In His Sights
Page 10
With that he was gone, leaving Taylor to glare after him. “Some days I wonder how I ended up with that asshole for my partner.”
Chris rolled his eyes. “Right. Says the guy who about lost his mind both times Shane was nearly killed on the job.”
“Well, that was different.”
“Sure.” Those two were best friends, and they weren’t fooling anybody.
“Gotta run. Good luck with the female thing.” Taylor started out the door, then stopped and turned. “Just so you know, it never gets any easier to understand them.”
“Thanks. That’s uplifting advice.”
“You’re welcome.”
Chris left his office a step behind Taylor and went in search of the captain. He found Rainey in the break room, munching on a bagel.
“Hey, you know those have been out on the table for two days,” Chris told him with a smirk.
Rainey stopped chewing for a second, then shook his head. “Don’t care. I’m starving.” He paused, eyeing Chris. “What’s up?”
“I need to ask you something. It’s kind of strange and it’s not even a case yet. In fact, it may be nothing at all.”
Rainey frowned. “We need to go to my office?”
“No, I think this is fine. It’s not top secret, that I know of.” Where to start? “Have you heard anything about the medical examiner being concerned about a number of deaths in the area?”
The captain’s expression cleared, and he nodded. “Yeah. She phoned the chief and he told a select few of us, mostly the captains and lieutenants. Of course, he wants it kept quiet for now, pending any evidence that she could be right, enough to start an official investigation. How’d you learn about it?”
“I’m seeing one of the doctors from the hospital, Robyn Lassiter. She’s the one who first spoke to Eden about the suspicious rise in the number of heart attack deaths the hospital is seeing. The victims are coming in with the same symptoms, and most of them have died.”
“I heard. But there’s not much we can do when the autopsies haven’t shown anything beyond heart failure, and nothing to pinpoint a culprit, either natural or man-made.”
“Nothing to pinpoint it yet. The thing is . . . you know about my health issues,” he said quietly, though the break room was still empty. “You’re one of only a handful of people who does. What you don’t know—that I didn’t either until recently—is that my symptoms are the same as those people who’ve died.”
Rainey’s eyes widened. “Shit. You sure?”
Chris rested his hip on a table and stared at the floor. “Nausea, sweats, weakness in my limbs, general exhaustion, dizziness, and a racing heart. That last one is the scariest. Right now I’m fine, or at least better than I’ve been. This has been a good week—I’m just tired instead of all the rest.”
“But they’ve done all sorts of tests. They haven’t found anything wrong.”
“You don’t think that’s weird in itself? These are common symptoms that overlap with any number of diseases and conditions and yet they’ve found nothing?” Chris asked, looking him in the eye. “I’m not a hypochondriac. I’m sick, Cap. And I’m starting to get scared. There’s something going on and we need to find out what, before more people end up like the rest, including me.”
“What would you have me do?” Rainey spread his hands in frustration. “There’s nothing to investigate yet. Give me something to go on and I’ll back you.”
“Let me do some poking around,” he urged. “I need a list of those victims who’ve died of heart failure after showing the same symptoms, not just from Sugarland, but the whole county. The ME will help me with that, I know she will.”
Rainey wasn’t convinced. “You’re borrowing trouble. If you go stirring up folks, start a panic, and get our asses in a sling—”
“Cap, I swear there’s something to this.” Lowering his voice, he made a last appeal. “I’m fighting for my life here. I can feel it. Give me a chance to figure out what’s going on.”
Rainey was quiet for a long moment. At last, he gave in reluctantly. “All right. Look into it, off the record. Tread lightly if you question any of the survivors. I swear to you if you get us in trouble, I will fuck you over so hard you’ll be calling me sweetheart.”
Chris smiled. “Thanks, Cap! You won’t regret this. I promise.”
“That remains to be seen. One more thing—you start having those symptoms again, you let me know. Don’t keep this to yourself, or you could end up on that list.”
“I hear you. And thanks.”
Rainey walked out, snagging another stale bagel, leaving Chris to ponder his last words. The other man had no idea how afraid Chris truly was. Nobody did.
He suspected it wouldn’t be long before something came to a head. He just hoped he survived long enough to solve the case.
With that squared away, he returned to his office and placed a call to Laura Eden. The medical examiner wasn’t in her office, so he left a message that didn’t say too much, in case someone else heard it. But he did say it was urgent, so hopefully she’d call back soon.
In the meantime, other cases awaited. And another elementary school visit with Valor this afternoon. One more outing in the smelly suit before he could go home and get ready for his date with two special girls.
He grinned a little at that. Who’da thought?
Pushing to his feet, he started to skirt his desk when a wave of dizziness hit him hard, making his head swim. The room dipped, and for a second he thought he’d fall. Fumbling, he reached out blindly for the desktop and steadied himself. After a few seconds, the feeling passed.
But the fear remained.
He wondered how long he had before the grim reaper came to call—and he was forced to answer the door.
* * *
Chris was beyond tired as he pulled his car into Robyn’s driveway.
