by Cynthia Eden
“You’re working the ER here.” He’d been a resident before, but he’d finished up that work. Then gone to Miami. Now Dane is back…
“Yes, yes, that’s what I just said. My shift started a few minutes—”
“I need you to check on a patient for me. The lady at the front desk was extremely unhelpful."
Surprise flashed across his handsome features. “Sally? Everyone loves her. She’s—”
“I would love to hear a list of Sally’s many virtues, but could you tell me about them after you check on the patient? Her name is Judith Key. She’s a stabbing victim. She was brought in a little while ago and—”
“She’s in recovery. I just heard about her, actually. Seems some doctor was on scene and he was able to keep her alive. Guy’s being called a hero.”
As if on cue, Joel pushed open the ER’s swinging doors. He paused to talk with some man in a suit. A man with glasses and an attitude of authority. The fellow slapped his hand on Joel’s shoulder.
Joel’s head turned. He looked around the waiting area as if he was searching for—
Me.
His stare locked on her.
She could almost feel him exhale. Or maybe she was the one doing that because relief burst through her.
“Chloe?” Dane put his hands on her shoulders. “Are you all right? Do I need to check you out? You’re very pale. I know you have that blood issue and judging by your shirt, you are not having a good day.”
“Could be a much worse day. You could have told me that Judith was dead.”
Joel stalked toward them. Someone had given him a pair of green scrubs to wear. His hands were clean—no blood on him—and his eyes seemed to shine with flecks of gold. “She made it,” Joel announced.
Was he aware of how he sounded? Excited? Happy?
Chloe smiled at him. “That’s just what Dane was telling me.”
Dane let go of her shoulders and turned toward Joel.
Time for fast introductions. “Dr. Dane Ambrose, this is Joel Landry. Dr. Joel Landry. He’s the hero you were telling me about.”
Dane flashed a warm smile at Joel and offered his hand. “You’re already a legend.” He laughed. “Got to ask, did you really keep your fingers in her chest during the entire ambulance ride?”
“I’m not a legend. I’m just someone who is very glad that Judith is okay.” He shook Dane’s hand. His gaze assessed Chloe. “You’re too pale.”
“People keep telling me that. It is starting to become insulting.”
“Oh, Chloe, you’re still gorgeous,” Dane assured her. “But you look as if you might faint at any moment. Want me to check you out?”
“No. I’m good.” The last thing she wanted was to be checked out by Dane. “How is Judith?” Chloe asked Joel. “Did she say anything about her attacker?”
“The lady isn’t exactly talking.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And she’s also sporting a concussion on the back of her head. My guess is the attacker hit from behind to take her down. Then he stabbed her. She might not have ever seen him.” His attention shifted between Chloe and Dane. “How do you two know each other?”
“Uh…” Dane coughed. “I need to finish my rounds. Chloe, we’ll catch up soon.” He hurried away.
She didn’t pay him any attention. Her focus was on Joel. “Are you upset?”
His eyes narrowed. “Because the young doc wanted to check you out? Mildly annoyed, not—”
“Because you crossed the line again. You say you don’t want to be helping people, saving them, but you just did it again with Judith. Only, unlike your experience with Jimmy, you don’t appear particularly shaken in the aftermath.”
His hands dropped to his sides. “I was not shaken when I stitched up Jimmy.”
“Fine. Choose another word.” She inched closer to him. “You’re different.”
“I-I didn’t think about it. I just did it. Hell, maybe it was easier because of what happened with Jimmy. I just…” He trailed away. “Can we get out of here?”
Brilliant idea. “Yes. Let’s. I have never been a major hospital fan.” She immediately turned on her heel and hurried through the waiting area. She sniffed when she passed the unhelpful Sally. Then they were outside. The motorcycle waited, gleaming in the light.
“Uh, did you drive that here?”
“No, it drove itself here.” She straddled the bike. Gave him an expectant look.
His lips curved. “I like it when you’re sarcastic.”
“No, you just like me.” She actually meant those words to be sarcastic.
But Joel nodded and appeared all solemn. “Yes, I do.” He bent and brushed his lips against hers.
Her fingers clutched the front of his scrubs. Scrubs? “Joel…” Chloe murmured against his mouth. “Where are your clothes?”
“In a garbage can someplace. They were covered in blood.” He feathered another kiss over her lips. “I’m so fucking glad she made it.” A shudder worked over his body. His forehead pressed to hers.
“She made it because of you. If I’d been there without you, I wouldn’t have been able to save her. You made a difference.”
He didn’t move away from her. “Maybe we do make a pretty good team.”
Yes, she was starting to think the exact same thing.
***
She needed to get the hell out of town. Cinnamon stared at her reflection. She hadn’t put on makeup yet. Her eyes were too big. Her lips devoid of color. She hadn’t been sleeping well. Not since Donnie’s death. Him dying should have made everything easier for her.
But every time she closed her eyes, nightmares came.
I saw him.
She’d lied to Chloe Hastings. Lied to the cops. Lies were pretty easy for her. Mostly because they were a matter of survival. She’d figured that Donnie had deserved exactly what he got. So she shouldn’t have felt guilty.
