Page 112 (1/2)

She nodded. She reached down to pull up her b.l.o.o.d.y s.h.i.+rt. He helped her.

Cooper had never seen a gunshot wound before. He wasn’t sure what he was looking at, what he was looking for, but despite the blood it didn’t seem that bad. The bullet hadn’t gone through her as much as it had ripped off a chunk of her side.

He gently put a finger near the wound, not on it, and pressed.

She hissed in pain. “How’s it look, Mister I’m Not a Doctor?”

He shrugged. “Don’t really know. Don’t think you’re going to die, but we need to stop the bleeding.”

Cooper looked around, saw the piled-up tablecloth. He grabbed a handful and dragged it over.

“Sofia, this is going to hurt.”

“Can’t hurt any worse than it already does. Go for it.”

He gently laid the tablecloth on her side, then pressed down. Her body stiffened. She hissed in an angry breath.

“s.h.i.+t,” she said. “Guess I was wrong.”

“Direct pressure,” Cooper said. “I have to—”

“I know, I know. Just talk about something else, okay? You from around here?”

“No,” he said. “Michigan.”

“Lions fan?”

“Unfortunately, yes. All my life.”

“Sucks to be you,” she said. “Go Bears. I work here. Front desk, hospitality.”

Cooper remembered calling for security after seeing the wounded teenage kid outside his room.

“Did you work with a woman named Carmella?”

He felt Sofia nod.

“I think she’s infected,” Cooper said. “I called down earlier, she said some awful things.”

“That doesn’t mean much,” Sofia said. “Even before this started, Carmella was a real b.i.t.c.h.”

They sat in silence for a moment. The lights clicked out, once again drenching them in darkness.

“So,” she said, “what brings you to town?”

“Work. I mean, a postwork celebration kind of thing. We work on a boat and just finished up a big job.”

“We?”

“My partner and me.”