Page 19 of Healing Hope

Oh, hell. “Did you break it?”

Paul grimaced and flexed his swelling fingers. “I don’t think so.” He stopped moving them, though.

Jess tried to clean up his knuckles, then went to the kitchen to fill a bag with ice. Wrapping the ice bag in a dish towel, she returned to the office and settled the wad on Paul’s hand. Hope looked up at her father, worry clear in her expression. He was murmuring to her softly, telling her everything was going to be okay.

Jess saw the flash of blue lights through the curtains of the window and went out to guide the police and firefighters inside.

Jess guided Hope away from her father as the EMTs started working on him. “Will he be okay?” she breathed, looking up at Jess with tears in her eyes.

Jess nodded, wrapping her arms around the little girl. “I think he will be. He got hurt, though, and it might mean he has to go to the hospital to get patched up.”

“Will they take him to his hospital? They would take really good care of him there.”

Jess frowned. “I don’t think so, honey. I think they have to take him to the closest one.”

A younger officer walked over to them, and she kneeled down beside Hope.

“My name is Officer Dowd. Can I talk to you about what happened?”

Hope nodded, tucking herself in even tighter to Jess. Sophie let out a painful sound, and Jess knew they would have to find an all-night vet for the little dog.

“I want you to tell me what happened tonight, Hope.”

Hope glanced up at Jess, then back at the officer. “A man broke into my bedroom and tried to take me,” she whispered.

“Have you seen this man before,” Officer Dowd asked.

Hope shook her head, but something about the way she looked made Jess think she was lying. Maybe it was the way her eyes stayed on the floor. “Hope?”

She shook her head again, then shrugged as she glanced up at Jess. “He kind of reminded me of my mom’s old boyfriend.”

“Really?” she asked incredulously. She looked across the room at Paul, but he was dealing with the medics. “He had a mask on, honey.”

“Yeah, but he was really tall like Viktor was.”

That was a bit of a leap to make, but it probably made sense to the girl. “Okay.”

She looked at the officer and shrugged helplessly.

“Well, maybe we can talk to your mother,” the officer said, and Hope went still in Jess’s arms. Jess opened her mouth, but Hope beat her to it.

“My mom is dead.”

The officer looked shocked, and she met Jess’s eyes. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s all right,” she told her. “Hope, why don’t you go over and sit in the chair with Sophie, and I’ll be over in a minute. We need to find her a veterinarian.”

Hope didn’t say anything as she trudged across the room, Sophie held securely in her arms. Jess turned back to the officer. “Her mother died just a few months ago, and she’s still recovering from that. I seriously doubt it was the dead woman’s boyfriend.” Although she needed to say something to Paul, just in case. “Are there prints or anything near her window? When he bailed out the window, it sounded like he crashed hard.”

“My partner is checking the scene outside.”

Jess wanted to go over to Paul and see how he was doing, but it took several more long minutes to finish with the interview. Jess told them everything she could remember, then repeated the story when a tall, bearded detective arrived on scene. When she glanced over and saw Hope cradling Sophie, she stole a minute to dig out her phone. There were several emergency vets listed, and even mobile vets, but noemergencymobile vet. That would be a fantastic job around here. But it wasn’t to be. She was going to have to take Sophie to a twenty-four-hour office. Luckily, there was one just a few miles down the road.

Paul’s head had been wrapped and when she crossed to the little group around him, it was to hear them telling him he needed to go to the hospital for stitches. Paul growled he could get himself there and that he didn’t need to go in the ambulance.

“Yes, you do,” Jess corrected him, “because I can’t drive you. I have to take Sophie to the twenty-four-hour clinic down the road. I’ll come get you when we’re done.”

He stared at her for a long moment, his jaw working, then down at his wrapped hand. He looked back up at her and his eyes were fierce. “I need to go to the bedroom. Can you help me for a minute?”