But in her nightmares, she was the one swinging the bat at him.
Her image became blurry. Shit. Why was she crying?
Cinnamon wiped away the tears. Stupid, useless tears. She needed to get out of this town. Start a new life. Stop being Cinnamon. Maybe she could go back to being Coreen Miller.
Only…it was hard to remember her. The young girl with all the big dreams. She seemed so very, very far away.
Her phone rang. Cinnamon knew by the ring tone who was calling. She almost didn’t answer it. But if she didn’t answer, what would he do?
Her fingers were shaking as she reached for the phone. “H-hello?”
“I want you to do a favor for me.”
“I already did,” she heard herself whisper back.
“One more. It will be the last favor I ask.”
I don’t believe you.
“And I will make it worth your while, Coreen.”
Coreen. “I want to leave town,” she heard herself say. “Help me get enough money to leave, and I’ll do whatever you want. I need to forget this place. This life—everything.”
“And everyone?” His voice was low. Dangerous.
“I will forget you,” she promised. It was what he wanted, wasn’t it?
“One favor.”
“One favor,” she agreed.
Chapter Twenty-One
“I guess you’re some big hero now.”
Joel had just walked into the kitchen at the main house. He’d showered, put on fresh clothes, then gone hunting Chloe. Instead of finding her, he found Marie waiting for him. She was sitting on the counter, her legs dangling in front of her, and an apple gripped in her right hand.
“Hardly would say that.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You still hate me, huh?”
“Not hate. That takes too much energy. I don’t like wasting energy.” Marie picked up the knife from the counter beside her. She began to slice into the apple, never taking her eyes off him.
“You should be careful,” he warned. “You don’t want to cut yourself.”
Humor sparked in her eyes, for only a moment
. “I’m good.”
“Okay.” He glanced around. “You seen Chloe?”
“She was showering. She had blood on her when she arrived. Surprised she kept her shit together knowing blood was on her body. Normally, she would have lost her mind about that. It’s her one thing, but I’m sure you already realized that.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s why she likes to have a doctor dodging her steps. Not like you’re the first.” She brought the knife to her lips. There was a slice of apple on the blade. She ate it. Watched him.
And he tried to follow along. “Chloe has worked with other partners who are doctors?”
She winked.
“Chloe didn’t mention any other—”
“What Chloe doesn’t say is often more important than what she does.”
What the hell did that even mean?
“I’m sure you noticed that she doesn’t like it when things get bloody.”
“I might have noticed,” Joel allowed. “But the issue seems to be more for dead bodies. At least, that’s what she told me. The vic today wasn’t dead.”
“Because of the hero, rushing in to save the day.” She brought the knife to her lips once more. Took another bite. “But you still managed to get blood all over Chloe. Managed to make her face one of her own worst nightmares. Guess that doesn’t matter to you, does it? You’re walking around here, all cocky and smug, because you had a fucking good day. La, dee, dah.”
Now tension knotted in his shoulders.
“But did you ever once stop to ask her how she was doing?” Marie asked.
A throat cleared.
Marie swore. “Chloe. You know I hate it when you sneak up on me.”
“No. You only hate it when I catch you sharing secrets.” Chloe stood near the open kitchen door. “Joel was busy putting his hands inside Judith’s chest and stopping her from bleeding out. He didn’t have a chance to sit and hold my hand and make sure I wasn’t going to get all weepy on him.”
Marie laughed. Her legs kicked out. “You never get weepy.”
Joel headed straight for Chloe. Her hair was back in a little bun, still damp, and she’d dressed in jeans and a loose top. Flats covered her feet. “Are you okay?”
“I’m absolutely fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
A snort from Marie. “Liar, liar.”
Chloe didn’t glance at the other woman. “Don’t I look fine?”
She looked fantastic. Good enough to eat. Joel reached for her hand.
“What are you doing?” She frowned at him.
“I’m holding your hand now. What’s your worst nightmare?” But Joel thought he knew. After the digging he’d done on her, the pieces were slipping into place for him.
But she tugged her hand and tried to pull it free of his grip. “This isn’t the time to talk about nightmares.”
“I think it is.”
She shot a hot glance at Marie. “Do you see what you did?”
“I see. And I’m impressed. Props to you, doc, for stepping up.” She jumped off the counter. “Maybe you’ll last longer than I thought.”
“Marie, you are not helping,” Chloe told her.
“I absolutely am.” A soft response. “You’re the one who throws up walls. Self-sabotage, isn’t that the fancy name you threw at me once? Now I’m throwing it back at you. Because we both know we’re too much alike.” She was still holding her knife as she slipped from the kitchen.
“Interesting woman,” Joel noted.
“Yes, Marie is the most lethal lady I’ve ever met. Never go against her when she’s holding a knife.” Chloe sounded completely serious. As if she’d just delivered a warning Joel should never forget.
“You say a whole lot of scary shit to me.”
“Do I? Then prepare yourself. Because something else scary is about to come out of my mouth.”
He waited. Was she about to tell him her worst night—
“You and I are going to find a body.”
“Say again?”
