by Laura Scott
She collapsed onto the cushioned sofa and he sat beside her, staying close. “I’m so sorry, Gabby,” he murmured.
“I just can’t believe he’s gone,” she whispered.
“I know,” he said, feeling helpless.
“It’s my fault he’s dead,” she said in a choked tone and then surprised him by turning and burying her face in the curve of his shoulder. His heart twisted when he felt the dampness of her tears.
“Don’t cry,” he said, holding her close. “His death isn’t your fault, Gabby. Creighton did this, not you.”
There was a long pause and she sniffed loudly as if trying to stop the flow of tears. “Richard resented me, right from the very beginning.”
“You were young, Gabby, maybe you misunderstood.”
“No, I knew. He wanted my mother all to himself. He arranged for me to be sent away to live at a boarding school when I was nine years old,” she said. “I cried, begging him and my mother to let me stay home, but he insisted. And my mother went along with it.”
Nine? A surge of anger on her behalf made him see red. Who sent a nine-year-old to boarding school? Especially barely a year after losing her father? “That sounds rough.”
She sighed against him. “Yeah. And when I came home for the holidays, Richard made it clear that he and my mother were too busy to spend time with me. They were always heading off to parties and events, leaving me home with a babysitter.”
Okay, now he was really starting to dislike the guy. No wonder she hadn’t jumped to forgive him. “I’m sorry, Gabby.”
“Eventually, I stopped coming home.” She sniffed again and reached up to wipe her eyes.
“Staying at school with your friends must have been a little better than going home,” he said.
She shook her head against him. “No friends. All the kids at the Einstein School of Brilliance were in competition with each other for the best grades and the best scholarships.”
No friends? No family? He couldn’t imagine such a thing. How on earth had she survived? He reached down and put his finger beneath her chin, tipping her face up so he could look into her eyes.
“Gabby, you are the most amazing and incredible woman I’ve ever known,” he said huskily.
The corners of her lips turned up in a semblance of a smile. “I’m not, but thanks for saying so.”
Since words didn’t seem to be getting through to her, he slowly bent his head, giving her plenty of time to back away, before he tenderly kissed her.
* * *
Gabby was caught off guard by Shane’s kiss and for a fleeting moment, she enjoyed the sensation of his mouth on hers before old memories flooded her brain, causing her to stiffen and pull away.
Shane’s eyes were full of apology. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, really, it’s just...” Her voice trailed off, as she couldn’t bear to tell him the truth. “You took me by surprise. I’m not used to being with a man like this,” she finished lamely.
Shane reached up to tuck a stray curl behind her ear. “I only wanted to offer comfort, Gabby, nothing more. I shouldn’t have overstepped my boundaries.”
“You have given me comfort,” she admitted shyly. Being with Shane like this didn’t scare or frighten her. It was just the memory of Damon’s actions that had flashed in her mind, causing her instinctive reaction. A response Shane didn’t deserve. “More than anyone else ever has.”
“Oh, Gabby,” Shane murmured, drawing her close again and tucking her head under his chin. “You tear me up when you say things like that. I don’t know how you managed to get through your lonely childhood to become the woman you are today.”
She closed her eyes and breathed in his familiar woodsy scent. “I had a teacher, Mary Jane Pollard, who took me under her wing. She was an amazing teacher and mentor. I told her that I wanted to be a trauma doctor when I grew up and she never once tried to talk me out of it. She was a huge support and inspiration for me, even after I left Einstein’s to attend medical school.”
“I’m glad you had someone like Mary Jane in your life,” Shane said softly. “Is she still around? Maybe we should go visit her.”
“She’s in a nursing home now,” Gabby said with a sigh. “She suffered a stroke several years ago. The last time I saw her, she didn’t seem to remember me. She was a huge part of my life, but I was just one of many students she taught.”
“I bet you were special to her, too,” Shane said. “It sounds as if you two bonded for a while there.”
