lapsed into a coma,” he said, his voice filled with compassion.
“Will she recover?” Peyton asked, although she knew the answer. He didn’t know. Only time would tell. It could be hours, days, weeks, months...
He cleared his throat. “We’ll run a test to check her brain activity if you want.”
“Let’s give her tonight,” she murmured. “If she hasn’t responded by morning, you can run the tests.”
“Understood.”
One of the nurses remained, and Peyton stepped inside and rushed to her mother. Liam gave the deputy a break while Peyton held her mother’s hand.
Hours later when she could hardly keep her eyes open, he rubbed her back.
“This may go on for days, Peyton. You have to rest sometime,” he said softly. “Let me drive you home.”
She nodded, although rest was the last thing on her mind. If the person who’d threatened her had hurt her mother, she had to find the bastard.
Val had left something important for her in that rose garden. She needed to find out what it was.
Chapter Twenty
Worry for Peyton nagged at Liam. She lapsed into silence as he drove her back to Golden Gardens.
Although she stared out the window, he sensed she wasn’t really looking at anything. That her mind was filled with fear.
The quarter moon fought through the storm clouds above, barely managing to break through. He searched for stars, but they were shrouded by the clouds and darkness. A car raced up on his tail, and he checked the rearview mirror, his instincts on alert.
He rounded a curve and veered onto a side road. The car followed. Dammit. “Hang on.”
She sat up straighter and glanced over her shoulder. “We’re being followed.”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” He pressed the accelerator and sped down the curvy road, then made another turn. The car turned right behind him, then suddenly raced around him. He braced himself for impact if the car tried to run him off the road, but tires squealed, and the car sped on. Liam tried to read the license plate, but there wasn’t one. The car was black, a sedan, nondescript. A hundred just like them everywhere you looked.
Peyton released a shaky breath. “He went on.”
“Because he realized I made him,” Liam said.
Fear shadowed her face. “I don’t understand why this is all happening.”
Liam reached across the console and rubbed her shoulder. “I know. But we’re going to get to the truth. I promise.”
She gave a small nod, although she didn’t look convinced. She looked exhausted and weary and so damn vulnerable that his heart gave a pang.
He maneuvered the next turn, wound down the long drive to the security gate for Golden Gardens, then drove to Peyton’s apartment. Her breathing sounded choppy as she climbed from the vehicle and walked to her door. Liam followed close behind, scanning the property.
He urged Peyton to wait in the foyer while he searched her apartment. It didn’t take him long to do a walk-through. “Everything looks fine,” he said as he returned to the living room. She stood looking at a photograph of her and her mother taken among the spring tulips in the garden. Peyton looked at peace there, and beautiful with the sunshine slanting across her heart-shaped face.
Unlike now. A tear trickled down the side of her cheek, and her body shook with emotions. Liam couldn’t resist. He crossed the room to her and drew her into his arms. She leaned into him and buried her head against his chest. Her pain bled through to him, and he stroked her back and murmured soft, soothing words as she purged her emotions.
Finally, her breathing steadied, and she looked up at him. “I’m sorry.”
He gently feathered a strand of her hair from her cheek. “It’s okay. You’re going through a rough time.”
“I don’t usually fall apart,” she said quietly.
He tilted her chin up with his thumb and gave her a small smile. “It’s understandable. I know you’re worried sick about your mother.”
“I am.” She swallowed hard. “She has to be all right.”
He wished he could promise her that she would survive. But he wasn’t a doctor, and her health had apparently been fragile before the gas leak sent her to the ER.
She blinked away more tears. “You’re pretty understanding for an FBI agent.”
He chuckled. “Thanks. I think.”
Her gaze met his, and heat flared between them. She laid her hand against his cheek. “I meant it. You’re strong and tough, but you’ve been amazingly understanding to me, Liam.”
“You’re a compassionate woman, Peyton. One who helps other people. It’s time someone took care