by Mary Stone
Winter pushed to her feet and reached for Justin’s hand. Instead of taking the offering, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close to his chest. In a flash, the little brother was whispering in his big sister’s ear.
Winter’s expression grew pained…sickened…and tears welled in her eyes. Noah hadn’t caught Justin’s comment, but he didn’t have to.
Whatever that little fucker said had been vile.
She tried to pull away from Justin’s grip, but he refused to let go. Noah took two steps and grabbed Justin’s hand, crushing the boy’s much smaller bones inside of his own giant fist, and forcing him to let Winter loose.
He stared all his hatred at the gleeful little bastard. “Apologize.” Noah spoke calmly but continued to tighten his grip around finger bones that were beginning to compress together.
Justin sneered back. The psycho didn’t even flinch. It was like he couldn’t sense a bit of the pain.
Maybe he can’t.
“You want me to apologize to your whore girlfriend because I told the truth? Because you’re not man enough to make my big sis an honest woman?” Justin’s free hand shot out and grabbed Noah’s dick. “Well, well, Agent Dalton.” Justin licked his lips. “Impressive! Now I know why she’s so willing to slut herself out to you!”
Noah pushed him away in disgust, and Justin fell sideways into the concrete block wall. Hard. Blood began to flow down his face from a cut on his forehead. Winter screamed and attempted to rush to her brother, but Noah grabbed her around the waist and refused to let go.
Justin laughed maniacal elation as crimson streams meandered across his features. He stuck out his tongue and licked some of the blood from his cheek. “Mmmm…tastes like chicken.” The laughter continued, growing to a fever pitch of hysteria.
“Get backup and a nurse!” Noah barked at the door guard, unable to take his eyes off Justin and unwilling to loosen his grip on Winter. “Now!”
She’d gone as solid as a two-by-four in his arms. Stiff. Still. Noah couldn’t examine her face…not yet. He knew what was waiting for him.
Giant sapphire eyes filled with hate. Hate for him.
Two orderlies and a nurse rushed past them, and Winter yanked away from Noah’s grip. His stomach tightened as she turned toward him with slow, deliberate steps.
Her eyes full of loathing, Winter uttered one simple word. “Leave.”
Noah’s chest filled with ache, and he attempted to protest. But the words didn’t come.
If you argue with her now, she’ll only grow more hostile.
He’d revealed the creep’s true face. He pulled off the mask, and he couldn’t take that back. Not ever. How Winter handled it now wasn’t his call.
Winter didn’t blink or move as Noah processed the dismissal.
“Okay.” He didn’t know what else to say.
He’d already said and done too much.
She knows you love her. That will have to be enough for now.
Justin’s laughter faded gradually as the sedation set in. Noah refused to even glance at the sick bastard before turning to leave.
In the hallway, he grabbed one of Adrienne’s officers by the arm. “You go in that room, and you stay in that room until Winter Black leaves. No breaks, no exceptions. Understood?”
He received an alarmed but dutiful nod from the officer and released his arm. Winter’s safety was assured, even if he’d lost her love forever.
Noah strode down the hallway. His exhaustion seemed to have heightened several times over during the short visit to Justin Black’s room.
Winter would never forgive him for this. Even if she still loved him and wanted him, their relationship would be transformed indelibly by this day.
Justin was a monster, and Noah had broken through the foggy haze of manipulation that laced itself around Winter’s heart and mind, revealing the beast.
He’d single-handedly confirmed that there wasn’t hope for Justin. There was no future where the two siblings would spend happy hours together in the outside world. No pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
The rainbow wasn’t real.
Justin didn’t love Winter. Justin wasn’t capable of loving her or anyone else.
The full, illusion-shattering realization had screamed from her miserable eyes. She knew the truth. Noah was sure of that.
All efforts to bring her brother back were futile.
Winter didn’t have a brother. She had a savage fiend who shared her DNA.
And Noah would forever be the man who had presented the raw, ugly truth to her without permission or warning, stealing away all hope.
