Critical Condition

by Sandra Orchard

  Tara looked at him, her soft eyes soothing all his ragged edges. She was so much more than he ever thought he’d have again. And suddenly all that mattered was convincing her that she deserved more, too. “You are a special woman. You deserve better.”

  The doubt in her eyes raked over his soul. More than anything, he wanted to be the man who made her feel truly cherished. Safe. Protected. Her long lashes swept down over her cheeks, moisture clinging to the feathery wisps. He trailed his fingers along her jaw, curled them beneath her hair at the nape of her neck, and gently touched his lips to hers.

  Her eyes opened, and she went still. Very still.

  His heart thumped hard.

  Then she closed her eyes, and to his utter amazement, her hands slipped around his waist, and she kissed him back.

  He drew her to himself, deepening the kiss. She tasted of sweet autumn breezes and the air after a storm. He lost himself in the wonderment of this precious woman welcoming his embrace. When he slowly pulled back, she let out a soft sigh.

  He touched his forehead to hers. “Believe me, Earl left you because something was wrong with him, not you.”

  The living-room light splashed across the front yard. Then instantly disappeared as the drapes fell back into place.

  Tara sprang away from him. “Oh, my, Kelly’s already here. She must have parked in the garage.”

  Zach restrained a groan. He’d stepped over the line. Gotten carried away. But even knowing that he hadn’t acted professionally, he couldn’t scrounge up an ounce of remorse.

  Tara reached for the door handle. “We’d better get inside before she wonders what we’re doing out here.”

  Zach rounded the truck to escort her. After the way Earl had treated her, he couldn’t blame Tara for being skittish.

  Kelly had the door open by the time they reached the porch. “Everything okay?”

  “We spotted Tara’s ex prowling around the place and went to have a chat with him.” Zach met Kelly’s scrutiny square on, not about to apologize for what she may or may not have seen him and Tara doing.

  The corner of Kelly’s mouth quirked knowingly, and of course, one look at the becoming flush of Tara’s cheeks would confirm her suspicions.

  He allowed himself a moment to revel in how right Tara had felt in his arms, then forced himself into cop mode.

  Kelly’s laptop sat open on the dining table, so he hoped she’d already made some headway in finding out what treatments might cause a fever, as he’d asked. He helped himself to a slice of pizza from the open box on the table and scanned the web page on the computer screen.

  Kelly quickly hit a key that cleared the screen.

  Zach swallowed his bite of pizza. “Hey, I was reading that.”

  She flashed him a silencing glare before turning a concerned expression to Tara. “Your sister called. She wants you to call her back.”

  “Oh.” Tara glanced at the clock. “I didn’t realize how late it was. I promised I’d call and talk to Suzie before bedtime. Excuse me.” She hurried to her bedroom, and the door clicked closed behind her.

  “Okay, now do you mind telling me what that was all about?” Zach took a seat in front of the laptop and pulled up the web page she’d hidden.

  “There are some things that Tara’s safer not knowing. If you were thinking straight, you wouldn’t have to ask.”

  Shifting in his seat, Zach read the screen.

  Letting out a huff, Kelly took the seat beside him. “Coley’s Toxin is the most promising possibility I’ve found. The treatment induces a fever that’s supposed to trigger the immune system to fight the cancer.”

  “Widely used in North America in the early twentieth century until the government outlawed the concoction in the seventies,” Zach read aloud. “Interesting.”

  He set down his pizza slice and looked up Coley’s Toxin on Google. The search landed another interesting hit. “Look at this. A cancer patient is blogging about a treatment that he claims is helping him make a spectacular recovery.”

  Kelly read over his shoulder. “An injection of staph and strep bacteria? Sounds nasty. No wonder the government banned it.”

  “It induces fevers that are short-lived but ferocious. Sounds a lot like what Melanie had.”

  “If she was on this stuff, that would explain why she’d refused medicine to help bring down the fever.”

