Irreparable Harm (A Legal Thriller)

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  It was dark when she woke, sweaty and hungry. She squinted at the glowing display on her alarm clock. It was almost seven p.m. She sat up and switched on the lamp.

  Connelly was sitting at the foot of her bed. He’d dragged her reading chair in from the living room. The one she’d tied Gregor to the night before.

  “Have you been here all day?”

  “No. I came about a half an hour ago. It’s time to get up. Take a shower. We’re going to get some food.”

  “I don’t want to go out,” Sasha told him.

  “Take a shower. Go.” His voice was firm.

  She stood up. Her brain was fuzzy. She went into the bathroom and ran the water. While the shower got hot, she stared at herself in the mirror. Her skin was stark white. Her purple bruises were dark against it. Black smudges creased her eyes from exhaustion. She turned away from the mirror.

  When she emerged from the bathroom with wet hair and wearing clean pajamas, she felt more human.

  Connelly looked up as she walked into her kitchen for the first time in a day and a half.

  “I ordered a pizza from the place around the corner.”

  “Village Pizza?”

  “That’s the one. You want to come with me to pick it up?”

  She shook her head. Not yet.

  But she called after him as he let himself out, “Pick up a six of beer, too.”