“One level equals three flights.”
“You’ll work off the cookies.”
“They’re only a fond memory. You figure Stiles is ready to give us some straight talk?”
“I figure he’s ready for something.” She pushed through the doors to the next level, headed left. “He doesn’t know we found Carvell or that we’ve identified Draco as Carly’s father. We’ll see how he plays it before we clue him in.”
She stopped at the door. “Clark.”
“Yes, sir.”
“He have any visitors?”
“Not a soul. He was sleeping it off until a few minutes ago. The nurse reported he was awake and asking for you.”
“Okay, take a fifteen-minute break.”
“Thanks. I can use it.”
Eve reached for the door, pushed it open. Then, with a curse, leaped inside. She grabbed Stiles’s legs, hauled up and took his weight. “Get him down!”
Peabody was already scrambling onto the bed, fighting with the knot. Clark pounded in behind her.
“I’ve got him, Lieutenant.” He moved in with his wide shoulders and took Stiles’s dangling body up another three inches.
He’d hanged himself with a noose fashioned from his own bedsheets.
“He’s not breathing,” Clark announced when the body collapsed on him. “I don’t think he’s breathing.”
“Get a doctor.” Face fierce, Eve straddled Stiles, pressed the heels of her hands to his heart and began to pump. “Come on, you son of a bitch. You will breathe.” She lowered her mouth to his, forced in air. Pumped.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Kenneth!” At the doorway, Areena Mansfield scattered the armload of flowers she carried at her feet.
“Keep back! Come on, come on.” Sweat began to pour down Eve’s face. She heard the sound of running feet, of alarms shrilling.
“Move aside. Move aside please.”
She slid away, pushed to her feet, and watched the medical team work on him.
No pulse. Flat line.
Come back, Eve ordered. Goddamn you, come back.
She watched the slim pressure hypo of adrenaline jab against his chest.
No response.
Small disks were slicked with gel. There were orders to set, to clear, then Stiles’s body bucked when the discs shocked his system. The heart line on the monitor stayed blue and blank.
For a second time the disks slapped against him, a second time his body jerked, fell. And now a low beep sounded, and the blue line wavered and went red.
Sinus rhythm. We have a pulse.
At the door, Areena covered her face with her hands.
• • •
“Give me his condition.”