  Zach tried to track the blogger’s profile. “The information’s blocked.” He skimmed through the blog posts. “He doesn’t say where he’s getting this stuff or what it’s costing him.”

  “Check the comments section,” Kelly suggested. “People tend to be more chatty there.”

  “Yes!” Zach clicked on the profile of a Chester. “He’s from Niagara. He’s got to be the same guy whose name is on Whittaker’s list. Now we’re getting somewhere.”

  “I thought you said Melanie explicitly asked that Whittaker not be summoned?”

  “He could have warned her not to draw attention to him.”

  Zach returned to the Google search and found a cross-reference to Coley’s Fluids, a more stringently consistent version of Coley’s original formula.

  “Hey, get this.” Kelly pointed to the screen. “The stuff is produced by a private biotech company right here in Canada, but patients who want the treatment have to travel to Germany or Mexico.”

  The mention of Mexico jogged Zach’s memory. “McCrae’s brother went to Mexico for an alternative treatment. McCrae was pretty steamed over the lack of approval for similar treatments here.”

  “If McCrae referred Melanie to an illegal treatment facility, it would explain why her fiancé didn’t want to talk to you about her treatments.”

  “Except this afternoon wasn’t the first time she had a fever. She had one in the hospital last week. And... McCrae supported her refusal to take something to bring down her fever.”

  Kelly glanced over at him. “You think he’s the one running a sideline in alternative treatments?”

  Zach scraped his fingers over his gritty eyes. “I don’t know. This is pure speculation. We have no proof.”

  “It makes sense, though. When people get desperate enough, they’ll pay anything for another chance.”

  Yeah. He knew what that felt like. When Carole’s fight against cancer had headed south, he’d been ready to grab at any hope the doctors would offer. Is that what was going on at the hospital? Was McCrae preying on patients’ fears of death by offering a miracle cure? Or was Whittaker trying to play God, and luring McCrae into unwittingly supporting the illegal treatment...by exploiting what had happened to his brother?

  Down the hall, the bedroom door opened.

  Kelly pushed the laptop closed, then leaned near his ear. “Think about it. He’d swear the patient to secrecy. But if the patient started seizing, a spouse might threaten to expose him.”

  Oh, yeah. A compelling motive for murder.

  Kelly straightened as Tara joined them.

  “How’s Suzie?” Zach nudged the pizza box in Tara’s direction, shaking off the direction of his thoughts.

  “Good.” She glanced from Kelly to him to the closed laptop. “Any luck with the research?”

  “Nothing concrete,” Kelly responded before Zach had a chance.

  Tara slumped into the chair opposite Zach and picked at a pepperoni slice. “Nothing at all?”

  The disappointment in her voice niggled at his conscience. He shot a sideways glance at Kelly, who gave a slight shake of her head. He knew she was right. The less Tara knew of their suspicions, the less likely she’d be to say or do something that might tip off their suspect. He reached across the table and stroked Tara’s hand. “We’re close. This will be over soon.”

  “By tomorrow?” Her gaze lifted to his. “My sister has to fly to Calgary to interview some
oil tycoon for an article.”

  “Can’t she do that by phone?”

  “The guy refuses. So Susan’s editor wants her to take advantage of the opportunity and fit in other interviews while she’s there. She’ll be gone a couple of days.”

  “Couldn’t Suzie stay with your mom?” Kelly asked.

  “No way,” Zach and Tara said in unison.

  Tara gave him a surprised look.

  “It would rouse bad memories of the afternoon you were shot at.”

  “Yes.”

  Kelly cleared her throat.

  Zach jerked his attention back to her. Oh, boy. He needed to get a grip. One glimpse of Tara’s eyes and he lost all sense of professionalism.

  “Is there a friend you feel comfortable leaving Suzie with?” Kelly pressed.

  “No. Suzie’s never stayed anywhere but at my parents’ and Susan’s. Am I going to have to go back into hiding?”

