When they got to her house, her agents noticed her shoulder. Her main agent (who she thought was particularly handsome, and who, in fact, had a horrible crush on her), Aaron Hammond, said:

"You're so stupid, you know that? We have to get you to a hospital." He took off his dark sunglasses and straightened his tie. His black tuxedo was prim and proper. Now, he wrapped his hand around her waist (a lot of men did that to her) and escorted her back to the limo. She got in, thankfully, and then they drove off to the hospital.

When they arrived at the hospital, the nurse knew who it was. She saw the bullet hole and the dried blood, and gasped. Ashley knew the nurse's face, but not her name. She looked at the nametag that read: Nancy.

"Hello, Nancy," Ashley smiled as if she had known her name all along. "Nice to see you again."

"It would be nice to see you, too, Ashley," Nancy replied, "if you were in better health. Come, come. I will take you to your room."

"Oh, I can wait," Ashley assured her.

"Oh, silly woman!" Nancy smiled sweetly and took her hand gently and shuffled on her short, chubby legs to the nearest hospital room. Most unwillingly, Aaron watched her go and Ashley thought: How many guys like me? This is insanity! She groaned as Nancy signaled for her to lie on the bed patiently until the doctor came.

"This is going to be a long day," Ashley murmured.

When the doctor came, Ashley smirked. The doctor didn't seem to be in a very good mood, either. She suddenly felt that her smirk worsened his mood because his frown lines increased as his scowl deepened. Ashley propped herself up on one elbow and said:

"Hurry this up, okay? I've got to be back at work in three hours," it was 5 o'clock. She'd be all right if she got there at 8.

"You will not be going back to work anytime soon, Miss Wolf," the doctor sat down in the available chair. "Your shoulder is worse than you think. That bullet was harder than you thought. The bullet is wedged in between two of your main bones. It's managed to wedge itself in the crossroads of the clavicle and the scapula. We'll have to dislocate your shoulder to get it out. If we leave it in, your skin will infect and inflate. I'n'I, as some of the nurses call it. Anyway, you won't be able to use your entire right side for a while because of the medicine we have to inject into your shoulder to be able to dislocate your shoulder without hurting you.

"And in conclusion," he twitched his nose in a rabbit-like fashion, "This will be your room for the next six months."

"Six months?" Ashley dropped herself down on the bed in dismay. "I didn't ask for six months, Doc. I asked for three hours."

"I don't care what you asked for," the doctor grumbled. "This is what I called for, and so, what I call for will be carried out – always."

"Oh, shit," Ashley closed her eyes and frowned.

The next morning, Ashley had a visitor. It was Aaron. He had brought some flowers. They were in a beautiful arrangement. It was a mixture of red, white, and pink roses. There was a single yellow rose in the middle. The red roses were along the outside, the white on the inside, and the pink around the white flowers and surrounding the lone yellow flower. It was an odd arrangement, but a beautiful one. Ashley accepted it thankfully and nodded for him to sit on the chair beside her bed. Instead, he sat on the end of the bed.

"How long will you be here?" he asked.

"Six months," Ashley replied, frowning deeply.

"Ah," Aaron said. "They are stupid for doing that."

"Why? My whole right side is going to be freakin' paralyzed!" Ashley sounded as if it was the worst new in the world; worse than her x-boyfriend being a murderer.

"Nobody can tame The Wolf, Ashley," Aaron smiled. "Nobody."

"Shut up," Ashley turned on her side so that he couldn't see her face. "You shouldn't care, Aaron."

"Why not?" Aaron frowned; not with sadness, but with bafflement.

"Because, you're not 'my man,' Aaron.

Now he was really perplexed. "Of course not," he said. "Ayden is."

"Ayden isn't either," Ashley explained. "I need to tell you a lot, Aaron. I need you to go back to the office and tell them that I'll be holding job applications here in the hospital for a new deputy, ok? Now, for the important stuff. Ayden is either the murderer, or in league with him. He was at Logan's house with a girl named Megan – I don't know if Megan is of any importance yet, but Ayden might seduce her into doing something incredibly stupid. Maybe even something incredibly bad. I don't know, like I said before. And—" Hailey's a ghost. I saw her. I saw her ghost.

