Once the door closed. Grady went to the window and looked out the blinds.

"Jasmine is over at the nurse's desk talking," he said. "Why didn't you tell us about the camera?"

"I actually forgot about it until she asked if I had anything besides my phone. I thought about not admitting to it, but then I thought that they might have found it. If it's in evidence, I didn't want botch things."

Grady grinned. "If it's not, they'll be sending out a team to scour the area looking for it." He turned more serious. "Are you sure it wasn't on? If it was, maybe it could corroborate your story."

"Do they record the camera feed?"

"Not usually," Momz said. "Your camera feed goes into a file for a week. Unless you review it and ask for a copy of something from that week, it all goes away. If an alarm goes off, a separate record feature kicks in until you call them and tell them to stop recording. They keep those files for up to a year, just in case there is a break in and the files are needed. If you want to keep the recorded file, they make a copy and email it to you. If not, they trash it when the year's up."

"Too bad," Grady said. "Your week would have rolled over yesterday."

"Not in this case," Momz responded. "The mini-cam is part of an experimental program they're testing. They're recording the feed and combing through it to check for clarity and such. They have dozens of cameras whose footage they have to wade through. There might still be a record, if the camera came on."

"Can you contact Livecam and find out?"

"Sure."

She got a service representative. They had to pass her up the line a couple of times before she found someone who had the clearance to talk to her. Finally she hung up.

"They do record those cameras. They are going to find the video feed and see if it was active. I have an appointment tomorrow morning at 9am. I'll know then."

I took a deep breath. "Can you see if they still have the recording of Uncle Clarence cleaning out Popz stash?"

"I suppose. Why?"

"Uncle Clarence came by. I accused him of setting up my homies. I mean, he cleaned out everything, so I couldn't figure out how the pills got in the saddlebag unless he planted them. But he said there were no pills in the cabinet when he cleaned it out." I looked from Momz to Grady. "If Unk didn't take the pills, then it means that Jake and Marlow already planned to swipe them and probably the bike. I mean, they would have had to put them in the saddlebag before the cameras were installed."

"And the wires under the seat were already disconnected," Grady added. "You put that on the list you made. That means someone was expecting to hotwire the bike. When did you tell them your plan?"

"We met at McDonalds on the 31st at noon," I said. "The last time they were in F2 was before we went to Mexico. In fact, it was the day before the Livecam guys showed up to install the system. That's the day Uncle Clarence took me to Angel Tree. They left just before he pulled in, but Jake admitted they came back afterwards and raided the pantry." I looked sheepish. "He noticed I didn't go back in the house to turn on the alarm. Sorry, Momz. They could have gone into F2 and prepared everything that same afternoon."

"Did they have any idea that cameras were going to be installed?" Momz asked.

"Yeah. I told them that Seth was talking about putting in a system but that it probably wouldn't happen before Christmas."

"Then they could have prepared everything, expecting to be able to take off with the Blue Ox while you were gone on vacation."

"I suppose." I shook my head. "I still can't believe they would steal from me and stuff. They were supposed to be my friends."

I took a deep breath and felt a stab of pain. I must have looked pretty wiped. Momz came over to the bed and touched my brow. "You're sort of clammy and you're breathing rapidly. Do you feel okay?"

"Just tired," I started. I was overcome with a fit of coughing, which increased the pain in my chest to unbelievable levels."

I reached towards the machine that dispensed my drugs, but instead I double over and blood spewed from my mouth.

Momz ran to door while Grady hit the call button. Momz slung the door open and called, "Help. Stat. He's coughing up blood."

An intercom came to life, "Paging Dr. Amar Patel. Emergency in room 1236."

Suddenly my room was full of scurrying nurses. One lowered my bed so that I was lying flat. One nurse began checking my vitals. Another drew blood and gave it to someone to take to the lab and await the results. Someone else pushed in a portable x-ray machine so they could get a look at my lungs. In the midst of all of this, someone's phone rang. Nurse Sande answered. "He's coughing up blood," she said. "We've taken a blood sample and sent it to the lab. They're taking a chest x-ray now." She listened for a minute. "Roger that."

"Okay, everyone. Dr. Patel wants us to meet him in surgery two. He suspects a pulmonary embolism. He wants to do a bronchial artery emoblization."

Someone unlocked the wheels on my bed. My IV was hung from a pole at the top of the bed. A chart was laid across my legs. We started down the hall. Momz was hurrying along beside my bed holding my hand and encouraging, "Hang in there, CW." As the elevator doors opened, she called over her shoulder to Grady, "Call Seth. Meet me in the surgery waiting room."

She squeezed into a corner of the elevator. As the doors slid shut, I started to cough again. I remember seeing blood spew and splatter all over someone's snow white uniform. After that I must have blacked out because the next thing I remember is that infernal machine with it's annoying "beep, beep, beep."

I felt a hand squeeze mine, "Come on, CW; it's time." It was Momz voice.

"Time?" I thought. "For what?" I tried to get my mouth to form the words, but nothing happened. I told my eyelids to open. I felt my eyebrows raise slightly but that was it.

"Your eyebrows moved," Momz said. "Keep trying, babe."

