“Shit! Sabrina, let me see,” Gabriel said as he turned her arm toward the light. The cut wasn’t bleeding much, but it was long and it stung as he manipulated her skin. “I think it’ll be okay if we clean it out,” he said to Jimmy, who nodded. His face showed his relief that it wasn’t worse.
“I’ll take her and help dress it in the bathroom. Did you see anyone else in the house when you went downstairs?” Jimmy asked.
Gabriel shook his head. “No, but I need to call my partner and the police now. You wrap her arm, then let’s get dressed and packed. We’re not staying here. They broke in through the front door.” Gabriel’s face had settled into a grim competence as he turned away to look for his clothes. Sabrina followed Jimmy to the bathroom. She figured she was in shock, but Jimmy seemed to understand and helped her wash her arm and wrap it with some light gauze. She never thought anything would happen after all these weeks of quiet, but she realized that she’d been wrong.
One hour later the house was full of strangers. Sabrina sat in the kitchen, nursing a cup of tea and watching the clock. She was grateful that Jimmy had called her dad and told him about the attack for her. She didn’t want to talk. She loved her father dearly, but she knew that if she tried to speak to him she’d break down crying. She didn’t know how Jimmy calmed him down, but he told her that her dad was staying away. Jimmy said he explained how the FBI wanted them to go to a safe house. Using her as bait didn’t extend to home invasion and possible kidnapping. She didn’t know what the shooter could possibly want from her, and she didn’t care at this point.
Sabrina was exhausted. How could everyone be so awake at three in the morning? She wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but thinking about her bed made her shudder in disgust. She didn’t think she could sleep there again, at least not without changing the room around. Maybe if Jimmy and Gabriel slept with me? Sabrina thought, taking another sip of her now cold tea. After all, they’d kept her safe tonight, and it would be so very lovely to have them in her bed every night. She shook her head, hardly able to believe she was reminiscing about making love right after someone tried to kill her.
“Sabrina?” she heard, and looked up to see Agent Patrick standing by the breakfast nook.
“Yes?” she answered politely. He didn’t speak for a long moment, just looked at her gravely while she tried not to yawn in his face. He seemed uncomfortable. Even through the haze of her exhaustion Sabrina noticed the awkwardness, how he shuffled his left foot and picked at his suit sleeve. Was she imagining things?
“I’m really sorry. It never occurred to us that Miltos would do anything like this. None of us expected him to hire men to come into your home,” he finally said. He frowned as Sabrina rubbed her lips.
Is he upset about the break-in or is it something more? she wondered, watching his face tighten with displeasure. Her lips felt chapped from all the kissing, which made her smile briefly, and then she shivered, remembering the dark shapes in her bedroom.
She sighed, and Agent Patrick continued. “In fact, even now I’m not really sure about Miltos’ motive.” He pushed his glasses back up his nose and looked away. He seemed tired, standing there in rumpled clothing. Sabrina felt a pang of sympathy despite the strange looks he kept giving her. Maybe he was exhausted, too, and didn’t really want to be here. She knew she certainly didn’t.
“Well, maybe he figured that if he kidnapped me, it would be more horrible for my father than just killing me. He could make demands and possibly hurt me, record it or something,” Sabrina offered, wishing now that she hadn’t watched so many police dramas on television.
Agent Patrick nodded. “Yeah, you could be right. He may even have tried holding out for money, too.”
Sabrina looked away. She didn’t really care at this point. She just wanted to get out of here so she could sleep, preferably for three days. She didn’t have the energy to speculate anymore.
“Rest assured that no one knows about this safe house except the FBI,” Agent Patrick said finally when he saw she wasn’t going to make more of an effort to keep the conversation going.
“Thanks.” Sabrina closed her eyes, wishing Jimmy or Gabriel were here with her. She shook her head. She had nothing to worry about. She knew that Gabriel was planning their route to the safe house and Jimmy was packing for her upstairs, but she wanted them closer. She wanted to hold their hands and stroke her palms down their faces, knowing that they were hers and she was theirs. Still, she was glad that none of the people here knew about the changed status of their relationship. She wanted to keep it secret, close to her heart. She wanted the memory of her first time to remain special despite the way violence had shattered the quiet warmth of their sleep later.
“Sabrina,” she heard Jimmy say. She wrenched her eyes open just as he slid into the cushioned bench beside her. “You ready to get going?”
Sabrina nodded, and he put his arm around her shoulders. She was careful to show no more than the usual affection for him with her body, but she let what she was really feeling show in her face as she looked into his eyes. She saw concern and tiredness and love as he smiled. From the corner of her eye she noticed Agent Patrick flinch, then look away. What the hell?
“Did you pack everything I need from my bedroom?” Sabrina asked, trying to wake up and ignoring the crossed signals she kept getting from Patrick.
“Yeah, I got clothes, pajamas, and all the photography stuff you wanted.” Jimmy squeezed her shoulders, then let his arm fall down to the table, where a map lay partially opened. He stifled a yawn and Sabrina could tell he was upset. It was probably hard for him to deal with this after he’d promised her dad that he would do his best to keep her safe. He rubbed his eyes. Sabrina touched him on the arm, silently reassuring him. It wasn’t his fault, she knew that and hoped he realized it as well. She didn’t want him to obsess over what could have happened.
“Thanks. I really didn’t want to go back in there with all the blood everywhere.”
Jimmy nodded sympathetically. She knew that the bodies were still there. The police were busy photographing everything and didn’t trust her not to screw up the scene. It’d been surreal standing in the hall earlier while complete strangers glared at her from the threshold of her own bedroom. She kept wondering if they could tell what had gone on in her bed just a few short hours ago and hoped that the scent of blood everywhere would mask the evidence of their lovemaking. She snorted under her breath. She was being a ninny. Of course they could tell. It didn’t matter, anyway, what they thought. As long as she didn’t have to go in there. Thankfully they let Jimmy in for her stuff.
Sabrina sighed, feeling the weight of her exhaustion settle in her spine. She looked at Jimmy, who peered at the map, frowning in concentration. She wondered if killing that man bothered him. He had to, to protect her, and she was grateful, but Sabrina knew that she would be upset if she were in his shoes. He stared at the map, but it didn’t look as though he was really seeing it. His right hand had a scrape down the outside of his palm, and she reached out, gently closing her fingers around his, obscuring the inked pattern of highways and interstates. He looked at her, and she rubbed her thumb gently over his pinky finger, trying to convey an apology for the whole ridiculous mess that her life had become. He offered her a faint smile, and then they both looked up as Gabriel walked into the kitchen, dressed all in black as if for a funeral.