Ghostly Serenade

by Colleen Helme

  “I guess that makes sense. Was he planning on telling Milo we were there tonight?”

  “Yes. He figured too many people saw us for him not to mention it.”

  “Well. I guess his plan has merit.” Ramos shook his head, dismissing the idea from his thoughts. “Things are getting complicated.”

  “That’s for sure.” I kept my gaze focused on the boat, hoping to see Hawk. Another few minutes passed, and several of the lights inside the boat went off, leaving just the small, outside lights on. “What do you think that means?”

  “It means they’re shutting it down for the night. Let’s see who comes off the boat next.” He was thinking that, if Tony exited, that meant they were done and the detective was either hiding on the boat or we’d missed him, and he was safe at home.

  “I hope he’s safe at home.” Another five minutes passed with nothing happening. “Maybe I should call him.” I reached into my purse, but Ramos stopped me.

  “Look.”

  Three men came off the boat carrying a body. I recognized the color of the shirt, and my heart raced. “Oh no.” They continued all the way to the end of the pier, crossed the road, and dropped him behind the cars parked along the street. As he curled into a ball, one of the men leaned over and yelled at him, gesturing with his arms. Finished, they all trooped back onto the boat.

  “It’s Hawk. We’d better get down there.”

  I shoved Ramos’s jacket into his arms and raced down the stairs. Reaching Hawk, my breath caught at the blood on his face and shirt. Hawk held his ribs and groaned. Along with all the blood, half his face had begun to swell and darken with bruises.

  “Hawk. It’s Shelby. I’m here to help you.” I knelt beside him, taking in his battered face. The sight of all that blood made me queasy, so I took a few deep breaths.

  “Shelby?” He rasped. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was worried about you going down those stairs. Now look what’s happened. This is awful.”

  “We need to leave,” Ramos said, keeping an eye on the boat. “Let’s get him up.”

  Between the two of us, we got Hawk to his feet. “Where’s your car?” I asked him.

  “Over… there… in the garage.” Hawk grunted from the pain, but he managed to stay on his feet. We made it to the garage, and he directed me to his car. “The keys are in my pants’ pocket.”

  “Okay.” I reached inside his front pocket and held my breath, hoping the only thing I touched was his keys. After grabbing them, I unlocked the door, and Ramos helped me get him into the back seat.

  I caught Ramos’s gaze. “I’m taking him to the hospital. Will you follow me?”

  “Yes. Try and find out what happened, okay?”

  “Sure.” I slid under the steering wheel and got the car started. Not knowing where to go, I took out my phone and did a search for the nearest hospital. With Ramos behind me, I followed the directions to the hospital, realizing it was the same one I’d been to several times already.

  “Hawk. What happened? Why did they beat you up? Did you find something?”

  He groaned, but he was in too much pain to answer. That didn’t stop me from hearing him anyway. He was thinking he’d been caught before he saw anything. Those bastards. They knew he was a cop all along, and they’d been waiting for him. He didn’t stand a chance.

  The guy he’d seen at the bar was the one in charge. He didn’t even question Hawk before he let his guys beat him and throw him out. He could still hear his threats to stay off his boat or, next time, he was a dead man. There was no doubt that they were connected to the mob. If the chief found out, he might pull Hawk off the case, and he couldn’t let that happen.

  I didn’t know why Hawk thought Chief Wallace would do that. But, depending on how badly Hawk was hurt, he’d need to take it easy anyway, which was just as effective as taking him off the case.

  I pulled the car into the hospital parking lot and drove toward the emergency room. After parking in a spot beside the doors, I jumped out and opened Hawk’s door. “Okay, we’re here. Let’s get you inside.”

  “No,” he said. “Just take me home.”

  “I’m not going to do that. You might need stitches. Come on. Let’s get it over with.”

  “But if the chief finds out—”

  “I’m not going to tell him.”

  Hawk grimaced, but managed to sit up. Ramos had gone inside and brought out a nurse pushing a wheelchair. We managed to get Hawk seated and wheeled him into the hospital. As the nurse continued pushing him into an exam room, I hesitated, not sure I wanted to follow.

  “Aren’t you staying?” Ramos asked.

  I let out a sigh. “I don’t want to, but I know I should.”

  Ramos nodded, thinking that the price for being a good person was real a pain in the ass. “Yeah. Well, I guess I can stay if you need me.”

  I chuckled. At his puzzled expression, I continued. “I thought you were thinking about me. You know… that part about being a good person is a real pain. But you were thinking about yourself.”

  His right brow rose. “No. I was thinking about you.”

  I smirked, but let it go. “I guess I’d better go in there. But maybe I’ll wait a few minutes to make sure they clean off the blood first.”

