“Define all right. I’m alive and mostly unhurt, but I’ve got a goose egg on my head, my car’s taking a swim and my camera has been stolen.”
The shudder that rippled through her this time had less to do with her damp clothes than the reminder of having come to with a throbbing headache, only to find her camera missing. Not her purse or phone. Just her camera. Which told her plenty. The man who’d knocked her out hadn’t been interested in robbing her. He’d run her off the road in order to get the camera. Or more specifically the pictures on the camera. From the hospital.
What had she photographed that he didn’t want her to see or have evidence of? Whose feathers had she ruffled with her photo session and interviews?
“Did you hit your head when the car crashed?” he said, pulling off his sunglasses and gently probing her wound.
“No, the guy who ran me off the road clobbered me with a big branch.”
The officer arched an eyebrow. “Pardon?”
Elise launched into the full story of what had happened. She was telling the deputy about waking up to discover her camera missing, when a second car pulled off the highway. She shielded her eyes from the sun and gazed up the embankment.
“Elise!” Jared called, hastily descending the steep slope at the side of the road.
She staggered past the deputy and flung herself into Jared’s open embrace. “Oh, Jared, I was so scared.”
Concern dented his brow. “You’re bleeding.”
“Could have been much worse.” She pointed to her car, the front end completely submerged. Jared’s face drained of color, and she knew he was thinking of the way Kelly died. “But you’re here, and except for a headache, I’m okay. That’s all that matters.” She curled her fingers in his jacket and pulled him close. “Just hold me for a minute, and I’ll be fine.”
He wrapped a firm hug around her, strong and possessive. Protective. “Jeez, Elise, you have no idea the scenarios I was imagining driving out here. I only caught bits of what you were saying when you called, and—”
Tucked in his arms as she was, she felt the shudder that rolled through him, the hammering beat of his heart.
“Ma’am,” the deputy said, “I need you to sign this accident report with your statement. Dispatch tells me an ambulance is less than five minutes away. They’ll check your head wound.”
“I don’t need—” she started, shaking her head, and the pain that ricocheted through her skull silenced her argument. She raised a hand to the bump on her head. “Ow. Okay, you win.”
She pulled reluctantly from Jared’s arms and scribbled her signature on the bottom of the accident report.
“We’ll let you know if we learn anything about the guy responsible.” The deputy tapped his hat in parting and trudged back up the hill to his cruiser as the ambulance arrived.
“Hit-and-run?” Jared asked.
“Literally.” She pointed to her head.
His eyes widened, and his jaw tensed. “You were assaulted?”
“And my camera was stolen. I think my questions at Pine Mill Hospital this afternoon rattled someone’s cage.”
“You think you were targeted? Why?” He held up a hand. “Wait. Tell me once we get you out of here.”
He put a hand under her elbow and helped her up the hill to meet the EMTs. Good thing, too, because her legs were still a bit rubbery. She declined the ambulance transport, promising Jared he could take her to the E.R. instead.
Once they were on the road, she laid out the events of the whole day. “At first, everyone was excited to have an article written about the hospital. I got the chance to take pictures and even be present at a birth with none other than Dr. Arrimand delivering.”
“Isn’t he the guy who delivered Grace?”
“Yeah, and get this—he also delivers babies at two other small hospitals in the area.”
Jared jerked his gaze from the road to her. “Including the hospital where Kim Harrison delivered?”
“Ding, ding, ding. Give that man a prize. Yep, Crestview General where the Harrisons went, and Clairmont Community Hospital.”
He returned his attention to the road and furrowed his brow. “Interesting.”
“Dr. Arrimand was on duty while I was there. He was somewhat charming and friendly at first, and he granted me an interview, until…”
Jared arched an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“His head nurse came in and whispered something to him. Then his mood changed dramatically. When I asked about the hospital’s limited resources, specifically the critical-care facilities for newborns, he turned things around and began quizzing me on why I picked Pine Mill for my article and my past experience with the hospital. He became more and more closed off, and after Dr. Galloway brought me the reports he’d copied, Dr. Arrimand shut down completely.”
