“I heard that,” Campbell told her as he opened her office door.
“You were supposed to.”
He winked at her as he stepped through the door and into the hall. “Hey, Jay, what’s up?”
Natalie shook out her hands and tried to focus on work. The things that made her happy, and taking care of the mothers that would be showing up in less than… She glanced at the clock. “Ugh. Twenty minutes. Behind before I even get started. Awesome.”
Bringing up her email, she tried to tune in to her work but then whispered words drew her back out of it.
Jay and Campbell were speaking in low tones outside her door. “What are you guys whispering about?”
Silence.
“Seriously? As if I don’t hear you or know you’re there. I can see your shadows under the door. Would you like me to bring up the cameras so I can watch you in the hall as well? ’Cause I can you know. ’Cause I have cameras that can do that.”
Campbell pushed open the door and her heart sank in her chest.
“What? How bad is whatever it is?”
He didn’t immediately answer, which made her worry more. “It could be nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing?” Natalie and Jay questioned together.
“Cough it up,” she added so there was no miscommunication.
It seemed to take him a minute to decide and then he sighed. Campbell held his hand out to Jay, who looked at Natalie and then back to Campbell before reluctantly handing over his phone.
He flipped the screen around just as it went black.
“Even the phone is against her seeing it,” Jay mumbled. He pushed a button and swiped his finger across the screen.
“Against me seeing wh—oh fuck.” Yes, she almost dropped the phone. Yes, she broke out in a cold sweat.
The image on the paused video screen was one she never wanted to see again. One demon she never wanted to have to face again. Never.
Braden stared in through the front glass.
“What time was this? And what day? Last night?” She glanced around the screen but the dates and times weren’t making it through the panic eating at her.
“Almost ten last night,” Jay answered.
Natalie looked up at Campbell who was staring at her. “Right before the email was sent.”
He nodded and she looked back down at the screen.
She knew enough about the camera system to rewind the video and play it forward. Jay narrated a bit of it. “He turned the corner at the far end of the block and then walked up here. He looks in all of the front windows, and then he tried the front door…there.”
“As if someone would be here then.”
“I know,” Jay agreed. “But remember when the fire happened? You stayed up here a few nights during the repairs because you were pulling such long hours.”
“You’re right.” She glanced back at the screen. Braden looked right at the camera. Just stared at it and then turned around, walking back the way he came.
Not in a huge hurry but he didn’t dawdle either.
“Hey, Jay?” Campbell captured his attention. “Get on your system and make a backup for me.
“Want me to put it on a stick to get to the cops?”
“No. I’m calling Wyatt in just a second and have him download a copy directly. I just want you to make a copy so the video’s not lost whenever the system starts overwriting in a couple weeks.”
“You got it.” Jay turned to go and then pivoted back around to Natalie. “Sorry to ruin your morning.”
Natalie crossed her arms over her chest to keep from shaking.
Or hide it.
Whatever.
Semantics totally weren’t important at that moment.
“Thanks, Jay. And thanks for keeping an eye on things. Since he didn’t damage anything, if you hadn’t been checking just because we wouldn’t have found it.”
“Don’t thank me, it was Campbell’s idea actually. I check the cameras every morning. Good thing, too.”
“Boy I’ll be glad when all of this is over and we can all just go back to doing our jobs.”
“Me too.” He gave her a ghost of a smile before he left.
Campbell pulled out his cell and dialed up Wyatt. He closed the distance between them and pulled her into his side.
She laid her head on his chest as his phone rang several times. Taking a few deep breaths didn’t really help but she was trying desperately not to completely freak out.
Though she was thrown for a loop.
Seeing him again after so many years.
Wanting to forget him apparently didn’t help. Not at all. Immediately it was as if she were back in her father’s reception area. Listening to them argue about the baby she was supposed to give away.
Wyatt’s voicemail kicked on, jarring her out of her nightmare.
“Hey, Wyatt, it’s Campbell. The clinic had a visitor last night a few minutes before midnight. You can see it on cameras one and two. Will you pull the footage up and give me a shout back? We’re pretty sure who it is.” He hung up and put his phone in his pocket. “Now can you see why I really didn’t want to tell you?”
She ignored that and moved out of his arms to pace. “I’ll be watching. That’s what the email said. And he’d just gotten finished snooping around out front.”
“It could be nothing.”
Rolling her eyes wasn’t even good enough for that statement. “Are you intentionally being obtuse?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Love it when you use big words to insult me.”
“I aim to please, and quit evading. Do you really think him showing up now is a huge coincidence that has nothing to do with the rest of the shit storm we’re dealing with?”
“Why borrow trouble?”
“Such an odd phrase. I don’t want to borrow trouble. I don’t want it at all. I’ll give it away for free.”
“Listen, let’s—” Campbell’s phone went off. “Campbell.” There was a slight pause and then he looked at his watch and smiled. “Yes it is a tad on the early side.” He winked at Natalie. “No, I didn’t realize detectives actually needed sleep like the rest of us humans.”