He’d come straight from work, not even stopping at his own house first even though he needed a change of clothes for one more night at Shane and Daisy’s. The water line should be fixed by tomorrow. The city had declared it wasn’t their problem since it was on his property. Of course, the plumber was backed up but had sworn it would be taken care of.
He wouldn’t hold his breath.
Robyn opened the door just as he stepped onto the porch. Swiftly, he moved in for a kiss and held her tight, liking how she pressed her body to his and played with his hair.
“Is the munchkin ready to go?” he asked.
She gave a laugh. “Since the crack of dawn, bugging me every five minutes before I took her to school about when you were coming, and starting right up again after we got home.”
That made him feel pretty damned good. “Where is she?”
“In the kitchen, making sure we have plenty of snacks. But don’t worry,” she said, giving him one last squeeze and then stepping back to let him in. “I made sure you and I have stuff to nibble on besides Pop-Tarts and fruit chews.”
“You are a very wise woman.”
“I have my moments.”
“Hey, Maddy!” he called. “You gonna come see me or what?”
“Chris!” The sound of a chair scraping across the tiled floor came from the kitchen; then the little girl bolted toward him.
Bending, he spread his arms and braced himself for impact. She launched herself into his arms and he caught her with an exaggerated huff, then swung her around as she squealed.
“Oh my gosh, you’re heavy!” he teased.
“Nuh-uh!”
Setting her down, he ruffled her hair. “You ready to go?”
“Yep!”
“Yes, sir,” Robyn corrected gently.
“Yes, sir.” Maddy wrinkled her nose and pouted for a second, but instantly forgot about it, her attention more focused on their upcoming outing. “I wanna help carry the picnic basket!”
“Okay.”
Chris watched her dash to the kitchen. “I’m not sure I ever had that much energy.”
“She can be a handful. You sure you want to do this?” Her question was half teasing, but there was something else in her eyes and tone. As if she almost expected him to back out.
“Are you kidding? I’ve been looking forward to this all day. And I told you before, Maddy’s a great kid. Gets it from her mother.”
Robyn’s cheeks flushed, making her look even more beautiful—if that was possible. Before she could respond, Maddy came bounding back in with a plastic grocery sack in hand.
“We got two kinds of chips,” she announced. “Sour cream and onion, and cheese puffs.”
“Sour cream and onion are my favorite,” he told her, and was rewarded with a wide smile.
“Me, too.”
He looked to Robyn. “I’ve got the cooler in the car with the drinks in it. If you’re ready, I’ll grab the picnic basket from the kitchen.”
“I’m ready.”
“Yay!” Maddy sprinted out the door, oblivious to Robyn calling out to wait.
“That child.” She sighed, hurrying after her daughter.
Chuckling, Chris walked into the kitchen and retrieved the basket. He hauled it outside, where Robyn was waiting to lock the house, and then started down the steps. Maddy was jumping up and down beside the Camaro, singing to herself a song that sounded suspiciously like one by Katy Perry. Not that he listened to that stuff, but hell, he didn’t live under a rock.
Privately, Chris thought the munchkin was way too young for that sort of music, but it wasn’t his place to say.
Unlocking the car, he placed the basket in the trunk next to the cooler. Neither one was overly large, so they fit fine. Robyn got Maddy buckled in the backseat and then climbed into the front. Chris slid behind the wheel, and then they were on their way for an afternoon of fun at Cheatham Dam Park.
The day had turned out to be gorgeous, a bit on the hot side still but not unbearable. Chris listened to Maddy chatter about school, mostly who was mean and who was nice among both students and teachers—of supreme importance to a first grader, apparently—and how she loved PE, hated math, and brought her own lunch because the cafeteria food was gross. She was inexhaustible.
And she was just about the cutest thing he’d ever seen.
A few minutes later, he turned down Cheatham Dam Road, enjoying the winding path with its hills. Soon he was pulling into the park, where the hills and trees parted, giving way to the flatter area of the park next to the Cumberland River. He found a spot near the playground that had a table where they could set up.
As soon as the car was parked, Maddy bolted for the playground. Robyn, he noted, held back from admonishing her, probably because they were so close to the area. But she scowled after her daughter, lips thinned.
Then she sighed and turned to Chris, annoyance replaced by worry. “She has a bad habit of dashing off when she’s excited. I know the impulsiveness is mostly her age, but it still scares me sometimes.”
“That’s understandable. I’m no expert on kids, but it seems many of them go through that stage. That’s why we do safety programs and such—to try to get them to stop and think before they act. We know it works because we hear from parents who’ve said their children remembered our lessons and saved their own lives or someone else’s.”
“That’s so impressive. You really make a difference.”
“Not in the same way you do. You’re the one with all the smarts, but thanks.”
“Hey, that’s not true. And we both save lives, so we’re the same in that regard. Come on—let’s get the stuff out.”
He got the heavier basket and cooler, then Robyn helped him with the tablecloth and putting out the chips and plastic cups. He also grabbed a gym bag and tossed it to the ground by the table. When everything was ready, they sat next to each other on the table’s bench seat facing the playground, and Chris put his arm around her shoulders. He liked that she scooted closer, leaning into him.
