They stared at each other until Dallas finally asked, “So what are you chewing on right now?”
“Get her to voluntarily hand over her clothes to be tested for blood spatter.”
“In exchange for what?” Dallas asked, suspicious.
“I won’t arrest her and I’ll keep looking for suspects.”
Dallas crossed his own arms. “Two questions.”
“Shoot.”
“One: Why me? Why don’t you talk her into giving up her clothes?”
Tony grinned. “I’ve haven’t had much practice talking women out of their clothes. Besides, I thought you were helping her. Plus, it’s like you said earlier: you two bonded.” He held up one hand. “She could have puked on me. But she chose you.”
Dallas didn’t smile. “Two: What is it you’re not telling me?”
Tony’s brown eyes pinched tighter. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t shit me. We both know she wouldn’t be walking out of here unless you had a reason to think she didn’t do this.”
At least Tony had the decency to look guilty. “She thinks her ex was shot.” He raised an eyebrow. “She could have been playing me.”
“But you didn’t think so,” Dallas said.
“Right.”
Dallas continued to stare at him and somehow he knew there was more. “And…?”
Tony sighed. “I got a call from Juan. Ms. Hunt’s an artist, owns a shop off the town square.”
“And as Dad would say, what does that have to do with the price of tomatoes?”
“Juan’s at her gallery now. The employee working at her place was found stabbed. It happened an hour ago. Nikki couldn’t have done it.”
“Told you she was innocent,” Dallas said.
“Of this, yes. Of her ex-husband’s murder, we still don’t know.”
“Come on,” Dallas said. “Are you saying you think this is a coincidence?”
“I have to do my job,” Tony insisted.
As much as Dallas hated admitting it, he knew his brother was doing what he had to do. It didn’t change the fact that what he had to do could possibly put an innocent person behind bars. “Is the employee dead?” Dallas asked.
“Not yet, but Juan said the medics didn’t seem sure she’d make it. The ambulance is bringing her here. That’s all I know.” Tony’s expression hardened. “When she gets here, you stay out of my way. I accept that you want to help Ms. Hunt, but you need to know that if I find out she has something to do with this, I’m coming after her. If I have to barrel through you to get to her, so be it.”
Dallas looked back toward the ER and wondered how close Nikki was to her employee. If he read her right as the type who treated everyone like family, they were probably close. “Are you planning on telling Nikki?”
“I thought you might like to do that?”
“That’s your job.” Dallas’s gut knotted at the thought of being the bearer of bad news.
“Yeah, but remember I’m the mean bastard.”
“You don’t have to be,” Dallas said.
“She’s a suspect. I can’t go soft on her. She’ll take it better from you.”
“You’re just afraid she’ll start crying.”
“Guilty.” Tony started walking back toward the ER. They continued in silence for the next few seconds before Tony asked, “Did you know LeAnn worked here now?”
“At this hospital?”
“I just spoke with her. When I heard her laugh, I swear I died and went to heaven.”
Tony smiled—a smile like Dallas hadn’t seen on his brother’s face in a long time.
“So it went good?” Dallas asked.
“Not really.” Tony’s smile faded. “She was laughing with some asshole doctor. But I think I know what I have to do.”
“What’s that?”
“Win her back.” He inhaled. “She looked good. I’m getting her back.” His smile returned, even bolder this time.
Dallas glanced at Tony and wondered if he had that goofy look on his face when he used to talk about Serena. Serena, the woman who’d walked out on him when he’d been accused of murder. Serena, who’d admitted to sleeping with her boss when they were married. God, was he ever one fucked-up idiot. He never wanted to smile like that again.
Never again, he thought. Not that he wished Tony bad luck, but love had made a fool out of Dallas once, and he wasn’t going there again.
“And how do you plan to win her back?” he asked his brother.
“I’m still working on that, but I know this much. For nine months I’ve played by her rules. Stay away. Give her time. Don’t push. It hasn’t worked. Now, I play by my rules.”
“And those are?”
“Anything and everything goes,” Tony said.
