by Sandra Brown
Pinkie certainly wouldn’t want her going to meet an unidentified caller alone. She decided to keep it to herself until she had something. It might pan out to be nothing.
Still, she didn’t know how she could stand the suspense until nine o’clock.
By nine fifteen, she was pacing impatiently. By nine thirty, she was deriding herself for being a gullible idiot. She had wasted her evening on a wild-goose chase when she could have been at home thinking about the new bedspread she was tempted to buy, or redoing her shelf paper in the kitchen cabinets, or fantasizing about Hunter, or anything more constructive than spending the time in a deserted parking garage that was giving her the creeps.
She turned around with the intention of going back to her car and almost bumped into the young man who stepped from behind a concrete pillar. Kari gasped and flattened her hand over her chest. Her heart jumped into her throat. She had the fleeting notion that all this might have been set up by a weirdo with an obsession for her.
“Hi.”
“Hello,” she said breathlessly. This was the guy. His voice had been disguised over the telephone, but she recognized it.
“I’ve been watching to make sure you were by yourself.”
She tried a smile, but her lips were rubbery with fright. She had been very stupid. No one on earth knew where she was. No one would notice she was missing until tomorrow morning when she didn’t report for work. But it wouldn’t do to let him know she was afraid.
“What did you have to tell me?” she asked with an air of impatient authority.
He wet his lips and ran his palms down the side of his pants leg. She relaxed somewhat. He was more nervous than she. He sidestepped her and opened the door of a Volkswagen bug. “Can we talk in here? If anyone sees us …”
Knowing she could be making another dumb move, she slid into the front seat on the passenger side. He closed the door, went around, and sat behind the wheel. He gripped it with tense fingers and gnawed the insides of his jaw. “Thanks for coming.”
“Thanks for calling me.” Neither pretended there had ever been a “friend.”
“I had to talk to somebody. I didn’t know who to tell. I didn’t want the cops after me, ya know?”
That was when she began to trust him. He wouldn’t quite look her in the eye, which told her he was almost as nervous about meeting a “celebrity” as he was about the information he had to give. He was young, early twenties, she guessed. His hair was blond and fuzzy, a trifle long, but clean. His complexion was clear but showed scars of adolescent acne. He had on gray slacks, a plain white shirt, and Adidas.
“What’s your name?” she asked in a confidence-inspiring tone.
“Grady. Grady Burton. You’re not going to use it in the story, are you?”
“I don’t have a story yet. But if you don’t want to be identified, you won’t be. You have my word.”
His shoulders relaxed appreciably and his hands released the steering wheel. “I think you’re all right, Ms. Stewart.”
“Call me Kari. Now tell me what you know.”
“I’m not sure it’s anything.”
“It may not be, but tell me anyway.”
“I work as an orderly, sometimes on the maternity floor. There’s this doctor, see, a snooty, rich sonofabitch. Drives a Porsche and thinks he’s God-almighty and expects everybody to treat him like it. Anyway, him and this nurse; well, at first I thought they were just screwing around.” His face blushed crimson. “I mean—”
“I know what you mean.”
“They were always meeting in secret and closing themselves up in vacant rooms and all, ya know? There was talk, but there always is about who’s, uh, you know, who’s doing it with who. Then that kid vanishes.”
He hitched a knee up in his seat to better face her. “I’d heard that doctor say something strange to that nurse a few days before it happened but didn’t think nothing of it. So, then when the kid drops out, I thought it must be my imagination and why should I risk my job? I kept my mouth shut. Then another kid.” He whistled and made a sliding motion with his hand. “Disappears clean as a whistle. I couldn’t help but put two and two together. When that last kid went the way of the other two, it began to eat at my gut, ya know?”
She smiled at him. “You’ve done the right thing, Grady. Why don’t you tell me everything you’ve overheard and seen. In chronological order, if you can. Be as specific as your memory will let you. Do you mind if I take notes?”
“No. But I ain’t gonna give you no names.”
“Fair enough.”
He talked for half an hour and the longer he talked the more excited she became. He knew more than he’d given himself credit for. “Are you gonna put it on the news?” he asked when he had finished.
“I don’t know. I have to check with my producer, but this has to get out, Grady. Whoever these people are, they’ve committed several crimes. It’s got to be stopped.”
“That’s the way I figured it.”
“Can I call you?”
He frowned. “Naw,” he said with uncertainty. “But I swear if I see or hear anything else, I’ll get in touch with you.”
“Please do. Is there someone who can confirm what you’ve told me?”
“Confirm?”
“I really should have two sources.”
“Yeah, well, there is someone else. Only she’s afraid to talk to you.”
“Who is she?”
“All I’ll say is that she’s a nurse and has much more clout around that place than I do.”
“And she’s overheard things, too?”
“Let’s say she’s just as suspicious.”
“If I asked her questions, would she at least answer yes or no?”
“I think so. Anyway, she said I could give you a phone number, but no name.” He took a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to Kari.
“You both realize that if we do air this story, the hospital is going to become a hornet’s nest.”
“Yeah.”