Gabby smiled against Shane’s broad shoulder, touched by his determination to make her feel better. She wished she could stay in his arms like this forever.
“Gabby?”
Reluctantly she pulled away from Shane to glance up at Bill Mullen. “Yes?”
Bill cleared his throat awkwardly. “I’d like to do an autopsy, with your permission, of course. I think we need to understand what happened.”
She nodded. “I wholeheartedly agree. Maybe we’ll find it was a blood clot, or maybe it was something else. I would like to know one way or the other. And I’d appreciate a call when you get the preliminary results back.”
The neurosurgeon nodded. “Will do. Unfortunately, we’ll need to know the funeral details as well.”
Gabby gave him the name of the same funeral home that they’d used when her mother died.
“All right, let me know if you need anything more,” Bill said before he turned and walked away.
Shane’s phone rang and he answered it, staying right beside her rather than going someplace more private. She tried not to eavesdrop, but it wasn’t easy.
“Extended leave of absence, huh?” Shane said, glancing at Gabby. “That is interesting. Can you get me the make and model of the car he drives and the license plate number? Great. Thanks, Nate.”
“Who’s on an extended leave?” she asked, hoping desperately that he wasn’t talking about Damon Keller. She thought she’d put her past behind her.
But her reaction to Shane’s kiss had proven otherwise.
“Eric Ambrose,” Shane said in a grim tone. “Nate found out that he was working on the East Coast, in Baltimore. And it sounds like he might have gotten himself in trouble, too.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Nate found that Ambrose has a pending medical-malpractice lawsuit against him.” Shane’s keen blue gaze bore into hers. “Do you know anything about that?”
She shook her head. “No. How could I? You said yourself that he’s been out on the East Coast. And you have to understand that filing a lawsuit doesn’t take much. People do that all the time. Almost a third never get past the initial filing, mostly because the burden of proof is on the plaintiff.”
Shane looked surprised. “You sound like you’ve had experience with this type of thing.”
“Not really, at least not on a personal level. But we had an ethical/legal class in med school that I found very interesting.”
“Hmm. So basically, you’re telling me this lawsuit doesn’t mean much,” Shane said with obvious disappointment.
“It’s hard to say for sure without knowing the details about the case.” Gabby was tempted to stop there but knew he deserved to know her suspicions. “When we were residents, Eric was all about being the best. He wanted the position of senior resident for the trauma program very badly. There was a salary advantage as well as the prestige of the role. He and I were the main two in the running, so he did whatever he could to sabotage me.”
Shane scowled. “Sabotage you, how?”
“He and Joe Chasco would give me wrong information during handoffs, trying to make me look bad in front of the attending physician.” Gabby still couldn’t believe Eric and Joe had risked harming patients just to make themselves look better. “Luckily, I was super conscientious and always looked at my patients’ charts for myself. So I was able to avoid their pitiful attempts to humiliate me.”
“That’s crazy,” Shane muttered darkly. “Why woul
d they put patients at risk?”
Gabby shrugged. “Most physicians truly care about their patients. But there is a small minority who go into this career because they care about the money, prestige and power. Eric Ambrose is a prime example of the latter. He was awarded a full scholarship to college, the same way I was. But he wasn’t satisfied unless he was the first in his class. And if working hard didn’t get him what he wanted, he wasn’t above cheating. He couldn’t stand the thought of being beaten out for the senior resident position, especially by a woman.”
“He sounds like a jerk,” Shane said. “Do you think it’s possible that he still resents you, all these years later?”
“Considering I was awarded the position of senior resident four years ago, it’s a stretch,” Gabby admitted. “However, the fact that he has a pending lawsuit is an interesting twist. And not just the litigation itself, but the fact that the hospital put him on a leave of absence. That’s not normal protocol unless they’re thinking of taking some sort of employment action against him.”
“I see,” Shane murmured. “In other words, the lawsuit might have merit.”