  Zach shook his head. “I don’t think that’s necessary.” By tomorrow, he might have convinced Melanie to give up her supplier. In the meantime, he’d have McCrae and Whittaker put under surveillance. “Suzie will be safe in the hospital daycare while you’re working, and either Kelly or I will be with you the rest of the time.”

  “Detective Gray also has regular patrols going past the house,” Kelly added.

  “The same patrols that kept my ex from sneaking onto the property tonight?”

  Kelly bit her lip, dropped her gaze.

  “You’re right.” Zach covered Tara’s hand with his own. “It’s easy enough to sneak past a patrol car. But your ex won’t come around anymore, and I honestly think you’ve fooled our suspect into believing he’s safe. If you suddenly take more time off, though, he could get worried. Besides, when you’re here, you will have protection inside the house with you. Kelly will be here when I’m not.”

  “You really think Suzie will be safe with me?”

  The anxiety in Tara’s voice made Zach’s chest ache. “You’ve got to know that I wouldn’t do anything to put your little girl in harm’s way.”

  FIFTEEN

  In the hospital parking lot the next morning, Kelly tripped the automatic door lock as Tara started to climb out. “You’d better wait. I don’t see Zach’s truck here yet.”

  Tara glanced at the dashboard clock. Six twenty-five. “He’d better hurry. My shift starts in five minutes.”

  Kelly pulled out her cell phone and punched in a number.

  Warmth rushed to Tara’s cheeks at the thought of seeing Zach again. Not that he’d been far from her thoughts since last night. The sparkle in his eyes. The smile lines at their corners. The dimples in his cheeks. If only her ex-husband’s cruel insults hadn’t tainted the memory of Zach’s sweet words and even sweeter kiss.

  Her insides trembled. Zach’s interest seemed serious. Really serious. And that scared her.

  Kelly snapped shut her phone. “He’s on his way.”

  Tara’s breath backed up in her chest. She wasn’t ready to face him. Not yet. She thumbed the lock switch open. “I’ll head up to my floor, then. Don’t want to draw more attention to myself by being late.”

  Kelly scanned the parking lot. “Yeah, okay. I’ll let him know.”

  As Tara rode the elevator up to the cancer ward, she wondered what it would be like to be cherished by a man like Zach. She wasn’t naive enough to believe her quirks wouldn’t drive even someone as sweet tempered as Zach a little crazy. But part of loving someone was overlooking those kinds of things. At least that’s what Susan had kept insisting on the phone last night after she’d dragged out of her all the details of their romantic parley.

  Tara leaned against the elevator wall and closed her eyes. She could still feel the warmth of Zach’s strong hands steadying her as she’d faced Earl. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been trembling until Zach’s touch had grounded her. And then there was the sincerity in his voice when he’d told her something was wrong with Earl, not her.

  The elevator doors slid open. Alice Bradshaw and Dr. Whittaker stood a few feet away, heads bent over the clipboard Alice held. What was Dr. Whittaker doing here so early?

  Alice glanced up as Tara stepped off the elevator, and immediately shifted her stance, blocking from Tara’s view whatever the pair were poring over.

  “Good morning,” Tara said with as much pleasantness as she could muster.

  Neither betrayed any indication they’d heard her. But the way Alice steered Whittaker into the privacy of the alcove raised Tara’s guard.

  She slowed her step as she neared them.

  “There’s got to be another way to convince her to mind her own business,” Whittaker whispered.

  The air froze in Tara’s lungs, but somehow she forced her suddenly boneless legs to keep moving. With each step her spine stiffened, along with her resolve. She wouldn’t be bullied into turning a blind eye to what had gone down in Debra Parker’s room. Mr. Parker had begged her to stop the killer. A dying man didn’t make stuff like that up.

