by Blythe, Jane
Luck had given him the opportunity to treat her once before in the hospital, and those few days where he had been able to see her regularly—talk to her, even touch her—had been the best of his life.
And now, here she was again.
He had to be careful, though.
Bruce had gotten the sense that Sofia might have known who he really was.
And he wasn't quite ready for her to know yet.
Perhaps he should keep his distance.
Let another doctor take care of her.
Go back to watching her from afar.
Only, he knew he wouldn’t. Or couldn’t.
He needed to be around her. He needed a connection with her.
Determinedly, he set out for Sofia’s room, forcing himself to look casual instead of goofily enamored.
“Everything okay in here?”
Inside the room, Laura lay on a bed, her eyes closed. Sofia was still in her bed, and Mark, Ryan, and Jack Xander were all hovering around the beds. Bruce knew Mark Xander. As well as being one of Sofia’s brothers-in-law, he was a surgeon here at the hospital.
“Hi, Bruce. My sister-in-law, Laura, has a migraine. She just needs to sleep it off for a while,” Mark explained, keeping his voice quiet so as not to wake the sleeping woman.
“Do you want me to check her out?” he offered, anything to spend as much time around Sofia as he could.
“No, that’s okay, I already did. She’s stable, but I have to go back upstairs. She really just needs rest, and my brother, Ryan, is going to keep an eye on her, but if there are any problems, he’ll let you know.”
“Sure.” Bruce nodded agreeably. “I'm happy to help if she needs it. No problems with her pregnancy?” He knew there weren’t, but thought it seemed appropriate to ask.
“No, none,” Mark replied.
“Is this her first child?”
“Second.”
“You should also know she’s agoraphobic,” Jack Xander added as he pulled a blanket up to cover his wife.
Pretending he didn’t know that already, he nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, so she’s likely to be stressed when she wakes up then. I'm on for another few hours, but I’ll let the next shift know when they come on.” He turned to Ryan. “Call me if she needs me. You're doing okay, Mrs. Xander?” he asked Sofia.
“Fine, thank you,” she nodded, a little curtly, but Bruce assumed it was just because she worried about Laura.
Fighting the urge to go to Sofia and pick up her wrist to check her pulse or take her blood pressure or anything that involved touching her, he nodded at the group and hurried out the door.
As he went to the desk to grab another patient chart, Bruce decided it was almost time. He’d waited long enough. Soon, he would reveal himself to Sofia, and then the two of them could be together forever.
* * * * *
10:46 P.M.
Detective Xavier Montague was heading toward the hospital room where his partner, Jack, had told him to meet him when he saw someone familiar leaving the room.
Dr. Bruce Daniels.
Xavier vividly remembered the man.
Back when he’d been investigating a killer who wiped out entire families leaving one member alive, Dr. Daniels had been a suspect. The man had had connections to most of the families, and there was just something about him that left Xavier feeling on edge. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Although it had turned out that Bruce Daniels hadn’t committed the murders, Xavier still didn’t like the guy.
That investigation had also led him to Annabelle.
He loved Belle with all his heart, but she kept insisting on pushing him away. He had thought, hoped, that with her tormentor finally out of the picture, she’d be able to move on. And she had. In a way. Only her moving forward seemed to not include him. While he truly loved Annabelle and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, he wasn't sure how much more of her pushing him away he could take.
Right now, he was just going to focus on work.
His girlfriend may not need him, but there were four kids here who most certainly did.
Striding into the hospital room, his gaze immediately fell on Laura, and his eyes narrowed in concern. Her face was pale, and her dark hair accentuated her lack of color. Her eyes were closed, and she appeared to be asleep. At least Xavier hoped she was merely asleep and not unconscious.
“I thought Sofia was the sick one, what’s wrong with Laura?” he asked.
“Running on fumes finally caught up with her. Mark thinks she’s getting migraines and it’s important that she start taking better care of herself. Like actually eat and sleep.” Jack’s face and tone were a mixture of concern and frustration. “I don’t know how I'm going to manage to make her do that, though, since we’re about to have a new baby.”
Xavier felt a stab of jealousy. It wasn't that he begrudged any of his friends their children, but he really thought he would have had kids of his own by now. He was thirty-seven years old; he’d been with Annabelle for the last five years, and their relationship was in the worst shape it had ever been. Kids did not look to be in his future.
“She’s just asleep though, right?” he gestured at Laura. “She’s not unconscious?”
“She’s asleep,” Mark assured him, carefully picking up Laura’s wrist and checking her pulse. She didn’t stir, and a moment later he set her hand back down. “And she’s still stable. I better be going. Call me if you need me; otherwise, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
Mark moved toward the door, but Xavier stopped him. “What do you know about Bruce Daniels?”
“Not a lot, why?” Mark asked.
“He was a suspect for a while in an old case of mine,” Xavier informed them.
“He creeps me out,” Sofia shuddered.
“Me too,” he agreed.
“Did you have anything concrete against him?” Jack asked.
