Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

dead—Murray took out one, and Patrick got the other. The badly injured one, though,
     that was Beth’s doing. Do you want Patrick to take responsibility for him? I need
     to let him know.”
    “Shit.”

TWENTY-FOUR

    “S URE ,” Lily said. “I’ll call you later. No, I’m here and…I know you do. I’ll give her your
     love, and…” Lily listened patiently to another list of things she must be sure to
     do. It wasn’t that hard. She knew the list was her mother’s way of saying she loved
     Beth, and this time, at least, her mother wasn’t blaming Lily for what had happened
     to her sister. This time, her mother seemed to trust her. “Uh-huh. No, don’t worry
     about that—she’ll be staying with me and Rule.”
    Beth paused in her pacing to glare at her. “No, I won’t.”
    Lily gave her a look. “I need to go. I don’t like to leave Beth alone with that detective
     and…of course I will. ’Bye.”
    “She’s not coming here, is she?” Beth demanded.
    Lily slipped her phone in her pocket. “No, and you owe me big-time for telling her
     you were still talking to the local police. You’ll call her yourself later. And you
are
staying with me and Rule.”
    “No, I’m not.” Beth resumed her furious circuit of the surgical waiting room. “Haven’t
     I proved how damn good I am at taking care of myself? Sent him sailing—
splat
!” She slapped her hands together. “Took him right out.”
    “Uh-huh. You figure you can protect your roommates, too, if the bad guys try for you
     again?”
    Beth’s mouth opened. Closed. She turned away and started pacing again, up and down
     the room, like she’d been doing since they got here.
    There was only one person other than Lily to watch. Tony Romano sat in the corner
     pretending to read an old issue of
Better Homes and Gardens.
Maybe he really was reading it—who knew? He’d insisted on coming to the hospital,
     claiming he had no problem with the setting. Most lupi didn’t do well in hospitals,
     but Tony was a Rho. He was supposed to be aces at control. He said he hoped to be
     useful to Rule, but of course Rule didn’t stay where Tony could hang around being
     helpful. He went into surgery with Murray. That’s when Tony attached himself to Lily
     like an enormous barnacle. She thought he must be “studying on” her, getting used
     to the idea of a woman with authority. She wasn’t sure why she was letting him.
    Scott and Todd were just outside in the hall, glaring at anyone who looked like they
     might come in. Either the glares worked or the hospital was having a slow surgical
     day, because they’d had the room to themselves for the past twenty minutes. Lily knew
     that was temporary. If nothing, else, the press would find them eventually.
    Somewhere nearby was the man Beth had sent sailing over a railing to plummet three
     stories down. He was still in surgery. Lily had told Rule it was Beth’s choice about
     whether to ask Patrick to claim responsibility for that. Beth had reacted just as
     Lily had expected—she’d been horrified by the idea.
    Murray had come around at the scene, but Rule had kept him calm, and Cullen had met
     them at the hospital. Murray had taken two bullets; one wasn’t much of a problem,
     being in his shoulder, but the other had hit his heart. He had to have surgery, but
     anesthesia didn’t work on lupi. Fortunately, sleep spells did, and Cullen was good
     at them, so he and Rule had scrubbed and gone into surgery with Murray. They were
     with him now in post-op.
    Lily was not needed for any of this. She’d rather have taken Beth to the hotel once
     they could leave the scene of the attack. Beth could be guarded better there—and Lily
     had so much to
do
. The locals were handling the immediate investigation of Beth’s attackers, but that
     wasn’t exactly the only thing on her plate. She’d ended up video conferencing from
     the damn ladies’ room—the one spot at the hospital with some privacy—when the judge
     insisted on a personal discussion of her need for taps on Jasper Machek’s phones.
    At least the woman had ended up granting permission, so…her phone buzzed.
    It was the detective Lily had maligned to her mother, a perfectly courteous woman
     named Rachel Jones. They’d confirmed the ID on the three perps whose bodies—living
     or dead—were in their hands. They had a line to follow on who they’d worked for, too.
     Did Lily want to sit in when they picked the man up?
    She