by Shea Balik
“Based on the note Cillian received, the stalker is claiming to be responsible for the attack on the police cadets as well as the party from last night.” He had no clue how the stalker managed to do it, but Soren planned to interrogate each, and every Alpha involved until one of them cracked. “I’m going to arrest Marley and see if he’s willing to talk. Unfortunately, without evidence of his tampering with the security cameras, I only have impeding an investigation by not telling us about the saferoom, which any good attorney will get him out on.”
“Actually.” Jonah’s cheeks bloomed with pink hues as soon as all eyes had turned on him. “As good as Marley was at getting into the system, he left behind evidence to track him.” The screen changed to show a map of the hospital, with a red dot over one of the offices. “The computer used to hack security is in this office.”
Soren, Gal, and Jamal all surged to their feet, the legs of the chairs scraping against the tile floor. “Jonah, I need you to come with us. The rest of you, stay here.” He leaned down and kissed the top of Cillian’s head. “Keep each other safe. When we arrest Marley, if the stalker is around, he or she might look for one of you in retribution.”
He hated leaving Cillian, but Soren wanted this over and Marley was their best avenue to make that happen.
Jamal led them right to the office on the map Jonah had provided. The placard next to the door read, ‘Dr. Marley Mitchel’ with his credentials listed under his name. Pretentious ass. None of the other placards did that. It just gave the name of whose office it was.
Pulling out his keys, Jamal unlocked the door and walked right in with Gal behind him, then Jonah, while Soren brought up the rear to watch their backs. With gloves on, Jamal opened the laptop on the man’s desk, then stood back and handed Jonah a pair of gloves.
“I need you to find us proof on his computer,” Jamal said.
Jonah’s eyes were wide with fear. “B-but don’t we need a warrant?”
Jamal smiled. “No. Whether they know it or not, every person who works for the hospital has signed that they understand this is hospital property, and as such, we have the right to perform a search as we deem fit.”
Soren was more than a little surprised. He was certain that wasn’t standard practice. Then again, in this day and age with people using and selling drugs, he should have guessed they would take measures to ensure that didn’t happen.
Jonah went to work and within five minutes, he had the proof they needed to arrest Marley.
“What are you doing in my office?” Marley shouted a moment later.
Soren, who had been standing against the wall just inside the door, reached out and grabbed him. Spinning around, he pushed Marley up against the wall.
“You have the right to remain silent,” Soren said.
Marley, the pompous jerk that he was, interrupted him. “You can’t arrest me. Nor do you have any right to come into my office and go through my things. I will sue both the hospital and police for this. When I’m done with you, all of you will be out of a job and bankrupt.”
Soren just continued to read him his rights as he handcuffed him. When he was done, he said, “I notice the one thing you haven’t asked was why you were being arrested.”
Marley didn’t say anything, but Soren had been holding his arm and felt the slight shudder. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really?” Jamal came around to face Marley. “Because your computer shows how you hacked into our security cameras and either turned them off or ran loops of no one there each time a bouquet of flowers was delivered to an Omega being threatened by a stalker.”
“How…?” Marley’s eyes widened as he realized his mistake in saying even that much. “I want my lawyer.”
Soren shrugged. “That’s fine, but the longer it takes for you to cooperate, the less likely we’d be willing to make a deal. Oh, and since there isn’t any evidence you were working with anyone else, you’ll be charged with stalking as well as killing Mika and Judy.”
Anger and fear passed over Marley’s face. “I told that bitch she wasn’t going to get away with this. No one is a good enough lay to go to jail for. What do you want to know for full immunity?”
Soren smiled. “Oh, you’re going to jail. The only question is, for how long?”
Marley’s face was beet red as he struggled to stop from insulting Soren or the others. In the end, he repeated, “I want my lawyer.”
As far as Soren was concerned, that was fine by him. No way was Marley getting away with what he’d done but giving him less jail time for the name of the stalker would be worth it.
Walking him out of the office toward the elevator, he asked if Gal would go with him to keep an eye on Marley since he was in his truck and not a police cruiser. Then he turned to Jamal. “Please keep Cillian safe until I can get home.”
Jamal nodded.
“And Jonah,” Soren said as he, Gal, and Marley were about to get on the elevator. “You did a great job.”
CHAPTER 13
“Do you really think the stalker will come after us?” Oslo asked as he tucked further into his husband, Bradford’s, arms.
“I don’t know, but does anyone beside me have to pee now that Soren told us not to leave this room?” Shale asked.
Cillian rolled his eyes and sighed. “Really? You’re worried about peeing when someone might try to kill us?”
Shale ran his fingers through his short locks, which apparently had happened because someone stuck gum in his hair. “Been there, done that, not interested.”
“Sweetness, be nice,” Ronan chastised lightly.
“I was just trying to get us off the topic of the stalker,” Shale said. “There’s no point in being scared when we have no idea if that person even knows that Marley was arrested.”
Anson climb onto Oliver’s lap. “Do we even know if he’ll be arrested?”
That was something Cillian knew for a certainty. “Yes. There’s no way Soren won’t arrest Marley, assuming they find him.”
