“Interrupting anything?”
“No.”
He threw the door open and stepped in, gaze immediately going to Carmen as she whimpered.
“The fuck?”
“Long story,” I said. “Toss those pills?” I asked, nodding toward where they sat on the dresser. “Don’t fight me on this. You need one,” I told Carmen as I handed her one and the bottle of water from the night before.
Carmen scooted up, throwing back the pill then the water, before leaning back against the headboard with her eyes shut, just trying to breathe through the pain.
“Want me to go grab you some ice until the meds kick in?” I offered.
I got a quick nod to that.
“I’ll be right back,” I assured her, reaching over to give her knee a squeeze, then following Dezi out of the room.
“Who put their hands on her like that?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. What I hope we can get some information on.”
“What happened?”
“Someone broke into her place last night, bound her, and tried to kidnap her. If it weren’t for her elderly neighbor, I don’t think she’d have made it out of there.”
“Christ. No leads?”
“Not yet. But she showed up late, and my first priority was getting her cleaned up and comforted.”
“They do anything else to her?”
“She’s got a lot of bruises. But the hand is by far the worst.”
To that, he nodded as we went into the kitchen.
“She drink coffee?”
“With cream,” I told him as I dug around in the freezer for an icepack.
“I brought a bunch of shit from the bakery, if you wanna bring her a plate. Probably doesn’t wanna be gawked at out here, since no one knows about her.”
“Well, the prospects do. But I want a chance to tell Fallon myself before he hears it from someone else.”
“You gonna tell him about me?”
“Way I see it, him knowing that accomplishes nothing.”
“Alright. Just keeping the stories straight. Here’s the coffee. And a plate. I’ll keep my mouth shut for now, but I’d get a call out to Fallon before he shows up here and hears it from someone who’s not you first.”
“I will.” After some coffee and breakfast with Carmen.
“She okay?”
“She will be.”
“Good. Well, lemme know if you want some backup when you go to bash the head in of the guy who did that to her.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”