Body Search by Andersen Jessica

Author:Andersen, Jessica [Andersen, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-03-07T12:39:32+00:00

DALE AND TANSY SPENT the remainder of the day at the motel clinic, monitoring the patients, drinking bottled water and flinching at shadows while the winds rose and the waves crested higher and higher against the docks. Churchill stopped in briefly to report that Hurricane Harriet was stalled off Cape Cod, so they were in for a night of gusts and not much else.

The main storm would hit the following day.

By dusk, the able-bodied islanders had finished boarding up the motel windows with sheets of plywood. Of the remaining patients, the sheriff and the mayor were failing. The young woman, Miranda, was breathing on her own, but hadn’t yet regained consciousness. And Eddie was unchanged.

Then, just as the last of the gray daylight fled the sky, Dale left the motel room for a breath of stagnant, stormy air and found Mickey outside. He lifted a hand to his cousin’s shoulder, not sure what to say, but knowing he needed to do something to ease the bleakness in Mickey’s face.

A few minutes later, Tansy came out of the boy’s room with tears in her eyes. Dale’s heart stuttered.

Mickey let out a low, hopeless groan. “Is he—”

Dale reached for his cousin just as Tansy grabbed them both, turning it into an awkward three-way hug. She whispered, “He’s breathing.”

It took precious seconds for the words to sink in, then Mickey whooped and spun Dale nearly off his feet. “He’s breathing? He’s breathing! Did you hear that? He’s breathing! Oh, God. Where’s Libby? Where’s DJ? They’ll want to see Eddie!” He ran to the other end of the motel block, where his wife and older son were playing penny-ante poker.

Dale watched the quick excitement and tearful embraces, and saw Tansy smile as the entire family thundered into Unit 2, where little Eddie was finally breathing on his own.

She sighed wistfully. “They love each other so much. It’s kept them strong through this.”

No, Dale thought, rejecting the quick warmth he’d felt during that three-way hug, love makes you weak. Vulnerable. Just look at what it did to Trask.

It wasn’t until he saw Tansy looking at him that he realized he’d spoken aloud.

Disappointment washed across her face, as though he’d rejected her once again. Then she stuck out her chin and snapped, “Yes, just look what love did to your uncle. Then take a good look at yourself, Dale, and tell me what you see.”

The frustration in her tone punched at him, as did the sheen of tears in her eyes.

She stalked back into Eddie’s room and was greeted with cheers and whoops from the excited family. But Dale didn’t feel like celebrating. He wasn’t sure what he felt like doing.

Feelings had never been his strong suit. Nor had communication.

Overhead, thunder grumbled. He touched the ring in his pocket and felt it clink against the stone. Both were warm from his body heat. He pulled the ring out and looked at it in the dull storm light, remembering how it had flashed on his mother’s hand when she’d grabbed him around the waist and spun him in a big circle the night she died.

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