Hurrying. Breaths coming a bit too fast. But a glance back toward the hospital proved that no one was even paying attention to the fact that the phone hadn’t been carried immediately to the waiting room.
Locks chirped open and a loud breath of relief puffed free as the pine scented interior of the sedan welcomed once more.
Everything could have gone so wrong today, but it hadn’t. The only concern that remained was over Chloe. If she lived through the surgery, something might have to be done about her. No. Something would have to be done about her. She could still talk. And that couldn’t be permitted.
But for now…
The iPhone was cool against the lips pressed against it in gratitude. “Let’s see what you’ve been up to, Chloe dear.”
Encrypted. Of course it was. But that wasn’t going to be a problem. The glove compartment opened with a gentle tug, and the small tablet inside weighed hardly anything more than the phone itself.
A few taps on the device brought up the run screen for the decryption program. Plugging the phone into the tablet and hitting the run button on the screen set off a series of code that went to work on the phone.
It was only a moment later that the screen of the phone unlocked and offered access to everything inside.
“That’s my girl.” A gentle pat to the tablet expressed pleasure with the decryption program that had taken a mere five years to perfect. Not even Father would be unimpressed by that if he could be here at this moment. Pride surged. Sometimes it was such fun to be a genius.
Now…what to check first. “Pictures. Always the pictures.”
One tap opened up the gallery, but immediately concern raised its head. What was this? Pictures of a woman and a couple kids were the main focus of the photos—unfamiliar people. But there was an ugly little dog, and—a gasp escaped—some selfies.
A string of curses filled the interior of the sedan as anger hot and volatile boiled up inside.
“That’s why she looked so familiar!” Fists pounded the steering wheel. That stupid goth girl from the park hadn’t been a stranger at all! It was Kyra Radell. And this was her phone!
They must have the same phone! You’ve been played for an idiot!
That meant that Kyra had Chloe’s phone right now, this very minute!
“You senseless moron!” She’d made the switch right in front of all of them and no one had noticed! At least I didn’t.
Panic covered brow and upper lip with a sheath of sweat and it was suddenly much too hot in this blasted car!
Think! Would she have given the phone to the cops yet? Had she had time? Wait! Was she a cop herself? Undercover as a teacher? Partnering with the new kid too?
Head dropped against headrest. “Oh, you are so dumb! How did you not see that!?”
Always the failure. Just like Father predicted.
Teeth ground against each other.
No! Once more, this was not going to be the destiny that won out. There was still time! Something could still be done. It was just a matter of figuring out what to do.
The phone tap-tapped-tapped against pursed lips, as plan after plan zipped across the mind’s eye. No. No. No. Each plan was rejected before it could even be fully thought through. All of them required exposure. Too much exposure.
And yet… This was life or death here. Happiness, wealth, and freedom, weighed against spending the rest of life behind bars, or worse. If ever there was a time for a bit of risk, this was it.
I need…
And just like that, the answer presented itself. For there, pulling into the parking lot, was Kyra driving Case’s car. He was in the passenger seat looking a bit peaked.
A smile bloomed. Chest released its tightness.
Once again, destiny smiled down.
The plan fell into place. A plan that required hardly any risk whatsoever if everything went as expected. Yes! Yes. This could work.
Kyra helped Case from the car and supported him as she escorted him into the ER entrance.
Toss the iPhone and tablet into the glove compartment. Take up the keys. Feel them cool against a sweating palm. Breathe. Just breathe.
Everything was soon going to be set right again.
Everything.
Kyra was worried. More worried than she let on. Case’s arm was still bleeding badly and he hadn’t said a word since they’d left the park. Thankfully, the hospital was on this end of town and it had only taken them a few minutes to get here.
Her relief couldn’t be quantified as they entered into the ER and a nurse spotted them and rushed forward, tugging a gurney behind her. “Hey there. What’s going on today?”
Kyra helped Case ease down onto the rolling bed. “He was shot. At the park. About thirty minutes ago.”
