Rylla Franklin laughed. “Yeah, I vetoed that nonsense.”
She was surprised Sam had given in, he wasn't big on compromise. “I’m impressed.”
Rylla laughed again. “I simply appealed to his logic. He needs to sleep sometime, and you need someone to watch over you, so voila, me.”
Naomi gave an inward sigh of relief. She would much rather have her friend playing bodyguard than Sam. She and Rylla were the same age and had met when they were both in the police academy, only after they graduated Rylla had actually joined the police force, while she had drifted around unsure of what she wanted to do with her life. They’d gravitated toward each other as soon as they’d met because they were both a bit obsessive about constantly keeping busy, and they had been friends ever since.
“How’re you feeling? And I have to say that you actually look worse than Sam said you did.” Rylla’s long-lashed green eyes were scrutinizing her appraisingly.
She didn’t like people to fuss over her, it made her extremely uncomfortable, and having suffered two life-threatening injuries in the last twelve months she had received more than her fair share of fussing. “I’m fine,” she replied firmly, which was mostly true, other than a killer headache and a thick ball of nausea that had taken up residence in her stomach.
“When was the last time you took something for the headache?”
Naomi couldn’t really remember. The last day was one big blur.
“You should take something. Maybe a sleeping pill too.”
Rousing herself at the mention of sedatives, she replied, “No, I'm fine.”
Frowning at her, Rylla said, “Don’t be a martyr, you're not superhuman.”
Rylla was every bit as unyielding as Sam, the best she could hope for was a compromise. “I’ll take the painkillers.”
A grin spread across her friend’s freckly face. “Deal. For now at least.”
Rolling her eyes, she took the bottle Rylla produced and dry swallowed two pills.
“Any of your memories returning?”
“No. I don’t think they're coming back. It doesn’t seem to matter anyway. Sam said that Jonathon and Allina found the man who shot at me, and they don’t think it’s the same man who sent me all those letters and killed Nicole.”
“I know, I asked them to keep me updated.”
Not that she didn’t trust Sam, but she needed to hear it again. “Are they sure? Are they sure that the man they arrested is the man who shot me?”
Rylla sat beside her and took her hands. “They found the gun in his house. He shot and mugged three other women. The police had been looking for him, but they hadn’t been able to track him down. Jonathon and Ali lucked out that he was at his mother’s house when they went to talk to her, otherwise he’d still be out there.”
That didn’t really make her feel better. It was the stalker she was afraid of not some random mugger. “How can they know he’s not also the stalker?”
“They can't know for sure, not yet anyway, but, Naomi,” Rylla waited until Naomi was looking right at her, “this guy wants you to suffer. When he killed your friend, he wanted you to know it was him. If he had hurt these other women too then it makes sense that he would want you to know.”
That made sense. She should have thought of that herself, but her mind was still not functioning at one hundred percent.
“This man who’s threatening you, he’s dangerous, you know that right? Because sometimes you don’t take things to do with yourself and your safety seriously. It can't always be about everyone else. This is about you. We want to keep you safe, we care about you, we love you, but we need your help to find him. I know you like to keep stuff to yourself, but this can't be one of those times.”
“You're tag-teaming me, huh?”
“Sam already grill you about the fire?”
“Yes.” She dropped her gaze to her hands. She wasn't sure why she had told Sam about the night of the fire. She had only ever recited it once before. When she had given her official statement twenty-two years ago. She had never forgiven herself for being unable to get her other two brothers out of the house. David had only been four, Eli just two years old, they had been helpless to save themselves. She should have tried harder to get to them. She shouldn’t have said anything to Sam. That was a mistake. She didn’t want to lead him on, let him think that she was opening up to him, that something might happen between them because it wouldn’t. Ever.
“You told him about it.” Rylla couldn’t have sounded any more shocked.
“Just the basics.” Naomi aimed for nonchalance but wasn't sure she made it.
“But you didn’t tell him everything.”
“I told him everything that was important.” She wasn't going to allow herself to be browbeaten into confessing things that had no bearing on this case. Sam and Rylla were stubborn, but she was too. There was no way she was digging up her past just to humor them. When she said it had nothing to do with her stalker she meant it, she wouldn’t risk her sisters’ lives further by playing games.