When the Music Ends (The Winter Rose Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF Page A

too."
                "Yes,
okay. Let’s go though."
                Erin retrieved her sweater and pulled it over her head, and they headed for the door. She
scooped up her sneakers but didn’t attempt to put them on. That could be
done in the car. Locking the door, she scuttled to the Mustang and put on her
seatbelt.
                As
she slid on her shoes, hot tears began to roll down Erin’s face. She
sobbed.
                "This
is my fault. I knew she shouldn’t be alone with him. I just wanted so
much to spend more time with you. I can’t believe I was so
selfish."
                He
reached over and scooped up her hand, squeezing it. "It’s as much
my fault. I could see that leaving her with him was a bad idea."
Sean’s voice was harsh and unsteady. He drove to the hospital too fast,
but thankfully not recklessly. He steered with one hand and with the other held
fast to Erin’s. The knowledge that they had been enjoying a passionate
evening in bed while someone they loved was being assaulted was more than
either could bear. That they had had the opportunity to prevent it and had not
taken it was even worse. Erin cried the whole way. It would be lying to suggest
that Sean didn’t too.
                Parking
haphazardly across two spaces, Sean and Erin hurried into the building, up to
the white Formica receptionist desk with its plastic window, still clinging to
each other’s fingers.
                "Where
is Sheridan Murphy?" Sean asked the receptionist. The middle-aged woman
with streaks of gray in her ashy blond hair gave him a hard look.
                "Who
might you be?" she asked suspiciously.
                "I’m
her brother, and this is her best friend. Where is she?"
                "Her
brother?" The narrowed eyes gave no doubt about the woman’s
opinion.
                "Yes."
                "I
swear, ma’am," Erin told her urgently, "He’s not the
one that did this."
                Looking
at the sweetly innocent young girl, tears still sliding down her cheeks
sufficed to convince the receptionist. "Okay, she’s in room 215,
upstairs."
                "She’s
been admitted?" Sean looked appalled. That was not a good sign.
                "Her
injuries are pretty bad. They want her to stay the night."
                His
hand tightened painfully on Erin’s. She flexed her fingers, reminding him
to be gentle. He made himself relax his grip.
                They
raced through the hospital, narrowly avoiding a collision with an elderly
dialysis patient in a wheelchair, before arriving in the intensive care unit.
                Outside
room 215, Ellen Murphy was standing in the hallway weeping into the remains of
a badly shredded tissue. Sean dropped Erin’s hand and grabbed his mother,
hugging her tight. She hid her face in his shoulder. Erin looked through the
window in the door of the room. The curtain had been pulled around the bed, but
periodically it lit up for a moment.
                "What’s
going on?" He asked her
                "The
police are there. They’re collecting evidence." The words had to be
forced out between broken sobs.
                "Is
she alone?" That couldn’t be right. Not when such a terrible event
had taken place.
                "Dad’s
with her."
                That
was good. Sheridan was very close to her dad.
                "When
can we go in?" Sean wanted to know.
                "When
they’re done. They don’t want the evidence contaminated. Sean,
it’s really bad. You have to be prepared."
                He
hesitated. He really didn’t want to know, but..."Tell me."
                "She’s
bruised all over. It looks like he may have hit her, but she didn’t say
for sure. Really, she hasn’t said much of anything. I think