The nurse tsked. “Heard there might be a second victim joining us.” She was already busily working over Case, assessing his arm, feeling for a pulse in his wrist. “Are you family?” She flicked a glance in Kyra’s direction.
Kyra shook her head.
The nurse focused on Case. “Are you coherent? I’m going to need you to answer some health history questions.”
His lips tilted up into that maddeningly calm smile of his. “As coherent as ever. My name’s Chris Pratt and this is the year 2033.”
The nurse blinked at him.
He grinned. “Don’t worry. I know it’s not 2033 yet.”
The woman angled Kyra a glance. “I think we’re going to have our hands full with this one.”
Kyra knew she should smile and play along, but all she could seem to do was stare at the man’s mangled shoulder.
“Hey.” Case reached out with his good hand and squeezed her arm. “Don’t worry about me, I’m going to be fine. Don’t look so glum. I’m the one who feels like someone tried to saw my arm off.” He ended that statement with a wink. But when she didn’t respond in kind he pressed the issue. “Kyra, I’m going to be fine. It’s not my dominant arm, so it’s not even going to hold me back much from work. Don’t worry.”
She tried to offer him a smile. She really did appreciate his attempts to make her feel better, even if he wasn’t doing that good of a job.
The nurse turned and swept Kyra with a searching glance. “Were you injured at all?”
Kyra shook her head.
“Then we’ll take it from here.” And with that she wheeled Case through a set of swinging doors and disappeared from sight.
“She can come with me.” Kyra heard Case protest.
But the nurse dismissed him with, “Sorry. Family only. She can come…” The words trailed away, too indistinguishable through the batwing doors to be deciphered.
Kyra wrapped her arms around herself and studied her surroundings. Did she just go home? Or should she wait here? She didn’t really have any reason to stay. Case was in good hands now and would be taken care of. Except… She wanted to stay.
To her left a good-sized waiting room held several couches and tables covered in magazines. A TV up in the corner played some college football game between two teams she didn’t recognize. A family huddled in one corner, a woman dabbing at tears and whispering tortured phrases to a silent, slumped man beside her. His elbows were on his knees and his hands hung limply. If he leaned any further forward, he might topple from his chair.
Kyra recognized them as Chloe’s parents from that night at the Harbor House. They looked so in need of some support that she’d started toward them before she even thought better of it. “Mr. and Mrs. Schumacher?”
They both lifted their gazes to hers, but neither seemed to truly see her.
Kyra stretched out a hand. “I’m—” She paused. She had almost introduced herself as “Kyra Rydell, Chloe’s teacher from the high school,” but remembered her disguise just in time. She switched to “I’m Chloe’s friend, well, really a friend of a friend from the high school. Would it be alright if I sat with you for a while?”
“Of course.” The mother tried to smile through her tears. “I don’t think we kno
w you, dear?”
Chloe’s father had returned to staring at the space between his knees. His lips were moving and Kyra suddenly realized that he was fervently praying.
Realizing Chloe’s mom was still waiting for her reply, Kyra offered a sympathetic smile. “My name is Darcy.” She felt bad for lying to these people when all they wanted to do was grieve and hope and pray for their daughter, but she reminded herself that Case’s life could be in danger if she did anything else.
“Mildred! I was so sorry to hear about Chloe!”
Startled, Kyra twisted in her chair to see Ashley Adams hurrying across the waiting area, arms outstretched. Both Simon and Principal Vaughan followed on her heels.
Ashley leaned down and wrapped Chloe’s mom in a warm embrace. “I was as the park doing yoga. It was just awful. Is she going to be okay? What did the doctors say?”
Mildred Schumacher shook her head and dabbed at her eyes again. “They didn’t—don’t—know what to expect. She was unconscious when they took her into surgery. They figured her brain was probably swelling. “How could something like this happen? In our little town! We’ve already had so much tragedy. I’m just—” She dropped a hand onto her husband’s knee. “We’re just, so shocked. Oh, there’s Holden too.” Mildred stood and pulled each of the three men into her embrace. “Holden, thank you for responding to the situation at the park so quickly. What happened? Do you know yet?”
