CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE: GUILTY.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE: GUILTY.

~GREY’S POV~

The man was saying too many things at once. I didn’t like him. I wished Neil was here instead but my friend had to travel so he had assigned this case to one of his best officers. I sized the police officer.

Size wise, it didn’t look like Noah could do much damage to a criminal but Neil assured me he was small and mighty.

I darted another look at the elevator. My wife was waiting for him upstairs. She didn’t know I was meeting up with officers on her behalf.

“Let me get this straight, Noah,” I started. The information I received from Noah played around in my head in a continuous loop. “Mr Evans came to you. You didn’t find him yourself, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Noah agreed.

“Then what happened?”

“He came to file a missing person report. The name was familiar because Neil already told us about this case.”

The man’s beady dark eyes looked everywhere as he spoke. They were downstairs in his apartment. I and Mira were about to leave for the hospital when Noah called to update him.

“So I showed him a picture of her and he identified Mrs Evans as his wife.”

I scrubbed my hand over my face. I was really hoping Mr Evans had nothing to do with my mother-in-law’s injuries. Mira’s heart wouldn’t take it. She had been hanging onto the hope her mother would feel better in no time. That would break her.

“Where’s he now?”

“At the station,” Noah replied. I shoved my hands into my pockets and leaned on the wall. I rubbed my hands together. “But we will have to let him go.”

“You should. Let him go.”

A minute passed, Noah made to speak but I interrupted him. I had some questions for my father-in-law. Questions only Mr Evans could answer.

“Do you have his number?”

Noah provided a number and I saved it in my phone. “Thank you very much, Noah. Have a good day.”

We shook hands and Noah took his leave. I faked a smile as I was about to enter the elevator. My uncertainty prickled me. Should I inform Mira or wait? Those thoughts clouded my mind as the elevator ascended.

I passed one desperate look at my phone. Lisa had not replied to my text. Mira might get mad at me but I needed someone to be with my wife while I was away at work. I stepped into the corridor at the same time my phone pinged with a reply from Lisa. She had not been in town but she was on her way to our house. I gave her directions to the hospital, knocked once then entered our apartment.

Mira stood as soon as I walked inside to pull me in a brief hug. “Is everything okay?” she asked, worry laced her eyes.

I didn’t want to add to her troubles. “Yeah. All good. Have you spoken to Lisa?”

“She has been busy,” was all I got from Mira.

Her reply wasn’t enough to determine if I should mention the call to her best friend so I murmured, “Ready?”

“I guess so,” she replied with a laugh too fake for me to ignore.

I grabbed the bag from her and hoisted it on my shoulder. Holding her close, I smiled till she reciprocated it. “Okay. I think I’m ready now.”

We exited the room in silence. She was quiet on the ride to the hospital. Head propped on the window, eyes closed, she didn’t know when we reached.

“Baby.” Her lashes fluttered. She looked around and her eyes lighted in recognition at the familiar building. “We are here.”

Taking both of her hands, I rubbed her knuckles against her cheeks. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Her lips turned down. She chewed her lips for a bit, then said, “Do you really have to go to work?”

My lips spread in a grin. “Yeah.” I already missed enough days of work. Mira too. But Mira’s superior was letting her off because I have spoken to her. “But I’ll be back before you know it. Promise.”

The sadness in her eyes didn’t ebb but she placed a kiss on the inside of my wrist. “I called Lisa. She will be here soon.”

A guilty smile took over Mira’s lips. Lisa would have been here sooner but a work trip pushed her visit.

“I didn’t know how to tell her about my mum’s memory loss,” Mira confessed with a laugh. “I keep hoping to wake up and see that it is all a dream.

I unfastened her seatbelt and carried her. She toyed with the button of my shirt and sighed softly. “You’ll be late.”

“I know.” But we did nothing.

I grasped her jaw and her eyes lifted to my face. Her lips were coated with shiny lip gloss.

“Will you be okay for a couple of hours? I can wait with you till Lisa gets here.”

“Okay.”

My arms looped around her and I drew patterns on her spine till my phone rang. Lisa was here.

Mira straightened up with a pout. “I’ll miss you.”

Heart dancing, I replied, “I’ll miss you too.”

We were acting like newly wed when our marriage was more than seven months old. But I didn’t care. I appreciated her vulnerability with me. I placed a kiss on her forehead with another promise to be back as soon as I could and she exited the car.

Guilt hit me when I noticed my wife wipe a stray tear down her cheek but I steeled myself to leave. I had work to do. Bethel couldn’t continue representing me at important meetings. My phone rang as I drove into the main road. It was Angel my youngest sister. I put it on hands free mode and picked.

“Hey, brother,” my twenty-two year old sister greeted.

“Angel.”

We hadn’t spoken on phone in a while. I was closer to Anabel so most of my communication with Angel was on chat. If she was calling, it had to be important. My heart skipped at that thought, I took a turn into the street leading to my office. My sister had not said another word.

“What’s up, Angel? How’s home?”

“Good.” Her reply was too cheery. A soft sigh floated into the car. “Okay, mum’s sick. She wants to see you.”

“Is she really sick?” I asked.

God knew I loved my parents but my mother could be dramatic. My mother had been nagging me to come home with my wife and we would have been on our way to Europe if Mira’s mother had not shown up. I slowed to a stop in the space reserved for my car and plugged the phone to my ear.

“What’s wrong with her?” I demanded from my sister.