“What’s in the gym bag?” she asked, pointing.
“I brought some things for Maddy to play with, like a football. She and I had a lot of fun the other day with that.”
Robyn smiled. “You just happened to have a football lying around?”
“No,” he admitted. “I bought it a couple of days ago. But I used to have one, back when I played in high school.”
“I knew it. I had you figured for a jock. Did you play in college?”
“For a while, quarterback. Had a couple of scouts from the NFL eyeing me at one point, but then I blew out my shoulder and that was the end of it. I went into law enforcement instead and I’ve never regretted it.”
“I’m glad. If you had taken a different path, I might never have met you.”
“That’s the nicest thing anybody’s said to me in a long time,” he told her softly. Then he leaned in and stole a chaste kiss, mindful of Maddy nearby.
“It’s the truth.” Her eyes were warm.
“I’m glad, too.”
They sat quietly for a moment, enjoying each other’s company. “So, what else is in the bag?”
“A Frisbee, a set of horseshoes, and a remote-controlled helicopter.”
“A what? Um, we’re next to the river. If it goes for a swim, it’s a goner.”
“Yeah, maybe that one wasn’t the best idea. But I think we can walk to that field over there, away from the water, and give it a try.”
“I know why you get along with kids—you’re a big kid yourself.”
“I can’t deny that.”
Maddy called out for someone to push her on the swings, so Robyn did that for a while. Chris soaked up the sight of them, and the awesome day, perfectly content. By the time Maddy was tired of swinging, everyone was hungry.
Robyn opened the basket and unwrapped turkey and bacon sandwiches on ciabatta rolls, putting a plain one on a plate for Maddy. His and Robyn’s had lettuce, tomato, and mayo, and he was practically salivating when they were ready to eat.
That simple meal went down on his list of all-time favorites.
Not so much for the food, but just being here with Robyn and Maddy. Feeling part of two other people in a way he never had before. This was how it should have been when he was a kid. He should have been like Maddy, happy and well adjusted. Loved by both of his parents. They’d never had days like this in all his life.
He stopped chewing as a realization smacked him between the eyes. He was thinking in terms of a family. With these two, who were slowly worming their way into his heart. Hadn’t he known that’s what was happening? Maybe, deep down. But acknowledging what he wanted—even just to himself—was sort of scary.
How could he be any kind of positive role model for Maddy when his own childhood had sucked so badly?
“Chris?”
His gaze snapped to hers to find her staring at him from across the table. “Hmm?” Quickly, he finished chewing the bite of sandwich.
“You okay?”
“Oh, sure. Just thinking about work.” He wasn’t sure why he lied. Except it just seemed too soon to broach the possibility of his being a part of their future. Instead, he went with something he could speak about. “I talked to my captain about that issue we were discussing, the one involving Eden.” He was well aware of small ears, and was careful.
Glancing at Maddy, she nodded. “What did he say?”
“The chief made them aware of the concerns you and the ME have, and I’ve been given permission to unofficially take a look at the list of people affected.”
“That’s good,” she said with relief. “Maybe you’ll find a connection somewhere.”
“I’m sure going to try.”
&n
bsp; After that, talk was kept lighthearted, and he made sure to include Maddy in the conversation. He wouldn’t tolerate her feeling left out or ignored—by himself or anyone else. The protectiveness that came over him where she was concerned still amazed him. She wasn’t his, and damned if that didn’t sting a little.
After dinner was cleared away, it was time for football. He and Maddy even coaxed Robyn into participating, despite her protests that athletics were not her thing. They tossed the ball back and forth for a while, letting the little girl “score” now and then and spike the ball.
Horseshoes were a bit out of Maddy’s skill set just yet—her arms were too short and skinny to throw the U-shaped irons with much strength, so that game quickly waned.
The remote-controlled helicopter, however, was another matter. The gadget was met with unbridled enthusiasm, and so he took her over to the field to try her hand at junior piloting. He demonstrated a couple of runs, showing her how to work the controls, and then relinquished them to her.
It soon became clear that the small copter was not going home in the same shape in which it had arrived. He didn’t mind—he simply enjoyed watching her have such fun. Robyn called out encouragement and tried to give her directions, but the toy crashed again and again, spending more time on the ground than it did in the air. Maddy didn’t care.
Then suddenly the thing remained aloft for an extended run, the little girl shouting in delight at her improved flying. Inevitably, however, the copter got away from her. But this time it soared away from the water and directly into a stand of trees some forty yards away. The toy was totally swallowed by the foliage.
“I’ll get it!” she yelled. Then she took off after it like a bullet.
“Maddy, wait!”
The girl paid no heed, and Chris gave her mother a rueful smile. “I’ll go help her look for it.”
The kid was fast, disappearing into the trees before he could catch up. Stopping, he listened and could hear her crashing through the undergrowth—and suddenly the noise stopped. He waited a few heartbeats, but there was no sound at all. A chill crept down his spine.
“Maddy? Where are you?” Nothing. “Maddy!”