Holden looked grim. His glance flicked off Kyra’s. He shook his head. “We are still investigating. I wish I had more to offer you. We’ll let you know just as soon as we know anything that we can say, alright?”
“I understand.” Mildred put her Kleenex to use again. “It’s all just so baffling. Our Chloe is a good girl. I just can’t…” Her voice broke and she sank back into her seat giving in to sobs.
Mr. Schumacher came out of his stupor long enough to reach an arm around her and tug her close and then, with his wife crying on his shoulder, he went back to staring into space, lips once more moving.
Simon, Vaughan, and Ashley sank wearily into nearby chairs, but Holden remained on his feet. He glanced at her. “How was Case doing when you got him here?”
“As good as could be expected, I guess. He was halfway teasing the nurse when she took him back into the ER.”
Holden nodded. “Good.” He shuffled his feet. “I think everyone here could probably use a cup of coffee, but I won’t have enough hands to bring them all back. Can I talk you into coming down to the coffee stand with me?”
Kyra’s heart gave a little leap of relief. This would be perfect. She could give the sheriff Chloe’s phone and they could get to figuring out what was on it that the girl had been so concerned about. “Of course. I’d be happy to.”
She stood.
Holden smiled. “Thanks. The coffee shop is in the main lobby on the other side of the hospital, but I know a short cut.” He glanced to the group seated around Mildred and her husband. “What can we bring back for you all?”
After taking everyone’s orders, Kyra followed Holden across the room and into a narrow hallway.
He led her past a taped-off construction zone cluttered with tools, pipes, and boards of varying lengths. It appeared the hospital was doing some work on the bathrooms in this section of the building.
As they walked, Kyra studied the man. He was a broad-shouldered hulk of a guy with blond mussy hair that on a less handsome man would have just appeared unkempt, but on him gave off a rakish vibe that only increased his good looks. In fact, if she wasn’t already interested in one Case Lexington she would—
That thought threw her. What was she going to do if Case didn’t make it? No matter his teasing attitude, with as much blood as he’d lost his situation had to be really serious. She’d found him handsome from that first day in the salon, but handsome wasn’t everything. And yet since that time he’d proven to be a man of courage and honesty. Someone who would sacrifice himself on behalf of total strangers to make the world a little better place. And his sense of humor and concern for her didn’t hurt any either.
Kyra bit her lip. Jesus, please bring him through the surgery and protect us all from this crazy person.
Holden pushed open a swinging door to a perpendicular corridor and allowed her to enter before him. As soon as they were inside, he reached out and pulled her to a stop. “We can get coffee in a minute, but I really asked you to come with me so you could give me Chloe’s phone.” Holden propped his hands on his hips and peered down into her face. “Are you really the new teacher from the school?” He shook his head and waved a hand. “Never mind. Do you still have it? Based on some other things that happened this morning I think we have this drug dealer nailed. But I’m hoping the phone will have the evidence I need to convince a judge to give us a rush warrant.”
Kyra started to reach toward her boot. “Who do you think it—?”
The door behind them exploded open. There was a loud, hollow clunk. Holden’s eyes went glassy. He fell in a crumpled heap at her feet.
Heartbeat thundering, and confusion swirling through her, Kyra stared down at him, jaw agape. The humming, flickering, florescent lights of the narrow hallway revealed an ooze of blood pooling beneath Holden’s head and seeping along the tiles.
A metal pipe clanged against the floor, bouncing and rolling until it came to rest in the corner.
Kyra lifted her eyes and her focus seemed to freeze on the barrel of the pistol pointed right at her chest.
“I want Chloe’s phone and I want it now.”