“Who is Galloway?”
“The coroner. I learned some fascinating things from him, too, but the shift in Arrimand’s behavior was what set off alarms for me. When Dr. Galloway left, Arrimand asked me to leave. When I asked about rescheduling to finish the interview, he refused.”
“Sounds like he has something to hide.”
“That’s what I was thinking. And the mood change happened right after the nurse came in. What did she tell him?” she asked rhetorically as she stared out the window. “Then, as I was driving home, I was run off the road, and my camera was stolen.”
Jared groaned, and his shoulders sagged. “So the thief has all the pictures you took at the hospital.”
“Not exactly.” She fished in her pocket and pulled out the memory card she’d taken from her camera earlier. “I have this.”
Jared twitched a grin. “You’re good.”
“Well, it wasn’t as much forethought or cunning as that the card was full, and I changed it. It doesn’t have all the photos I took, but it has most of them.” She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “What do you say we stick this baby in your computer and see what we’ve got? “
“After you get checked out at the E.R.,” he said. “I would love to see if we can figure out what has the good doctor and his staff so worried.”
Chapter 8
“You heard the doctor. You need someone to stay with you for a couple days,” Jared argued as he helped Elise back to his car after she was released from the E.R. in Lagniappe. The hit to her head had caused a minor concussion, and someone needed to monitor her in case she experienced any side effects. “Because of Izzy, it’s not practical for me to stay at your place. So you’re coming to my house. Case closed.”
“Jared, you don’t have to—”
He stopped walking and caught her shoulders so that he had her full attention. “I want to. I need to be sure you’re safe. I think it’s obvious you riled someone with your questions, and they targeted you. I don’t want them to have a second chance to hurt you.”
Her face paled, and he pulled her into a tight hug.
“Do you have any idea how scared I was as I drove out to find you?” he murmured into her hair. After her swim in Claiborne Lake, she smelled slightly of fish and mud, but he didn’t care. She was safe and relatively unharmed. “The thought of anything happening to another woman I cared about just—”
She tensed and lifted a querying gaze.
“What?” He traced her lips with a fingertip. “It surprises you that I care what happens to you? That you’ve become important to me?”
She ducked her head and leaned into him again. “I…I just— It’s all just kind of overwhelming. Everything that’s happened these last few weeks has my head spinning.”
“You sure that’s not the concussion?” He kissed her nose and gave her a half grin.
She groaned and closed her eyes. “I wish the painkillers they gave me would kick in. My head is throbbing.”
A van pulled into the E.R. parking lot, and he guided Elise out of the van’s path and to his car. “I don’t mean to scare you, but you have to consider the possibility that whoever attacked you on th
e road might try to hurt you again.”
She angled a dark frown at him as he unlocked the passenger door. “Yeah, it occurred to me.”
“And what do you think they’ll do when they realize they don’t have the memory card from your camera?” She inhaled sharply and wavered on her feet. Drawing her back into his arms again, he rubbed her back. “They went to this much trouble to steal the camera. Do you really think they’ll just give up?”
She shuddered, and he squeezed her tighter, wishing he could absorb her fear and shield her from any more pain. But ignoring the truth of her situation didn’t serve any good. She needed to stay alert, take extra precautions, not turn a blind eye to possible trouble.
Elise tipped her head back to peer up at him. “I need to tell MysteryMom what happened. I should send her the pictures I took, too.”
“You can use my computer.”
“No. If I’m going to stay with you, I need to stop by my place and pick up a few things. I’ll bring my laptop.”
Nodding, he opened the car door for her, and she slid carefully onto the seat. Elise directed him to her house but rode most of the way with her head leaned back and her eyes pinched closed in pain. At her house, he helped her to the door and took the keys from her when she fumbled them.