“Fine,” Shale threw up his hands in defeat. “If we’re going to talk about this anyway, let’s discuss the attacks on the two groups of Omegas. Admittedly, we’re only assuming the stalker had something to do with the Omega recruits, but even if we’re wrong, according to the note the stalker either was in on the plan to attack the bachelor party, or instigated it. Who do we know in this hospital with that much power over Alphas?”
Cillian frowned. He’d heard plenty of gossip about several of the employees but nothing that specific. “I’m still unclear as to why the stalker is after Omegas.”
“Mika was hurt when her fiancé, who was an Alpha, found an Omega he’d rather be with and dumped her,” Doss Callaway explained. He had been the one Mika had kidnapped the day she’d been killed.
That caused Cillian to frown. Confused, because he knew he’d heard this story before, he asked, “Was Mika ever a nurse?”
Doss shook his head. “Nah. She wasn’t that smart.”
“Why did you think she was a nurse?” Shale asked with a tilt of his head, as if he was hoping Cillian would have the answers to all their questions.
“I heard that story before. I can’t remember if it were one of the paramedics I overheard gossiping, or some nurses, but I could have sworn they said that same thing happened to a nurse in this hospital.”
Everyone stared at Shale. The man did seem to know what was happening to everyone who worked at Hart’s, but this time Cillian didn’t think he did, since his brows drew together, forming a crease between them, which he would never allow to happen under normal circumstances.
“Sweetness.” Ronan nudged his husband. “Do you know anyone with that story?”
The whole room sort of deflated when Shale shook his head. “No, but if it happened before I arrived, there’s a chance I wouldn’t have found out. I mean, it’s not like anyone would have put that information in someone’s file, right?”
All eyes then returned to Cillian. He felt like a
specimen under a microscope. Squirming a bit in his chair, Cillian wasn’t sure what they expected him to say. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear if they said her name. Hell, I’m not even sure it was a female.”
“It does give us something to go on though.” Shale opened his laptop, Cillian assumed to go through employee records again.
“What about knowing Alpha cops and the Alphas that attacked last night?” This time it was Bradford who brought it up. Although, Cillian still wasn’t sure how to figure that out. “I mean, if we think this is a jilted Beta, how did she get a bunch of Alphas to attack Omegas in the first place?”
That was what scared Cillian the most.
“In fairness, it’s not always that hard to find Alphas who wouldn’t care about hurting Omegas,” Anson’s husband, Landon said. “I mean, the police aren’t the only bigoted group of most Alpha dominated fields. My boss does his best to keep them out of his construction business, but there have been a few who’ve slipped through the cracks. He fires them, but I know a lot of other construction companies that don’t care.”
Once more the room seemed defeated. There was no easy way to find the stalker. Hell, if Soren, Gal, and Jamal had yet to find the person, he wasn’t quite sure how the men in this room were going to do any better.
Not sure if this would help, Cillian asked, “Do we have a list of all the female Betas that work at Hart’s?” It would make sense to whittle it down from there.
Shale narrowed his eyes at Cillian. Then he grinned. “Good thinking. We can make a list of just Betas, then weed out anyone who is currently married, because it sounds to me like this person didn’t find anyone else.”
“And you should be able to eliminate anyone hired after Jamal got his first bouquet since the stalker would have started working here by them,” Dr. Callaway added.
Shale furiously started typing away at the keyboard.
But he shook his head. “That still leaves two hundred and thirty-three suspects.”
“Gun owners,” Emmett exclaimed. “She shot Anson with a handgun and Mika with a rifle. I’m not sure what she used on Judy, but she almost has to have a gun permit.”
Shale typed it in. “I’ll use it but it isn’t something that our employees necessarily tell us about so we may have to take it out.” Then he sighed and shook his head. “Seriously? That only took out fifty people. People sure do like their guns around here.”
“She had to be somewhat fit considering all she and Mika did. I would suggest getting rid of anyone over sixty and anyone over two hundred pounds.” Tenzin’s suggestion was a good one.
Shale smiled as he looked at his new list. “A hundred and twenty-five. We’re getting there.”
They all looked around the table hoping someone would have other ideas. By the blank looks, Cillian was guessing they didn’t. “Too bad we don’t all have laptops, so we could each take part of the list and see if we can eliminate anyone else.”
Shale swiveled his head to stare at Cillian. Another smile appeared that was calculating. “We could get the laptop from Ronan’s office as well as his assistant’s.”
Doss held up the laptop he’d brought with him. “And I brought mine.”
Bradford pulled a laptop from his briefcase. “I did too, although I’ll have to be given access to the hospital records.”
“That would give us five,” Shale said as he stood up to go to the door.
Ronan wrapped a hand around his husband’s wrist. “That would be great, except we aren’t leaving. We promised Soren to protect each other.”
Shale shrugged. “So, we all go. That way no one would vulnerable.”
All the Omegas in the room stood up quickly, the Alphas not so much. It took several minutes for their husbands to convince them this needed to be done but eventually everyone was standing.
