Love Inspired Suspense May 2015 #2
Page 33
Laura stepped back, looking up at him. “What do you think was in the syringe?”
“We’re going to find out.” But the contents were most likely deadly. He rubbed her arms. “You sure you’re all right?”
“Yes. Just shaken up.”
So was he, although he didn’t want to let on. Good thing he’d had his knife today. More than once, he’d been glad that he still carried it.
Nurse Brooks appeared in the doorway. “Miss Parker, if you’re ready?”
“I am.” She offered the older woman a shaky smile. “Let’s do this.”
Griffin’s admiration for his undercover witness grew. “As soon as the police finish with us, I’ll get you home.”
“I can’t wait.” Neither could he. The sooner he got her out of here, the better.
*
The next morning, Laura was still shaken up. Yesterday she and Griffin had spent hours with the police, answering questions. In the end, Griffin had asked to speak to Rydell and Grissom’s lieutenant, and he’d explained Laura’s situation to the man. The lieutenant had called Marshal Yates to confirm everything. Once Griffin’s story checked out, he and Laura were allowed to leave. They’d also returned his gun and his knife.
She hadn’t slept much last night and she had heard Griffin moving around in the house, so she knew he hadn’t, either.
The fact that he had to bring her back to the clinic this morning kept him quiet and steel jawed the entire time they were there. Laura didn’t like having to return to the place, either, but because of insurance, they had no choice. Boone and Sydney had joined them today, which made Laura feel better. She knew Griffin did, too.
The visit for Laura’s fourth injection went off without a hitch. When they came out of the clinic, the other two Enigma operatives went their separate ways. Once in Griffin’s SUV, he turned to Laura.
“I don’t like the idea of leaving you at the house alone.”
“I’ll be fine. If anyone else tries to get in, I know I’ll be safe in the vault.”
He hesitated.
“If you can get any answers about Hughes, Inhofe or Thompson before I leave, I’d appreciate it.”
“All right,” he said reluctantly. “I want to know if anything weird happens at the house and I mean anything.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll call you as soon as I’ve finished. You call me every thirty minutes. Deal?”
“Deal.” She hoped he could find something to finally connect one or more of their three suspects to Vin.
“If you want, I’ll check on your dad while I’m there.”
“Thank you.”
As Griffin turned down the gravel road leading to his house, she touched his leg. “Tomorrow’s the last time we have to go to that clinic.”
“I’m glad, except that also it means you’ll have to leave.”
He didn’t want her to go? Maybe she wasn’t the only one fighting her feelings. What would things be like if she could stay? She’d like to find out.
She hated the thought of leaving but tried not to complain further. “Things will be quiet when I’m gone.”
He gave her a crooked grin as he pulled into the garage and killed the engine. “Maybe I don’t like quiet.”
“Maybe?” She laughed. “I’d say you don’t. You were as cool as could be after being shot at.”
“That’s from practice.”
His reminder of his time in Afghanistan sobered both of them.
He came around to open her door and help her out. Taking her hand, he led her inside, not letting go of her until she was on the sofa in the living room. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“I’ll be fine.” She felt safe here.
Despite everything, she felt safe with Griffin. Once she left, would she ever feel safe again?
*
Once Griffin reached the hospital, he took the elevator to the seventh floor. Rick Hughes was waiting when he arrived.
The man shook his hand, then gestured down the hall. “There’s an empty room the nurse said we could use.”
Griffin wondered why the chaplain wanted complete privacy. He followed the bald man into a patient room, keeping his place near the door as Hughes moved farther inside and across the shiny linoleum floor. The tan walls and single-person bed mirrored those in Nolan’s room.
The white edge of a clerical collar showed beneath the dark blue sweater Hughes wore today.
Griffin waited until the man halted at the foot of the bed. “What can I do for you, Pastor?”
“I understand you spoke to a friend of mine yesterday.” The man stuck his hands in his pockets, then took them out. “Harry Bowman.”
At Griffin’s silence, Hughes continued, “About the motorcycle he stored in my garage?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“He said you thought it might’ve been used in a drive-by shooting and that you were the target.”
Griffin nodded. “In the parking garage here.”
“Here! Why would you consider Bowman a suspect?”
“He’s done time.”
“Does he have a grudge against you?”
“It’s likely the job was done for money.”
“When was the drive-by?”
“Three days ago.”
“I believe Bowman was out of town. I don’t think he’s your shooter. He knows he’ll have to return to prison if he gets anywhere close to something like that.”
If he was caught, Griffin thought. “He was a starting point. I had a license plate number and traced it to the owner of the bike. I paid him a visit to see if I could ID him as the person who shot at me.”
“But it wasn’t him.”
“No.”
The pastor’s brow furrowed. “How did you know his motorcycle was in my garage?”
“I staked out your house.” Griffin watched the man’s reactions closely.
“You staked—” Hughes gave a sharp laugh. “Did you think I had something to do with the drive-by?”
