The Street Corner Killer

Chapter 11

When Brooke woke up, she found herself in a brightly lit hospital room, with Caroline staring at her from the seat by her bed. Looking down at herself, she found IV's attached to her arm, and her blood covered blouse had been replaced with an oversized hospital gown. Caroline smiled as Brooke sat up, looking slightly dazed.

"Morning,"

"Morning?"

"You've been out of it all night. Everyone's been here. Your brothers, John. Even Captain Morgan. Your whole family is coming soon too."

"Great," Brooke said sarcastically, but smiled all the same.

"Everyone's been worried,"

Brooke smile suddeny fell, as another matter crossed her mind.

"Payne? What happened to Payne?"

There was no reply, and Caroline's jaw clenched, an emotion Riley didn't recognise crossing her face. Was it confusion? Reluctance?

Suddenly the door opened, and  Jake and Felix walked in, a large chocolate bar in his hand.

"Your awake?" Jake smiled at her, both of them standing at the foot of her bed.

"Yeah, just a couple of minutes ago. Is that a giant Cadbury's I see there?" She leaned to the side to try see what was in his hand. He chucked it to her, and she caught it, to find out it was what she had suspected.

"I know you don't like flowers, so I went for the next best option," Felix said.

Eagerly tearing open the wrapping, she was stopped by Caroline placing a hand on her arm.

"Sorry, Brooke. You can't eat any hard foods,"

She put the chocolate bar down, confused. "Why not?"

The twins and Caroline glanced at each other, and Caroline pulled a small hand mirror out of her bag, handing it to Riley.

Staring at her reflection, Riley frowned. She looked terrible. There was a black bruise spreading across her cheek, and it was slightly swollen. She tried to remember how many times he had tried to knock her out. Enough to break her cheekbone, clearly. Her gaze shifted to her neck, where there were two puncture marks where the taser had got her. Then she noticed her collarbone. There was a large square of gauze awkwardly covering just above it, held in place with medical tape. Lightly, she ran her finger across it, only to be greeted by a sharp stinging sensation. She put the mirror down.

"How many stitches?" She looked at Caroline.

"6,"

"Is it gonna scar?"

"Probably,"

Great. The terrifying memory of Payne will forever be with her, because of a single white line on her collar bone.

"What happened to him?" She asked again, this time dread filling her body.

This time Jake reluctantly answered. "He lived,"

Suddenly, for the millionth time that day, Riley felt like she wanted to throw up. Not only would Payne be in her nightmares, he would still be in her life, too.

"Where is he now?"

"General,"

"He's in this hospital?" She exclaimed.

"No, no, this is Lenox hill,"

Defeated, Riley sat back, the chocolate bar forgotten,

"What's his condition?" She asked both of them.

"He just came out of critical, the doctor thinks he's going to live," Caroline answered.

"What doctor would try help him?" She snapped back.

There was no answer, and Brooke's thoughts drifted to what the coming months would hold. A trail probably, and she would have to testify. Then of course, there would be the various people trying to force therapy on her, and the press trying to interview her everyday. And all that time, she knew in jail, Harold Payne would be some how watching her every move. She could do nothing about it, except run.

"When can I go back to the precinct?"

"Morgan says he doesn't want you back until your cheek's healed,"

"Six weeks? Payne could find me in that time!" Brooke looked at Caroline in shock.

"Brooke, you need to relax!" Jake said.

"Yeah. It's over. Payne's gonna be in hospital for weeks, and as soon as he's released, he'll be put straight into custody," Felix added.

"We don't know that," Brooke gave them her signature frown, except this time it looked more worried than ever.

"Look. I need to go now," Caroline stood up shaking her head. "But John's coming over later. Will you tell him something for me?"

"What?" Riley asked.

"Next time, aim higher."

-The end-

A/n: Wow! So that's it! This was such a fun book to write, and I'm already planning the second one in this series. The Street Corner Killer was greatly inspired by Tess Gerritsen's "Rizzoli and Isles," which is a book series and a tv show. The ending line here is actually a quote from one of her books, so credit to her!

I also (as usual) want to apologise for my recent inactivity. I have been very busy doing nothing and it has also been the summer holidays, so I have been doing a lot of... sleeping? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed The Street Corner Killer, and I'm planning to have my new book up and going within a few weeks, so please stay tuned!

Please remember to Follow me, like this book, and leave me a comment of what you thought!