Shale went to the door and opened it. Just as fast as he had swung it toward him, he closed it. Then he whirled around and faced them with his back up against the door, barring anyone from leaving. “Actually, I think we should stay here. We have three laptops. It will take longer, but we can still get it done.”
“Sweetness,” Ronan said in a warning tone that indicated he better explain himself.
Shale tried to pull off innocent, but there was nothing innocent about Shale for him to accomplish that. “What? I just think we should listen to Soren and stay here.”
“Who’s was out there?” Ronan started to reach around Shale, but his husband blocked him.
“I swear on our son’s life, no one was out there.” Cillian believed Shale. No way would he ever swear on E.J.’s life otherwise.
But that didn’t mean there hadn’t been something. That knot he got whenever flowers arrived was back. “Please tell me it’s not another bouquet.”
Shale shifted his gaze to Cillian. “Uhm, I just think we should get to work is all. Start whittling down this list.”
Ronan picked Shale up and physically moved him out of the way. When he opened the door, Cillian could see the black blooms.
Fuck.
“We need to call Jamal,” Ronan said as he pulled out his phone. Just then Cillian heard the ding to the elevator and the door open.
“I heard my nam…” Jamal’s voice stopped as he must have seen the flowers. “I knew we wouldn’t get lucky enough that the stalker wasn’t in hospital when Soren and Gal took Marley into custody.”
The rest of them filed back to the chairs they had been sitting in before. None of them really wanted to hear whatever was written on that card, yet all of them knew whether they heard it or not, it wouldn’t make it go away.
With gloves on, Jamal brought in the large vase with the ugly black flowers that looked like they’d been crumbled up and left on their stem. Once they were set on the table, Jamal plucked the card out.
Cillian’s heart sped up as he waited for words he really no longer wanted to know. He was tired of the stalker. Tired of being threatened. Just… tired.
Jamal’s eyes swept the room. “Is everyone ready?”
No one moved, which Jamal must have taken as consent as he started to read. “I chose for all the Omegas in the room, the Black Widow. You ignored my warnings, for that your blood will flow, when I deal you your last blow.”
“I’d personally like to know who this is so I can send her a ‘How to Write Poetry,’ book.” Shale’s sarcasm was expected but Cillian still didn’t know how he wasn’t shaking where he sat.
All Cillian wanted was to feel Soren’s arms around him. It was as simple as that. He laughed at himself. It actually was that simple. It was time to say ‘yes’ to Soren’s marriage proposal. If there was one thing he was learning with this stalker, life was too damn short to waste it on propriety.
“So, how do we find this asshole?” Cillian asked the table. “We have a list. Isn’t it about time we do our research?”
Everyone got back up and they headed to Ronan’s office. His assistant, Preston, told them he had four new laptops for new doctors that were coming onboard in two weeks. With laptops in hand, they headed back to the conference room.
It would take time, but they were all determined to figure out who was after them.
Cillian just hoped the stalker didn’t attack before that happened.
CHAPTER 14
“I’m not talking without my lawyer,” Marley told Soren and Gal when they walked into the interrogation room.
A huge part of Soren wanted to slam his fist into Marley’s face until he agreed to talk. If it meant protecting Cillian, Soren would gladly go to jail. But the more rational part of him didn’t think that would be a good idea.
Yeah, Cillian would survive the stalker, but he’d be left alone to raise their child. His brat would hate him for that. Well, maybe not hate, but he’d definitely be pissed.
Gal wasn’t quite so in control of himself as he got right in Marley’s face. “Look, you little puissant, if anything happens to another Omega while you’re playing games, we will charge you as an accessor
y to his death. That means you will be going to maximum security prison which I doubt you’d survive the first month before someone kills your sanctimonious ass.”
Marley went pale and his eyes grew as fear filled them. “I-I-I didn’t kill anyone.”
“But you knew Judy was dead and where her body was. That’s at least accessory after the fact.” Soren stood near the door, with his arms crossed over his chest as he glared at the man refusing to give up the stalker’s name.
“Not to mention stabbing Shale, shooting Anson, and setting fire to Oslo’s apartment,” Gal added as he grabbed Marley by the shirt and lifted him out of his chair. “And if I find out Levan was hurt because of you, prison might just be the safest place for your ass. I’m a homicide detective. I know how to hide your body, so it’s never found again.”
Soren really should stop Gal, but he was too anxious to save Cillian to worry about a few crossed lines. He was glad he’d had the foresight to not tape this interview.
When Soren felt his phone vibrate, he glanced at the screen and saw it came from Jamal. He had no idea what Jamal could want but since the man should be with Cillian, he didn’t dare not answer it.
He thought about stepping out of the room, but with Gal still holding Marley’s shirt, Soren didn’t dare leave him. Answering it, he said, “This had better be important.”
“We have a problem,” Jamal told him. “Shale had to pee, so he, Cillian, and Anson went to the bathroom.”
Soren shook his head. He wasn’t thrilled only the three of them went, but Shale could protect them. “And?” There had to be more than that. No way would Jamal call him to tell him the three left the room to use the restroom.
“They didn’t come back,” Jamal told him. “We all went to check on them and found Preston on the floor, shot. The others have disappeared.”