A few minutes later, he awoke from a light doze when his nurse returned. Mark remembered with a pang of guilt that he had forgotten to call and say he was done with his shower.
“Okay, Mark. I’m just going to re-wrap your hands and feet now.” She looked up at him with a bright smile.
Her name-tag caught his eye. “Okay, Brenda. ” He tried to swallow down the sudden queasiness when she took his hand and ran her fingers lightly over the wound as she examined it.
“It looks pretty good. No drainage and the swelling is down.” Brenda spread some ointment on the wound and with practiced ease, wrapped it and repeated the procedure on his other hand and his feet.
Mark averted his eyes, choosing instead to watch the wall clock's second hand sweep across the numbers. The procedure didn’t hurt, but that didn’t prevent him from breaking out in a sweat at the mere thought of seeing the wounds. Would he ever be able to look at his own hands again?
After finishing with the bandages, she helped him ease his arm into the sling once more. He gave a groan of relief, not realizing how much discomfort he’d been in until the sling once again supported his shoulder.
Brenda fiddled with his I. V, chattering away about the weather as Mark's eyes slid closed.
“This is his room. He’s sleeping now, but we have to wake him to check his vitals soon if you want to wait.”
Lily nodded. “I'll do that. Thank you.” She cringed when the chair scraped against the tile as she sat down, hoping it wouldn't awaken Mark. He stirred on the bed and she held her breath, hoping he'd settle back to sleep.
“Lily?” His voice was less hoarse than yesterday, but she thought it still sounded painful.
“Hey, Mark.” She stood, giving the chair a dirty look when it screeched again. Not that it mattered anymore. His hand rested on the sheet, and she reached for it, mindful of the bandages and I.V. “How are you feeling?” His skin was warm, almost hot. He pulled out of her grasp, but only to raise the head of the bed.
“I’m okay. Still sore, but better than I was.” Although he said the right things, his demeanor said something else. He looked exhausted. Dark circles stood out on his pale skin. There was something else in his tone too. It hadn’t been there yesterday. Then he’d still been groggy and his throat had been so sore that he’d said very little in the brief periods of time that he’d been awake.
She smoothed a hand against his cheek.“You feel a little warm.”
Mark turned his head away from her hand.
“How’s your shoulder? Are you due for some pain meds?” She tried to take his hand again, but he pulled it away.
He sighed. “It’s okay, Lily. I’m fine.”
She could sense him closing down.
“Talk to me, Mark.” She rested her hand on the bed-rail.“I know you’re hurting."
He shifted in the bed, wincing, and tugged the sheet up higher on his lap. Their dry rustle sounded loud in the room.
He looked down and mumbled, “I…I…should have fought harder, Lily.”
“Fought harder? Mark, you’re covered in bruises from head to toe and the police tested some blood they found in your loft and it wasn’t yours. I’d say you fought pretty damn hard.” She wondered if she should be less stern, but she knew Mark and his tendency to blame himself for everything.
“I bit someone.” He gave a short laugh.
“What?”
“They were all around me and someone got too close to my mouth and I bit down as hard as I could. That must be what the blood was from."
“See? What else could you have done? The police also found almost a dozen different footprints in the alley outside your building. There’s no way you could have fought your way past all of them.”
“So, that means they haven’t actually caught anybody yet?” His eyes were flat and his voice guarded. She knew he was trying not to let any fear leak through. Tears sprang to her eyes and she blinked them back as she shook her head. “Not yet, but they have a lot of leads. They think that the girl, Judy Medea, might have had something to do with it. They found the missing keys in a pile of snow behind the studio and she was the last person besides you or me to be in the office that day.”
“Oh, she was there all right. I know exactly who's behind it all.” His voice was hard. Angry. “Kern and about a dozen other people.” He went silent then and Lily didn’t push for more details. She rubbed his arm and he didn’t pull away, accepting that small comfort.
Lily pulled a chair right up beside the bed as close as she could and continued the gentle stroking. She finally saw him relax and his breathing settled into a soft rhythm as he fell asleep. The tears she’d fought to hold back trickled out and she swiped at them with her free hand. She didn’t believe in vengeance, but right at that moment, if Kern had been standing before her, she didn’t think she’d have any qualms about hurting him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Adrian supervised the unloading of the small truck by his followers. Most of the furniture from the Oak Park house had been abandoned, but it couldn't be helped. His desk and leather chair were the exception. He scowled at the necessity of moving and glanced at the rundown apartment building that was to be their temporary home. How it hadn't yet been condemned by the city was anyones guess, but a few phone calls and the exchange of cash had made it available. He surveyed the neighborhood, batting away a tattered newspaper that blew towards his face. The area looked like a war zone. Half the windows were missing from the buildings and grass was a luxury the street couldn't afford. Front stoops crumbled onto muddy patches of bare ground littered with broken bottles, pop cans, and paper. The few trees and bushes were decorated with twisted plastic shopping bags that snapped in the stiff wind.
At least it was only temporary. His followers had balked, but at least they wouldn't have to worry about nosy neighbors. In this area, nobody paid any attention to what happened to others. It was just what Adrian needed right now.
How the police had found them at the warehouse so quickly still mystified him. The most dangerous part, the actual abduction, had gone without a hitch. Once at the warehouse, they should have had all the night to complete the ceremony. Taylor shouldn't have been reported missing until morning, but when the police scanner started buzzing with activity at Taylor's loft, Adrian had set lookouts with instructions to report back any suspicious vehicles. It was the only thing that saved them.
Taylor had been in bad shape when they'd left, and Adrian had held out hope he would die from his wounds, but it wasn't to be. He shrugged it off, it wasn't worth second guessing his restraint when he'd stabbed the man. At the time, it had added necessary drama. He hadn't missed the morbid fascination of many in the guild, and had overheard several talking about that moment.
Besides, he could never let his doubts show in front of his followers. Instead, he took credit for the media frenzy. He had put the Guild of the Rose on the radar. Every news outlet in the country had run a story on them. Adrian chuckled, loving the comparisons to Jim Baker's cult. What he wouldn't give to have the number of followers Baker had, but as usual, the press had stretched and exaggerated the truth. While the attention increased the risk, it also catapulted Kern to the front pages of the news and he basked in the notoriety.
As the last of the boxes were carted into the building, Adrian followed his members inside. He strode into the lobby of the apartment complex. He'd instructed everything to be unloaded there first so that it could later be distributed among the four apartments in the building.