She patted his hand. “Good luck, Grady, and thanks.” She paused as she stepped from the car to ask him one last question. “Of all the reporters in town, why did you call me?”
He grinned. “I knew I could trust you. There’s this guy here in the hospital. He said you covered his ass one time when he gave you a patient’s room number.”
She smiled. “I’ll cover yours, too. I promise.”
Pinkie let a long, slow expletive filter through his teeth. He was at an editing machine watching the finished product on the monitor. “I should paddle your fanny for going into a parking garage to meet that guy. Don’t ever do anything that stupid again. Who was he?”
“I call him Deep Throat.”
“Very funny. For God’s sake, he could have been a rapist setting you up.”
“I thought of that,” she said honestly. “But he wasn’t and this is dynamite and are you going to air it?”
“Why do you always do this to me? Why am I always getting my rear chafed for sitting on the fence trying to decide if I’m going to air one of your stories or not?”
He must really like it. He was working himself into a lather over it. Kari smiled placidly. “I’m good, that’s why.”
“I thought we were out of the woods with you. My stomach was beginning to settle down. Now this. Why don’t you call McKee, have a great roll in the sack with him, and come back tomorrow with a nice little story about a retired maiden school teacher?”
Kari crossed her arms over her chest. “Stop being abusive. Are you going to air it or not?”
“On the word of one flunky?”
“How do you know he’s a flunky?” she challenged. “He might be the chief of staff.” Pinkie frowned at her threateningly. “All right, I’ll admit he’s not very high on the pecking order, but his story was confirmed by an R.N.”
“Who?”
“She refused to give me her name but assured me that she has seniority.”
He cursed beneath his br
eath and studied the wall for a moment. “All right. I’m going to air it. You’ve got us covered on libel with enough allegedly’s and supposedly’s. You know the police will be on you like frogs on a June bug, don’t you?”
“Everything I know is in the story.”
“What they see is what they get?”
“Exactly.”
“They ain’t gonna like it. They ain’t gonna believe it, either.”
“What’s up?” Bonnie popped her head around the door.
“I’m getting drunk tonight and I don’t want any argument from you,” Pinkie said, poking his finger close to her nose.
She only smiled, kissed him full on the mouth, and said, “I love you, too.”
Before he left with her, he glanced at the monitor again and made a regretful sound. “I have a premonition that I’m going to hate like hell approving this, but it’s too damn good to put a lid on.”
Kari sat curled in her easy chair, her eyes glued to the television screen as she watched her story air on the six o’clock news. Visually it wasn’t much. The only thing she could get on tape was an exterior shot of the hospital. She had edited in file tape of the stories done when each child disappeared.
It was what she had to say that would have the impact: It had been reported to her by two reliable sources that the kidnapings, for lack of a better word, had possibly been committed by members of the hospital staff.
It was a terrific story.
She was almost too excited to eat, but she cooked herself an omelet. She had just slid it onto a plate when her doorbell rang. Before opening the door, she checked the peephole.
Hunter! Her heart thudded at the sight of him. It had been three weeks, the longest twenty-one days in her life. Quickly she unlatched the door and swung it open. Her joy was premature.
He was livid.
Chapter Thirteen
WITHOUT SAYING A WORD, HE BRUSHED PAST HER AND came inside. She closed the door and turned to face him. Behind his glasses, his eyes were dark with anger. The brows over them were glowering. His body was drawn taut with rage. His fists balled and relaxed reflexively at his sides. He looked like he’d had a very trying day.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done this time?”
“Hello, Hunter. How nice to see you, too.”
She smiled up at him provocatively. After taking off the dress she had worn to work, she had put on an oversize sweatshirt. It rode low over the oldest, most ragged pair of jeans she owned. The sleeves were pushed up past her elbows. Her feet were bare. Her hair had been wound into a loose knot that was slipping from its precarious perch on the top of her head.
Her composure was an effective retaliation against his fury. It snapped him to attention like nothing else could have. He saw past his anger and looked at the woman. She looked adorable. Desire engulfed him, desire that was as rampant and consuming as a wildfire.
Reaching across the space that separated them, he grabbed a handful of her sweatshirt and hauled her against him. His other hand wrapped around that slipping mass of hair and lifted her face close to his.
“I want you so bad it’s killing me.”
His lips were rapacious. They moved over hers hungrily. His tongue reclaimed her mouth for its own.
Kari didn’t even pretend to resist. She didn’t care that he was obviously furious with her. Whatever reason had brought him to her, she was glad for it. Her head fell back and her mouth surrendered itself to him. She tunneled her fingers through his hair.
Assured of his conquest, he slowed down, gentled. He released the wad of cloth in his hand and with the other lifted the sweatshirt until her breasts were bare against his shirt. He sighed her name when his hand covered the warm fullness. His thumb coaxed her nipple to a hard peak.
“… feel so good …” he mumbled incoherently.
“Oh, Hunter, yes.” She pressed the sides of his face between her palms as their mouths fused.
He covered as much of her fanny as he could with one widespread hand and lifted her tight against him. She came up on bare toes to fit herself to his hardness. His tongue repeatedly dipped into the hot sweetness of her mouth. The kiss was unashamedly evocative and she moaned.