“You and I. Us. We’re getting on your motorcycle and we’re heading for a big park. A quite scenic, lovely park. Once we get there, we’ll take a walk and perhaps find a body. If we get lucky.”
“Sure. Right. Because what else would you do in the afternoon? I mean, especially if you spent your morning covered in blood and at a crime scene. You should then definitely spend the afternoon and evening locating a dead body.”
“Precisely.” She gave him a quick nod. Even a cautious smile. “May I have my hand back?”
“No. Not until you answer my question.”
“Excuse me?” Her smile dimmed.
“It’s because of your parents, isn’t it? I read about them. About you. You were in the house with them. You found their bodies. Did their blood get on you? Is that why you can’t stand the sight—”
“You can’t rely on everything that you read. Most stories are a mix of truth and lies.” She wasn’t trying to tug her hand free any longer. “But, yes, my blood…issue developed when I was younger. When they died. I don’t like seeing the dead cut open, but honestly, who does? I’m sure many people feel the same way. As for the unease I experience when blood gets on my skin, it’s a visceral memory. Their blood was on me. It was a very long time before I could get it off. The stickiness and the smell today at the crime scene put me back in a bad moment from my past, and I-I don’t like going back there.”
God. She spoke so flatly. So carefully. But he could feel her pain. All carefully held back. What had Marie said? That she put up a wall? Hell, yes, Chloe did. He could practically see it. When he thought of what she must have gone through as a kid…to see her parents that way… “Baby, did you see them die?”
“You keep using terms of endearment with me. I don’t know if you mean them or not.”
“You keep trying to distract me. It won’t work.”
She shrugged.
“You must have been in the house,” he rasped.
“It was an estate. Quite large. Had been in the family for a long time. It could be quite possible to be in one wing of the house and have no idea what was happening in another location. You could even scream until you were hoarse from one room, and the people having a party downstairs would never hear you.”
His heart slammed into his chest. “Did you ever scream like that?” Tell me no. I need you to tell me—
Her long lashes lowered. “Why would I have screamed?” Once more, she pulled at his grip.
This time, he let her go. “Did…” He stopped. Tried again. “Did your parents have a lot of parties?”
“Every weekend. They enjoyed them.” She turned away. “I’ve never particularly enjoyed parties.”
“No, I don’t see where you’d like them.” He followed her out of the kitchen. Caught sight of Reese ducking into—was that a library? The place came with its own library? Sure. Why the hell not? “Give me one minute, would you, Chloe?”
“You haven’t even asked me whose dead body we’re trying to find. That seems odd.”
He paused. Realized he probably should have at least wondered. Instead, he’d found himself in a whole mindset of…Why-the-hell-not with her. “Whose body are we trying to find?”
“Promise you won’t get mad.”
“I will make no such promise.” Now he felt alarmed.
“In the interest of full disclosure, I had these items before you asked me to stop holding back on you. And I fully intended to tell you everything when we met with Judith. It was absolutely, one hundred percent on my to-do list. Know that.”
“God, I have a bad feeling in my gut.” Knots, lots of twisted knots. “You may be giving me an ulcer.”
“You should see a doctor about that,” Chloe returned without missing a beat.
He would not smile at her. He would also not let her distract him.
“Oh, Joel, you were just so excited when you seemed to have the idea of talking to the librarian. I hated to tell you that I had already talked with her.”
Silence. No, not silence. At least, not total silence. He could hear the ticking of the grandfather clock that stood near the entrance to the library. “You already talked to Judith.”
“Are you mad?”
“When did you talk to Judith?”
“Before we met, actually. So you shouldn’t feel like I didn’t include you in the question session. Our paths hadn’t crossed at that point.”
“Uh, huh.” He ran through scenarios in his head. Scenes. “Wait, back up. So you’d already made the connection with the high school football team before that whole bit at the police station? When you stared at their ring fingers and acted like you’d reached some major conclusion, you already knew that shit?” He almost laughed. “And here I thought you were hyper observant.”
“I am hyper observant. And I have an eidetic memory.”
Reese strolled out of the library. “Someone is bragging.”
She shot him an infuriated glance. “I am not!”
He smiled. Saluted and headed for the stairs—
“No.” Joel grabbed his arm. “Back to the library. You and I need to talk.”
“What? Why? Look, I just heard Chloe. You have a dead body to dig up.”
“We’re talking.” He pushed Reese toward the library.
Chloe sniffed. “Why do you need to talk to him?”
“Why did you go visit Judith?”
“Because of the first victim. As part of my investigation, I always dig into a victim’s past. I use the victim to help me find the killer. That’s how I work. Gregory Guidry. Recent police reports told me that he’d been abusive to his wife, but I’m always curious…”
“Here we go,” Reese muttered from the library’s doorway.
“What makes someone start attacking the ones they love?” Chloe mused. “Was Gregory always a bully? Did he hurt others before his wife? I wanted to know so…”
“So you dug into his high school life,” Joel concluded. “Got you.”
“Judith didn’t remember much about Gregory. But she let me see some of the old yearbooks that she’d kept as mementos. I actually have two of the yearbooks. Gregory’s senior year and his junior year.”
Joel closed the distance between them.
She tipped back her head to stare at him.