Ыоуве Been Warned   ::   Patterson James

“Help, Michael, you have to save me!”



Chapter 70



“ARE THE DOORS LOCKED?” I whisper. “You checked?”

“Yes.”

“Are you absolutely sure? I know I sound a little crazy right now.”

Michael reaches for a button on the ceiling of the limo and lowers the tinted-glass divider halfway. “Vin, the doors are locked, right?”

“Yes, sir,” grunts Vincent. But just to be nice, Vincent unlocks and locks them again.

Up goes the divider with a mechanical hum. Michael and I are in our own little world again. I’m lying across the backseat with my head in his lap as he gently caresses the nasty bump below my hairline. That bump isreal. So is the rest of what happened. “Everything’s going to be okay,” he assures me.

What I wouldn’t give for him to be right. For the time being, though, I’ll take being out of that hospital.

“I didn’t think that awful jerk Curley would ever release me,” I say.

Michael nods. “He was pretty stubborn, wasn’t he?”

“What did you say to make him change his mind?”

“Oh, nothing, really. I simply suggested that since you came to the emergency room voluntarily, you should also leave that way.”

“That’s it? That’s all you said?”

Michael flashes his trademark smile. “Well, I did mention one other thing.”

I knew it.

“I told him that by the time I was done suing Our Lady of Hope Hospital for false imprisonment, it would be renamed Our Lady of Bankruptcy.”

That’s the man I love.

Michael doesn’t press me for details on what happened, and as much as I want to tell him, I’m torn. He just came to my rescue and vouched for my sanity. If I try explaining everything right now, what’s he supposed to think? I’m afraid he’ll tell Vincent to turn the limo around: “Quick, let’s get her back to the hospital!”

Besides, I don’t want to work myself into another frenzy quite yet. I’m finally feeling a little relaxed. Or maybe the word is safe. Either way, it occurs to me that the last time I felt this way was the last time I was in this limo with Michael. Does that mean something in this damn puzzle? What part does Michael play?

“I did it again, didn’t I?” I say. “I interrupted one of your business dinners.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Michael takes a peek at his platinum Rolex. “As long as I return in time to pick up the check, no one will care.