Love Inspired Suspense December 2013 Bundle: Christmas Cover-UpForce of NatureYuletide JeopardyWilderness Peril

by Lynette Eason

  He glanced up and saw her looking at him. “Good morning. So you’re finally awake. I thought you were going to sleep all day.”

  She frowned. “What time is it?”

  “It’s nearly ten o’clock.”

  “Why aren’t you at work?”

  “I’ll go in after lunch. I wanted to be with you when you woke up.”

  She looked around the room. “Where’s my mother? She was here when I woke up before.”

  “I sent her home when I got here. She hadn’t slept any, and I told her I’d stay with you.”

  “What about my father? Mother told me you took him home last night.”

  Alex nodded. “He didn’t want to leave, but he was really tired. I took him home and got him settled in bed.”

  Grace’s eyes grew wide. “You helped my father to bed?”

  Alex’s face flushed, and he nodded. “I was glad to do it. Your mother wanted to stay here, and I told her I’d make sure your father got to bed.”

  “Thank you for doing that.” A sudden thought struck her. “But it was the maid’s night off. Did he stay in the house alone?”

  Alex shook his head. “No. I couldn’t leave him alone. I stayed in the guest room and put the phone by his bed so he could call my cell phone during the night if he needed me.”

  Grace’s mouth gaped open. “You stayed at our house with my father?”

  “I did.”

  Tears filled Grace’s eyes. “Thank you, Alex. That was very kind of you. Especially since you and my father haven’t had a good relationship in the past.”

  Alex smiled at her. “When your father apologized, I knew I had to meet him halfway if we were ever to overcome the memories of the past. The more I’m around him, the more I can see his good qualities. I think we may end up being friends.”

  Grace smiled, too, and wiped at the corner of her eye. “Nothing would make me happier.”

  Alex cleared his throat and folded the newspaper he’d been holding when she woke up. “Laura’s been here several times. She came in yesterday after we got here, and she dropped by this morning on her way to work.”

  “I hope she wasn’t worried about me.”

  His eyes darkened, and his gaze lingered on her face. “We were all worried about you, Grace.”

  She tried to pull her gaze away from him, but she couldn’t. “I’ll call her later.” Alex stared at her without speaking, and after a moment Grace cleared her throat and started to rise. “I need to get up.”

  Alex jumped to his feet and shook his head. “You can’t get up until a nurse comes to help you. I’ll call for one.”

  He grabbed the cord for the call button and punched it. “She’s awake,” he responded when the nurse’s station answered.

  Within seconds a nurse entered the room, stopped beside the bed and smiled. “It’s good to see you awake. How are you feeling?”

  Grace hesitated before she answered. “I’m not sure yet.”

  “Do you think you’re strong enough to walk to the bathroom?”

  “I think so.”

  The nurse turned to Alex. “If you’ll excuse us for a moment, I’ll help Miss Kincaid get freshened up a bit. I’ll call you back in when we have her ready for breakfast.”

  Alex nodded. “I’ll be outside.”

  When he’d exited the room, the nurse released the side rails of the bed and supported Grace as she sat up on the side of the bed. “How’s that?”

  A wave of dizziness swept over her, and she swayed. “I’ll be okay in a moment.”

  “Take it easy. You’ve been through a lot.”

  Grace looked up at her and frowned. “What happened to me?”

  “We can talk about that after you’re feeling stronger. First, let’s get you ready to visit with that handsome police detective. From what the other nurses tell me, he was a nervous wreck when you were brought in. He paced the waiting room floor for hours. It’s plain to see how he feels about you.”

  Grace smiled and shook her head. “We’re really good friends. We have been since we were children.”

  The nurse arched her eyebrows. “All I can say is I wish I had a friend who cared about me so much.”

  Grace laughed and allowed herself to be helped to her feet. Thirty minutes later with a clean hospital gown on and her breakfast tray in front of her Grace sat up in bed and smiled as Alex walked back into the room.

  “I was beginning to wonder where you’d gone.”

  He grinned and slipped his cell phone in his pocket. “I was on the phone with Brad. He said Laura is worried sick about you.”

  Grace laid her fork on the tray and looked at Alex as he sat down in the chair next to the bed. “I’ve been trying to remember what happened. The last thing I remember is you pulling me along the path. I thought my lungs were going to explode. What happened?”

  “You collapsed, and we called 911.”

  “I know that, but why did I faint?”

  Alex shifted to the edge of his chair and stared at her. “Do you remember the wolf and the note?”

  “Yes.”

  “And do you remember pricking your finger on a sharp edge?”

  “Yes.”

  Alex inhaled a deep breath. “When the lab tested the wolf and the note, they found both of them were covered with cyanide. The poison was able to enter your system through the small nick on your finger, and your mysterious puzzle maker knew that’s what would happen. If we hadn’t gotten here in time, you might be dead now.”

  “Cyanide?” A shiver ran up her spine, and Grace flinched. “But I thought cyanide killed you right away.”

  “From what the doctor said, that only happens in the movies. It actually works much slower than chomping down on a capsule and dying instantly.”

  “Was I really in danger of dying?”