He unlocked her door, then stood back to let her enter first. A couple steps inside, Elise gasped and stopped so abruptly he nearly collided with her. “Elise? What—?”
Then he saw it. Her living room was in shambles, her possessions tossed from shelves and drawers, her sofa cushions upended. A cool draft drew his attention to the back door, which stood ajar.
“Oh, God. Someone’s been here,” she rasped.
She wobbled, and Jared quickly put an arm around her to steady her. “It looks like they were searching for something.”
Her fingers clutched his wrist. “The memory card.”
She was starting to hyperventilate, and he guided her toward a chair to sit down. “Breathe, sweetheart. Slow, deep breaths. I don’t need you passing out on me.”
“What if—”
A thump from the back of her house interrupted her, and they both tensed.
“They’re still here!” she whispered, panic flooding her face.
“Stay here!” His tone brooked no resistance. Jared edged toward the hall, moving quietly. At the corner of the living room, he flattened himself against her wall out of sight and peered down the hall.
Another rustle drifted up the corridor. A shadow crept over the carpet. Jared tensed, adrenaline sharpening his senses.
Then a man in a gray fleece jacket stepped out of a back room, carrying her laptop. The intruder glanced warily down the hall then hustled toward Jared. Seeing no weapon in the burglar’s hands, Jared swung out to block the man’s escape. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
Startled, the intruder halted. Briefly. Then he bared his teeth in a snarl and charged. He rammed Jared like a linebacker, his shoulder lowered to smash into Jared’s chest.
Air whooshed from Jared’s lungs, and he staggered back a step. Quickly finding his balance, Jared lurched for the intruder as the man tried to shove past him. With a wrestler’s hold, Jared tackled the thief and used his weight to send the man to the floor. As they fell, Elise screamed, and Jared prayed she stayed back, out of harm’s way.
He pinned the man down, grappling with him for the upper hand. In the struggle, Elise’s laptop came loose from the intruder’s grip, and Jared knocked the computer out of reach.
With his hands relieved of the laptop, however, the intruder was able to free a trapped arm. Before Jared could size up the threat, the man reared his arm back and landed a fist in Jared’s jaw.
Jared had always thought the notion of seeing stars was hyperbole, but the pain that reverberated in his skull had him rethinking his belief. While he was dazed, the thief wrenched free and staggered to his feet. Jared scrambled to grab him. He managed to snag the bottom of the man’s jacket, but the burglar shed the coat and darted out the back door.
“Jared!” Elise was at his side in an instant, gently probing his jaw with her fingers. “Are you all right? Your mouth is bleeding.”
He dabbed at his busted lip and slowly moved his lower jaw side to side. “I’ll live.”
He rose to his feet, then helped her off the floor. “Call the cops. I have his jacket, and they can probably get DNA off it. And his fingerprints are going to be all over your laptop.”
She shook her head. “He was wearing gloves.”
“He was?” He tried to picture what he’d seen as he battled the intruder but had to admit he’d been preoccupied, trying to subdue the man.
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and dialed. “Latex, like they wear at the doctor’s office.”
His gut clenched. “Or the hospital.”
She met his gaze, acknowledging his comment with a troubled look, then turned her attention to answering the 911 operator’s questions.
Jared dropped the jacket on a chair and went into the kitchen in search of ice and a towel for his jaw. As he assembled his ice pack, one thought played front and center in his mind. What would have happened to Elise if she’d come home to the intruder alone?
Somehow, Elise had poked a hornets’ nest, and he feared the worst was yet to come.
After Jared finished answering the police officers’ questions, he went in search of Elise, who’d finished her interview earlier and disappeared to the back of the house.
He followed Elise’s voice to the back room and found her on her hands and knees, head down, bottom up, cooing to something under the bed. “Come on, baby. That bad man isn’t going to get you. Come on, Brookie Wookie.”