He tried to shake off the emotion. The others would be expecting him at the police department, where Philip Baldwin’s interrogation would shortly commence. He couldn’t bring his heart to work, and he wouldn’t.
Special Agent Noah Dalton drove away from Virginia State Hospital with the stark understanding that his image had been permanently altered in Winter Black’s beautiful blue eyes.
19
Aiden glanced at the one-way glass of the interrogation room window. Dr. Trent and Agent Logan were stationed directly on the other side. Agent Parker and Agent Dalton would be joining them soon.
Adrienne and Aiden would be conducting the interrogation, but occasionally, a switch-out with another agent helped to throw the suspect off-kilter and accelerate the process.
Philip Baldwin sat in a scuffed metal folding chair, his hands clasped together on the small table before him. Stanley Bradshaw stood directly to the doctor’s right, alert and, Aiden assumed, entirely aware that Dr. Baldwin’s temperament could cause the man to bury himself in a split-second.
The attorney’s sweat gleamed in the low-watt light of the hanging overhead bulb.
Philip appeared calm for the moment. Being escorted from “his” hospital by law enforcement and transported to the police station had doused a large portion of his fiery demeanor.
Aiden suspected that he’d regain a bit of his vim and vigor as soon as the accusations resumed. He was counting on this, actually. Worked up suspects generally gave away far more information than they intended to.
“Dr. Baldwin, I assume you know why you’re sitting in that chair?” Chief Lewton began, sitting directly across the table from the medical director.
“If my memory serves me correctly, you barbarians forced me to come here and demanded I sit,” Philip sniped back at her.
Adrienne smiled and let out an amused chuckle. “Many would say that strangling two women to death was rather barbarous as well.”
Philip’s cheeks began to flush. Aiden sensed that the doctor was regaining his animation.
“I didn’t strangle anyone. But yes, the acts are rather brutal. You and your dimwit colleagues might want to go find the person who actually committed the crimes before another strangled body shows up in my hospital.”
Philip’s attorney whispered with frantic urgency in his ear.
“Are you saying there will be more strangulations? Are you planning another murder, Dr. Baldwin?” Adrienne tilted her head with interest.
“I. Didn’t. Murder. Anyone.” The doctor’s breathing accelerated, and his sneer returned.
There. There’s Philip Baldwin. Now we can ask the real questions.
Aiden casually slid into the folding chair next to Chief Lewton’s. “No need to get angry, Doctor. We’re just talking here.”
Philip turned his glare on Aiden. “Right. Talking. In a locked room with a two-way mirror and my legal counsel at my side. Do you think I’m blind to what’s happening right now, Agent Parrish?”
“Tell me what you think is happening right now, Dr. Baldwin,” Aiden returned, placid as he leaned back and crossed his arms against his chest.
The doctor emitted a low growl. “I’m a shrink. I know this is just one big mind game. You and your cohorts believe you can bully and upset me into admitting to a crime I didn’t commit.”
Aiden held up a hand in protest. “Let me assure you.
I would never want nor ask for that. I’m only here to discuss the truth. I do have a few inquiries for you, though.”
Philip’s eyes narrowed as he hunched over the table. “Of course you do.”
“We’ve obviously discussed, in great detail, the reprimand you believed was necessary to give to Evelyn Walker on the day of her murder. Insubordinate, I believe that’s how you described her behavior.” Aiden spoke in a calm and deliberate tone, giving plenty of time between his statements for Philip’s rage to recharge.
“Defiant. Stubborn. Troublesome. Rebellious.” Bitterness and anger wove themselves through Baldwin’s words.
“Right,” Aiden confirmed. “That’s how you perceived Ms. Walker’s actions. Now, tell me how you perceived her as a person?”
Philip squirmed in his seat. “Excuse me?”
“Was Evelyn a good person? You two weren’t eye to eye on hospital policy…I get the picture. Outside of that. What did you think of Ms. Walker overall?” Aiden tapped a pencil on the table.