"Babe," I thought. I couldn't remember the last time she'd called me babe. Probably not since I complained about it when I was, like, ten.

She squeezed my hand. "Come on. I know you can do it."

"Maybe," I thought, but I was so tired. I quit trying and let my mind drift back into the quiet place where even the beeps couldn't reach me.

Sometime later, voices, with a steady beeping accompaniment, invaded my peace.

"He's still out of it, Seth. He should have come around by now. They stopped the meds that were inducing a coma this morning." I heard a soft sob.

"Give his body time, Patsy," Seth said. "You know there's no set time factor involved."

"I know, but the longer it takes, the more chance there is that something can go wrong."

"Focus on the positives. They removed the clot. He didn't loose a lung or anything."

Seth started to sing: "Be strong in the Lord and be of good courage."

I didn't know Seth could sing. He actually didn't sound too bad. Then I heard Momz join him. At first her voice sort of wavered but as they sang it grew stronger.

"The mighty defender is always the same. Mount up with wings as the Eagle ascending. Victory is sure when you call on his name. Be strong, be strong,"

"Be strong in the Lord." I knew that song from church camp. I didn't even realize I was singing along until they both stopped mid-sentence.

"CW!" Momz practically shouted. "You're awake."

Remembering the blinding headache the last time I had come to, I sort of peaked out my right eye.

Momz giggled. "Don't worry, CW. It's night. The sun's gone to bed. You can open both eyes."

"Grown women aren't supposed to giggle." I thought I was talking to myself in my mind, but evidently not.

"That's joy, CW," Momz said.

"The song says, 'I've got joy like a fountain,' not 'I've got joy that makes me giggle.'" By that time I had both eyes open. "What happened? Last thing I remember is barfing blood all over someone's white uniform."

"A blood clot made it to your lungs. It probably came from your arm. They had done quite an extensive surgery to repair the breaks. Your bone was pretty much shattered."

"How'd a clot get from my arm to my lungs?"

"A clot can break loose and travel in your blood. When it gets to vessels that are two small for it to pass, it creates a blockage. In your case that happened in the lung. Dr. Patel did emergency surgery. He put a balloon in and managed to remove the clot that way. Afterwards he put you in a medically induced coma. He said your body needed extra time and peace to recover."

"So how much time did I lose?" I asked.

"Three days, again."

"Any developments while I was comatose?"

"A few, but nothing that won't wait. We'll go over them tomorrow. Right now, I need to let the nurse know you're awake."

Momz didn't push the call button. She went to the door and waved at someone. I guess her smile told the story. Nurse Kat came into the room.

"You decided to wake up, did you?" she said as she began checking vitals.

"They wouldn't shut up," I waved towards Momz and Seth. I rolled my eyes. "And then they started to sing. I don't know what they were thinking."

Sande laughed. "No wonder," she said. "I've heard her do karaoke. Geez, Patty, give the kid a break." She wrote some things down on my chart. "Everything looks good. I don't think there's any reason to page the doc. He'll be here bright and early in the morning anyway."

"Let him sleep." I yawned. "I intend to."

The next morning, they brought me a soft breakfast. This time, though, there were grits not just yogurt and juice. Momz put butter in the grits but they were not even really lukewarm.

"Hold your taters," she said. "I'll just nuke this baby." After she added water, butter, salt and pepper and warmed them, they were pretty good.

"What day is it?"

"Thursday."

"January the ...?"

"It's the 12th."

"You've been sitting here this whole time when you're supposed to be planning a wedding?"

"Well," Momz said. "That's on hold."

"On hold? Why?"

"I don't know how long you'll be here. And there may be charges and court...There's just a lot going on."

I stared. "You're putting your life on hold because of me. I can't ask you to do that."

"You didn't ask."

"But, Momz."

She looked pained. "I know Momz is the hip way to address your mother, but it's like scratching the blackboard with your fingernails. It really grates on my nerves. Can you drop it while we're cooped up in this room together."

I laughed. "I know it bugs you. That's why I've been doing it. And because my homies thought Mom was old fashioned. But since we've sorta buried the hatchet, I'll go back to Mom. If I slip up now and then, just pull on your ear. That will tell me to listen to what I'm saying."

"Deal," she said. "Anyway, you don't have to feel guilty or anything. Seth and I talked about it. We're both in agreement. The time isn't right. He's still here for me. Nothing's changed except a date."

A knock on the door interrupted us. Grady opened the door a crack and stuck his head in. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"No," Mom said. "You and CW need to talk. I'm just going to go get some coffee and a roll, if you don't need me."

"I'll text you if we do," Grady said.

Before he even had a chance to pull up a chair. Mom came back in with Dr. Patel.

"Sorry, Grady," she said. "Dr. Patel needs to check CW."

"No problem," he said. "I'll just get some coffee."

"You're one lucky young man," the doctor said. "Two brushes with death in the span of two weeks."

"I hope that's the last," I said.

