“You’ve done everything we asked of you.”
“I certainly did. And more.”
Eve chuckled. “And more,” she agreed. “So why does it feel unfinished?”
“I guess I’m afraid that you’ll lose everything we’ve won if I’m not there to help. Though I admit that you were pretty good tonight.”
“Thank you,” she said gravely. “I’m honored by your opinion.”
“No, you’re not.” She stood looking at her. “I do admire you, Eve Duncan. I hope you find your sister alive and well.” She paused. “If you get stuck and need to talk through something, you have my number. I can’t guarantee I’ll be available, but I’ll do whatever I can to help.” She smiled slightly. “You can never tell, I might even be persuaded to help you and Quinn wrap up this mess.” She turned and walked toward Sam’s car. “But not until I finish working through this breakthrough with Justin…”
* * *
JOE WAS STANDING ALONE on the verandah overlooking the beach when Eve reached the motel.
He did not look pleased.
Well, what could she expect? She would have been angry, too, if he had closed her out.
“Are you communing with the seagulls?”
He didn’t look at her. “For lack of better company. Did you take Kendra to the airport?”
“No, Sam did.” She came to stand beside him and looked down at the blinding bright sunlight on the sea. “I called you and told you I was safe as soon as we left the hospital. I did what I thought was right, Joe.”
“I know you did. It doesn’t help. It’s going to take a while to forget sitting here twiddling my thumbs all night worrying about you. I was tempted to go in and stage a little raid of my own. And I wouldn’t give a damn about losing my badge.” He glanced at her. “Do this again, and I just might do it.”
He meant what he said. Joe never bluffed. “I’ll keep that in mind. Anything else?”
“Yes.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. It was hard, passionate, and completely sensual. Then he let her go and turned away. “I’ve been thinking about doing that all the time I’ve been wondering if you were going to get your head blown off by a security guard.” He moved down the verandah steps to the walk. “Now let’s go to the room, and you can get me up to speed. Then you can go to bed until at least noon since you haven’t slept all night, while I download some of those files Sam stole for you.”
“That sounds like a plan.” She reached out and touched his arm. “I’ve got the name of the man who—”
“Don’t touch me.” He moved away from her. “Not now. I’m feeling fairly explosive, and I’m trying to be civilized. You know I’m not real good at control.”
“And you know I don’t give a damn.”
“But I do.” He unlocked the door and let her precede him into the room. “Now sit down and talk to me.”
“The man who helped Beth escape was Jessie William Newell. He’s an orderly at the hospital.” She pulled out her iPhone and accessed the file Sam had e-mailed to her. “Age twenty-eight, high-school education at a school in Denver, served in the Marines for four years, worked as a trainer at a gym in Boulder for three years. His mother still lives in Boulder. He’s been working at the hospital for the last eighteen months.” She looked up from the screen. “And he’s been working principally on the third floor for the last year. No remarks on any unusual interaction with Beth Avery.” She handed him her phone. “Here’s his photo. Nice-looking guy. Very polite. And Kendra is very sure that he’s been helping Beth.”
“Why?”
Eve briefly filled him in on their encounter with Newell on the third floor of the hospital and the deductions Kendra had made from that meeting. “I didn’t notice even a small percentage of the things that Kendra did, so I have to take her word for it.”
“But you’re willing to do it?”
She nodded slowly. “I trust her, and I trust the logic that she brings to the table.”
His eyes were narrowed on her face. “But that’s not all, is it?”
She smiled faintly. “You know me too well. Logic is all very well, but I’ve never been able to guide my life by it. I’ve been touched by too many totally illogical elements over the years.” She paused. “Newell’s middle name is William.”
“I noticed. And you made the leap to the Billy of your dream?”
“Why not? He was in close association with Beth during those last months. It’s not ‘logical’ that Beth would be able to be helped by someone not in that group.” She added, “And that she would be thinking about him while she was escaping.”
“Did you discuss this with Kendra?”
She grimaced. “No, I wanted to maintain my credibility with her. I’m not sure she’d understand why I’d rely on a dream to furnish me with vital information. It’s definitely not her modus operandi.”
“I don’t know. We might be surprised.” He was gazing down at Newell’s dossier. “He lives at Sungate Apartments in the city. Apartment 2A. You said that you ran into him yesterday afternoon. That means he’s probably working days at the hospital, and we can reach him at his apartment tonight.”
Eve nodded. “That’s what I thought. And we can work on checking out those other Beth Avery files today.”
“Later.” He didn’t look up from the iPhone. “Go to bed and get some sleep.”
She opened her mouth to protest, then closed it again with the words unsaid. She was tired, and she would need to be alert when they met Newell. “You’re right.” She headed for the bathroom. “I’ll shower, then take a nap.”
She leaned back on the door after she had closed it. She hated this coolness between them. No, not coolness. That term could never describe what she and Joe felt for each other. Even though they were at odds for the moment, there was heat that made the hardness give off sparks.
But it was still disturbing to know everything was not serene with them. Oh, well, they’d work it out. If she didn’t believe that, she’d be truly upset.
She stripped off her clothes and stepped under the shower. Relax. Sleep. Get on with the task of finding Beth.
