Rob laughed and released James face. “Actually yes, yes I am.” He patted James’ cheek again.
“Okay, maybe I should be getting you home,” Daphne said.
“If that means your house, then fine,” Rob said. “Home.”
Daphne wouldn’t have been able to hide her smile if she had tried. I felt like I had just witnessed a big moment. He had called her place his home.
“Call us if you need anything at all,” Daphne said.
“Thanks.” But everyone needed to spend some time away from the hospital. I glanced at James. It looked like he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.
When Rob and Daphne left I helped him adjust his pillows so that he’d be lying down and snuggled up next to him.
“Did you catch that? He called Daphne’s place his home.”
“My baby brother is growing up.” James yawned.
I smiled as I watched him fall asleep. We were all growing up.
Saturday
We waited as patiently as possible in James’ room. His doctor said he could probably be discharged from the hospital tonight. While we were still at the hospital, we decided we should go ahead and get an ultrasound. James was excited, but I was super nervous. I just hoped the baby was healthy. I hoped I hadn’t jeopardized anything. I was absentmindedly tapping my heel against the leg of the chair waiting impatiently for the doctor to show up. I almost jumped up when the door opened.
But it was James’ father. He gave us a small smile and walked over to us. “How are you feeling today?” he asked James.
“Good. Better.” James smiled. Their relationship was still strained. But at least they were talking, “Actually,” James said, “the doctor is about to stop by. If you could give us a minute, we’ll be right out.”
“Well, there’s one last thing we need to discuss with Detective Lee. I asked him to meet us in here and he mentioned that he was stopping by in just a minute anyway. He said he was ready to brief us on what they had found.”
“What’s this about?” James asked.
“Something I had told Officer Daugherty. I’d prefer if we waited for Detective Lee.” He looked down at his hands. He seemed upset.
I was too jittery to focus right now. I was excited for the ultrasound. It was all I wanted to talk about. I nudged James with my elbow. “Let’s tell him,” I mouthed silently.
James smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
“Jon,” I said.
He immediately looked up at me.
“We have some exciting news.” I smiled up at James.
“Penny’s pregnant,” James said and squeezed my shoulder.
A smile spread across Jon’s previously distressed features. “You’re having a baby? Congratulations, James.” He stood up and gave James a hug.
I was almost surprised by how long it lasted. James even awkwardly patted his back.
“And Penny,” he said. “I knew you’d be giving me grandchildren in no time.” He gave me a hug. “Wow.” He exhaled slowly as he sat back down. “I…” he laughed. “I don’t even know what else to say. Congratulations. I think we all needed some good news. Penny, I know you’re going to be an amazing mother. I know it.” His smile seemed to disappear again.
“Really, Dad, what’s this about?” James said.
Jon shook his head. “Maybe I should just discuss this with Detective Lee in private. I shouldn’t have…” but his voice trailed off as Detective Lee walked in.
“I heard you get to go home today?” he said with a smile and sat down next to Jon.
I think we’re all ready to get out of here,” James said with a smile.
“Right, right. Well I won’t keep you longer than necessary. But I have some great news. As soon as we arrested Officer Daugherty, everything started to fall into place. I wasn’t doing the questioning, but apparently he sung like a canary, trying to get himself a deal to walk away scot-free. Don’t worry, we won’t let that happen. But it did let us round up everyone that was part of what happened to you the past few weeks. Isabella had paid Officer Daugherty five million dollars to help her. He had a gambling problem that he had kept hidden from the force and was in terrible debt. He didn’t need any more convincing than that.
“You already knew about Briggs. And he hadn’t been lying about not being involved the whole time. There was video footage of the nurse slipping something into his coffee to upset his stomach. Her name is Linda Vega. She’s the mother of Brian Vega, one of the guys on James’ threat list. We were aware that James had gotten numerous death threats from him after Hunter Tech’s advancements had tanked Vega’s stock price. But no one had put it together because Linda got the nursing job under a fake name. She told Isabella what to do in order to make James’ lung collapse again. And she fed her information on his health status and injected James with that slow release sedative.”
I squeezed James’ hand. His face looked a little pale. It was a lot to take in.
“Brian Vega was involved too,” Detective Lee continued. “He hacked into the bank transfer to make it seem like the money had been sent to an account owned by Tyler Stevens. But it really went into an offshore account that your lawyer, John Litt owns. Litt had a copy of the restraining order against Vega, which was how Isabella was able to find someone else who wanted James dead. Apparently John Litt and Isabella had been sleeping together ever since James and her divorce hearing. Litt will almost certainly be disbarred for accepting bribes, releasing personal information, and forging the DNR. Or just for the scandal. He’s already hired the best defense lawyer in the city, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure he sees jail time for this.
“We took your information about the threats against Briggs’ family and have decided we agree that he acted upon duress. He was an unwilling accomplice. We are all set to drop the charges against him if that’s what you’re sure you want to do.”
Without hesitation, James nodded.
“We have already dropped the charges against Melissa Monroe and Tyler Stevens. Is there anything you would like to add about Linda or Brian Vega?”
“No,” James said.