“I didn’t know anything about her outside of her role as a nurse under my supervision,” Philip declared, his upper lip curled up in what appeared to be revulsion.
“Do you think she was a good person?” Aiden repeated, leaning forward and placing his elbows on the table.
Philip’s nostrils flared. “Probably? I don’t know. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to live with her. Entirely too headstrong.”
Chief Lewton grinned. “Remind you of anyone?”
The doctor shot her a dagger-filled glare.
Aiden turned Philip’s answer over in his mind. Strangulation was an incredibly deliberate, intimate form of murder. The victim and the killer, eye to eye, while one exacted their plan through fatal means.
Whoever had killed Evelyn and Paula had some type of vendetta or mission. Two women in the same hospital. Both strangled. Both left to be found…but not immediately.
The killer in this case cared about matters far darker than hospital policies and insubordinations. Philip either had a very personal hidden issue with Evelyn and Paula or a message he deemed as massively important to share.
The problem with this was that Aiden couldn’t detect, outside of his obvious desire to mandate hospital policy, that Dr. Philip Baldwin thought of or cared about Evelyn Walker at all. The medical director didn’t seem to think of or care about anything aside from running the state hospital.
And Aiden hadn’t abandoned the other possibility. Maybe the doctor simply hadn’t killed the women.
“My methods as the Medical Director of Virginia State Hospital are not now, nor were they ever, up for debate amongst the nursing staff. Outside of work, Evelyn could have been a saint. Inside my hospital, she was a pain in my ass. She defied me on several occasions and threatened the respect of my title.” Philip was rambling now, his rage building.
“You needed complete control.” Adrienne crossed her legs with casual indifference.
“Yes!” Philip barked. Bradshaw leaned in again. Aiden assumed the attorney was attempting to get the prick to shut his damn mouth.
He wasn’t helping his case at all. But at the same time, he was so very obviously hurting his own position of innocence with his commentary that, to Aiden, the man seemed less and less capable of being their unsub.
“How far would you go to maintain that control, Dr. Baldwin?” Chief Lewton stood and began pacing.
Philip appeared confused. They were talking in circles, purposely trying to wring out any detail the doctor might let slip. And now Adrienne had something new to throw into the merry-go-round.
“Colleen Hester.” She let the name hang in the air and stared at him.
Aiden studied the doctor’s face. No one had mentioned Colleen since the office, but they certainly hadn’t forgotten about her.
The decision had been made to bring Baldwin to the station for further questioning, and Colleen Hester was a card in their pocket they intended to play.
Just waiting for the right time…
“Or how about Mildred Harbison? Should we start with her instead? Mildred was your former assistant when you were in private practice. Yes?” Adrienne shared the information with smooth tenacity.
“Yes. That has absolutely nothing to do with—”
“And she died under suspicious circumstances several months before you came to work at Virginia State Hospital.” Adrienne’s voice echoed off the walls. “Correct?”
“No.” Dr. Baldwin held up a finger and wagged it at his interrogators. “You will not put that on me. I was cleared of any connection to Mildred’s passing. She was a sixty-two-year-old woman with diabetes and multiple heart problems. She mixed up her own medications and died in her sleep.”
“So you claim,” Adrienne needled the already distressed man.
“Her death was declared accidental!” Philip shouted, pounding a fist on the table. “Why would I want to kill an old woman?”
“Mildred’s death was preceded only a month by the suicide of Colleen Hester, who, according to the records, was a patient of yours. Someone under your care who took her own life.” All indifference in Adrienne’s voice had been replaced with severe insinuation.
Philip crossed his arms and slammed against the back of his chair. Defensiveness flooded his face. “Yes. And what of it? She was a very disturbed young woman. I can’t be expected to help everyone. And Colleen had no connection to Mildred!”
Aiden found the change in behavior intriguing. Philip clearly cared very little about Evelyn or Paula—dead or alive. But the man definitely had internal conflicts about Colleen.
