Page 164 of Forever Dead
“He’ll be okay, Cheryl.”
Relief moved through Cheryl so visibly that Selena wished she had spoken to her herself instead of leaving Chuck to pass on the update.
“Thank God.” Cheryl sat again, then immediately leaned forward. “Have you spoken to him?”
“Briefly.”
“You’ve already seen him?”
Something in the question made Selena pause.
“He asked to see me. The nurse let me stay a few minutes.”
Cheryl’s fingers stopped against the edge of the desk. “Was he awake?”
“Yeah. Not for long.”
“Did he seem...”
Cheryl stopped.
Selena waited.
“Tired,” she said eventually. “He’s in pain. They’ve got him medicated.”
“Did he say what happened?”
“A little.”
Cheryl nodded and arranged two sheets of paper that had already been aligned.
“I called the hospital. They wouldn’t tell me anything.”
“They wouldn’t tell Arnold either.”
That seemed to ease something.
Selena had noticed Cheryl’s interest in Connor before. Arnold had noticed it, too. Under different circumstances she might have found it awkward or faintly amusing. Today there was no room for either.
“He told me not to go after the killer,” Selena said.
“Then do him a favor and listen.”
Selena rested both hands over the cane handle. “I came here to work through records.”
“What records?”
“Employment histories. Public disciplinary findings. People who might know how to work with skin.”
Cheryl looked at the telephone. “Please tell me that isn’t because of the video.”
“The family’s video from the maze?”
“They posted it last night thinking they’d filmed one of the performers. Now everybody’s sharing it and asking what the mask is made of.”
“We don’t have a confirmed answer to that.”
“Neither do I. Doesn’t stop them asking.”
