Birthright

breathing,” Lana called out.
    “Somebody cut those ropes off her.” Trying not to weep, Callie crawled over to help pull Vivian to shore. “Cut those goddamn ropes off her.”
    A hand came out of the water, took Callie’s wrist. “We got yours,” Doug managed.
    Callie reached out. “We got yours.”

Epilogue
    S hortly past dawn Callie walked into the hospital waiting room. It was a scene she’d seen too many times to count, but this time it warmed her heart.
    Her team, every one of them, was sprawled on any available surface. Since it made her weepy, she was glad none of them was awake to see her cry.
    They’d come through for her. At the worst possible moment of her life, they’d come through.
    She walked to Lana first, shook her gently by the shoulder.
    “What? Oh, God.” She pushed at her hair. “Must’ve dozed off. How are they?”
    “Everyone’s doing fine. My father and Jay are being released. They want to keep my mother and Suzanne for a few more hours at least. Doug and Roger are still with Suzanne, but they’ll be out in a minute.”
    “How are you?”
    “Grateful. More than I can say. I appreciate everything you did, right down to getting the dry clothes.”
    “No problem. We’re family now. I guess in more ways than one.”
    Callie crouched down. “He’s a really good man, isn’t he? My brother.”
    “Yes, he is. He cares very much about you. You’ve got a family here,” she said, gesturing at the sleeping forms, “that changes on you from time to time. You’ve got another. That changed on you, too.”
    “I didn’t know it was Suzanne I was pulling up.” The horror of it was going to live inside her, for a very long time. “I had to make a decision. Go after the one who’d been in the longest.”
    “She might have died if you hadn’t made that decision. That makes it the right one. How’s the shoulder?”
    Callie worked it gingerly. “Pretty sore. You know how they say it’s just a flesh wound? Whole different perspective on that when it’s your flesh. Take Doug and Roger home, okay? Doug’s worn out, and Roger’s too old to be worried this way. Jay, he’s not going to leave until Suzanne’s released. I think they’ve got a thing going. Again.”
    “That would be a nice circle, wouldn’t it?”
    “I like it. Lana, make them believe everything’s all right now.”
    “Everything is all right now, so that’ll be easy. The police have Dory and Richard. There are no more secrets there.”
    “When it comes out, there’ll be others like me. Others like Suzanne and Jay, like my parents.”
    “Yes. Some will want to dig, discover. Others will want to leave it buried. You did what was right for you, and by doing it, you stopped it from going any further. Let that be enough for you, Callie.”
    “The single person most responsible was never punished.”
    “Can you believe that when you do what you do? Do you really think it all ends with bones in the ground?” Lana looked down at her hand, at the finger where her wedding ring had once been.
    She’d taken it off, had put it—lovingly—away. And when she had, she’d felt Steve watching her. Lovingly.
    “It doesn’t,” she said.
    Callie thought of how often she heard the murmurs of the dead when she worked. “So, my consolation is, if there’s a hell, Marcus Carlyle is frying in it?” She considered a moment. “I think I can live with that.”
    “You go home, too.” Lana patted her arm. “Take your family here and go home.”
    “Yeah. Good idea.”
    It took an hour to clear them out. Everyone had to sneak in to see Rosie despite the fact she was scheduled for release that morning.
    On the drive back, Callie kept her eyes closed. “I’ve got a lot to say to you,” she told Jake. “But my mind’s pretty fuzzy.”
    “Plenty of time.”
    “You came through for me, in a big way. And I knew you would. I wanted you to know that I knew you would. I was standing there, scared down to the bone, and I thought, Jake’s right behind me. So it’s got to be okay.”
    “She fucking shot you.”
    “Okay, you could’ve been about thirty seconds quicker. But I’m not holding that against you. You saved my life, and that’s a fact. I couldn’t get her up alone, and I was going down with her. I needed you, and you were there. I’m never going to forget it.”
    “Well, we’ll see about that.”
    She opened her eyes when she felt the car stop. Blinking, she stared at the field. “What the hell are we