CHAPTER 17
Case dropped his head against the hospital bed pillow. He was grumpier than a cat whose milk had just been taken away.
The moment he’d started giving his real name and social security information to the hospital staff, he’d seen looks being exchanged and whispers being passed. Mick had shown up, flashed his credentials and informed the doctor that he was to do everything in his power to save his officer. Case’s cover was blown, but that was the least of his worries.
He’d allowed Kyra to put herself in harm’s way. He should have sent her packing the moment he’d realized it was her in that crazy disguise. Thankfully, she hadn’t been hurt. The thing was, now that things were heating up and he’d realized that Chloe’s texts were what had set off this whole firestorm, he didn’t want her to leave his side. And yet the doctors had told him that he was going to need surgery, immediately. It was scheduled for three hours from now.
But his main frustration didn’t stem from any of that. No. It was over the fact that he hadn’t caught the drug dealer yet.
Out there somewhere right now, a low-life kid killer was gloating, thrilled to have gotten away with yet another escapade. Only this time he’d seen that he could use a gun in a public area and still escape squeaky clean. Case’s hand fisted around the blankets.
“Stop it.”
Case opened his eyes to see that Mick had stepped into his room. He stood near the door, hands thrust into his slack’s pockets. “I can see that you are beating yourself up over this. None of us could have known that this dealer was going to escalate to a shooter. Besides this op blew wide open today. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Didn’t you get my texts?”
Case scraped his good hand back through his hair. “I was a little busy getting shot and trying to catch a shooter. What happened?”
“Yeah, true. Sorry. Anyhow, Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan are separated, did you know that?”
Curious over where this could be going, Case nodded. “I just figured it out this morning. She came to the school to talk to me, apparently at Vaughan’s request, but then got a text and rushed off.”
“Well, they just recently separated and before she came to the school she stopped by their house to get a few more of her things. She noticed some suspicious stuff. She didn’t want to get Vaughan in trouble if her fears turned out to be unfounded, but there were some bags of orange crystals. She found them on his kitchen counter.”
Case�
�s heart gave a leap. “No way. Vaughan? I had him pegged for innocent.”
Mick sighed. “Believe it. She had a chemist friend of hers from college who lives on the island test some of it. And when it came back with the ingredients it did, she rushed immediately to the precinct, and when his deputy heard what she had to say he called me as well as Parker.”
Case felt a wash of cold fear. “Vaughan was at the park! He’s the one who tried to kill Chloe?”
Mick frowned and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, we think so. Parker mentioned he seemed really shaken, but he just thought that was from being shot at. Any idea why he would shoot Chloe?”
Case’s mind scrambled to orient all the events of the morning. “Yes. I think I do know. And that means—” Another wave of terror rammed through him. “Kyra has Chloe’s phone! Vaughan is going to want that. We need to get to it first. Can you go down to the lobby and get Kyra? She’s dressed like a goth with a dog-collar thing around her neck.”
Mick’s brow scrunched. “Dog collar? What in the world?”
“It’s a long story.” Case was too terrified for her safety to explain it all right now. “Can you just go get her? I’m fairly certain some texts a student—we think it was Chloe Schumacher—sent to her are what set this whole thing off. You should probably post a guard on Chloe too. I don’t like this, Mick. I really don’t like this at all.”
“Alright. Alright.” Mick held out a soothing hand. “I’m on it. I’ll have her up here in just a few minutes. And I’ll put a guard on the kid. Damian is headed this way on the ferry as we speak. I called him the minute I heard from the deputy. So he can help out through the night. You just lay back and relax.” He started for the door, but froze. “What the—”
Holden Parker stumbled into the room, holding the back of his head. He leaned heavily against the wall.
A nurse rushed in on his heels.
“Holden, you really need to come with me—”
“Just give me a second.” Holden brushed her to one side. “Someone knocked me out from behind and when I came to, Kyra was missing. Worse than that, she didn’t have time to give me the phone. So Vaughan has both Kyra and the evidence!”
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