"It should be, but those things are hard to predict. There weren't any signs of other clots floating around that we could find. We got the bugger out of your lungs without damaging them. Your recovery time is going to be longer, though. You'll have a respiratory therapist coming by to help get your breathing back where it should be." He patted the drug pump. "You're going to need this for a while longer." While he'd been talking, he'd been poking and prodding and listening to my lungs. "I want you to drink lots and get lots of sleep. Your concussed brain still hasn't recovered completely, so don't over do it. You can talk to your lawyer. Later, if necessary, you can talk to the police. Just don't try to do it all at once. Your brain needs to rest. And too much talking will tax your lungs."

"Okay."

Mom and Dr. Patel walked out together. As Grady opened the door, I heard Dr. Patel say, "You will be able to question him either this afternoon or tomorrow. It depends on how taxed he gets talking to his lawyer. He can't over do it. We don't want another setback."

I looked at Grady.

"I thought Mom said there'd been some developments but nothing pressing," I said. "Why do the police want to talk to me now?"

"She may have understated a bit. Nothing was pressing as long as you were in a coma. Now that you're awake, though, things will probably start to move forward rapidly."

I raised my eyebrows. "They were just waiting for me to wake up? Again?"

"Sort of." He opened his brief case and took out his tablet. He looked at some notes. "Here's the deal. Your statement lines up with the evidence. Texts on your phone show that you did arrange to meet Jake and Marlow at noon on the 31st. That gash in your helmet and the state of your jacket indicate that you were probably on the back of the bike. Mrs. Johnson said that she saw the bike leave your driveway. Even though it was dark, and she couldn't recognize you, she said the guy with the helmet was on the back. Everyone knows you had on the helmet. The doctors took it off of you here. The police did find the mini-cam. It's in evidence. They got a warrant for the footage, going all the way back to it's installation. Your Mom and I saw the footage before they got the warrant. She has copies of everything. We watched Clarence clean out the stash. As far as we could tell, there was no oxy, but the angle was poor. His running commentary gave more clues than the actual footage. The police have questioned him. He still had the box with all its contents in his garage. I don't know why he didn't just trash it."

"Is he in trouble now?"

"No, I don't think so. He didn't try to do anything with it. The pot was still in the baggie. The bong was dry. And the whiskey is legal."

"What else?" I asked.

"When you jerked your head back, you triggered the mini-cam. It recorded your shout. It showed the moment of impact and BJ flying though the air. When you landed, it was jarred loose from the helmet and flew through the air. There's a blur of pavement before it goes black. I guess it landed on the triggering mechanism and turned off."

"Well, at least they know I tried to warn Jake. They know I didn't intend to hurt BJ."

"Yeah. The problem is not with the night of the accident."

"So what's the problem?"

"Jake and Marlow have been charged with six counts of breaking and entering and multiple counts of possession of stolen goods. The police got a warrant for their car. They found several boxes of stolen goods in the trunk. The items in the boxes match goods reported stolen in your neighborhood over the past few months. There were also several receipts from a pawnshop. Your friends told the police you were part of their theft ring. They said you knew about the stuff in the trunk and that you kept an I-pad that you all stole. The police got a warrant for F2. They found the stolen I-pad hidden in a blanket."

"They what?" I shook my head. "They wouldn't do that. Jake gave me that I-pad for Christmas. He said it was so I could play WOW with them on the days Mom was home."

"Whose name is it under?" I could tell from his face that he already knew the answer.

"Paul," whispered.

"Whose idea was that?"

"Jake's"

"Well, he said you put it under your Pop's name to diss your Mom. Believe me, CW. They did finger you. They know you talked to the police about the accident. They don't intend to go down alone."

"Did you get the dates of the B&Es?"

"I did. They all correspond to dates when your Mom worked."

"Were any of them while I was grounded?" I asked.

"Only one. It was the night that your Mom got off early and they took you out to eat. I've got witnesses from the restaurant that show you were there from 6-7:30. The robbery wasn't discovered until the next morning, so there's no timeline for the B&E, but the guys said they didn't do anything until late. They claim you always snuck out your window and climbed down from your tree house after your Mom went to bed. They even volunteered that you call the tree house the Funk and that's why the shed is named Funk Too."

I gave the list back. If Grady said the dates were all when Mom was working, then it was so. He did his homework. "I didn't even know they were robbing people, much less participate," I said. "You have to believe me."

"Oh, I do. The problem is going to be convincing the DA, or if that fails a judge or jury. Right now, the police are waiting to talk to you. This time a warrant has been issued for your arrest."

"Am I going to jail?"

"I don't know. For the foreseeable future you'll be confined to the hospital. There will be a policeman outside your door. If they serve the warrant, you'll be under arrest in here until you are deemed healthy enough to be moved." He reached out and sort of patted my arm. "Don't give up hope, though. I did talk to the guy who owns the pawnshop. The police raided the place and confiscated the stolen items. I heard about it on my police scanner and put two and two together. He has video surveillance. Both Jake and Marlow are on tape. Their names are the only ones on the stolen items they sold."

"What about fingerprints?"

"None from you three were found at any of the crime scenes. I imagine they wore gloves."

My head ached. My breathing was labored. I couldn't even think straight.

"Could you maybe push that green button?" I asked. "I'm hurting. I need to sleep."

He stood and pushed the button. "Have your Mom call me when you're ready to talk to the police."