They arrived back in the emergency room. Dallas looked at the curtained-off area where Nikki waited. “You said the ambulance’s coming here?”
“Yep,” Tony said. “And from what we know, she’s still alive.”
Dallas took a step then stopped. “I hate delivering bad news.”
Tony nudged him. “I’ll be right out here if you need me.”
Dallas knew his brother was a coward. But when it came to dealing with emotionally distraught women, so was Dallas. He remembered the look in Nikki’s big blue eyes when she heard his brother suggest he might arrest her. As the investigating officer, Tony’s job practically mandated he be curt. Nikki Hunt would probably take the news better from him.
Dallas slipped between the curtains to face the music. Only problem, there was no music to face. Nikki Hunt wasn’t there. The IV needle that had once been injected and taped to her wrist, now dangled downward and dripped onto the floor.
A woman’s purse lay open on the hospital bed, some of its contents spilling over the mattress.
He stepped out of the curtained space. Tony met his gaze. “Problems already?”
“Yeah.” Dallas looked up and down the hall. “Just a little one. About five-five, blond, and… very soft.”
CHAPTER SIX
“SHE RAN?” TONY jerked the curtain back and stared at the empty hospital bed.
“We don’t know that.” But damn it if Dallas’s mind wasn’t moving in that direction. Not that running made her guilty—he still hadn’t changed his mind about her being innocent. He personally knew how it felt to be accused of a crime you didn’t commit. Hell, running had crossed his mind once or twice, too.
“Fuck it!” Tony snapped. “Let’s break up and search for her.”
Tony stormed off and Dallas could hear him drilling the nurses about Nikki’s disappearance. That’s when Dallas’s eyes moved back to the purse and items on the bed. If the woman was running, wouldn’t she have taken her purse or at least her wallet?
He picked up the red wallet and thumbed through it. Does flat broke mean anything to you? He recalled her earlier words. Good to her word, he found no cash, not even any loose change. But her debit and credit cards peeked out of the little pockets beside her driver’s license. He didn’t know a woman alive who would leave home without her credit cards. He studied the purse’s other contents: a tampon, a pen, a crossword puzzle book, a few receipts, a tube of lipstick and blush, a flash drive, a small can of Mace, and a pack of gum.
He snagged a piece of cinnamon gum, and started dropping the items back into her purse. That’s when he realized the one thing that was missing. The thing most women kept as close as their credit cards. A cell phone. And that’s when he pretty much figured what happened. Turning around, he walked out of the ER and looked for the first exit sign.
LeAnn O’Connor, on a much-needed short break, stepped outside of the hospital and walked to the small veranda where employees ate their packed lunches. The eight o’clock sun was gone, but its heat hung on, and the sky was still light. Half-afraid she’d launch into a stress-induced panic attack, she hoped the air outside would make breathing possible. Not that it was the inside air causing her lungs to fail. Nope. Her inability to brea
the had nothing to do with air contaminants and everything to do with seeing her husband for the first time in nine months.
She knew facing him was inevitable. She just hadn’t expected it to hurt this much. Or maybe she had. Maybe that’s why she’d been avoiding him. Her hands shook and the hole that existed where her heart used to be seemed emptier, bigger and more painful than ever. Tears filled her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
Heaven help her, but he’d looked good. And when he’d leaned across the counter and invaded her space, he’d smelled good, too. He’d smelled like… home. And that’s what Tony had always been to her. Home. A sense of belonging, of believing she mattered, of having a special place in this big old world that hadn’t felt so lonely.
Thanks to her sole parent, Colonel Becker, she’d seen a lot of that world. Texas, Florida, New York, California, even Germany and Japan. She’d moved a total of twenty-two times in her life. The day she graduated high school, her father had handed her a checkbook with enough money in it to cover her living expenses and college education. She got birthday cards, Christmas cards and an allowance until she finished college. She’d seen him three times since she’d graduated nursing school. He was, after all, a very busy man. LeAnn hadn’t pressed for more than he’d been willing to give her. But make no mistake, she knew what she had never received from her father and it was the thing Tony gave her. Love and the feeling that she belonged, that she had a home. But then that, too, was ripped away from her.
