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My hand shook a little as I reached for the door and pushed it open.
The room was empty, which turned out to be a good thing.
“Are you looking for Gabby?” Penny asked as we nearly ran into her in the hallway. “What a silly question. Of course you are. She’s not here anymore.”
“She’s not back in ICU, is she?” I asked, chilled by the thought that my friend had taken a turn for the worse.
“That’s not it at all. One of the VIP suites upstairs opened up, and the big boss had her moved,” Penny said with a grin. “Sometimes it pays to have friends in high places.”
“Hey, you have connections yourself. After all, you can get free donuts any time you want. That’s a perk not everyone gets,” I told her, relieved that Gabby was all right.
“Believe me, I know it. Oh, I’ve been told to thank you for the donuts yesterday. They were a big hit around here.”
“You are all most welcome,” I said. “You know what a fan I am when it comes to nurses and the work they do.”
“I do, and on behalf of my brothers and sisters in the field, we thank you,” she said with a smile. “Come on, I’ll show you where she is now.”
As we walked to the elevator, I asked, “Have you met her cousin Bo yet?”
“Oh, Bo and I go way back,” Penny said. “In fact, once upon a time, we dated.” I couldn’t see the beauty and the beast together, and she must have read it in my face. “I had to break up with him, the poor dear.”
“Why is that, if you don’t mind me asking?” Grace inquired.
“I want to know, too,” I added.
“He was just a little too sensitive for my taste,” Penny admitted.
It was hard to imagine that big and burly man fitting the description. “In what way?”
“A greeting card could make him cry, or even a sweet commercial on television,” she said. “I know what he looks like, but deep down, he’s really a gentle soul. Did you know he was a poet?”
“As a matter of fact, we did,” I said. “Is he any good?”
“He’s amazing,” she said with a hint of pride in her voice. “He’s had work published in some pretty prestigious magazines and journals over the years.”
“It sounds as though you’re not completely over him,” I said softly as we rode up to Gabby’s floor.
Penny hesitated, and then she admitted, “I thought I was, but I’ve dated some real jerks since we broke up. Maybe I was a bit hasty. Do you happen to know if he’s seeing anyone?”
“I have no idea, but I’d be more than happy to find out,” I said with a grin.
She looked at me for a moment as though she were about to take me up on my offer, but then she shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m sure he’s dating someone new by now. I had my chance, and I blew it.”
“Penny. Hi!” Bo said enthusiastically as he stood upon our arrival. His face got flushed the moment he saw the nurse, and in his haste, he knocked over the chair he was sitting on as he stood up. “How are you?”
“I’m good, Bo,” the nurse said, her face softening on seeing his reaction to her. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. You look amazing,” he said softly.
“That’s sweet of you to say,” she answered, ignoring, or perhaps entirely missing, the obvious care in his voice.
“How’s Gabby this morning?” I asked, hating to break up the reunion but not having much choice. We were on a time crunch, and I needed to keep things moving if we were going to be able to solve the case before Gabby lost her protection.
“She’s getting a little cranky, which is a good sign, if you ask me. When she was sweet to me yesterday, I almost didn’t recognize her,” he said with a grin. “You can all go on in.”
I hesitated as Penny got a page. “Sorry. They need me back on the floor.”
“It was good seeing you,” Bo said hopefully.
“You, too,” she said as she hurried away.
Bo said softly, more to himself than to us, as she vanished into the elevator, “I miss you.”
“She misses you, too, you know,” I said.
He looked startled by my comment. “Why do you say that?”
“Ask her out, Bo. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to hear her answer,” I said.
He looked a little dejected at the suggestion. “I don’t think so. She was pretty clear about where things stood when she broke up with me the last time.”
“Hey, it’s still worth a shot, isn’t it?” Grace asked him.
“Maybe,” he said. “Anyway, you two should go on in.”
I looked at Grace with one raised eyebrow. Usually I was the one who meddled in other people’s love lives. She just shrugged, ending the conversation. It was that way with us sometimes.
There was no need for words between us, and a few looks were all that we required to communicate volumes.
“What have you two been up to? Have you been able to find out who tried to get rid of me? And knowing why would be nice, too. Come on. Let’s hear it. I don’t have all day,” the patient demanded.
It appeared that Bo had been right.
If Gabby’s current attitude and demeanor were any indication of her general state of being, she was definitely getting better.
“Listen, you’re probably not going to like this, but we didn’t see any other way to make things happen,” I said after taking a deep breath.
“And you didn’t think to get my approval first?” she asked. “That’s so typical of you, Suzanne. What possessed you to do something you knew that I wouldn’t approve of?”
I thought the criticism was patently unfair, and I was about to say so when Grace surprised us both by speaking up. “Gabby, you don’t even know what we did yet. Shouldn’t you wait to at least hear us out before you start slinging around blame?”
Gabby looked shocked for a moment, and then, to my surprise as well as Grace’s, she backpedaled immediately. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”
“Excuse me? What did you just say?” Grace asked her, clearly unsure as to what she’d just heard.
Gabby grinned for a split second, and I knew that we were going to be all right. “You heard me the first time, so don’t expect me to repeat it.” She then turned to me and asked, “What exactly did you do that you need to ask forgiveness for instead of permission?”
“We used you as bait,” I said as plainly and simply as I could.
“Go on. I’m listening,” Gabby said with a look of concentration. “Tell me more.”
“We implied that you will, without a doubt, get your complete memory back by the end of the day, and that at that time you’ll know whoever it was that attacked you in your shop and then burned ReNEWed to the ground,” I replied. “Given the deadline of how short a period of time Bo can stay here watching over you, we thought it was the only way to make things happen fast.”