Then abruptly he released her and stepped away. He turned his back to her.
Kari stared at him mutely, feeling rejected and humiliated by the willingness she had demonstrated. She pulled down her sweatshirt and raised a trembling hand to her lips. They felt bruised and swollen. To her further dismay, tears filled her eyes.
He must have heard her tremulous sob because he turned back to her instantly. The tension in his face collapsed. “Oh, baby, don’t. I can’t go on kissing you like that.” With infinite tenderness, he touched her lips with the back of his index finger. Then he dropped his hand to his side. “Because I want to make love to you.” His voice lowered to a husky whisper. “And I can’t do that, either.” He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. When he reopened them, he looked at her wearily.
“Kari, do you have any idea what you’ve done with this hospital story of yours?”
She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it without making a sound. She hadn’t expected him to be upset about that and was unprepared to answer his question. “I’m sure it opened a can of worms over there.”
He laughed shortly as his gaze hit the ceiling before bouncing back to her. “A bit more than that. You’ve destroyed months of undercover work.”
She gazed at him blankly. When she read the frustration on his face, she sank onto the edge of the sofa. Clasping her hands together, she began to shake all over. “You had undercover detectives working in the hospital?”
He nodded. “And now, with this story you aired tonight, you’ve destroyed the progress they were making. No one will be talking anymore. They’ll be walking on eggshells over there for fear of reprisal. Those officers are as good as useless to me. And they were making good headway. Now it’s all shot to hell.”
“I’m sorry,” she said with genuine regret. “I had no way of knowing.”
“Then you should have cleared the story with me first,” he shouted.
She shot off the couch, immediately defensive at his heavy-handed tone. “I never clear a story with anyone but Pinkie.”
“He hardly had the authority to approve this one.”
“In that newsroom, he is the authority, not you, Mr. District Attorney.” When his face went dark with fury, she retreated. “I’m sorry. That was unnecessary.” She sat back down on the arm of the sofa and looked up at him. “A story like that can’t be suppressed, Hunter. It was a dynamic news story.”
“Good for ratings, I suppose.”
“Yes!” To hell with appealing to his reason. If he was going to play hardball, so would she.
“And your ratings are more important than months of police work?”
“No, of course not. But how was I to know you had men planted over there? I had no way of knowing that I was sabotaging a whole network of investigation.”
“Did you think I laughed off the disappearance of three babies, told the parents that I was very sorry, but I couldn’t find their kids, better luck next time? Do you think when I’m not actually in court I’m sitting over there twiddling my thumbs?”
Her chin went up at his condescending tone. “You don’t have to justify your job to me any more than I have to justify mine to you.”
He cursed beneath his breath. “Dammit, Kari, this isn’t a contest between you and me. It’s bigger than that. Do you realize what we’re talking about? We’re talking about three missing babies, six desperate parents, and an army of frustrated investigators.”
All the fight went out of her then. He was right. This had nothing to do with them and she was behaving childishly. “I said I’m sorry, Hunter, and I am. Of course I realize the gravity of the situation. To think that someone, anyone, could steal an infant from a hospital nursery. …” She shuddered. “I sympathize with those parents. That’s why I wanted to get that s
tory on the news. Did you ever stop to think that instead of impeding the investigation, my story might help it?”
Hunter’s anger had abated, too. He looked tired as he shook his head. “Not this time. We have a strong suspect. We’ve been keeping tabs on him for months. He’s come into large, unaccounted-for sums of money. But that’s not enough to arrest him. We need evidence, facts, dates. Now he’ll burrow under, cover his tracks, and we may never get him.”
He took a step closer and drilled into her eyes with his. “Can you help me, Kari?”
“Not any more than I have. Everything I know was in the story.”
“Did your source mention the name of the doctor? The nurse?”
She was shaking her head emphatically. “No. I swear it.”
“Who was your source?”
She stared up at him for a long moment. Her eyes were sad and apologetic. “Please don’t ask me that, Hunter. You know I can’t tell you.”
“This isn’t a game, Kari. You’ve got to tell me. Your informant might be the culprit. He might be suffering a guilty conscience, wanting to confess but afraid to.”
“No, he isn’t the one. And I use ‘he’ as an impersonal pronoun, not to specify gender.”
“You took the word of one individual and—”
“Two. I have two sources. I met one face-to-face. The other confirmed over the telephone what the first told me. They’re both frightened.”
“We’ll protect them until we have enough evidence to arrest the suspects. Their names won’t be divulged. I promise.”
“I promised, Hunter, before you did. I can’t reveal my source.”
“Even if it means going to jail?” he asked quietly.
She could feel the blood draining from her face. “Jail?”
Hunter began to pace. “When I came over here tonight, I was mad as hell at you. I saw months of hard work going down the drain. But I’m a pussycat compared to the chief detective assigned to this case. He’s a hard-nosed cop, Kari. I pleaded with him on your behalf. I begged him to let me talk to you first. I promised to deliver you and the names of your sources to him first thing in the morning.”