“You are the connection, Dr. Baldwin. Your patient. Your assistant. Assistants are often privy to very personal information. Is there any possibility that Mildred defied you in an unforgiveable way just like Evelyn? Or perhaps she knew something you couldn’t risk being shared? Is this your pattern, Dr. Baldwin? Do you handle your problems by silencing them forever?”
Philip stood, slamming his hands on the table. Before he could get a word out, his lawyer intervened. “We’re done here. Unless you intend to arrest Dr. Baldwin, he has absolutely nothing more to say.”
Aiden noted Philip’s troubled expression. There was something in the Colleen Hester matter. But they couldn’t force him to speak about Colleen any more than they could arrest him.
They didn’t have enough evidence to legally accuse Dr. Baldwin of anything.
Other than being an arrogant asshole.
“Agent Parrish, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to have a word with you in private.” Adrienne gestured toward the door.
Stalling was preferrable at this point, and Aiden wanted to convene with his team regardless. Combine their insights.
Assuming they have any.
He stood and gave a polite smile to Dr. Baldwin and his attorney. “Excuse us, gentlemen. This could be awhile.”
There was a certain gratification in leaving the doctor hanging.
Adrienne opened the door, and Aiden followed her into the hall where they were met by his team exiting the viewing room.
Autumn appeared deep in reflection, while Mia displayed more of an exasperated face.
Noah had arrived during the interrogation, and the man looked grim. Worse than grim. Aiden wasn’t particularly fond of Agent Dalton, but they’d been through many troubling cases together.
Traumatic situations bonded two people, like it or not. And Aiden leaned toward the latter.
What in the hell happened to you, Dalton? You look like absolute hell.
Noah usually only wore that expression when there was something the matter with Winter. A pang of anxiety pulsed in Aiden’s stomach, but there wasn’t time to worry about anything other than this case right now. They had close to nothing. Not enough evidence to arrest Baldwin, whom he personally no longer believed was prime-suspect worthy. And no other leads whatsoever.
They’d hit a brick wall.
The only thing Aiden was certain that his team did have was two dead wo
men at the morgue.
But there were two more deceased females, one whose passing had severely rattled Philip Baldwin. Perhaps the doctor truly hadn’t murdered Evelyn or Paula.
He may not have even killed Mildred.
But the mention of Colleen’s suicide had struck a deep chord with the doctor, and Aiden intended to make him sing.
20
Adrienne led the team to one of the Richmond Police Precinct’s conference rooms. A giant white board covered the north-facing wall, and a long rectangular table stretched across the room’s expanse.
Autumn sat and waited in patient contemplation while her colleagues settled. Her mind spun, weaving the new information on Mildred Harbison and Colleen Hester through the web of knowledge already in place concerning Dr. Philip Baldwin.
Aiden deferred to sit and instead stood at the head of the table beside a visibly frustrated Chief Lewton. Though his expression was neutral, Autumn speculated that the SSA was every bit as exasperated as Adrienne.
Noah tapped his finger on the table in a rapid, discomposed beat beside her. Autumn longed to know how much of his agitation was case related versus the amount caused by whatever had taken place in Justin Black’s hospital room.
She considered putting a comforting hand to his shoulder, knowing the nature of his worries could be revealed to her in an instant, but opted to wait. That was cheating. They would speak later.
The possibility was great that any insight she gleaned about Winter could be a significant distraction from the case before them. Focus was paramount.
One train wreck at a time, Dr. Trent.
Aiden crossed his arms and surveyed the team. “Agents, you all were privy to the questioning that just took place. Now is the time to share any insights you may have gathered. The clock is ticking, and the reality of this situation is that we may be alerted to a new victim at any given moment.”
“Philip’s former assistant died under questionable circumstances.” Autumn voiced the most striking news revealed during the interrogation. “That certainly muddied the waters a bit more for Baldwin. Three dead employees on his watch.”