“I think it’s a marvelous idea,” Gabby said with a grin. “I’m proud of you both for coming up with it.”
“Does that mean that you’re okay with us painting a target on your back?” Grace asked her, clearly surprised yet again by Gabby’s reaction.
“It should get results, and that’s all that really counts,” Gabby said enthusiastically. “I feel as though I’ve been sitting around waiting for the other shoe to drop since I woke up. I can’t go around for the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, wondering when the arsonist is going to attack again. This way we can flush out whoever did it, and we’re done with it once and for all.”
I knew from experience that it wasn’t going to be nearly as easy as that, but I wasn’t about to point that out to Gabby. We could be in for some perilous times in the course of the next twenty-four hours, and I was afraid that she wasn’t taking it seriously enough. “We’re assuming a great many things here, Gabby,” I explained, “not the least of which is that Bo can handle anyone who comes after you.”
“Don’t you worry about Bo,” Gabby said. “He may have the heart of a poet, but he’s got the build and general disposition of a middle linebacker. He and his friends can more than handle the worm who hit me from behind. So, who have you told so far, and how did they react?”
“We’ve spoken with Tyra and Mindy,” I said, “with mixed results. Tyra wouldn’t give us an alibi, and when we pushed her on it, she left us standing there on her doorstep and went back to bed.”
Gabby shrugged. “She’s been a night owl her entire life, so I’m not really surprised you woke her up banging on her door this early in the morning. What did Mindy say?”
“She gave us something, but actually, it was a pretty weak alibi,” I said, not wanting to go into details about Mindy’s aborted date with their common boyfriend if I could help it. “Momma’s helping us check up on it, but in the meantime, Mindy has to stay on our list.”
“Good, you’ve got the whole crew working on it,” Gabby said, clearly glad that we’d called in reinforcements. “What about Jake? What’s he doing?”
“At the moment, Jake is working with the Union Square police to help solve a rash of robberies they’ve been having lately,” I said. “But he’s there to advise us if we need it.”
“I heard about that masked robber,” Gabby said. “I’m glad your husband is pitching in. It’s a sad thing when a small business owner has to worry about getting robbed by someone other than their suppliers and customers. So, what’s next on your list?”
“We’re heading to Union Square to have a chat with Manny and Buster,” Grace said.
“Gabby, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you. Who do you think hit you and set your shop on fire?” I asked her. It was a delicate question to ask, but I really wanted to know what she thought about it.
She shrugged again. “If I had to guess, I’d say that it could be any one of them,” Gabby replied. “I keep having this feeling that I can see who attacked me, but the harder I focus on it, the faster it vanishes. It’s so frustrating losing part of my memory.”
“Don’t fight it,” Grace said. “It will come back when you least expect it.”
“I hope you’re right. Evidently there’s a chance that I’ll never get the last day before the attack back.” She looked desolate about the prospect, and I knew there was nothing I could do about that, so I decided to change the subject.
“Gabby, do me a favor and rate our suspects as to how likely they are to have done it, if you can.” I pushed a little harder. “Come on, I know you’ve been thinking about this since you woke up. How could you not?”
She looked a little troubled by the question. “It’s true enough. I’ve had time to think about little else,” she admitted. “If I had to have a favorite, I’d pick Buster. The long shot would be Mindy, and I’d say that Manny and Tyra are somewhere in between.”
“Do you really think Buster did it?” Grace asked him.
“It sounds like something he would do,” she said. “Suzanne, if he was responsible for burning my place to the ground, Donut Hearts has got to be next on his list.”
“That’s why we’re trying to catch whoever did it before they can strike again,” I said as calmly as I could. I couldn’t stand the thought of my shop being attacked. There was so much of my heart and soul in the place that I wasn’t sure that I’d ever be able to recover. “Gabby, how are you doing?”
She tried to blow off my question and my obvious concern. “I’ve got a headache you wouldn’t believe, and it’s still kind of hard to breathe, but other than those two things, I’m just dandy.”
I wasn’t going to let her get away with being so dismissive. I reached out and took her hand in mine, and then I asked her again. “I’m talking about ReNEWed being gone, and you know it.”
Gabby started to tear up, but somehow, as though by sheer willpower alone, she stopped the sudden display of emotion. “The truth of the matter is that I’m trying not to think about it at the moment,” she admitted. “Otherwise it would be too painful to deal with. Thanks for asking, though.”
“Once this is over, if there’s anything I can do, and I mean anything, to help you get back on your feet, all you have to do is ask.”
“That offer includes me, too,” Grace said as she reached out and took Gabby’s other hand.
“I appreciate that.” She choked out the words, and then, while she could still trust herself to speak, she added, “Now get out of here and go find the lunatic that tried to burn me up along with my shop.”
We hesitated at Bo’s station once we were outside of Gabby’s room.
“How’s she doing?” Bo asked us anxiously.
“She’s more fragile than I’ve ever seen her,” I admitted, “but the woman’s got fire and spunk, and if anybody can bounce back from this, it’s her. Keep an eye on her, Bo.”
“I will,” he said.
“Have you thought any more about asking Penny out again?” Grace asked him with a slight smile.
“I’m still pondering,” Bo answered.
“Well, don’t ponder too long,” I answered. “You don’t want to let a chance for happiness slip through your fingers. Life is short.”
“I know it only too well,” he said. “I won’t take forever, but I’m just not ready yet to put myself out there again.”
“Just don’t wait too long,” I told him.