Private Scandals

tomorrow. Somebody might have seen something.”
    “You haven’t had time to interview Dan Gardner.”
    “No.” A ghost of a smile moved Jenner’s lips. “My next stop.”
    “Mine too.”
    “Mr. Riley, you’d be better off going back to the hospital, watching over your lady. Leave this to me.”
    “I’ll watch out for Deanna,” Finn returned. “And I’m going to talk to Gardner. I’m going to use everything and everyone I know to get to the root of this. I can go with you,Lieutenant, or I can go around you.”
    “That’s not friendly, Mr. Riley.”
    “I’m not feeling friendly, Lieutenant Jenner.”
    “Don’t imagine you are, but this is police business.”
    “So was Greektown.”
    Jenner’s brows lifted as he studied Finn. The man knew which buttons to push, he mused.
    “I like you,” Jenner said after a moment. “I liked the way you handled yourself in Greektown. Saw you take that hit.” He scratched his chin, considered. “You just kept right on reporting.”
    “That’s my job.”
    “Yeah, and I got mine. I’m willing to bend the rules a bit, Mr. Riley, for a couple reasons. One, I really admire your lady, and two . . . I figure there’s a ten-year-old girl out there who just might owe you her life. I might not have mentioned, I have a granddaughter that age.”
    “No, you didn’t mention it.”
    “Well.” Jenner simply nodded again. “You can follow me in your car.”
     
    When Deanna surfaced, it was midmorning. Yet it wasn’t necessary to orient herself; she remembered everything too clearly. She was in the hospital under observation. She wished she could laugh at the term. She understood that she would remain under all manner of observation for a long time.
    She turned her head, mindful of the dull ache swimming inside, and studied Finn. He was dozing in the chair beside the bed, his hand covering hers. Unshaven, exhausted and pale, he was the most comforting sight she could imagine.
    Not wanting to disturb him, she shifted slowly. But her slight movement woke him.
    “Are you hurting?”
    “No.” Her voice was weak; she put an effort into strengthening it. “You shouldn’t have sat up all night. They’d have found somewhere for you to stretch out.”
    “I can sleep anywhere. I’m a reporter, remember?” He scrubbed his hands over his face, then stretched out the kinks in his back. “You should try to get some more sleep.”
    “I want to go home. A mild concussion isn’t enough to keep me in the hospital.” She sat up, but cautiously, knowing if she so much as sneezed he’d run for a nurse. “No double vision, no memory lapses, no nausea.”
    “You’re pale as wax, Deanna.”
    “You’re not looking so hale and hearty yourself. Want to crawl in here with me?”
    “Later.” He scooted over to sit on the side of the bed and touched his hand to her cheek. “I love you.”
    “I know. I don’t think I could have gotten through last night without you.”
    “You don’t have to get through anything without me.”
    She smiled, but her eyes strayed from his to the television bracketed to the wall at the foot of the bed. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard the morning news?”
    “No.” He turned, looked at her intently. “No,” he repeated. “We’ll deal with it later.”
    Yes, she thought. Later was better. “It was horrible the way she died. Horrible the way it was all so perfectly staged. I need to think about it, but I can’t seem to.”
    “Then don’t. Don’t push it, Deanna.” He looked over as he heard Fran’s voice, lifted high in indignant rage as she argued with the guard outside the door. “I’ll tell her you’re resting.”
    “No, please. I want to see her.”
    Finn had just gone to the door to have a word with the guard when Fran burst in. She bulleted toward the bed and snatched Deanna into her arms. “Oh God, I’ve been sick ever since I heard. Are you all right? How bad are you hurt?”
    “Just a bump on the head.” She returned the embrace, squeezing hard. “I was just about to get up and get dressed.”
    “Are you sure?” Fran drew her back; she might have been examining one of her children for symptoms. “You’re so pale. Finn, go get the doctor. I think he should take another look at her.”
    “No.” She took Fran’s hands firmly in hers. “They just wanted me overnight for observation. I’ve been observed. The office? What’s going on?”
    Something flickered in Fran’s eyes, then she shrugged.