
“His shirt was found there with two bullet holes in it. I just can’t get that out of my mind.”
“I know, Jade.”
While the warrant and the dog were being taken care of, she wanted to check on Tony. She still wasn’t convinced he didn’t know something about Frank’s whereabouts, and if he was awake, he might be more inclined to talk now that he’d been shot.
“You ready to see if Tony is awake?”
“I’ll follow you.” She climbed out of the SUV and walked into the hospital.
Bryce stayed right behind her. She shouldn’t have been so curt with him about the whole responsibility thing. Just because he wasn’t ready—or didn’t want—to have kids didn’t mean he wasn’t responsible. It just meant he wasn’t ready—or he simply didn’t want kids. He had his reasons, and she needed to respect that even if she didn’t like it.
She was being too antsy, letting her emotions get the best of her. But that scene at the shooting range had gotten to her. He’d been in the middle of a PTSD attack if she’d ever seen one. And she had. The guy she’d dated for a while in Charlotte had had severe PTSD attacks and had refused to deal with them. Much like Bryce had just done. He’d brushed it off and she’d had to let him for now, but she planned to address it at some point. She had to if he was ever going to be a part of Mia’s life—assuming he wanted to be. Regardless, once she told him about Mia, there’d be no going back, and it wasn’t a decision that was black and white anymore.
Added to the stress of the day, Heather hadn’t answered her calls or acknowledged the voice mails Jade had left, so they knew no more than they had thirty minutes ago about Frank’s timeline and who the last person to see him might have been.
Jade flashed her badge at the woman sitting at the desk in the surgery waiting room. Her name tag read Martha Bolton. “Hi, Ms. Bolton, I’m Detective Hollis. You had a patient brought in a few hours ago. Tony Swift. I need to talk to him when he wakes up. Do you know how long that might be?”
The woman consulted her computer and frowned. “He’s still in surgery, so I’d say you might have a pretty long wait.”
Of course. “Have any of his family arrived?”
“I believe his wife.” She nodded to the corner, where a woman in her midthirties twisted a tissue between her fingers.
“Thank you. I may have to leave after I talk to her, but if I give you my card, would you call and let me know when he’s out?”
“Of course, I’ll be happy to.” Mrs. Bolton took the card and taped it to the monitor of her computer.
“So, we talk to Tony’s wife?” Bryce asked.
“Italk to Tony’s wife. You can have a seat and wait for me to finish.”
He pursed his lips. “Come on, Jade, Frank’s my friend, too.”
She sighed. “Fine, but let me do the talking, please?”
“Sure.”
Jade walked over to stand in front of the woman. “Mrs. Swift?”
She looked up. “Yes?”
“I’m Jade Hollis. We met last night—or early this morning, rather.”
“I remember. You came looking for Tony.” Her eyes flashed. “So, it’s your fault he got shot?”
“No, ma’am. I place that blame on the shooter.”
“Why were you looking for him? He refused to tell me.”