  “You could have. The doctor told us cyanide poisoning can occur in different ways—by eating cyanide-laced food, inhaling cyanide gas or absorbing it through the skin. I wrote down what they gave you as an antidote.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and glanced down at it. “They gave you sodium nitrite and sodium thiosulfate. You’ll be fine in a few days. You just need to rest.”

  Grace rubbed her hand over her forehead. “I wish I could remember. I recall trying to keep up with you on the pathway, and I remember falling down. But nothing else.” She glanced up at Alex. “Did I just faint?”

  He fidgeted in his chair. “I thought you were conscious, but you were talking out of your head.”

  “What did I say?”

  “You said you saw Snowball standing in the forest.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Snowball? I thought I saw my pony?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah. You said you wanted to ride him home.”

  “Did I say anything else?”

  He hesitated a moment, then took a deep breath. “No, you lost consciousness. None of us could figure out what happened to you. It was really scary, Grace. Thank goodness we got you here in time.”

  “I remember being dizzy, and then I felt really frightened.” She swallowed the fear that rose in her throat. “Alex, he’s tried to kill me twice.”

  He looked at her without blinking. “I know. This has gotten out of hand, Grace. We can’t let this happen again. He might be successful the next time.”

  “But what are we going to do? We can’t let him scare us off.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet, but I will. I’ve promised your parents I’ll keep you safe, and I intend to keep that promise. For now, though, you need to rest and get well.”

  “You’re right. I should have listened to you all along. Right now I’m so grateful to be alive, and I have you to thank for that. You’ve done what you promised.”

  He leaned over and covered her hand with his. “Don’t worry, Grace. We’re going to get this guy. We just have to go about it in a different way now.”

  She nodded and lay back on her pillow. Her heartbeat quickened at the thought
of what might have happened if Alex and the other officers hadn’t been with her yesterday. For some reason the person who had killed Landon had set his sights on her. She’d been fortunate to escape him twice, but she might not be able to a third time.

  Perhaps she’d been wrong to push Alex into including her in this investigation. Now she had put him in the position of not only finding a killer but protecting her at the same time. Her stubborn determination to have her way in this investigation had put him in danger also, and she regretted that. She should have realized he was the trained police officer and listened to him, but she had pushed him into including her. And he had given in, just like he always had when they were children.

  She glanced over at him sitting beside the bed. “I’m sorry, Alex.”

  He lowered the newspaper he was reading. “For what?”

  “For insisting on being included in this investigation. I have put you in danger, and I’m truly sorry for that.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and after a moment he spoke. “It’s something I face every day, Grace. It’s not your fault that somebody wants to kill you. I just want to keep you safe.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she blinked. “Thank you. I know you’ll do that.”

  She looked down at her hand on top of the blanket and stared at Landon’s ring on her finger. Whoever had tried to kill her had kept that ring for twelve years. How she wished it could talk and tell her where it had been, but that was impossible. After a moment she turned over, pulled the covers up to her chin and closed her eyes. She needed to sleep. Maybe when she woke she wouldn’t be haunted by the thought of someone lurking in the shadows and planning his next attempt on her life.

  *

  Alex drank the last drops out of the soda can, tossed it into the waiting room trash can and glanced at his watch. The doctor had been in Grace’s room for about fifteen minutes. What could be taking him so long?

  Alex walked to the door and peered down the hall toward Grace’s room. A nurse stepped out and walked back toward the nurse’s station. He stopped her when she drew even with him. “Excuse me, but is the doctor still in Miss Kincaid’s room?”

  She nodded. “He is, but he’ll be out in a few minutes.”

  “Thank you.” He smiled at her and watched as she continued to her destination. He was about to go back and sit down when his cell phone rang. Brad’s number flashed on caller ID. He raised the phone to his ear. “Hey, Brad. What’s up?”

  “I thought you were coming to the office this afternoon.”

  Alex sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I had intended to, but I kept waiting for the doctor. I wanted to hear what he would say about Grace’s condition.”

  “Has he come yet?”

  “Yeah, he’s in with her now. I’m waiting for him to leave. Then I’ll probably come in.”

  “No need to, buddy. Everything’s under control here. Stay with Grace as long as she needs you. I know it’s hard for her parents to be there with her father’s condition.”

  “He was here for a while last night, but I took him home.”

  Brad’s startled gasp vibrated in Alex’s ear. “Since when did you and Harrison Kincaid get so friendly? I thought the guy hated you.”

  Alex chuckled. “Not anymore. It seems the shooting has made a changed man out of him. He’s turned his life over to God. In fact, he asked me to forgive him for the way he treated me when I was growing up.”

  “I never thought I’d hear that, but I’m glad he’s changed. It’s too bad it took him being shot to open his eyes to God’s love for him.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “When you see Grace, tell her Laura is coming back to the hospital when she gets off work. She wanted to stay this morning, but she had to get to work because they were short staffed at the clinic. She has some counseling sessions later at the hospital, so she’s going to see Grace before her patients get there.”

  “I told her Laura had come by, so she’s looking forward to seeing her.”