Reaching up, she brushed a hand across her cheek, still feeling Tony’s touch against her skin. When, she wondered, would she stop loving him? When would she stop missing what they had, and accept her life now? Hadn’t she spent a lifetime accepting? She should be good at it by now.
She’d read about a dozen self-help books and all the bits of advice had started to sound the same. Move on. Let go of the past. Learn to live with the grief.
None of them, however, told her how to do it. How to forgive herself. How to forget.
I’m off Sunday. I’ll be over around ten a.m. His words played like music in her head.
Closing her eyes, she knew Sunday couldn’t happen. She wouldn’t be there.
Something warm and wet hit the tip of her forehead. She reached up, touched the mess and pulled her hand back. Eww. Bird poo. Looking up, she saw a white pigeon perched on the limb of a tree. “You’re kidding me?” she yelled at the bird.
The dang thing ruffled his feathers and went for a repeat performance. Stunned, she didn’t move fast enough and the second drop of bird shit hit her on the cheek.
“Just freaking great!” She wiped it off, or tried to. More than likely she’d just smeared it across her face.
“Some people think that’s good luck,” a female voice said from behind her.
Swinging around, LeAnn eyed the woman standing there in a hospital gown with a cell phone held to her ear. She held up her finger as if asking for a minute and then spoke into the phone. “Nana? Pick up. Please,” the woman said, sounding almost panicked and then she paused. “Nana, where are you? I didn’t have good reception and the only thing I was able to hear was that there was lots of blood. Is someone hurt? I’m waiting to hear from you. Call me right back.” The woman punched a button on her phone and dropped her hand.
LeAnn noted that the woman’s complexion looked pale. Well, of course she was sick. She was in a hospital gown. The wind kicked up a bit and the woman’s thin hospital gown shifted in the breeze. That’s when LeAnn noticed the blood dripping from the patient’s wrist.
“Are you okay?” LeAnn motioned to the bloody appendage.
“Just the IV,” the woman said. “I sort of forgot about it when I left.” She pointed back to the door. “The connection is bad in there.” She pressed her thumb over her wrist to staunch the bleeding and then stared down at the phone.
LeAnn eyed the woman’s hand and decided her bleeding wasn’t fatal, but… “Maybe we should get you back inside.”
“Not until I hear from my grandmother. I think something’s wrong.” The blonde looked up. “You have bird poop right…” She touched her cheek.
“I know,” LeAnn said. “And you’re still bleeding. We should get you inside.”
“In a few minutes. I’m sure she’ll call me back.” The woman swayed and quickly sat down on the bench seat. The pigeon in the tree cooed extra loud. The blonde looked up and LeAnn took a step back, not chancing a third hit.
“I don’t know why they think it’s good luck.” The blonde refocused on her phone.
“Me, either.” LeAnn wondered if she should get someone to help convince the woman to go back inside. “But I could use some luck.”
“Me, too.” A hint of desperation sounded in her voice.
“Bad day?” LeAnn asked.
“Extra bad.”
“Same here. I just had to face my estranged husband.” LeAnn wasn’t sure why she offered that information, other than she hoped to get the woman to trust her enough to come inside.
“I could top that.” The woman closed her eyes. “I found—”
The door from the hospital building swung open. For a second LeAnn thought it was Tony stepping out the door. Her heart dropped to her stomach, but she quickly recovered when she realized it was Dallas, her bother-in-law. But why was he here?
“Dallas?” LeAnn said.
He turned his gaze away from the blonde to LeAnn. “Oh, hey. I was… looking for Nikki.”
The blonde stood up. But then her phone rang and she whipped around and answered the call. “Nana? What’s wrong? I only could hear part of what you were saying.”
“You know her?” LeAnn asked Dallas.