A knock at her door drew Natalie’s attention away from the phone call.
Cheryl waved her over and she was bouncy with excitement. She could handle some of that.
“I’ll be right back,” she mouthed to Campbell as he moved toward her computer. What he was doing, she honestly wasn’t certain if she wanted to know. Putting her head in the sand sounded soothing.
* * * * *
Fifteen minutes later, Natalie walked back into her office and Campbell was just hanging up the phone.
“Great timing,” they both said at the same time.
“You totally freak me out when you do that,” she confessed.
He stood and took a step closer. “Me? It’s like you’re reading my mind. Totally oogy.”
“Oogy? Is that a Southern thing?”
“Yankee, you had better—”
“Yankee?” she asked with her hands on her hips. “Who you callin’ a Yankee?”
“You.” He gathered her close and kissed her mouth. “Everything okay with the troops out there?”
“Yes, actually. One of the women went into labor last night. She had a healthy baby boy this morning about seven thirty. And her parents showed up at the hospital even though they said she was on her own. They fell in love with the little guy just like the mom did. They’re taking both back home with them as soon as they’re released.”
“That’s awesome. Does that happen often?”
She shook her head. “I wish. So we were all super excited to hear it. How was your phone call?”
“Wyatt was a bit grouchy.”
“Woke him up, didn�
��t you?”
Campbell smiled. “Yep. Poor guy worked a double yesterday with more fun on the docket for today.”
“He have a chance to look at the footage?”
Campbell rubbed his eyes. “Yep.” There was no smile with that one.
“That good, huh?”
“He said it looks a lot like Braden but he’s not completely positive and even if they can ID him, which I think they can, he’s not doing anything illegal. He’s on a public street, doing nothing more than window shopping and trying the door.”
Disgusted didn’t come close to what was running through her system. “It’s him.”
“I know.”
“And he was window shopping at a store that doesn’t sell anything.”
“Agreed.”
“Late at night when we were clearly not open.”
“Not arguing.”
“You’re not but somehow you are.”
He leaned against her desk and brushed his knuckles against her cheek. “I don’t like it either but I knows Wyatt’s right. And I checked your PC while Wyatt and I were talking. Nothing else popped up from the old files and nothing new is there either.”
“That’s good I guess.” She latched on to the back of her neck.
Campbell tugged her around to stand between his legs and he moved her hand to rub her neck himself. “I’ve instructed Jay to keep an eye out for your office and keep checking the cameras outside. Feels like something’s about to give, but I just don’t know what.”
“I give you a month to stop that.” Warmth and luxurious desire spiraled inside her, spawning from her now loose shoulder muscles and neck.
“Feel good?”
“Mmhmm. You’re working that Domly Dom magic of yours to distract me from the current shitstorm.”
“Whatever works and we still have your desk to try out.” He nibbled her neck eliciting goosebumps to travel down her arms.
“Yes we do.” She stretched her neck and felt as if she were actually almost ready to get started on the day again. “But first I have to work, and you have sleuthing to do.”
“Sleuthing? Seriously, who says things like that?”
“Awesome people.” She kissed him and tried to walk away but he pulled her close.
“A list of one.” His mouth on hers stole her breath. Sooner than she wanted, he backed her away and stood. “I’m gonna have to get away from you,” he mumbled. “Or that desk is going to get a workout.”
“What are you planning to do this morning?”
“Wyatt gave me another angle I wanted to check out and I also think I’d like to load the viewing software on Greta’s computer.”
“Why, since we have it on ours?”
“She can use it to view who’s at the door before they even come inside. Another measure of safety and any of them up there can yell for us if there’s a problem.”
“Great idea.” Natalie moved around her desk and sat down. “How proficient are you with Windows 10?”
“Oh. Shoot me.”
“I’m not familiar with that OS.”
“Just had to go and ruin my joojoo, didn’t you?”
“I aim to please.”
“Oh, Jay, I have a job for you to help me with,” Campbell called out as he walked outside her door and turned toward Jay’s office.
Natalie ran her hand over the surface of her desk and wondered again when they’d find out just how sturdy it was. She looked at her watch. After-everybody-left o’clock sounded perfect to her.
Chapter Nineteen
Campbell
Another week passed.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Just busy as all hell, Campbell thought to himself as he walked down the hall to the reception area.
Natalie and two of the three nurses were in the back dealing with an emergency of some kind.
Campbell scowled.
Raised voices were coming from the front area, one of them in a near panic.
“No. I’m sorry, ma’am, but you can’t come back here right now.”
“I have to see Natalie. I have to see her now. This can’t wait.”
“Your next appointment isn’t for two more days. Ms. Grant is in the middle of something else with another patient and she can’t be disturbed.” It was Greta speaking with someone who wasn’t taking no for an answer and she sounded familiar.
