Page 78 of Now Until Forever
He dumped the vase on the table beside the bed. “Yep.”
Eliana smiled. “They’re beautiful.” He looked over, and she had no idea how to decipher the expression on his face. She’d never seen him look at her like that.
He cleared his throat. “I also got you some supplies, clothes, and things from your apartment. A sweater in case you get cold. I didn’t see a robe in your bathroom or your closet. And I checked on Patience. We had pizza for dinner. She’s a hoot by the way.”
“Thank you for doing all that.”
Carlos ran a hand through his hair and pulled the chair toward the bed, sitting beside her. “How are you?”
“I don’t even know.” Hot tears gathered in her eyes.
She should tell him about the woman. He probably wanted to know more about what happened in the apartment as well. Buteven though it seemed like the whole sordid story was on the tip of her tongue, she just couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Her throat clogged, making her cough again. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for.” Carlos got up. She leaned forward, her chest spasming, and he rubbed a hand up and down her back. “I was supposed to protect you.”
“You came in at the right time.”
Carlos settled on the edge of the bed. “It wasn’t soon enough. And it was Maizie who realized something was wrong. I didn’t even know.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“But protecting you ismyresponsibility.”
She shook her head, not wanting to get into that family debate, and sniffed. “I’ll be okay. The police will find those two guys.”
“What about the Mother?”
Eliana knocked the lid off the wooden box. “That’s what this is for.”
Carlos got off the bed, paced away a couple of steps, and turned back. “A knife? You can’t seriously want to fight her.”
“I want to be able to protect myself. I should’ve had this today, but I lost it when those people tried to rob the vault and I dropped it. That isn’t going to happen again.”
Carlos ran his hands through his hair. “The FBI is on the Reverence Sisters case. They’ll take down everyone involved, and then you won’t have to use that knife on anyone.”
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Great. Sounds good.” She looked at the box and the knife inside, in its sheath. While everyone was waiting for this to be over, she’d have the ability to protect herself.
No one was going to take that away.
She slid the lid back on the box. “I just need to figure out how that woman who brought this to me just now got the box that was on my dresser in my bedroom and brought the knife here in it.” She was pretty sure the sheath had been in her laundry pile.
“What are you talking about?”
Eliana shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m exhausted. Maybe too exhausted for this conversation.”
He stared at her, looking frustrated. Whatever for, she had no idea. She was the one with injuries, lying in a hospital bed. What had he been doing? Oh, right. Helping make sure her neighbor got dinner.
Eliana cleared her throat. “Anything new on the investigations, the murders, finding Luci, or anything else that I should know?”
He pushed out a breath and grasped the rail at the end of the bed. “A possible lead. I need to know if you see those detectives, Wallace and Maloney.”
Eliana frowned. “Why, what’s up with them?”