"And…?" Aaron asked. "And…what?"

"And…" Ashley frowned. "And I need you to go back to Logan's house – armed. Find the gun he used. Put it in a bag. Be careful not to get your own fingerprints on it, okay? Also be careful you don't smudge any fingerprints. We need – I need – to know if he's the only one who's been holding that gun, or if there's, in fact, a third person. If Ayden's fingerprints are on there, don't count it as another person. He's already a suspect. But if there are more – damn it. I forgot. Logan's the second forensic scientist, isn't he? Thought so. So get Brooke to hire somebody else. I won't hire the forensic investigator because I'm not top-dog in the category. If I was – I'd pick, trust me.

"Anyway, tell Brooke to search the gun for any unfamiliar fingerprints. After that, be wary. Find everything you can at the crime sight. That victim was a girl. It was a girl in the men's restroom, Aaron. That's not right. Find any fingerprints you can in the bathroom. I don't give a damn if it's an innocent person. Get their fingerprints. Put it on record. They're now a suspect. Oh! Yeah. Tell Brooke these exact words: 'Only get the newest, freshest fingerprints. I trust you to know which ones those are.' I trust you to tell her those exact words. You have a good memory, right? Whatever. That's obviously not why you are here. Why are you here, Aaron? State your business. Take that as an order."

"I was here to tell you something, but after that extravaganza I'll wait until I get that information back to HQ. I'll tell Brooke your exact words, all right? I promise to get people to come for your to hire them and -"

"Shut up, Aaron," Ashley turned to him and sat up in bed, staring at him with a stare as heavy as granite. "Don't think I'm stupid enough to be led off track. You could go on for hours, and I'd still ask you the same question. You know that. Now smarten up and tell me why you're here." Aaron knew she had authority over him in his job world, but not in his social and private life. This had to do with his social and private life. Who was he to take orders from a paralyzed woman? But Ashley was smart, and she was even smart enough to read his eyes.

"You idiot," she said. "You don't think women can have authority over men? What is it with men? They think they're the dominant species. There isn't any dominant species, okay? Now, Aaron, tell me why you're here before I fire you."

"I was here to tell you the way I felt about you, but now I'm not so sure," Aaron, in a fit of rage, knocked the flowers onto her bed and the water spilled all over her. He turned and started to walk out when she said:

"You bastard," she had his attention now. But the question was: how did she use it? Obviously, she knew how. She was 'The Wolf,' right? "I'm done with you, Aaron. Just go join Ayden and Logan. You have the information. But let me say something," her smile was genuinely evil. "You won't ever get the chance. GUARDS!" All of a sudden, two, muscular, armed men came running into the room. They saw she was soaking wet, and grimaced. They thought: Is that the only reason she called us in here?

"This man, - no, this traitor – is planning on joining our two murderers: Ayden and Logan. Take him to jail. I'm not done with him. Don't release him until I give word." They grabbed Aaron by the arms and dragged him out of the door. He whispered something to them, and they halted. He whispered some more and one of them let go. Bad mistake. Aaron pulled out his gun and aimed it right at Ashley's head.

"Aaron, you idiot," she said. "You don't think they'll let you do that, do you? Come here, Aaron. Sit down with me." Aaron warily came and sat on the bed next to her. She reached her left arm out and moved his chin so that he was looking straight at her. "Aaron, don't be coy. Tell me what you're planning on doing."

"Coy, Miss Wolf?" he smirked at her. "Coy? Why not you try not to be coy, Miss Wolf. Tell me what you're going to do to me when I'm in jail."

"Touché," she replied. "But, I'm still ten steps ahead of you. Guards, seize him. Torture him until he spills about anything he was going to do. Do whatever you wish. Enjoy yourselves." The guards smiled evilly as they reached for Aaron again. Dragging him with all their might out of the room, Ashley waved and smiled like she was madly in love with him. After they were all gone, she said: "Ten steps ahead of you all."