  Tara rounded the corner of the nurse’s station and collapsed into the desk chair, her mind reliving the moments before his death. She could see it clearly now. Whittaker, Bradshaw and McCrae had all rushed into the room in response to the code blue. They’d worked feverishly on Mrs. Parker...or at least that’s how it had appeared. Not one had come to her aid to try and save Mr. Parker. She’d assumed that his gaze had been pinned to his wife when he’d begged her to stop the killer. But what if he’d been looking at the very person he feared would finish his wife off?

  “You okay?”

  Tara shook the images from her head and shifted her attention to the departing RN. “Yes, sorry. My mind was somewhere else.” She tucked her trembling hands under her thighs.

  The RN filled her in on a few minor changes in their patients’ conditions and then gathered her coat and purse.

  “Wasn’t Melanie Rivers readmitted last night?” Tara asked as the woman headed out.

  “Nope. No new admissions.”

  Tara reached for the phone. With a quick glance to where she’d last seen Alice and Whittaker to ensure she wouldn’t be overheard, she dialed the E.R. extension. “Hi, Beth, this is Tara on D ward. I’m checking on the status of our cancer-patient Melanie Rivers. She came in yesterday with a high fever. Do they want to admit her?” Tara heard papers shuffling on the other end of the line.

  “No. Looks like you’re off the hook. They sent her home.”

  Sent her home? From the way Melanie had looked yesterday afternoon, Tara had expected to find her seriously ill this morning. As she hung up the phone, a shadow crossed over her desk.

  Tara’s heart jumped into her throat. “What are you doing here?”

  McCrae chuckled. “Haven’t you heard? I live here.”

  “You pulled another all-nighter?”

  He sloughed off her exasperation with a shrug. “Thanks again for coming to find me to see Miss Rivers yesterday. Your concern for your patients does you credit.”

  “I still don’t understand why she wouldn’t take anything to bring down the fever until she saw you.”

  “Fevers are the body’s natural defense mechanism. She was letting it do its job.” Admiration tinged his voice.

  “You mean you didn’t give her anything for the fever, either.”

  His eyebrow lifted, in silent censure. “Are you questioning my judgment?”

  “No, but...” His tone had sounded affronted, but the twinkle in his eye said he was teasing. “Well, yes. Yes, I am. She could have suffered brain damage.”

  “We monitored her temperature closely and, since we were able to keep her comfortable with warm blankets, we decided to let the fever run its course.” He rested his hip on the edge of the desk and clasped his hands over his knees. “Not conventional,
I know. But the strategy worked equally as well. Perhaps better. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Tara squirmed under his penetrating gaze. “No, I would’ve been more comfortable with giving her meds.”

  McCrae chuckled. “Well, at least you’re honest.”

  Tara straightened the files on the desk, avoiding eye contact. Although they’d occasionally engaged in small talk, she’d never seen McCrae this...interested before.

  “Don’t you wish sometimes that you could do more?”

  “More?” She rummaged through the desk drawer for a stapler.

  He stilled her hand with a fleeting touch. “To help your patients?”

  “Oh—” She had a weird feeling this was some sort of test, and that no matter how she answered, she was going to be in trouble.

  “Take yesterday, for example. Miss Rivers told me you offered to fetch Dr. Whittaker.”

  “Yes, but she wanted to see you.”

  “Because she knows that I have her best interests at heart. I think you’d agree that sometimes Dr. Whittaker is more concerned with...” McCrae’s hand fluttered, as if trying to pluck just the right word. “...other things.”

  Tara’s arm jerked, knocking a stack of files askew again. Restraightening them, she stole a glance at McCrae. What did he mean? Did he know what Whittaker was up to?

  “I can see you’re not like that.” McCrae thumbed through the stack of files and pulled a couple. “From here on out, I hope I can count on you to trust my judgment.”

  She stared after him, vaguely uneasy about how to interpret his unexpected alliance. A call bell startled her attention back to her duties. She smoothed the creases from the file she’d been clenching, and left the desk to see to the patient.

  As she took the elderly woman’s blood pressure, she caught sight of movement at the door, followed by a light tap.

  “Everything okay?” Zach’s voice drifted into the room.