by Cynthia Eden
He rushed forward. Stopped. Stared. “So? Maybe Judith Key left it open while she went out to do some yard work or something.”
“Perhaps.” She crept closer to the house.
“You don’t think it’s something innocent and easy, do you?”
“No, I do not.” In her experience, doors left ajar were rarely ever a good sign. People had become very vigilant in this day and age. The era of leaving your doors open? Gone. The news had seen to that. The news screamed that threats were everywhere, even right next door.
When they reached the front porch, her suspicions were confirmed. The doorknob and lock had both been smashed. A heavy weight settled along her shoulders.
“We should call the cops.” Joel’s voice was low.
“Yes.” She nodded. And used her elbow to push the door open.
“Chloe!” A strained whisper from Joel. “Stop!”
Too late. She was already inside. She could see the smashed furniture. The broken lamps. The chaos.
Joel grabbed her arm. “What are you doing? You can’t—”
“Do you smell that?” She did another deep inhale. “It’s blood.”
“All the more reason for us to get out—”
“What if she’s still alive?”
His eyes glittered at her.
Then…she heard a moan. Faint. So weak. Coming from the right. Down the hallway? Maybe…in a bedroom? She lunged in the direction of the sound.
Joel grabbed her, locked his arm around her stomach, and hauled her back. “Oh, hell, no.”
“Joel! Someone is hurt!”
“Or it’s a trap. The way this weekend is going, anything can happen. You stay here, understand? I’ll check it out. That’s why I got brought into the picture, remember? To protect your lovely ass.” He pushed her behind him. “Stay here.”
He rushed down the hallway. She had to admit, his rush was very quiet. Sneaky. Chloe craned her head and saw him slip into an open doorway.
She pulled out her phone. Typed SOS and the location. Sent the text to Cedric.
She didn’t hear anything. Not from Joel. Not any other moans from their would-be victim. Joel had told her to stay put but…
When he got to know her better, he’d realize that was never an option.
She crept down the hallway. She also made sure to pull her gun out of her bag. She kept it down near her side as she edged toward the open doorway. And then…
Joel. He was on his knees. His hands were covered in blood.
A woman with salt and pepper hair sprawled before him. Her face was chalk white. Her lips were parted, and she struggled to speak. Another weak moan came from her.
“Call nine-one-one,” Joel barked at Chloe. “And don’t you dare leave this room!”
She shoved the gun back into her purse even as she grabbed for the phone. “Why can’t I leave?”
“Because she’s still alive. Because I’m holding my fucking fingers inside her to stop her from bleeding out. Because the attack happened just minutes ago. If it had happened longer than that, she would already be dead. That means the bastard is still here.”
Chloe took a step toward the doorway even as she dialed nine-one-one.
“Don’t,” Joel snarled at her. “Don’t you face him alone. Stay with me. Don’t make me choose between protecting you and saving her.”
She put the phone to her ear. “I thought we agreed last night that I could protect myself…”
“Chloe…” Joel warned.
“Nine-one-one, what is the nature of your emergency?”
The killer was out there. Could be close. Had to be close. Dammit. Chloe slammed the bedroom door. Locked it. Secured herself in that room with Joel and the victim. “A woman has been stabbed.”
“Barely missed her heart,” Joel called out. “Profuse bleeding. Victim is in shock. Pulse rate is—”
“She’s very bad,” Chloe added. “There’s a lot of blood and we think the attacker is still somewhere close by. So if you could please send help very, very quickly, that would be appreciated.” She rattled off the address. “Thank you.” She swung back around toward Joel.
The woman—Judith—stared at up him. Tears streamed on her cheeks.
“Stay with me,” Joel urged Judith. “You’re going to be fine, you understand me? Stay with me.”
Blood was on his hands. His wrists. His forearms. The blood was everywhere.
Chloe swayed. Her breath panted out.