“Yeah. And if so, it’s possible that a hospital defense attorney would dig into Eric’s background, looking for ways to discredit him.”
“No offense, Gabby, but I can’t imagine any attorney risking kidnapping a witness at gunpoint.”
“No, not an attorney,” she agreed. “But we’re talking about a guy who would do anything to keep his reputation intact. I wonder if Eric has been in touch with Joe Chasco.”
“Nate found Joe in Chicago and verified that he was working the night you were kidnapped.”
“So then it’s just Eric we need to worry about. I still think it’s possible he believes I’d testify against him in some way.”
Narrowing his eyes, Shane tapped a finger against his chin. “You think Eric hired Creighton? Who in turn hired three guys and then killed them all when they failed to turn you over?”
The doubt in Shane’s tone made her feel foolish. Logically, she knew this theory wasn’t likely. But then again, in her mind, the entire kidnapping was a crazy idea, too. “Maybe.”
“I disagree. It doesn’t make sense that Eric would go after your stepfather,” he pointed out.
“No, it doesn’t. Although he could have been looking for my notes.”
Shane’s head shot up and his gaze pinned hers in an intense glare. “Notes? What notes?”
She tried not to squirm in her seat. “Notes on what he and Joe Chasco did in an attempt to discredit me,” she admitted.
“Wait a minute, are you saying Joe and Eric knew you documented what happened?” Shane asked.
“Yes. In fact, I used the notes to threaten them.” When Shane’s eyebrows levered upward, she sighed. “Look, I needed them to stop, right? I told them I had proof that they lied to me to make me look bad and that I had notes describing every incident that occurred. I told them I kept my notes locked up in a secure spot and that if they didn’t knock off their ridiculous antics I’d get them kicked out of the program.” She lifted her hands palm upward. “It worked, they left me alone from that point on.”
Shane was silent for a long moment. “Okay, that information does change things a bit. Let’s just say that Eric hired Creighton to find this so-called evidence. Evidence that he doesn’t want uncovered to be used against him in a lawsuit. He kidnaps you and when that doesn’t work, he searches your house and your stepfather’s, too. But he’s also basically killed four people. Which makes him a sociopath.”
Gabby swallowed hard. “Sociopath is a good way to describe him. But keep in mind, that’s just my opinion. And since I was his main target, my word isn’t exactly unbiased.”
“Your opinion is good enough for me,” Shane said, jaw muscles flexing. “Nate’s working on getting his vehicle information. Once we have that, we’ll put out an APB to bring him in as a person of interest.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Anything else I need to know?” Shane asked. “Is there other pertinent information you’re not telling me?”
Gabby inwardly winced and dropped her gaze. She didn’t really want to tell Shane about Damon’s attempted assault. But she didn’t want to lie to him, either.
Her pager went off, and she pounced on it like a lifeline. “Excuse me, I need to take this.”
She rose to her feet and hurried over to the house phone hanging on the lounge wall to return the call.
But this reprieve wouldn’t last long. Shane would be waiting when she was finished.
And she was very much afraid that the handsome detective would look at her differently, once he knew the truth.
NINE
Shane watched Gabby as she spoke on the phone, mentally kicking himself for crossing the line and kissing her. For a moment her lips had clung to his, before she came to her senses and abruptly pulled away. Obviously he’d gone too far, despite her claim to the contrary.
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to focus on the issue of keeping Gabby safe rather than ruminating on his blunder. After everything Gabby had told him about Eric Ambrose, he was forced to admit that the physician could be the guy they were after.
Especially if he really was a sociopath.
Still, Shane couldn’t get the image of those three dead men in the clearing out of his mind. The way they had been shot execution-style reminded him of an organized-crime hit. But what if that’s what Ambrose wanted them to think? What if that was his way of throwing suspicion off himself?
He couldn’t believe Gabby had kept notes related to the things the two residents had done to discredit her. He frowned, wondering just where those notes were. Must not have been at her house, since she hadn’t said anything about them.
