Page 53 of Final Approach

She had a long text from Andrew—obviously voice-texted—about meeting a young girl named Chey who had given them a little clue about Marcus Brown. She couldn’t wait to hear about that one and texted him that very thing.

She moved on to emails. Then paused. Her father hadn’t texted. Weird. Not that she really wanted him to, but still ... the silence was disconcerting. Should she text him?

She sighed and tapped the screen when a sound from the bed froze her.

Emily. Kristine walked to her sister’s side and gripped her hand in a gentle squeeze. Emily’s eyes stayed closed, but she squeezed back. “Hey, little sis, you want to wake up?”

Emily’s eyes fluttered a few times, then opened and connected with Kristine’s. She grunted, and Kristine wet a cloth in the sink and held it to Emily’s lips. A faint nod was her thanks. Then Emily cleared her throat. “What... ,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.

“Your throat’s probably sore. They had to take you to surgery to remove your gallbladder, fix your broken leg, and put your left hand back together.”

Emily lifted her casted left hand, let out a low groan, and lowered it gently back to her side. “Dana? Tia?”

Oh boy. “What happened to the car? Why did you wreck?”

“Brakes,” she whispered.

“The brakes went out?”

“Yeah.” She winced. “Hurts.”

“Hang on, I’ll call someone.”

The nurse entered. “What can I do for you, hon?”

Kristine smiled at the endearment and racked her brain for the woman’s name, then shot a subtle glance at the whiteboard on the wall. Naomi. “She woke up a minute ago and said ‘hurts’ so I called you.”

Naomi looked at her computer and clicked a few keys. “I can up her morphine dose a bit and I’ll let the doctor know.” She patted Emily’s arm and her sister stirred and moaned. Naomi nodded. “Oh yes, we’ll take care of that right now.”

Once she was done, Kristine waited, but Emily didn’t stir again and Kristine wasn’t about to wake her back up. The longer she could put off telling her about Tia, the better.

Naomi left with the promise to be back shortly.

Her phone buzzed with an incoming call. Her supervisor. She walked over to the window and swiped the screen. “Hello?”

“Hi, Kristine, I thought I’d update you. How are you doing?”

“Well, concerned about the accusations, but honestly, that’s moved down the list of things to worry about right now. I’m at the hospital with my sister. She was in a car accident.”

“Oh no. I’m so sorry to hear that.”

She pressed her fingers to her eyelids. “Thank you.” She filled him in on the details, then asked, “What’s the update?”

“OPR is still investigating, trying to determine if any misconduct occurred.”

“Okay.”

“They’ll be ready to talk to you soon.”

“Just let me know. I’ll be at the hospital a lot, so they know where to find me. I can even come to the office if necessary.”

“It’s looking like you’re going to be in the clear, though.”

Relief swept through her. “Thank you, sir.”

She hung up, then tapped a text to Andrew.

What’s your next move?