“There were some allegations that he’d been making kids who were brought in to the emergency room sicker so he could swoop in and save them. Nothing was ever proven. He ended up treating several of our victims, including Annabelle, and he just seemed a little too interested in them.”
“That’s how Sofia feels,” Ryan added.
“I just have a bad feeling about him; I can't explain it.” Xavier knew the man was bad news and wished he had the time to put into proving it.
“I suggested to Sofia that he could be her stalker,” Ryan told them. “But she said she didn’t think so.”
“Are you sure?” Xavier asked.
Sofia’s pale face went thoughtful as she considered this. “No. I'm not sure. He could be, I guess.”
“We should get Paige to talk to the doctor, and see if she thinks he’s the man who attacked her,” Jack suggested.
Ryan’s flinch would have been imperceptible had Xavier not been looking for it. Ryan was extremely protective of his partner. Xavier knew the two had always been close, and Ryan blamed himself for the attack on Paige four years ago.
“I hate to put her through that,” Ryan said, “but yeah, we should. She’s not safe so long as the stalker is out there and neither is Sofia and neither are the rest of us since this guy is unpredictable. But, in the meantime, Dr. Daniels doesn’t come near Sofia or Laura.”
“Sorry, Sofia,” Xavier said. “I haven’t even asked; how are you doing?”
She offered up a weak smile. “I'm okay, just tired.”
“Hopefully you can get some sleep.”
“Ryan, that reminds me. Laura had nightmares earlier, so she may have more. She might wake up in a panic,” Jack told his brother.
“No problem. If she does, I’ll handle it.” Ryan looked completely unfazed.
“Thanks, text me when she wakes up or if you can't calm her down. Xavier, you ready?” Jack looked to him.
“Yep, ready when you are.”
“I'm ready.” But Jack hesitated, pressing a tender kiss to Laura’s forehead.
“I’ll stay with her, Jack,”
Ryan said gently. “And she would want you to go and help this girl.”
He roused himself. “Yeah I know. I just don’t like leaving her when she’s so stressed. All right, let’s go before I change my mind.”
However, once they left the room, Xavier could tell Jack’s mind was still firmly back inside with his wife. They’d been partners for four years now, and Xavier considered both Jack and Laura to be amongst his closest friends. He also considered Jack’s brother Ryan and his wife Sofia, and Ryan’s partner Paige and her husband Elias, to be good friends, too. He had hoped that his transfer to work out of a different precinct and their new group of friends would make Annabelle more comfortable.
But it hadn’t.
Annabelle seemed to like all of them, especially Laura, but that was no surprise since Laura exuded sincere empathy that put people at ease. But, she hadn’t connected with them in the way he’d hoped. She was still closed off. Still distant. Still living on her own even as they lived together.
Not that they were living together anymore.
Xavier couldn’t understand why Annabelle was pushing him away.
He loved her, but that hurt.
A lot.
“Jack, you're not focused,” he told his partner, deliberately focusing himself.
“Yes, I am.” His blue eyes narrowed defensively.
“No, you're still thinking about Laura. She’s going to be okay. She's improving, I know slower than she wants, but she’s still getting better. And she's asleep now anyway so even if you were there with her you couldn’t do anything for her. And Ryan is with her. She’ll be fine.”
“I know,” Jack sighed. “I just can't stop worrying about her.”
“I know the feeling.”
“I'm sorry. Any luck convincing Annabelle to stay home or she still insisting on moving into her own place?”
“She's still moving.”
“You want Laura to try talking to her?” Jack offered.
“Thanks, but I think this is something Annabelle has to work through on her own. Besides, Laura has enough going on right now. Look, I’ll make you a deal; you stop worrying about Laura, and I’ll stop worrying about Annabelle.”
“Deal.” Jack offered up a half smile.
They shook on it, but Xavier knew neither of them was going to be able to follow through.
“There’s Maegan.” Jack pointed to a teenage girl standing by the door. Maegan appeared to be around fifteen, with long black hair and large blue eyes that were currently staring, seemingly unseeingly, at the busy emergency room.
“Maegan?” Xavier asked as they approached.
Startled, the girl’s eyes grew wary as they settled on him and Jack. “Where’s Laura?”
“She’s sleeping,” Jack replied.
“I knew she wasn't okay,” Maegan exclaimed.
“She is okay,” Jack assured the teenager. “My brother checked her out, and he said she’s stable.”
“Your brother is a doctor?” the girl asked.
“Yes, a surgeon. Laura is just really tired, and she needs some rest.” Jack sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as Maegan.
“And you're a cop, right?”
“Yes, and we can help you, Maegan, but you need to work with us.”
The look she shot them was doubtful. “Who’s that?” She nodded her head at him.
“I'm Jack’s partner, Xavier,” he introduced himself.
“Why don’t we go and talk someplace more private,” Jack suggested.
Maegan hesitated, clearly still undecided about whether or not she trusted them. Then she exhaled slowly. “Okay, I trust Laura, and she obviously trusts you since she married you and has kids with you, so I guess that has to be enough. Besides, I have to trust someone. It may as well be you guys.”