“I thought it was a possibility.”
The man’s face tightened. “Why would I shoot at you? When would I have had the chance?”
“That day, when Miss Parker and I were leaving this floor, we ran into you.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“On my way to the parking garage for my SUV, I saw you going the same direction and also entering.”
“Yes, because I parked there.” Irritation sparked in his hazel eyes.
“You disappeared from sight and the next thing I know, someone dressed completely in black like you, about your build, drives by on a motorcycle and shoots at me.”
“Well, it wasn’t me!”
Griffin was inclined to believe him, but he kept that to himself. “I had to check.”
“You could’ve just asked me.”
“If you shot at me?”
“Yes. Or even if I had a motorcycle.” Hughes must have seen the skepticism on Griffin’s face. “Oh, you wouldn’t have believed me. Do you believe me now?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Do you think someone could’ve gotten into my garage, taken the bike out?”
“It’s possible.”
“Why would I want to shoot you?”
“Again, money.” Griffin had his own questions. “Did you know there was an attack a couple of days ago on a woman in the ladies’ room on this floor?”
“What!” The man seemed genuinely shocked and concerned. “Was she hurt?”
“Cuts and bruises.” Remembering the raw mark around Laura’s throat and the cut at her temple had Griffin battling a white-hot fury. Just as he’d felt yesterday when she’d gone chalk white at the realization that Arrico had not only paid a huge amount of money to have her killed but had sent a man to murder her at the clinic. “It happened the day before someone shot at me.”
“And you think the incidents might be related?”
“I do.” He saw no reason to also tell Hughes about the syri
nge incident on the elevator.
“Do you know who was attacked? Why she was attacked?”
Griffin answered only the second question. “That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
“Did anyone see anything? Have you asked around on this floor? I’d be happy to help you do that.”
Griffin believed he would but didn’t want the man tipping anybody off. Neither did he want Hughes spreading the story around, though there was nothing he could do about that, short of gagging the man. “I’ve talked to the people I needed to.”
Except Nurse Inhofe and he would visit with her before he left the hospital. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket.
“Would you take a look at a couple of pictures?”
“Of course,” the pastor said.
Griffin brought up the photo of Arrico and angled it toward the other man. “Do you know him?”
Hughes hesitated. “He looks familiar, but I don’t think so.”
Griffin narrowed his eyes. Why had the man hesitated? “His name is Vin Arrico. He was convicted about a year ago on drug and human-trafficking charges.”
“I don’t know him.”
“You sure? He’s serving his time at McAlester.”
The chaplain took another long look. “I worked there for a few years, but I wasn’t full-time. The only way I would know him is if he came to Bible study.”
“He might have, but probably didn’t act that interested in studying.” Arrico’s purpose in going would have been to enlist the pastor’s assistance and Griffin was starting to believe Hughes hadn’t been roped in.
Of course, the man might have been helping Arrico without really knowing. “Did you know Nurse Inhofe when she worked at the prison?”
“No. I did know she’d been employed there, but we never met until I began serving this hospital.”
Griffin flipped to another picture on his phone. “This is Arrico’s lawyer, Harlan Thompson. Maybe you know him or have seen him around?”
“No.”
“He might be the one who attacked the woman in the restroom.”
Hughes looked again at the image. “I don’t recognize him. Have you shown the picture to others at the hospital?”
“I plan to.”
“Don’t forget to ask the patients. Even the ones close to having their transplants are allowed to move around right up until the procedure.”
“Thanks for the information.”
“Certainly. The day before Nolan started chemo, the nurse and I wheeled him around the halls a couple of times before he was confined to bed. And this is his second stay. He may have seen the man in your picture at some point.”
Griffin nodded. When he stopped in to check on Laura’s dad, he would show him the picture of Thompson and then speak to Nurse Inhofe.
The pastor had seemed genuinely surprised about the attack on Laura and the drive-by in the parking garage. Maybe he had been. Griffin still wasn’t sure if the man was involved with Arrico.
Several minutes later, after Griffin had sterilized a burner phone and given it to a groggy Nolan, he showed him the picture of the attorney. Laura’s dad didn’t recognize the man and didn’t recall seeing him around the hospital.
Griffin thanked him and went in search of Cheryl Inhofe. She was at the nurse’s station. A petite olive-skinned nurse smiled at him as she filled out a chart.
The redhead he’d come to see propped one hip against the edge of the crescent-shaped desk. She gave him a big flirty smile. “Hello, Mr. Devaney.”
He forced himself to smile in return. “Could I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure.”
He hitched a thumb down the corridor. “Maybe down there.”
She nodded and told the other nurse that she would be back in a few minutes. She followed him to where he stopped just outside the waiting room.
Until today Hughes had been a more viable suspect than Inhofe. But in the past hour she and the attorney had risen to the top of the list of Arrico’s possible accomplices.
Griffin didn’t plan to question her about the attack in the ladies’ room. The story Laura had given the nurse afterward was that she had fainted. What Griffin wanted was to see Inhofe’s reaction when he brought up Laura being jabbed on the elevator.