  Ramos smiled, remembering the time we were in Orlando. I’d nearly passed out at the sight of him without a shirt. The blood from his bullet wound might have had something to do with it, but it was more likely the sight of his bare chest that had made me swoon.

  I huffed out a breath and shook my head. “That’s not true. It was the blood.” At his narrowed eyes, I admitted defeat. “Okay, maybe that was part of it, but it was mostly the blood.” This time he smirked, and I rolled my eyes. “I’m going to see how he’s doing. If they want to keep him overnight, I’ll go home with you.”

  “I’d like that,” he said, thinking about taking me to the apartment for the night. Oh the fun we’d have. There wasn’t a better way for me to pay him back, and he’d see to it that I left happy.

  “Stop that,” I said, feeling my body temperature rise a good ten degrees. He smiled like the devil himself, and I threw my hands in the air. “I’ll be back.”

  It wasn’t until I slipped through the doors into the exam rooms that I could breathe again. Picking up Ramos’s sexy thoughts was enough to give me heart palpitations. He played dirty, and it wasn’t fair. A little voice told me that I could always block his thoughts—why didn’t I do that? I huffed out a breath. Sure. Next time, that’s just what I’d do, even if I had to admit I didn’t want to.

  On the far side of the room, Hawk sat on the edge of a bed with his shirt off, and I got an eyeful of his bare, muscled chest, and rock-hard abs. Holy hell, not him too. My mouth went a little dry, and I shook my head to snap out of it.

  He held an ice pack to his face, and a doctor gently felt along his ribs. “I think you’ve got a couple of broken ribs,” she said. “There’s not much we can do besides wrap them up.” She was thinking that it wouldn’t do much good to wrap them, but most patients expected it. “Let’s see your face.”

  Hawk lowered the ice and caught sight of me. His eyes softened, and he was grateful I’d stuck around. Just like a real partner. Too bad I’d insisted on bringing him here. This was a huge mistake.

  I wanted to defend my actions, but clamped my lips together instead. With the bruising and swelling on his face, he looked terrible. At least someone had given him a cloth to wipe the blood away, and the cut across his forehead probably wasn’t deep enough to warrant stitches.

  “We’ll put a butterfly bandage on your cut, and if you keep some ice on your jaw for a few hours, it will help with the pain.” The doctor expertly applied ointment and a bandage to his forehead, then stepped away. “I’ll send a nurse in to wrap your ribs. You should take it easy for at least a week—maybe longer, and no physical exercise or strenuous activities for the next few days. I’ll be back with a prescription for the pain.”

&nb
sp; She left the room, and Hawk lowered his head, thinking that he should have been more insistent about coming to the hospital. Broken ribs were hardly a good enough reason to be here, and embarrassment washed over him.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it. My sternum was cracked when a bullet hit me in the chest. It hurt like hell, and I went to the hospital, but I’m fine now. Oh… I was wearing a bullet-proof vest at the time. That’s why I’m not dead.”

  Hawk caught my gaze, thinking it was uncanny how easily I read him. It was like I’d heard his thoughts, but, since that wasn’t possible, it had to be my premonitions in action. He wondered how they worked exactly, because this seemed different from the other times.

  “Uh… so did you learn anything from the guys on the boat?” I already knew the answer to that, but I figured it would look bad not to ask. Besides, I didn’t want him thinking about my premonitions since I’d basically messed up.

  He let out a sigh, then winced with pain. “No. Unfortunately, they got the drop on me before I could find out anything.”

  I heard footsteps approach and turned to find Ella entering the room, with a bunch of supplies in her arms. Her mouth dropped open to find us there. She focused on Hawk, and her eyes widened further. “What happened to you?” I listened real close and heard nothing… again.

  “Just a misunderstanding,” Hawk said.

  Ella glanced my way with a raised brow. I took that to mean she wanted me to answer, so I did. “We were investigating a lead… for the case… and Hawk got… uh… mixed up in a fight.”

  She shook her head, clearly not believing me, and hurried to his side. “I’m sorry to hear that. The doctor said you have some broken ribs, so I’m here to wrap them up. Can you raise your arms a bit?”

  She got right to work, and I wished I could hear her thoughts, mostly because I wanted to know if the sight of his muscled chest and tight abs affected her the same way they affected me. I watched her real close and noticed a flush creep up her neck to stain her cheeks.

  That had to mean something, right? I slumped with relief, grateful to know I wasn’t the only one. Hawk grunted with pain, and Ella seemed to snap out of it. She ran her fingers over his black and blue skin, directly above the broken ribs, like she was trying to put them back together. Then she applied the tape. Hawk’s breathing slowed. By the time she was done, the taut muscles on his face and neck had relaxed.

  He glanced at her with surprise. “What did you do? That feels better already.”

  She sent him a quick smile. Without answering his question, she looked my way, and her smile faded. “So I take it you were working on the case? Have you made any progress finding Taylor’s killer?”

