Page 75 of Necessary Evil

She floated in a blissful half doze. As soon as a worry crept up on her and threatened to burst her bubble, she pushed it back down. She had officially checked out.

However, after a while, the worries refused to stay down. She stretched and held a pillow over her head because the light was too bright. She slid her toe off the bed, determined to get up. Just then she heard the door open.

“Warden called her office and told Jenny she wasn’t coming back to work,” Sentinel said to Evan.

The psychopath sounded much calmer. Maybe Evan had gone back down and beaten some sense into him, she thought.

“What did Jenny say?” Evan asked. His voice was so close to her, she figured he was sitting in a chair by his bed. Why didn’t he just cuddle up with her?

“Jenny wanted to know why. She wanted to speak to her. So Warden said Lucy fell and hit her head and was unconscious.”

“Fucking idiot.”

“You said you didn’t want to be disturbed. And now we have an Internal Affairs detective and a bunch of cops with a search warrant downstairs.”

“Travis is here?” she croaked, and sat up. The room spun and the light was way too bright. She closed her eyes. That’s better.

“Easy,” Evan said, handing her a bottle of water. “Take a sip.”

She did. The water soothed her dry throat, and she drank it down greedily.

“What do you want me to do?” Sentinel asked.

“Let him up. We’ve got nothing to hide.”

“Why the fuck is IA involved? This isn’t a police matter,” Sentinel asked.

“Travis has a hard-on for my girl,” Evan said in a quiet, menacing voice.

That was all Lucy needed—for Evan to get into another pissing match. “He’s got a hard-on for this club. Not me. He thinks you’re a bunch of vigilante killers. Do you have an aspirin?”

When they didn’t explode with vulgarity and denials, she forced an eye open. Sentinel’s face was swollen, and he’d probably have a black eye tomorrow. Evan looked worse. She wondered if Ryder was waiting in the hallway to ambush her again. “Ibuprofen? Vicodin? Percocet? Actually, ix-nay the last two if Travis is coming up,” she joked.

“I’m already here. Are you all right?” Travis had his .38 in his hand. It was pointed down at the floor, though.

“Put that away,” she said. No guns. That could only end badly.

“Jenny called 911 and said you were being held here against your will.”

“No.” Lucy forced herself to stand and was pleased when she didn’t throw up. “She must have misunderstood. She had a traumatic night and morning because of him.” Lucy pointed to Sentinel. “And I suppose I should have let the marshal’s office arrange to give him the paperwork, but I was coming here anyway to have lunch with Evan.”

“Are you hurt?” Travis held out his hand to her. Lucy felt Evan tense. It could still end badly.

“Why are you here, Travis?” she said. “There are no police officers involved in this.”

“I’m helping out on an investigation. It may be relevant to my office. We have a search warrant for the bar and this apartment.”

“What are you looking for?” Sentinel asked, crossing his arms.

“OxyContin.”

“Look all you like,” Evil said. “I’ve got weapons secured in several rooms that I have the licenses and paperwork for. Are you confiscating them?”

“No, but I’d like to know the whereabouts of all of you this weekend.”

“You know where I was,” Lucy muttered.

“I was with Lucy,” Evan said.