And hope like hell that she hadn’t damaged anything that couldn’t be repaired in her relationship with Joe.
* * *
APARTMENT 2A.
Drogan glanced down at the address for the orderly Newell that Pierce had given him that morning, then started to climb the steps to the second-floor walkway.
Pierce hadn’t wanted to give him the list. He’d been afraid that Drogan would cause an “awkward” incident that would reflect on him.
Screw him. Drogan was getting nowhere in the search for Beth Avery, and he needed to dig deeper. Someone had to have helped her to escape, and that meant someone knew where she’d go to hide. He had three other names that he was going to tap for information if Newell didn’t pan out.
Including that little bitch Pierce was screwing. He almost hoped he would come up empty questioning the orderly so that he could take his time spoiling Pierce’s lush little playground.
As he was going to take his time with Beth Avery. Every hour that passed, his anger was growing, his ego stinging from the memory of his failure that night.
He stopped at the door to 2A.
Locked.
No problem. He spent only a few minutes before the door swung open.
He stepped inside and closed the door. The apartment was empty, as Pierce had told him it would be. That was all right, he could wait. He went to the refrigerator and took out a beer before he dropped down in a chair facing the door.
Come on, Jessie Newell. I’m waiting to welcome you.
* * *
JOE WAS SITTING IN A CHAIR across the room with his laptop on his lap when Eve opened her eyes. It must’ve been late afternoon because the rays of the sun pouring through the window were pale and slanted as they touched Joe’s brown hair. “What time is it?”
“A little after four.”
“I didn’t want to sleep
that long. Why didn’t you wake me?”
“You evidently needed it.” He raised his eyes from the computer to meet hers. “And I needed the time, too. I was feeling as if you owed me, and that was a very savage response.”
She felt a flash of heat move through her. She held out her hand to him. “Come here.”
He didn’t move. “I’m over it. You don’t owe me anything.”
“The hell I don’t. Oh, not because I closed you out from the action because I wanted to protect you. You have to deal with that because that’s who I am. I’m not about to make love to you to make some kind of recompense.” She tossed the sheet aside and pulled her T-shirt over her head and threw it aside. “Do you know what I owe you? The same thing you owe me. Now come here and give it to me.”
He hesitated, then stood up. “You’re sure?” Then he smiled recklessly and strode toward her, stripping off his clothes. “You’d better be sure because I’ve just gone beyond the point of no return.”
“No, you haven’t.” She pulled him down on top of her, into her. “Not yet. Soon…”
Deep. Deeper.
Heat. Hardness. Rhythm.
She rolled over on top of him. “Joe…”
“Shh.”
She threw her head back and bit down on her lip as his hips plunged upward.
Again.
Again.
Again.
It went on and on … and on.
When the explosion came, it was too much and yet not enough.
She was panting, her heart pounding crazily as he drew her close. Neither of them could speak for a moment.
“We have to do it again,” Joe said as his tongue teased her nipple. “And then again.”
“Yes.”
Joe parted her thighs, then came between them in one stroke.
“Aren’t you going ask me why?”
“Obvious…”
“No … I didn’t do it right.”
“What?”
He smiled down at her as he slowly began to move. “Kendra wouldn’t approve. I didn’t concentrate.”
* * *
THE SUN WAS GOING DOWN when Eve and Joe got into the car and started for the Sungate Apartments. She gazed out the window at the sun streaking scarlet across the sea. “Beautiful … I keep thinking how many times Beth must have looked out her window at that hospital and seen this same view. The first time I saw that hospital on the hill, I thought of how free I am down here and what a prisoner she was. Do you know how small her suite was in that place?”
“You told me.” He reached out and covered her hand with his own on the seat. “But now she’s free, too.”
“But for how long?” She moved her shoulders as if shrugging off a burden. “Sorry. Brooding isn’t going to help. We’ve just got to find her.” She glanced at him. “Did you find out anything from those computer files while I was sleeping?”
“I was mainly trying to access the physical records from her accident.”
“And did you?”
“I found some forms with several complicated diagnoses and treatments. All under the supervision of Pierce.” He paused. “But no record of any X-rays taken of the injury. Most unusual. You’d think the X-rays would have been sent with her from the clinic where she was first treated. I searched most of the afternoon in those computer banks and couldn’t find a trace or cross-reference to them.”
“Could they be entered in a separate file?”
“Possibly. Not likely. My bet is that Pierce destroyed them. It’s difficult to forge an X-ray.”
“You’re saying that she probably didn’t have a head injury.”
“I’m saying that I can’t find a record if she did.” He pulled into the parking lot of the Sungate Apartments. It was a small, modest, two-story apartment complex with palm trees framing the entrance and the obligatory swimming pool. He parked and ran around to open her car door. “But maybe Newell can help us out. If he helped her get away, he must have believed that she shouldn’t be in that hospital.” He scanned the numbers on the apartment doors. “I think Newell’s on the second floor.” He headed for the staircase. “Let’s go.”
A few minutes later, they were standing before Apartment 2A. But Jessie Newell didn’t answer the door when Eve and Joe rang the bell.
