“Sorry,” he muttered. His face was so pale he barely resembled her robustly healthy son.
“Don’t be sorry. You can’t help it, buddy. You okay for now?”
“I think so.”
Sam wrapped her arm around him to lead him inside. “How long have you felt lousy?”
“About an hour. I was fine and then my head was spinning and my ears were buzzing. Then my stomach started hurting, and I felt really hot.”
“Whatever it is, your dad has it too, and Harry’s on his way.”
Scotty closed his eyes and leaned his head against her. “Okay.”
“Oh my goodness,” Shelby said when Sam brought him inside.
“You need to get out of here while the getting is still good,” Sam said. “Whatever they’ve got is the last thing you need.”
“I can’t leave you to deal with this by yourself.”
“Yes, you can. Go, Tinker Bell. That’s an order.”
“If you’re sure,” Shelby said tearfully. Everything made her cry these days.
“I’m very sure this is no place for a pregnant woman.”
“All right, I’m going. I’ll check in after a while.”
In a low voice only Shelby could hear, Sam added, “Please don’t say anything to anyone, even Avery, about what Josh told you.” Sam wanted to say especially Avery, but she showed some restraint. The last thing she needed was Shelby’s FBI agent fiancé catching wind of possible accusations against his boss. Shelby hadn’t put Hamilton plus Hamilton together to get Troy Hamilton, but Avery was apt to.
“I won’t. I promise.”
“Um, should I go too?” Josh asked, eyeing Scotty warily.
“No, you stay. I’ll be back down as soon as I can.” With her arm still around Scotty’s shoulders, she guided him to the stairs. “Come on, pal. You gotta help me out here.”
“Sorry.” He climbed the stairs in slow steps. By the time they reached the top, he’d broken into a sweat.
Sam wrangled him into his room, helped him out of his coat and sweater. “Do you want to do the jeans?”
“You can,” he said in the smallest voice she’d ever heard from him.
That her thirteen-year-old wanted help with his pants said a lot about how sick he really was. A pang of fear struck her heart. Where the hell was Harry?
She got Scotty out of the jeans and into a pair of flannel pajama pants that had the Batman logo all over them. He was asleep before she finished dressing him.
Sam pulled the comforter up and over him, tucking him in. She’d no sooner gotten him settled when she heard retching noises from her own room. She ran for the hallway.
“Is he okay?” Darcy asked from her post outside Scotty’s door.
“I don’t know. Doc is on his way.”
Sam went in to help Nick, who’d fortunately made it to the bathroom. Wetting a washcloth, she bathed his face and cradled his head against her chest between bouts of vomiting.
“Scotty has it too.”
He moaned. “Haven’t felt this bad ever.”
“I’m scared for you guys.”
He wrapped an arm around her, thinking of her first as he always did, even when he felt like hell. “Don’t be. Just the flu or something.”
It was the “or something” that scared the crap out of her.
“What happened at the hearing?” he asked.
“Suspended for four days, but don’t worry about that now. It’s no biggie.”
“Yes, it is. You’re not upset?”
“Nah. This too shall pass. I’m not sorry I slugged him. He had it coming.”
“He certainly did.”
“You ready to go back to bed?”
“So ready.”
It took both of them to get him up off the bathroom floor and back into bed. Sam tucked him in and sat next to him, stroking his hair and thinking about what to do with Josh.
With Nick asleep again, she crept out of the room and placed a call to Freddie.
“Hey, did you talk to Gonzo?” he asked.
“Jesus, I totally forgot. You won’t believe what’s been going on since I left HQ earlier.” She brought him up to speed on the situation with Josh Hamilton.
“Holy cow,” he said softly. “Director Hamilton’s son is accusing him of being a kidnapper?”
“We don’t know anything yet, other than Josh Hamilton closely resembles the age-progression photo the family released to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the kidnapping, and his thirtieth birthday is coming up. That’s all we know. Lindsey is coming to take a swab, and I’ll ask the lab to rush it. I’m going to reach out to the Williamson County people to let them know we might have a lead for them. Once we have the DNA, we’ll send it to Williamson County to see if it’s a match to the missing baby’s parents.”
“What if it is?”
“One thing at a time.”
“What can I do?”
“It’s kind of a big thing, but I need someone on Josh until we know what we’re dealing with. I’m sure you have plans this weekend—”
“Actually, Elin is going wedding dress shopping with her friends for the weekend, so I’m on my own.”
“How do you feel about hunkering down in a hotel with him until we know more?”
“I’d much rather hunker down in a hotel with Elin, but since that’s not happening this weekend, I can do it.”
“Are you sure? I’m technically not allowed to ask you to do anything, and I’m not sure how the OT will work. I’ll clean it up later with Malone.”
“Don’t sweat it. It all comes out in the wash.”
“In case I forget to tell you, you’re the best.”
“Yeah, yeah, so you say until you get mad with me and I’m not the best anymore.”
“When was the last time I was mad with you?”
“Um, when I tuned up Elliott?” he asked of the man who’d assaulted his fiancée.
“That was a very specific instance of you doing something stupid.”
“Sort of like you punching Ramsey?”
“Just like,” she said with a laugh. “Touché.”
“Where’s Josh now?”
“My living room.”
“Seriously? You brought him home with you?”
“Where else was I supposed to take him? HQ is off limits to me at the moment, and I wanted him somewhere that no one could get to him. This place is like Fort Knox these days, so where better?”
“I’ll come get him.”
“Enter at your own risk. Nick and Scotty are down hard with something that could be the flu but more closely resembles the bubonic plague.”
“Ah, damn, that’s too bad.”
“Puts a damper on my plans for a restful break,” she said as she looked in on Scotty and then Nick. Both were sleeping peacefully—for the moment.