The blood was everywhere because Joel had put his fingers into the vicious stab wounds on Judith’s chest.
Wake up, wake up! A scream echoed in Chloe’s mind. It was a mistake! I want to take it back. I want to—
“Chloe!” Joel thundered. “Chloe, I need you!”
She blinked.
Joel was there. Joel and all the blood.
“Wh-what can I do?” Chloe managed to ask.
Chapter Twenty
The stretcher burst out of the house.
Cedric grabbed Chloe and hauled her to the side. Judith was on the stretcher. Joel was straddled on top of her—working furiously and calling out orders to the paramedics as they wheeled Judith and Joel toward the back of the waiting ambulance.
Chloe’s breath came faster as she stared at Joel. She tried to ignore the stickiness on her fingers. The blood that wasn’t dry on her yet.
The back doors of the ambulance were slammed shut. The siren screamed.
The ambulance raced away.
“Why were you here?” Cedric asked softly.
Another car had just arrived on the scene. A way too obvious black SUV. Surprise, surprise, Agent Richardson shoved open the driver’s side door.
Someone was always late to the party.
“Chloe.”
She glanced at Cedric.
“You’re very pale. You’re not going to pass out on me or anything, are you?”
Her chin notched up. “Absolutely not. I can’t believe you’d even suggest such a thing.”
“Right.” He paused a beat. “Why were you here?”
“We were following a lead.”
Richardson was slithering closer.
“What kind of lead?” Cedric wanted to know. He caught sight of Richardson and shifted a bit closer to Chloe.
“Judith was a former librarian for—”
“She was the high school librarian for the championship winning Pirates, right, Chloe?” Richardson inserted, voice as nasally as ever. “And you thought she could tell you about the men who’ve been killed.”
“The thought did cross my mind, yes.”
“You’re slow.” He shook his head at her. “I was here yesterday talking to her, and, hate to break it to you, but she had nothing to add to our investigation. The dead men didn’t exactly hang out in her library.”
“Well, considering that someone came in today and tried to shove a knife in her heart,” Chloe returned as frost slid in her voice, “someone must have thought that she did have something to add.” She raised one eyebrow. “Perhaps you simply didn’t ask her the correct questions. You’ve done that before, you know. Asked the wrong questions. Made the wrong assumptions. And innocent people paid the price.”
Cedric whistled.
She knew that whistle was a warning to her. He was trying to tell her to watch herself before she went too far. But she wasn’t in the mood to heed warnings. Blood was on her hands. It was sticky and cold now, and it reminded her far too much of things that were better left forgotten.
“Ah, Chloe…” Cedric had pulled out his trusty notepad. “Did you see the attacker?”
“No. Joel wouldn’t let me chase him, so…no.”
“Wouldn’t let you?” Cedric stared at her as if she’d just grown two heads.
Her breath huffed out. “He had his fingers in the woman’s chest. He was spouting off about how he couldn’t save her and protect me and even though he said the perp had attacked only moments before, he insisted that I stay close by. In the room.” She lifted her
fingers. “I helped him. We saved that woman.”
“She’s probably going to die.” A casual observation from one of the crime scene techs who walked past. “I mean, did you see the size of that blood pool in there?”
Cedric squinted his eyes as his gaze raked over Chloe. “Are you cold?”
She looked down. Goosebumps covered her arms.
The always dapper Cedric shouldered out of his pressed coat and put it around her shoulders.
It was still warm from his body. She gave him a grateful smile.
“Maybe you want her to die.”
At that dark statement, her gaze jumped to Richardson.
“If Judith Key dies, then she won’t be able to point the finger at the person who attacked her.”
Don’t let him get beneath your skin. Do not. “The police officers that you see around us are currently scouting the area for clues. Hopefully, they’ll find something that will lead us to her attacker. And she will—hopefully—survive the attack. After all, she had a highly trained doctor at her side within moments, and he just left in the ambulance with her. Joel wasn’t going to abandon her.”