Dallas nodded but his attention stayed on the blonde and her phone conversation. Right then, another gust of wind blew past and flipped open the back of the patient’s hospital gown, exposing her backside.
LeAnn looked at her brother-in-law, who was staring at the blonde’s ass. Then he glanced at LeAnn and shrugged as if to say he hadn’t meant to see it. But then, in typical male fashion, he cut his gaze back to get a second eyeful.
Men! LeAnn cleared her throat. Dallas winced.
Fortunately, Nikki reached back and caught her gown while she continued talking. “What? I mean… is she okay?” The panic in the other woman’s voice caught LeAnn’s attention, or was it the fact that she swayed on her feet again? Either way, LeAnn, forever the nurse, moved in. But Dallas beat her to the woman’s side.
“Where?” Nikki asked the caller, then holding a hand out to stop Dallas from grabbing her, she gripped the table. “What hospital?” There was a slight pause and then she turned around and dropped down on the bench’s wooden seat. “Okay. That’s where… I’m here now.”
“How do you know her?” LeAnn asked Dallas, but he was too busy listening to the phone conversation to answer.
“Yes,” Nikki continued. “I’ll explain later. I’m fine.” She disconnected. But she sat there and stared at the phone as if trying to cope with some terrible piece of news. Empathy filled LeAnn’s chest. She knew all about trying to cope.
Nikki looked up at Dallas. “Someone… someone attacked Ellen, my friend. She’s being brought—”
“I know.” Dallas’s gaze moved to Nikki’s bloody hand. LeAnn saw Dallas’s eyes fill with tenderness and concern. Her throat tightened, as she remembered when Tony had looked at her with the same caring O’Connor expression. Home, LeAnn thought. She missed it so damn much.
Dallas touched Nikki’s arm. “We should get you back inside.”
“Why would someone do this?” Nikki pressed two fingers over her trembling lips. “I don’t understand any of this. Why?”
“I think getting her inside is a good idea.” Knowing Dallas would help convince the escaped patient to return to her hospital bed, LeAnn moved in and helped raise Nikki from the bench seat.
Nikki eased away as if not wanting any help. And because LeAnn knew what it felt like to not want others to pity you or treat yo
u as a basket case, she let go.
Nikki walked toward the door, but before she walked through, she looked back at Dallas. “You thought I’d run, didn’t you?”
Run? LeAnn didn’t understand, but decided now wasn’t the time for inquiries.
“No,” Dallas answered too quickly. “Not at all.”
LeAnn didn’t know her brother-in-law that well. He’d been sent to prison right after she’d started dating Tony. But she knew him well enough to know he’d just lied. Plain and simple, O’Connors sucked at lying.
They walked down the hospital hall and into the ER unit. A familiar voice rang out. Before LeAnn could turn and run, Tony came barreling up.
“Damn it. Where did you…” He stopped bellowing at Nikki when he spotted LeAnn.
LeAnn stopped breathing again. Time froze and both Dallas and Nikki stared at Tony.
“She was making a call.” Dallas broke the awkward silence, and shot Tony a back-off look. Not that Tony noticed. He was still too busy staring at her. And LeAnn’s heart was too busy missing home for her to think straight.
Tony finally looked at Dallas and grimaced. “So she just yanked out her IV?”
Dallas frowned. “Maybe what happened was—”
“Maybe you should ask me,” Nikki said.
“Okay, I will.” The scowl line between Tony’s brows tightened. “Why did you pull your IV out?”
LeAnn knew her husband could come off as a hard-ass, and perhaps Tony in cop mode was just that. But beneath that tough exterior was a man who cared deeply—a man who always tried to do the right thing. She knew, because she had been his right thing.
“I didn’t pull it out,” Nikki said. “I forgot it was in. I got a call from my grandmother and all I could hear was something about blood and then the connection went out. I panicked and left to find a place with better reception.” Nikki frowned. “And I just learned that someone attacked my friend. She’s being brought here in an ambulance. Why is all this happening? You’re a cop, you should—”
Tony’s scowl line faded. “We’re trying to figure it out.”
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