Page 62 of Colton’s Inferno

After being told to leave the hospital, Aiden was lost. He had nothing to do and nowhere to go. Without much thought, he drove back to his apartment and pulled into a spot by the curb. He turned off the engine. After opening the door, he stepped onto the pavement. He slammed the door closed and used the fob in his pocket to engage the locks. The day was still gray. A steady rain fell. The weather matched his mood perfectly.

“Hey.” Callum, dressed in his uniform, stood on the opposite side of the street. He waved. “What are you up to?”

Usually, seeing anybody from his family lifted his spirits. But not today. “I’m not doing much of anything,” he said with a shrug.

Cal looked up and down the empty street. He jogged from one sidewalk to the other. Once he was standing next to Aiden, he asked, “How are you doing? Is your head still bothering you? No offense, but you look pretty miserable.”

Aiden was more than glum, and it had nothing to do with his concussion. “My head’s fine.”

“What is it, then?”

“It’s nothing,” he said.

“I’m your big brother.” Cal dropped a hand on Aiden’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “I can tell that something’s going on. If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. But just know, I’ve always got your back.”

“Thanks, man,” said Aiden. Then, without deciding to speak, he said, “It’s Lucy Harris.”

“She still won’t go out with you?” his brother guessed.

“It’s not that at all. We actually went out last night. We had a great time. Talked for hours. She came over to watch a movie. Because of the storm, she got stuck at my apartment overnight.”

“Oh, really?” Cal drew out the two words as he let his hand slip from Aiden’s shoulder.

“It’s not like that,” he said, even though it was exactly like that. True, he confided a lot in his brother. But what happened with Lucy was too personal to share. “Her grandfather was in a car accident this morning.”

“I hadn’t heard anything about that,” his brother said. “Then again, I’ve been focused on the two murders.”

In July, a body had been found near one of the sculptures on the Enchanted Highway. Last month, someone had been shot while at the ER.

“The accident happened on their property, so no citation was issued. But it looks like he had a heart attack and wrecked.”

“How is he?”

Aiden shrugged again. “It’ll take a few days to figure out how much he’ll recover.”

“Lucy must be devastated,” said Cal.

“She’s beyond shattered,” he said. “And furious, specifically at me.”

“What did you do?”

The thing was, he understood Lucy’s position. “If she wasn’t with me, she would have been home when her grandfather had his heart attack. He wouldn’t have wrecked his truck and been unconscious for who knows how long.”

“I’m sure she’s upset. But that anger isn’t directed at you.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. She literally said, ‘You’re the reason Rusty got hurt in the first place.’ Then, she told me to leave.”

“Ouch. That stings.”

He rubbed his breastbone. “Yeah, it does hurt.”

“What happened after that?”

“I left the hospital, just like she told me. What else is there for me to do?”

“Can I give you a little brotherly advice?” asked Cal.

He hated it when Cal treated him like a little kid. But if his older brother knew a way to reach Lucy, then he was willing to listen. “What’s your advice?”