  “Well, they have been best friends since elementary school.” Brad hesitated a moment. “Are things getting better between you and Grace?”

  Alex sighed. “I think we’re getting there. It’s better than it has been.”

  “Good. Laura and I hate to think about our two best friends at odds with each other. We’re praying you and Grace can learn to at least be civil to each other.”

  “Thanks, Brad.”

  “Now if Laura had her way…” He paused for a moment. “Hey, I’m getting a call on another line. I’ll check with you later.”

  Alex ended the call and stared at his phone for a moment. Brad didn’t have to finish his sentence for him to know what he was about to say. Brad and Laura would be happy if he and Grace could get together again. They were his closest friends, too, but he couldn’t make them understand it was too late for him and Grace. She had chosen another life instead of having one with him, and he was doing all right on his own.

  Gritting his teeth, Alex whirled and stormed back into the waiting room. He strode toward the window, stopped in front of it and looked out at the parking lot. Snow had begun to fall, and he watched the swirling flakes fall to the ground.

  Maybe they were going to have a white Christmas this year. When he and Grace were children, they’d wish every year that it would snow for the holidays, but Memphis had seen little snowfall during their childhood. The biggest one had been when they were ten years old. They’d built a snowman and placed one of her father’s hats on its head. He smiled at the memory. Why did things like that keep popping into his head?

  Before he could answer the question in his mind, he heard footsteps in the hall, and he turned to see the doctor walk past the waiting room. He needed to find out what the doctor had said. He strode down the hall to Grace’s room and knocked before entering.

  “Come in,” she called out.

  Her bed was positioned so that she was sitting upright, and she smiled when he walked in. His heart thudded at the thought that she’d almost died the day before. Having her back in his life might be difficult, but having her dead would be unbearable.

  He returned the smile and sat down beside the bed. “What did the doctor say?”

  “He wants me to stay another night, but he feels sure I can go home tomorrow.”

  Alex nodded. “I think that’s wise.”

  “I also talked to my boss at the station. I have two weeks of vacation coming, and I’m going to take off until after Christmas. That should give us some time to figure out where we go from here in the investigation of Landon’s death.”

  His eyes grew wide, and he jumped to his feet. “Whoa, there. What makes you think we go anywhere after what’s happened?”

  She sat up straighter and clenched her hands in her lap. “Because we haven’t found the answer yet.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve thought about this since I woke up. I have to admit I’m scared this guy will come after me again. I don’t think I should go looking for any more of his clues, but we can’t just drop the investigation.”

  Alex shook his head. “No, Grace. You’ve had two attempts on your life. You need to stay out of this. Let me handle it by myself.”

  “I know you’re the trained police officer, and I’m just a nosy news reporter. But I can’t give up.” She held up her hand. “Look at that ring, Alex. Somebody killed Landon and kept it for twelve years. I want to know who did that. Please don’t shut me out. Let me help you with this case. I promise I’ll do whatever you say.”

  He ran his hand through his hair and muttered under his breath. “Why are you so pigheaded? I’m only trying to protect you. I was scared to death yesterday that you were going to die before I could get help. I don’t want to go through that again.”

  Tears pooled in her eyes, and she nodded. “I’m sorry you were scared, but I’m so thankful you were there. Please, Alex, help me find out the truth, and then I’ll never ask you for anything again.”

  He loo
ked at her for a moment, and he felt his resolve crumbling. He sighed in resignation. “Okay, but no more puzzles. This time we’re doing it my way. We’ll investigate with some good old-fashioned police work. Do you understand?”

  She nodded, and the smile that lit her face sent a warm rush through his veins. “Yes, and I promise I’ll listen to you.”

  His gaze drifted over her face, and his breath hitched in his throat when he spied the tiny scar at the edge of her hairline on the right side of her forehead. He reached over and let his finger trace the jagged line that had faded with time. “You’ll listen to me like you did when I was teaching you to ride the bicycle you got for Christmas?”

  She reached up, placed her finger on top of his, and looked into his eyes. “It wasn’t your fault I had a wreck and cut my head. I should have listened to you and let you hold on to me until I learned to balance better.”

  “But your father blamed me, and I blamed myself, too.”

  “I never wanted you to do that.” She smiled. “This scar is very special to me. Every time I look in the mirror to comb my hair, I see it and I think of you. It’s helped me get through a lot of difficult times.”

  He pulled away from her, and she smiled. Then without saying another word, she lay back in bed and closed her eyes. He sat down in the chair beside her bed and picked up a magazine that lay on the bedside table. After a few minutes her breathing became steady, and he realized she had dropped off to sleep.

  There was work to be done at the police station, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave. He’d made a promise to her father that he would protect her, and he would do whatever it took to keep that promise. In the past three days she’d almost been killed twice, and he couldn’t let that happen again. If their puzzle maker was determined to get to Grace, he was going to have to go through him first.

  SEVEN

  Grace closed the high school annual she’d been looking at for the past hour, laid it on the den desk and glanced at her watch. This was her second day home from the hospital, and she’d been waiting for Alex to visit all morning. Now that it was midafternoon, she’d begun to wonder if he was coming at all.