Brookie Wookie? Jared smiled to himself then tipped his head to admire the view of Elise’s shapely fanny. When Kelly had gotten down on all fours like that to look under a bed or couch, he would give her a playful smack on the butt.
While Elise’s derriere was a tempting target, he decided their relationship was not in a place he could take such intimate liberties, even in jest. But damn, she had a nice figure…
“That’s a good girl,” she said, backing up and pulling a tan-and-black tabby cat out from under the bed. She scratched the cat behind the ears and, hugging it close to her chest, kissed the tabby on the top of the head.
Jared pushed away from the door frame where he’d leaned his shoulder to watch and crouched beside Elise. He patted the cat’s back. “Who’s this?”
“Brooke. Can she come to your house, too? I don’t want to leave her here alone.”
“Sure.” He flashed her a lopsided grin. “The more the merrier.”
“Really?” She scrunched her nose skeptically. “You think your cats will mind?”
He grunted and scratched his chin. “Well, Diva will probably mind. She’s earned her name. But she doesn’t pay the mortgage. I do, and I say Brooke is welcome.”
He put a hand under Elise’s elbow and helped her to her feet while she cradled Brooke against her chest. On the bed, she’d already started filling a small travel bag with clothes and toiletries.
“I’ll just go put her in her travel carrier,” she said and headed out of the room.
Jared turned slowly, taking in the feminine decor, the personal touches that were uniquely Elise. Stepping over to her dresser, he studied an aged framed picture of a woman with two small children, a boy and a girl. Elise and her brother with their mother?
Next to the photo was a well-worn stuffed teddy bear with a ragged red ribbon around its neck, various bottles of lotion, perfume and nail polish, and a jewelry box, with its contents spilling out. His gut tightened. Had the intruder rifled through the box? It sickened him, infuriated him to think of the thug invading Elise’s personal space, touching her private property, her most cherished possessions. If the intrusion bothered him this much, how must she feel?
He faced her bed and stared at the rumpled covers, picturing her lithe body wrapped in the silky sheets. Somethi
ng pink and lacy peeked out from under her pillow. Heat flashed through him so hard and fast it stole his breath. He summoned the memory of the kiss they’d shared in the corridor outside the support-group meeting. Her lips had been warm and willing, sweet and soft. Desire coiled in his belly, and he gritted his teeth.
Cool it, Coleman. She’s not looking for that kind of relationship. In fact, if what she’d told him the other night was true, she wasn’t looking for any kind of relationship beyond friendship.
Huffing his frustration, he shifted his attention to her desk where drawers stood open with papers strewn about. Another spike of protective fury pumped through his blood. Nausea swamped him knowing the intruder had searched the space where Elise was at her most vulnerable, the room where she slept, where she let her guard down, where her secrets and heartaches should have been safe.
“Okay, we’re ready.” Her voice jolted him out of his musing. “Will you grab the bag on the bed?” She stood at the door with a pet carrier in her arms.
Brooke gave a plaintive meow from inside the cage.
Jared zipped her travel bag closed and hoisted it from the bed. He read her hesitation in her expression. “It’s for the best, Elise. Especially now.” Now that someone has tried to kill you and has broken into your home. The hollow, frightened look in her eyes told him the unspoken definition of now was understood.
He stepped closer to her and stroked a hand along her jaw, then cupped her cheek. “Elise, anyone trying to hurt you will have to come through me to get to you.” He pressed a soft kiss on her lips and whispered, “I promise I will keep you safe.”
“I’m afraid I didn’t make a very good impression on your mother,” Elise said, dropping wearily on the living-room sofa after she’d showered and changed clothes at Jared’s house. “Coming in smelling like lake water and so rattled by the break-in, I could barely remember my own cat’s name.”
“Actually, she said she thought you seemed nice. Oh, and my brother and sister-in-law have invited you to come with me to their house next week for dinner.” Jared handed her a mug of hot chocolate and sat down beside her. “The family is curious about the new lady in my life.”
Operation Baby Rescue Page 10