“Do you remember the first day Miss Parker was here and you rode in the elevator with us?”
“Vaguely.”
“Someone tried to stab her with a syringe.”
The nurse’s brown eyes widened. “Wow. Why?”
“I’m trying to figure that out.”
“Someone tried to stab her? You’d think that would’ve gotten some notice in such small quarters.”
He didn’t like the flip tone in her voice. “Whoever it was aimed for her side but missed.”
“Does someone have it out for this girl? She can’t catch a break.”
Griffin noticed how different Inhofe’s response was from the pastor’s. Hughes had just wanted to help. The nurse assumed Laura was at fault and that someone was out to get her.
Griffin’s gaze lasered into Cheryl. “What do you mean?”
“Uh…” He could practically see the wheels turning in her head. “Didn’t something else happen? In the ladies’ room?”
“She fainted.”
“Oh. Right.”
Interesting that she would bring up an incident that had never been reported or described as an attack. “Did you realize anything was going on when she was targeted on the elevator?”
“Not until you just told me.”
“So, you didn’t notice anyone acting strangely?”
“No, but all I cared about was getting off my shift and going home.”
“You were the only hospital employee in the group.”
“So?” She angled her chin at him.
Carefully gauging her reaction, he said bluntly, “You have access to syringes and drugs.”
He caught a spark of…something in her eyes before she glared at him. “So does everyone who works here!”
“Yes, but they weren’t on the elevator with us.”
“You think I tried to hurt her?”
“Just checking the possibilities.”
“I had nothing to do with it,” she said with an indignant sniff.
“Then maybe you’ll be able to help me with something else.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and thumbed to the photo of Harlan Thompson. “Ever seen this guy before?”
He thought he saw the briefest flash of recognition in her eyes before she masked it. “Who is that?”
“Someone who’s been seen around here a few times.”
“Like after the elevator thing?”
“Mmm.” And maybe the ladies’-room thing. Griffin let her draw her own conclusion from that nonanswer.
“I may have seen him around, but I don’t know him.”
Griffin didn’t believe her. “That’s what Pastor Hughes said, too.”
“Why would you ask him? Oh, I guess he spends almost as much time around here as we employees do.”
Griffin studied her face. “Did you know him when he worked at the prison in McAlester?”
“No.” Her eyes narrowed. “How did you know I worked there?”
“The pastor. He said he knew you had been employed there at one time.” That wasn’t a lie. Griffin just didn’t answer her specific question.
“Oh.” She looked disgruntled.
He cocked his head. “Is it supposed to be a secret?”
“No,” she scoffed.
He’d done all he could do here for now. “Thanks for your time.”
“Sure.” She pursed her lips. “You’re not a cop, are you?”
“No, why?”
“Why are you asking all these questions?”
“I’m trying to figure out who attacked Miss Parker in the elevator.”
“Is she your girlfriend?”
It was a nice idea and none of the nurse’s business. He just smiled and walked away.
If the nurse was Arrico’s accomplice, Griffin was certain as soon as he left here, she would call the convict and tell him about Griffin’s questions. The same could be true of the pastor.
Crossing the hall, he found Ghost’s number on his speed dial.
“Yeah?” Morales answered.
“Do you still have the cell phone number I gave you for the nurse?”
“Yeah.”
“Could you do your thing and track her calls?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it. Could you also check phone records for Rick Hughes?”
“The pastor who used to work at the prison in McAlester?”
“That’s him.”
“All right. I’ll get back to you.”
If she contacted Thompson, Griffin would have a link to Arrico. If she called the prison, they probably wouldn’t be able to find out who she spoke to specifically, but Griffin was willing to assume it would be Arrico.
The attorney and the nurse could both be Arrico’s accomplices. For Laura, Griffin wanted to catch everyone associated with the convict.
Though even if he did, that didn’t mean she’d be able to stay in Oklahoma City. And, he realized, he really wanted that.
NINE
An hour later, Laura attempted to call her dad again at the number on the new burner phone Griffin had given Nolan. There was no answer. She tried not to become alarmed, well aware that she was anxious about everything. She knew Nolan still felt puny from his chemotherapy. He was probably asleep, knocked out from pain meds.
A few minutes later, her burner phone rang. The number was from Aunt Joy’s missing phone. She or Griffin must have found it. Good. “Hi.”
“Listen up,” an unfamiliar masculine voice said.
Her stomach dropped. “Who is this? How did you get this number?”
“We’ve got your father.”
“What!”
“We’re at the hospital in your dad’s room. If you aren’t here in thirty minutes, we’ll kill him.”
Running up the stairs to the kitchen, Laura snatched up her coat and grabbed the first set of keys hanging on the wall next to the garage door. She bolted out into the garage and headed for the second bay and Griffin’s extra SUV. “What about traffic? I don’t know if I can get there in thirty minutes!”