Throat Culture: A Jenna Blake Body of Evidence Thriller by Golden Christopher & Hautala Rick

Author:Golden, Christopher & Hautala, Rick [Golden, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Daring Greatly Corporation
Published: 2013-03-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

"They say as people get older, they don't change, but you definitely have."

Frank, who had been sitting with his elbows on his knees, his chin resting in his hands, grunted and raised his head to look over at his ex-wife, April. She was standing at the foot of Shayna's bed. Bars of light from the streetlight outside, sliced by the Levolor blinds, rippled across the floor, but her face and shoulders were muted by shadow. He thought she looked beautiful in the mellow glow, and he remembered one of the many reasons he had fallen in love with her and married her. It seemed so long ago . . . almost like another lifetime.

"Thanks," he said listlessly.

He shifted his gaze over to the motionless form of his new wife, lying in the bed. Her hair looked thin, spread out against the pillow. Her eyes were closed, and the expression on her face appeared frozen. The hiss of the respirator and the spiked green lines on the monitors were the only indications that she was still alive. Sadness cut deep, and Frank found himself wondering — as he had so many times since this horrible thing happened — how he would cope if Shayna died.

"You have to have faith," April said, as if she were reading his mind. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it made him jump. "I know I do . . . but I — it's hard."

His voice faded away, and he shook his head as a deep shudder ran through him. He hunched his shoulders forward as though he were crying without shedding any tears. Maybe he had already cried all he could, but he knew if Shayna didn't survive this there would be many more tears. He tried to push such horrible thoughts from his mind, but that's all he could think. The doctors had told him that each passing hour she was in the coma, the more possibility there was of permanent physical and mental damage.

And now she's going to die . . . before we even had a chance to have a life together.

April stepped up close beside him and rested her hand lightly on his shoulder. Frank looked up at her.

"Thanks for being here, April. I know we haven't always been —"

She raised a hand to shush him. "That's all in the past. We've both grown a lot since then. And, anyway, we must have done something right because we have a wonderful daughter." April smiled at him with a warmth he hadn't felt in so long.

"You got that right. Jenna is an amazing kid, isn't she?"

April shook her head and smiled. "Yes, but she's not a kid. She's an amazing young woman who's finding her way in life just the way we did."

Frank sniffed with laughter again and reached up to wipe the tears that were gathering in his eyes. "I have a feeling . . . and it's just a feeling, but I think she's doing a hell of a lot better job at it than we — certainly better than I did at her age.

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