Theo looked over at the nurse. “Do I have a choice?”
Lindsay smiled. “No.”
“Then I’m ready.”
Delaney yawned and reached up to cover her mouth with her hand. “I’m beat, you guys. It looks like Lindsay’s going to let you go pretty soon. I’ll go check on Ashley one more time, then I’m heading home to get some sleep. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Pretend you didn’t see the ring?” Jordan suggested.
Delaney gave him a smile. “Don’t ruin your engagement announcement,” she said. “Check. If I learn anything more about Ash, I’ll shoot you a text. I’ve got my phone with me. Give me a holler if you need to.”
Theo felt the same pull and tug, only this time it wasn’t in her chin. She made a concerted effort to keep her eyes averted as Lindsay worked.
“They’re taking your Jeep to the barn and bringing my truck here to the hospital,” Jordan told Theo. “With any luck, you won’t have to answer any more questions until tomorrow.”
“Okay,” the nurse said. “You’re almost done. This is going to scar I’m afraid. Vitamin E oil might help that a little.” She applied a liberal dose of antibiotic ointment before wrapping Theo’s arm in snowy white gauze and taping it in place. She bandaged two of Theo’s fingers, one of which required two stitches, then reached up to turn the light off. “Ice might help make the outside of your neck feel a little better. Warm tea will soothe the inside. The meds will help with that pain, too. I’ll tell Doctor Cross you’re ready and get your discharge papers.”
“Thanks, Lindsay,” Theo told her.
“Of course. Feel better.”
It wasn’t more than a couple of seconds after Lindsay left the room that Theo heard the nurse’s voice outside the door.
“Theodora Murphy? Yes, she’s right in here.”
Both Theo and Jordan looked up and watched Max walk in followed by Caleb and then Bex.
“How you doin’, kid?” Max asked, holding his hand out to Theo. Theo took it and allowed him to pull her from her seat. The older man embraced her, and she watched as Caleb handed two sets of keys to his brother.
“It’s been a pretty eventful day,” she told him.
“Well, the life of a Murphy woman is never boring. It’s all or nothing with you lot. It’s always been that way. I sure am glad you’re okay.”
“Thank you.”
“You know, I saw that guy last night,” Bex said, stepping around Max.
“What guy?” Caleb asked. “The one who attacked Ashley and Theo?”
“Yeah. He was at The Copper Queen. Actually, I’ve seen him there a couple of times. Last night he was sitting with Ashley at a two-top near the pool tables. The two of them were laughing and talking. They must have sat there for at least a couple of hours, because I was playing pool for at least that long.”
“Did you happen to meet a guy named Damon?”
“I did, actually,” Bex said. “He was trash talking you pretty hard,” she laughed. “Then I beat him three games in a row.”
“So he was trash talking you pretty hard, too?”
“Yeah, probably.” She shrugged. “Oh, well. I’m sixty bucks richer, so he can talk all he wants.”
“I’d never seen this guy before,” Theo said. “He said some things about both Mina and Ashley last night. I don’t know what happened between the three of them, but there was obviously a hell of a lot of anger there.”
Bex reached up and ran her fingers through her purple hair. “This guy has got to be a special kind of psychopath. I mean, I didn’t meet him or anything, and I didn’t hear any of their conversation, but they seemed to be having a great time together. It looked like they were on a date. I swear, the guy looked smitten with her.”
“No,” Theo shook her head. “Ashley lives with her boyfriend, Wyatt. They’ve been together for about a year. Ashley’s got a lot of hard edges, but I just can’t see her going behind Wyatt’s back. She wouldn’t cheat. That’s just not who she is.”
“Yeah, okay,” Bex said. “I mean, you know her really well. That guy was pretty big. I’m impressed you got the better of him.”
“He wasn’t that big,” Theo corrected her. “He was much smaller than either Jordan or Caleb. And I barely got away. If he hadn’t slipped in the water on the floor, I wouldn’t have gotten that door closed in time. I got lucky.”
Bex was squinting one of her icy blue eyes. “Are you sure about his size? I mean, the guy I saw Ashley with was huge. It looked like he was really into lifting weights, or maybe he works a physical job or something. He was handsome, too. Light blond hair, nice smile.” She shook her head. “He looked like a decent guy, but I’m awful when it comes to that. Dating sucks. I get it wrong so much of the time.”
“Blond?” Theo said. “The guy that attacked me had dark red hair.”
“So, clearly, you’re not talking about the same person,” Max concluded.
“No, I guess not.”
“Do you know if Ashley left with the blond guy?” Jordan asked Bex.
“Yeah, actually. They did leave the bar together. It was pretty early. I don’t think it was even seven yet.”
Jordan looked over at Theo. “When did the red-haired guy show up at your office?”
“I was getting ready to go. A few minutes before he knocked on the door, I remember looking at my computer. It was about eight fifteen.”
“And he looked beat up, right?”
“He said he’d been in an accident. He had a big cut on his forehead that was bleeding all over, and he said his cell phone had been damaged, that it wouldn’t turn on. He even showed it to me. The screen was completely trashed.”