Richardson pursed his lips. “That what he was doing? Saving her? Heard some chatter about him on the radio.”
She didn’t like the way his face tightened when he talked about Joel. Oh, who was she kidding? There was very little she did like about the man.
“Chloe.” Cedric’s voice was warm. Gentle.
She returned her attention to him.
“I just have to get all of this down, then you can go to the hospital, too.”
Yes, she wanted to go there.
“You had the idea to come and talk to Judith today because you thought she could give you insight on the case?”
Her breathing hitched the faintest bit. “We had an appointment at noon to talk with Judith. Someone beat us here.”
“You sent me an SOS text before you called nine-one-one,” Cedric noted.
“The front lock was broken. As soon as I saw it, I texted you.”
“And you still went inside?” Richardson’s voice rose even more at her. “Even knowing you were entering a crime scene?”
“We went inside and helped a victim. I’m sure it’s quite appropriate to do something like that.” She needed to get the blood off her fingers. “Do you mind if I go back inside? I need to wash this blood away.”
“I do mind.” Richardson stepped into her path. “It’s a crime scene. You don’t get to waltz back inside.”
“You should let me in there. I might see something that your people miss.”
Oh, he didn’t like that. Not one bit. If looks could kill…
“What were you going to ask her?” Richardson suddenly wanted to know.
“I will ask her…when I see her at the hospital…if anything unusual happened at the school during that championship year. If anyone was killed, died in an accident, went missing—”
Now he laughed. “You honestly think I haven’t checked all of that? I’m not a moron, Chloe. I’ve pulled up records. I talked to the coach. I talked to her because the coach told me that she had old yearbooks I could look at to see the whole class since that shit isn’t online.”
She didn’t bat an eyelash. “Did you see the yearbooks?”
“All but the year I needed. When I was here yesterday, she said she’d misplaced that one. She was going to look and find it for me.”
“Her home is trashed.” Chloe considered the ramifications of that chaos. “Perhaps the attacker was looking for the yearbook, too. Assuming, that is, her attacker is the same perp that we’re after from the Bad Deeds murders. And if it’s him, he’d have to be watching you. If he’s a smart killer, that’s what he should be doing. Keeping an eye on the lead investigator. Watching what he does. Who he talks to.” She surveyed the scene. The thick foliage. The heavy oaks. “Maybe he saw you leave here empty handed. Maybe you brought him right to her.”
“Are you saying her attack is my fault?”
“I’m saying that you need to make certain you’re not being watched. And, hopefully, Judith will fully recover and be able identify her attacker for us. Now, I’m sorry, but I don’t have more to add. I want to get to the hospital so unless you have more questions for me…” She directed her attention at Cedric, not Richardson.
“I’ll call you,” Cedric promised. “If I need to follow-up.”
“Thank you.” She was more than ready to leave.
But Richardson kept getting in her way. He smiled at her. “Just how did you arrive here, Chloe? I only see a motorcycle. I don’t see your typical—”
She lifted her bloody fingers—and the keys that Joel had given her while they were in the house. “I’ll be taking the motorcycle, but thank you for the kind offer of a ride.”
“I didn’t offer—” Richardson blustered as his cheeks went red.
Cedric was called away.
Richardson immediately sidled even closer to her. “You need to watch yourself.”
Curiosity compelled her to ask, “Are you threatening me?”
“No, I’m trying to give you advice. Ever since you came strolling in with Dr. Landry, I’ve been checking up on him. He’s bad news.”
“I find him to be delightful news.”
“No, you don’t. You find few things in life to be delightful. You’re not wired that way. If you’re with him, it’s because you’re working an agenda. Either you think you can use him or…” He searched her eyes. “Maybe you even think he’s the killer you’re after. I talked to his shrink from Dallas. Got the guy to give me his take on the dangerous doctor.”