His phone rang and when he saw Nate’s name, he quickly answered. “Hey, buddy, what’s up?”
“I can’t get anyone to confirm Gabby and her mother were in witness protection. Not that I really expected to. Those marshals are beyond secretive.”
“I know,” Shane concurred. “But still, the fact that Gabby’s mother had a different last name verifies Gabby’s claim. Anything else crop up?”
“I was able to pull some financial information on Richard Strawn. It’s pretty clear the guy had a big-time gambling problem. Lots of cash going out at very high levels. Some smaller amounts spent at casinos, too.”
“Really?” Shane straightened in his seat, wondering if his first theory had been right all along. “Any idea who he was in debt to?”
“Not yet, but from what I can see he’s in for at least fifty grand.”
Fifty grand? Far from chump change. Enough to kill for? Maybe.
“Interesting,” Shane murmured. “So maybe Creighton is a loan shark and was ticked that Richard didn’t pay up?”
“Could be,” Nate agreed. “I haven’t found any indication that he owes a casino money—those debts seem to be paid—so it seems logical that he used a loan shark for some private poker games or something along those lines. We can ask him about it once he recovers from his head injury.”
Shane winced. “Unfortunately not. Richard just passed away.”
“He’s...dead?” Nate asked in surprise. “What happened? I thought he wasn’t hurt that bad.”
“Yeah, that’s what we thought, too.” Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “The doctor isn’t sure what happened. The current theory is that he threw a blood clot. Gabby agreed to an autopsy, but so far there’s no indication of foul play.”
“Yet,” Nate muttered.
“Yeah, yet. Although it seems odd that Creighton would try to finish him off, since dead men can’t pay their debts. And there’s no sign he was worked over.”
“No, but it could be that killing Strawn was Creighton’s way of sending a message,” Nate said slowly.
A message? To Gabby? A chill snaked down his spine. “Do you think Creighton grabbed Gabby to force her to pay her stepfather’s debts? After all, she was paying
his mortgage.”
“I hadn’t considered that possibility,” Nate answered. “But it makes sense.”
Shane watched as Gabby hung up the phone and wearily ran her fingers through her pretty red curls. How frustrating to have so many suspects and not enough information on any of them. “Any hits on Ambrose’s car?” he asked as she crossed back over to where he stood.
“No, it’s going to take time. And we don’t even know for sure he’s in the state of Wisconsin. He could be anywhere.”
Yeah. Like Chicago, where Ambrose’s sidekick was currently living. Hadn’t Gabby said the two residents worked together to set her up? “Check in with the Illinois state troopers,” he directed. “I think it’s a strong possibility Ambrose might be hanging out in the Chicago area.”
“Near his old buddy Joe Chasco? Yeah, you have a point. Sounds good.”
“Thanks Nate,” Shane said before disconnecting from the call and turning toward Gabby. “Everything all right?” he asked.
She nodded, looking dead on her feet. “Yes, for the most part. Our surgical patient is having some complications, but a change in antibiotic coverage should help.” She paused and then asked, “No news on Eric Ambrose?”
“No, but we’ll find him,” he said, infusing confidence in his tone. He didn’t like the shadow of fear that lingered in her eyes and had to resist the urge to give her a hug. “You look like you could use something to eat. Should we go back down to the cafeteria?”
“I’m not hungry and it’s getting late. I’d rather get some sleep.”
“Okay, that works,” Shane agreed. “We can head over to your call room.”
Gabby walked toward the stairwell, and Shane followed, having gone this route long enough with her now that he was familiar with the path she liked to take to get from one side of the hospital to the other.
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Aren’t you heading home soon?” she asked. “You’ve been here over twenty-four hours.”
“So have you.” He couldn’t deny wishing for a soft bed and a shower, but not at the expense of Gabby’s safety. “And no, I’m not heading home.”