With that ringing endorsement, Maegan followed them to a small office. They all took seats, Maegan choosing the one on its own farthest away from them.
“All right, Maegan, tell us what happened to you,” Xavier said.
“Didn’t Laura already tell you?” she asked.
“Yes, but we need to hear it from you,” Jack told her gently.
For the next ten minutes, Jack led Maegan through the day she’d been abducted and the events that followed. He asked her questions and prodded her gently for as much information as the girl could offer.
While Jack questioned her, Xavier watched her closely for any signs that she was lying or delusional. Laura had told Jack that Maegan had been scared that the man who kidnapped her would paint her as mentally ill. They’d get a psych evaluation done if needed, but for the moment, he and Jack just had to be confident that the girl was telling the truth so they could begin investigating.
“You're asking me so many questions.” Maegan’s eyes were shining brightly with unshed tears. “Don’t you believe me?”
“We believe you, honey,” Jack reassured her, and instantly the girl relaxed a hair. Jack possessed an innate ability to soothe and put at ease even the most traumatized of victims. “But, if we’re going to prove that Malachi did what you say he did so that you and your sisters can go home, then we need to know everything you can tell us. Now, you told Laura that you don’t know Malachi’s last name?”
Maegan nodded.
“But you told her that he’s insane, that he thinks you're his daughters who died in a fire?”
Another nod.
Getting information out of Maegan wasn't easy. The teenager was scared. And if what she’d told them was true then she had every right to be afraid. Xavier was wondering whether, given the girl’s traumatized state, Laura would have better luck at getting information.
Jack wasn't fazed by Maegan’s unwillingness to talk and continued with his questions. “Do you know anything about the fire or Malachi’s real daughters?”
“No,” Maegan answered in a small voice. “I think they died a little before he kidnapped us, which would make it around six years ago. I've never seen any pictures of them. Malachi must have gotten rid of them. But I guess they looked like us, since we all look like Malachi with the black hair and blue eyes. His kids must have looked like him, too. He calls us Ariyel, Alice, Angela, and Abigail, so those must have been their names. I was ten when he took me; Abby was just a baby; Angela was four; Ariyel was eighteen, but I think he thought she was only sixteen. That must have been his daughters’ ages when they died.”
He was surprised by the sudden flow of information. “What about Malachi’s wife? His children’s mother? Do you know anything about her? Is she still around?” Xavier asked.
“I don’t know,” Maegan replied. “He never talks about her, but she must exist. I mean, someone had to have his children.”
“Honey, we need something if we’re going to arrest Malachi,” Jack told her gently. “We need something to go on. If you tell us your real name, we can prove that he kidnapped you.”
She shook her head. “What if you confront him with my abduction, and he just claims he doesn’t know me? He could tell you that he’s never seen me before. How would you prove otherwise?”
The girl was so terrified that she was inventing extremely unlikely scenarios. “If you give us the names of the other girls, we can prove he took all of you,” Xavier attempted to reason with her.
“I don’t know their full names, only their first names. You won't be able to find out who they are in time,” Maegan protested.
“Tell us where they are so we can talk to them. If we have your statement, and their statements, we can arrest Malachi. In fact, we have enough to arrest him right now,” Jack told her. “We have your statement. We can take him down to the station now.”
“What would happen to us? Would we go into foster care?”
“You could go straight home with your family. The others, yes, they’d have to go into foster care until we find out who they are.”
Maegan seemed to consider this. “But even if you arrest him, Malachi could get out on bail and find out wher
e the others are and take them back. Then they’d be alone with him without Ariyel or me to protect them. Or he might not even get charges filed against him. You don’t know my whole name, so you can't prove that I was even kidnapped. Malachi will convince you I'm just crazy.”
Xavier wanted to grab the girl and shake some sense into her. But Jack remained calm. “I’ll give you a couple of hours to get used to the idea that you are going to tell us who you really are and who your sisters are. Xavier and I will talk to Malachi here, but you are to stay out of sight. Seriously, I don’t want you anywhere near Malachi.”
“Okay.” Maegan looked relieved. “Can I go and see Laura?”
“She needs to get some sleep at the moment, but yes, when she wakes up I’ll take you to see her,” Jack replied.
“Thank you,” Maegan smiled.
“Maegan,” Jack waited until the girl was looking him in the eye, “I need to know why you're doing this now. This isn’t necessarily going to be easy, and I need to know you're prepared for whatever happens. So, why now?”
“Because this is the first chance we’ve had. I told you, he hasn’t let us leave that house in five years. This plan, it isn’t mine. It’s Ariyel’s. She thought it up years ago. Only when she tried it, it didn’t work. But this time it is going to work. I’ll do whatever I have to, to make sure of it.”
The fierce determination in the teenager’s voice had Xavier almost believing that it would.
However, the glint in her eyes left him wondering whether there was a possibility that she was insane after all.
* * * * *
10:53 P.M.
Malachi knew that if she’d been awake, Ariyel would be thrilled that he had caved and brought her here.
He remembered her attempt to manipulate him into bringing her to the hospital. Because she thought that once she was here she could escape from him.