“Not at home?” Eve said. “Maybe he had to work late. We didn’t really know his schedule.”
“According to his personnel records, he drives a silver Honda.” Joe was frowning. “And there’s a silver Honda in the parking lot. I don’t like it.”
And neither did Eve. Joe’s instincts were near infallible. “Do you have his telephone number?”
“Yes.” He rang the bell again. “I’ll try it if he doesn’t—shit.”
She heard it, too.
A gasping groan, then steps inside the apartment.
But the steps were not coming toward the door.
“Step to the side.” Joe reached for the doorknob. “I’m going in. Stay here.”
“Hell no.” Eve followed him into the apartment.
But she stopped in shock just inside the door. “Dear God.”
Blood.
Blood spattered on the floor of the foyer.
Blood on the chair at the table in the kitchen.
Blood on the man tied to that chair.
Jessie Newell.
There was so much blood running from the two cuts on the face and clothing of the man in that chair that she could barely recognize him. He was gagged, and his eyes were wide with agony.
A knife was sticking out of his shoulder.
Joe was running toward the back of the apartment. “I think whoever did it ran out the back way. I heard the door slam.”
So had Eve, but it hadn’t registered in the shock of seeing the carnage that was Jessie Newell.
She was across the room in seconds and jerking the gag from Newell’s mouth. She was afraid to touch the knife sticking out of his shoulder for fear of damaging organs. “It’s okay, we’ll get you help.”
“Bastard,” Newell whispered. “Stop him. He took—he’ll find her—”
“Quiet. Don’t talk.” She was untying the ropes binding his wrists. “Joe will stop him.”
“I won’t let him kill me. He’s not going to win.” He closed his eyes. “I’m losing blood. No time for EMTs. An intern lives in the apartment downstairs. Jensen. Go get him.”
“I shouldn’t leave you. You’re bleeding…”
“If you don’t get me help, you’ll be staying with a dead man. I’ll be okay. I don’t think he cut any arteries. He wanted to keep me alive.”
Make a decision.
“I’ll be right back. I’ll call 911 on the way down to get this Jensen.” She ran out of the apartment and down the steps to the first level. Which apartment? She was talking to 911 as she went from door to door checking the caption beneath each doorbell.
There it was. K. D. Jensen.
Now pray that he was home.
* * *
JOE HAD COME BACK to Newell’s place by the time Eve and young Dr. Jensen entered the apartment. He was kneeling by Newell and applying pressure to a wound on his upper arm. Joe glanced at Eve. “I lost him. He had a car parked in the back.”
“License plate?”
He nodded. “But Newell should know who he is.” He turned to the doctor. “What can I do?”
“Go down and wait for the EMTs and bring them up here.” He glanced at Eve. “You apply the pressure.” Then he was examining the wound in Newell’s arm. “What the hell have you been up to, Jessie? You into drugs?”
“I’m not stupid,” Newell gasped. “Get—this thing out of my shoulder.”
“In a minute.” He was checking Newell over. “It might be better left in it for a little while. But you’re lucky it’s not buried in your heart.”
“No … luck. I dodged to the side when I saw him coming to finish me off when the doorbell rang. The blade’s mostly in the muscles of my shoulder. I knew he wouldn’t have
time for a second try at me.” He was looking at Eve. “You were with that woman snooping around the third floor at Seahaven. Who are you?”
“Eve Duncan.”
“Help me ease him out of the chair to the floor,” the intern ordered Eve. “He appears stable enough, and I need to take a look at his kneecaps. There’s blood on his jeans.”
“There’s blood all over him. So many cuts…” She carefully helped Jensen ease Newell to the floor, and resumed the pressure.
Newell flinched with pain and closed his eyes. “Why … Did Pierce send you to find out if I was the one? Did you send Drogan after me?”
“I don’t know any Drogan. Is that who did this to you?”
“Drogan…” He opened his eyes. “I didn’t know his name, but he told me. Every time he cut me, he told me who was doing it. He was proud of the pain he was causing. Bad…”
“Why did he do this to you?” Eve asked.
“Beth. He wanted to know where she was…”
She stiffened. “But you didn’t tell him?”
“Bastard…”
“Did you tell him?”
His gaze fastened on her face. “You know Beth?”
“No.” She drew a shaky breath. “But I don’t want her hurt. Believe me, I want to keep her safe.”
Newell’s gaze was searching her face. “You’re with the man who ran through here and scared off Drogan. I saw him at the hospital. He’s a detective.”
“Yes, Detective Joe Quinn.”
“He scared the shit out of Piltot and Pierce. I do—believe you.”
“Stop asking him questions,” the doctor said. “You can do that later.”
Newell gave her a ghost of a smile. “If I’m still alive.”
“Just yes or no,” Eve said. “Tell me.”
“No.” His eyes closed again. “But he took— He may find her…”
“What did he take—”
“The EMTs are here.” The intern lifted his head as he sat back on his heels. “I hear them on the steps.”
So did Eve. It sounded like a herd of elephants running up the metal steps.
“Don’t leave me,” Newell whispered. “Stay with me at the emergency room until I get out of surgery. Don’t let them check me into the hospital. Too easy. Doctors … Nurses…”