She eased out a soft breath. “That sounds very much like something the shrink should not have revealed. Patient-client confidentiality and all. He’d better be careful or Dr. Jennings will find himself without a license.”
Oh, no.
“Got you.” Richardson grinned at her.
“You do?” Her voice was perfectly calm even as her heart raced. “I didn’t realize you were touching me.”
“I never told you the shrink’s name. You knew it already. That means you’ve been digging into Joel’s past, haven’t you?” The agent’s eyes gleamed. “You don’t trust him, not for a second. Keep your friends close but your enemies closer, am I right? So tell me…the real reason you didn’t go rushing to look for a suspect in the attack here today—it’s because you had a suspect in your sights, didn’t you? You thought Joel was the attacker. Did he get here before you? Or maybe—hell, was he the one who came up with the idea to come out here?” His words tumbled out, faster and faster. “Maybe he was doing some big theater piece in front of you. Acting like he was saving the woman when really, he was just finishing her off. You stayed with them because you wanted to make sure she lived. Because at your core, you’re not as crazy as some people say. You’re—”
“Crazy isn’t a clinical term. It’s highly overused. I get tired of reminding people about that. And if you must know, I keep my friends close because they matter to me. I am very protective of them. As far as Dr. Jennings is concerned, I knew his name because Joel told me his name.” The lie was smooth and easy. “And since Joel has saved Judith’s life, you can come to the hospital and ask her about the attacker yourself. I’m sure she’ll clear Joel.”
“Too late, Chloe. Too late. You screwed up. I saw it in your eyes. It was only there for a second, but you wished you could take the words back. As soon as you said the doctor’s name, you realized what you’d done.”
“You have no idea what I wish. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that you do.” She stepped around him. “I have places to go. Crimes to solve. You should try that sometime. You know, the crime solving part.”
“Joel Landry is dangerous!”
“Anyone can be dangerous. It’s all about the circumstances. How far an individual can be pushed…”
Before he or she breaks.
***
She rode away on the motorcycle as if she drove motorcyc
les every single day. Revved the engine and shot away like she was about to win some race.
But she’d shown her hand. She didn’t often make mistakes, he’d give Chloe Hastings that, but this time, she’d screwed up. And as he’d hoped and prayed, he’d been there to see it happen.
Paul Richardson put his phone to his ear. “Get Dr. Gordon Jennings on a plane. I want him here, as fast as possible.”
Chloe never did anything without a reason. Getting close to Joel on this case? Their sudden acquaintance meant the former surgeon had to be connected to the killings.
And Dr. Gordon Jennings was going to help Paul figure out that connection.
***
Hospitals were too bright. The overhead lights often made her head ache. The scent of antiseptic burned her nose, and the clean floors squeaked too much beneath her feet. The temperature was always too cold for her, and the constant pages that sounded over the intercom distracted her.
She couldn’t afford more distractions. She’d already screwed up once that day.
Chloe had gotten the blood off her hands, but each time she looked down at her fingers, she swore she could still feel the stickiness on her skin.
She hated that stickiness.
“Chloe?”
She looked up. She’d been sitting in a very uncomfortable chair—one with a long tear along the seat that exposed the cushion and rubbed against the back of her thigh.
“Chloe?” The man in the white lab coat took a few quick steps toward her. “What’s happened? Is everything okay?” A stethoscope dangled around his neck.
“Dane.” She stood. Her knees felt a little shaky. Unacceptable. “I didn’t realize you were still here. I-I was told that you’d transferred down to Florida.”
“Yes, well, that’s because I was offered a job down there after I finished my residency.” He closed in on her. “The position was in Miami. Seemed perfect. I even tried things out for a few weeks, but it just wasn’t home. Came back here a few days ago when the hospital director called me. There was an opening for an ER doc. I took it.” His gaze assessed her. “Do you know that you have blood on your shirt?”
“Better than having blood on my hands.”
He backed up a step. “Uh…yes? It is?”