Eli looked outside to find someone sitting on a bench, right outside The Lightman Group, in the rain. The person was Ria, without a doubt. Without thinking, he walked through the door and into the storm. Eli was just thinking what he should do next when Ria looked up.
"What do you want?" she asked. Her voice didn't sound as angry this time, just tired.
"What're you doing out here?" Eli asked, ignoring her question. "I didn't know you liked the rain so much. I mean, I was just joking around earlier, but now…?" Yes, it worked, Eli thought as a small smile appeared on Ria's face. He didn't care if her smile was genuine or not; he just liked seeing her smile. He liked her when she was annoyed, too, but he would rather have her happy then angry.
"Really, why are you here?" Ria questioned, interrupting Eli's thoughts.
"Just wanted to make sure you were okay after dealing with Lightman," Eli said, taking a seat next to Ria. "I know that you've been having a hard time since, since Dupree was in a coma and all, and Lightman not telling you…" Eli could read Ria's expression, even through the rain and darkness. It showed shock, and then a little bit of happiness.
"Thanks, Loker, that's not something you'd usually say." They stared at each other a minute, Eli noticing how close their faces were, then…
Suddenly, lightning flashed across the sky, causing Eli and Ria to jerk their heads away and look up. A roll of thunder soon followed, causing the two to jump off the bench.
"Now would be a great time to get inside," Eli stated, and they ran back through the doors into the building, not needing Eli's radical honesty to know what to do. Once inside, they just noticed how soaked they were from sitting outside in the rain. Who cares if I'm wet, Eli thought. I almost kissed someone, not just anyone, but Torres.
"Need a ride?" Eli asked, reaching in his damp pocket and taking out his car keys.
"No thanks, I was just going to look over the case videos again," Ria said. "Apparently Lightman sees something that I don't." That was too close, Ria, too close, she thought to herself. You can't go around kissing Loker. You're in love with Dupree, remember? Ria shook off her thoughts and turned her attention back to Loker.
"You didn't bring your car, and I really wouldn't recommend walking out in that storm again," Eli said, jokingly. He really didn't want to sound desperate, but it seemed like that was how it was going to end up.
"Don't push it, Loker," Ria said, smiling, as she walked away. Sighing, Eli turned the other way to his car. Maybe one day Ria would want to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her.
Eli Loker walked into the building, putting his car keys back into his pocket. Before he could get far, Ria Torres walked right up to him.
"Lightman and Foster just went to question Seth Marlow," Ria stated. "He's a friend of the Sanford's who visits their house frequently. While they're out doing that, Lightman wants us to look over the tapes from yesterday."
"Again?" Eli asked, following Ria into a room. "Didn't Lightman get everything he needed from those tapes already?"
"I guess not."
"Do you know how the son who just got attacked is doing?"
"Oh, Lightman also said that we should check the hospital after reviewing the tapes." Eli headed back towards the door.
"Okay, we've done enough reviewing," Eli declared, leaving Ria behind him, confused. Eli usually made sure he did everything he was instructed to do. Well, at least everything Lightman ordered him to do. Shrugging, Ria trailed behind him. She didn't mind skipping the case videos and finding new updates in the case instead.
"Should we take my car again?"
"Yeah." The two went into the car and headed towards the hospital.
After talking to the receptionist, they found out that Trent Sanford was conscious again. Ria and Eli walked down the plain hallways and entered the room that the receptionist had told them to go to. Sure enough, there was the same boy they saw yesterday, sitting up in his bed. Seeing someone enter the room, Trent turned to them, fear on his face. Once he saw who it was, he became a bit more relaxed and the fear left.
"Who are you?" he asked, looking at Eli and Ria suspiciously.
"We're here to help find out who did this to you," Ria replied, noticing the flicker of fear returning to his face. "Do you know who did this to you?"
"No," Trent said, not breaking eye contact. "I didn't see him." Ria looked at Eli, she could tell the boy was lying.
"That's not the truth," Ria said.
"I didn't see him," Trent repeated calmly. The boy didn't seem to have the temper of his father. He did, however, seem to have the same amount of skill at lying as his dad.
"Why won't you tell us what really happened?" A pained expression came over the boy's face.
"I can't." Trent looked down, shame. It's like he wants to help us, but something's preventing him from doing it, Ria thought. Ria could only think of one reason why Trent would hide something against his will.
"Were you threatened?" Hesitantly, the boy reached underneath his pillow and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He slowly handed it over to them. Eli took it from Trent, unfolded it, and frowned. He handed it to Ria, expressionless. Ria took the note and read it:
Tell anyone about our little incident, and your sister will pay for it.
Ria read over the note again. "Who gave you this?"
"The nurse. She said someone handed to her right before she came into my room."
"And you know who that someone is?" The boy nodded sadly.
"It's…it's Dad's friend. He's crazy. He meant to kill me when he…he murdered Hayden. I didn't know Hayden was there, and I…I started running. I heard a gun, but I didn't know…" Tears started to fall from Trent's cheeks. A nurse entered the room, and seeing that Trent was upset, she shooed Ria and Eli out of the room.
"We have to tell Lightman," Ria whispered to Eli, who was walking next to her silently.
"I'll call," Loker volunteered, flipping out his phone. Before he could dial any numbers, they heard a crash from the room they just exited. Eli and Ria both whirled around, instantly remembering something Trent had mentioned earlier. The nurse.
Ria and Eli ran into the room, revealing the nurse with a gun in her shaking hands. Some equipment was lying on its side on the floor, and Trent was standing beside his bed, unharmed but scared. The nurse quickly pointed the gun at Ria, a mad look on her face. Eli watched as the nurse's fingers slowly pressed down on the trigger, and at the last second, he pushed Ria out of the way. After hearing the gunshot, Eli felt a searing pain in his shoulder and fell to the floor. He heard Ria yell "Loker!", another crash, a scream, and then everything went black.
Author's Note: I hope you liked this chapter! I'll try to get the next one up soon. The next chapter will have more explainations about the case, and...yeah, I don't want to spoil the rest for you. :)
