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JESSIE LUNGES TOWARD Heather, but Jim and Quinn both leap in front of her to stop the attack.
“I didn’t do anything!” Heather yells.
Everyone turns to Matt as he slaps the table next to him to get their attention. He’s shaking his head no and motioning for Jessie to get away from Heather. His hand moves to his throat, and he flinches in pain when he touches the bruised and swollen skin.
They rush to his bedside as Quinn turns to Heather and shouts, “Get a doctor! Tell them he’s awake!”
Heather, slightly in shock, pulls open the door and sprints out of the room, turning back to Billy to shout where she’s going. She makes it to the nurse’s station, words barely forming as she struggles to catch her breath.
“We need help, Matt Harstead’s awake!”
The next few moments are a blur for everyone involved. The family is ushered out of the room and the door is closed behind them. Officer Billy remains at the door, on guard as instructed. His eyes are filled with panic and it’s clear that he never expected Matt to wake up. He thought his job was going to be mindless; he was guarding a man in a coma.
Jim and the three women pace the halls, ignoring the dozens of empty chairs they could sit in while they wait for the doctor. Heather catches each of them looking at her out of the corner of her eye, and according to her Apple Watch, her heart rate is at 138 bpm. She knows Matt was simply confused when he woke up. Obviously, he didn’t mean to point at her. This will all be cleared up in a minute when they can see him again. She will gladly and kindly accept an apology from Jessie for trying to attack her. She’s sure she would do the same thing in her shoes. In fact, she has.
They hear the squeak of dress shoes turning the corner and picking up pace as they sprint down the hallway. It’s the two detectives, who were contacted by Billy with the news as soon as Matt woke up. They seem relieved to see everyone still in the hallway. Both men stop to catch their breath when they reach the door.
“As soon as the doctors are done and give us the okay, we will be in to question him. Alone.”
Jim begins to argue, before Jacob, the detective, holds up his hand. “Mr. Harstead, your son is technically in our custody. You are all incredibly fortunate that you’ve been allowed to be at his bedside since he got here, something I argued against from the get-go. I’m going to draw the line here.”
For once in his life, Jim Harstead simply nods in agreement and hangs his head. The hospital door opens slightly and the doctor on duty waves the detectives inside. He speaks to them for a moment before he and two nurses exit the room and close the door behind them.
“What I can tell you is that Matt’s vitals are currently stable. He is awake and alert but doesn’t currently have a voice, most likely due to the damage done to his vocal cords by the rope used in the incident, rather than from the lack of oxygen. It’s going to be a waiting game before we can assess the total damage, particularly to his brain. His blood tests upon admission showed some pretty extreme levels of doxylamine from sleeping pills he ingested before attempting to take his life.”
The door to Matt’s room opens before anyone can ask any follow-up questions. Jacob peeks his head out and asks for a dry-erase board. One of the nurses nods, pulls one off the wall behind her and hands it to Jacob. He again closes the door.
“So, you’re telling me we aren’t even sure if my son has brain damage, but we’re allowing him to be questioned by the police?” Jim asks.
“Do you want me to call Doug Angeli?” Heather asks.
Before either man can answer the questions posed, the door again swings open and both detectives come running out. “Come on, Billy!” Jacob yells. After a beat, Billy sprints after them.
Everyone, including the nurses and doctor, are stunned. Quinn and Jessie run into Matt’s room and straight to his bedside. He is crying. They hug him as gently as they can without disturbing any of the lines hooked to his body and begin to cry, too.
Jim slowly walks in behind them. “What in the hell was that about?”
Matt wipes his face and points to his bedside table, where the dry-erase board has been thrown, face down. Quinn turns it around and she and Jessie read it, before looking up at Heather.
There are obvious signs of haphazardly erased answers that were drawn over as the detectives asked rapid-fire questions to Matt.
There’s only one word left on the board, written in capital letters, and underlined three times.
RYAN