Campbell stepped up to the back area of the front counter. Greta stood there trying to talk some sense into a very pregnant Wren.
“You don’t understand,” the tiny woman pleaded. She glanced behind her and Campbell followed her gaze. Hazel played in the corner on the wall but kept looking at her mother. The little girl looked scared, which didn’t sit well with Campbell at all. “It’s a matter of life and death,” she added before glancing back at Greta.
“Honey, everything is these days and I wish I could help but Natalie’s helping another soon-to-be mom. She’s in the first stages of labor and not doing well.”
“Can’t she just talk to me for a couple minutes? Please. Just ask her.” Wren had what could have been tears or panic in her eyes.
“Everything all right out here?” Campbell finally spoke up and both women turned to face him.
Greta motioned at Wren with a sympathetic gesture. “She says she needs to speak with Natalie but I know the nightmare they’re dealing with in the back.” She took a couple steps toward Campbell and pleaded with him in a low tone. “I don’t know what else to tell her. I don’t want to just tell her to go away and come back in a couple days, but I know we’re completely booked tomorrow too. I can’t squeeze anybody else in or we’re going to be more than a bit overbooked and Natalie will never get out of here on time.”
“No problem. Let me see if I can help.” Campbell moved to the side, pushing through the door into the front waiting area. “Can I help?” He stared at the woman, nibbling her lip.
Indecision rolled through her.
“We can step into the break room to have some privacy.” He knew no one was in there since he’d just come from there after downing a cup of coffee.
She took a deep breath and acquiesced. “Okay.” Moving a couple steps closer to him, Hazel ran at her mama.
“Don’t leave me.” Hazel crashed into her mama’s legs, nearly taking her down in the process.
Grabbing the counter to keep her balance, Wren patted her back. “I’ll be right back, princess. I’m not leaving you ever ever ever.”
“Promise?” the little girl asked as she scrubbed a fist across her tear-streaked cheek.
Wren made an x-mark over her chest and held up her hand. “Promise.”
“She can come with while we talk if that’s okay with you.” Campbell thought it was a good suggestion but Wren shook her head.
Looking back down at the little girl, she nodded toward the play area. “Less than five minutes and we’ll go home.”
Hazel opened her mouth with the look of arguing and her mama raised her eyebrows at her. The little girl deflated and said, “Okay,” before trudging back to the wall as if it were the gallows.
Wren seemed to droop a bit as well as she headed Campbell’s way. He moved to the side and gestured for her to walk through. As she stepped past he looked up at Debbie in the front area with a couple other kids. She nodded and pointed at Hazel. “I’ll keep an eye on her,” she whispered.
With that settled, Campbell ushered Wren down the hall and around a corner, then into the first door on the left. There were vending machines in there. A fridge, counter, storage, coffee machine, and microwave. Typical break room. “Here, have a seat.” He pulled a chair out for her and she gladly sat down in it.
She looked tired. Like bone weary kind of tired. She seemed young though he wondered how old she really was. Looks could be deceiving and he knew it in his line
of work.
Whether or not she had any family flitted through his mind as well. Hard situation to be in. Pregnant, with a toddler, and she looked thin. Not that Campbell knew a heck of a lot about pregnant women, but he knew enough to see that healthy glow wasn’t exactly on at the moment for the woman in front of him. “Would you like some water?”
“Please.” Her voice was low, quiet, and she kept rubbing her hands together as if she were nervous or cold. It was pretty warm in the room they were in, which pointed him in the other direction.
“How can I help?” Campbell asked as he set her cup of water in front of her.
She took a sip and then set it down, avoiding his eyes. “I don’t think you can. I don’t think anyone but Natalie can.”
In the chair opposite her across the table, Campbell sat down and studied the woman some more. “What can Natalie do?”
She whispered, “She can stop him.”
Campbell leaned forward with the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. “Who can she stop?”
“My husband.”
So she was married. “Is your husband hurting you?” Every protective instinct in Campbell’s body lit up. You didn’t hurt women. Ever. And hurting a pregnant woman made him want to punch something. Namely the aforementioned asshole.
“Not yet.” He could barely make out the words as she glanced up at him and then back down to the table.
“You can trust me. I know you don’t know me. I get that, but you can trust me with whatever you were going to talk to Natalie about. I’ll help however I can.”
It seemed like forever that they sat there in silence. Wren never stopped fidgeting. She glanced up again and then back down. “My husband. He can’t be.”
“Can’t be what?”
Her eyes teared up. “Trusted.”
“Let me help you. Let me help Hazel and the little one you’re carrying. Let me—”
The door opened and in walked Jay. Well, walked was probably a misnomer. He took one step in, froze, glanced at each of them a couple times with his mouth open. “Didn’t know anyone was in here using the room. Sorry. Uhh, ’scuse me.” Then he backed out the same way he came and shut the door behind him.
Campbell would fix that later. “Wren?”
Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 Page 21