  “Yes,” I said, before Hawk could open his mouth. “We have. Now it’s just a matter of following the leads.”

  “So you think you’ll find him?”

  “I do.”

  Hawk swore in his mind. Why did I always promise results? I should know better.

  “Good. Please let me know when you do.”

  “Of course.” I could understand why she’d want to know, but this seemed more personal. Did she still think it was her fault that Taylor had died? I sighed, knowing I’d never know unless I asked her. Even then, that didn’t mean she’d give me a straight answer. Not hearing her thoughts sucked.

  The doctor came to Hawk’s bedside with a prescription and instructions. While she spoke, Hawk tried to slip his shirt on but had trouble getting his arms in the sleeves. Ella stepped next to him and helped him ease his arms into the shirt.

  To Hawk’s consternation, she even began to button it up. Oops. That was more than he could take, and he slapped her hands away. Ella inhaled sharply and reached to button his shirt anyway. Before they got into a slapping fight, the doctor caught Hawk’s attention.

  “How are you getting home?” She turned to me. “Can you take him? He shouldn’t drive in his condition.” She thought I was his date, so I nodded and assured her that I’d take care of him. She wished us goodnight and left.

  Flexing her authority, Ella insisted Hawk ride out to the car in a wheelchair. I figured she didn’t like getting her hands slapped and was out for revenge. Naturally, Hawk objected, but he was no match for her on this subject, and he finally sat down in the chair. As she wheeled him out, I followed behind.

  We entered the waiting area, and Ramos stood. Relief washed over me to have him there. No matter how much he teased me, I knew he had my back, and I was darn lucky to have him in my life.

  Hawk spotted Ramos and bristled. It hurt his pride that Ramos had witnessed his humiliation that he’d been beat up and stuck in a wheelchair. Adding the fact that Ramos had come to his rescue didn’t sit well with him either. Now he owed him, and he could hardly stand it.

  Ella picked up on Hawk’s stiffened demeanor, and she correctly zeroed in on Ramos as the culprit. Her steady walk faltered for the tiniest second, and her face turned to granite. Unfortunately, I had no idea what she thought about Ramos, but her eyes seemed to shine with fire before she dismissed him.

  What the freak? I decided right then and there that, the next time we spoke, I’d ask her why she was different from anyone else I’d ever met. I could blame it on my premonitions easily enough, and I was tired of this. I needed answers.

  Following my instructions, Ella wheeled Hawk over to his car. While she helped him inside the passenger seat, I stepped to Ramos’s side. “Hey, thanks for sticking around. Do you think you can follow me to his place? I just need to make sure he’s settled before I go home.”

  “Sure. I’ll follow you.” He glanced at Ella and whispered, “What’s her deal?”

  “You know, it’s the strangest thing. I can’t read her mind. Isn’t that weird?”

  “You can’t? That’s nuts.” His brows rose, and he glanced her way again. “I get the feeling she doesn’t like me much.”

  “I picked that up too, but don’t ask me why.”

  As if knowing we were talking about her, Ella shut the door and looked at us like we were the weird ones.

  “Thanks for your help,” I told her.

  “Just keep me in the loop.” Ella caught my gaze with a pointed stare, and I knew I’d be in trouble if I didn’t follow through.

  “I will.” Before I could add another word, she turned around and headed back through the hospital doors. I glanced at Ramos. “She’s kind of scary.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed, thinking he wouldn’t want to get on her bad side. It must be her superior attitude that blocked her thoughts from me.

  “Maybe.” I stepped toward the driver’s side of Hawk’s car. “I have no idea where Hawk lives, so be sure to follow me.”

  With a quick nod, Ramos headed toward the parking lot and his car. I got in Hawk’s car and looked him over. Besides his lip, his face had swelled up. Luckily, he still had his ice pack, and he moved it along his jaw.

  “That wasn’t too bad,” I said, trying to sound cheerful. “Now you just need to tell me how to get to your house.”

  “It’s an apartment, but yeah, I’ll bring it up on my phone, and you can follow the directions.”

  I backed out of the parking space and waited until I caught sight of Ramos’s car before I pulled forward. It comforted me to know he was right behind me if I needed him. I never thought I’d have to drive in New York City, and all the traffic was a little nerve-wracking, even this late at night.

  Relief to pull into Hawk’s parking garage washed over me. By the time I got Hawk out of the car, Ramos had come to my side. Hawk wasn’t about to lean on Ramos, but he allowed me to steady him. After shuffling to the elevator, we made it to his floor. He hobbled down the hall, and we finally arrived at his apartment.

  It was a lot smaller than Merilee’s place, with the kitchen sink and cupboards along one wall, and a couch separating the kitchen from the living room area. With no plants, and only a print or two for decoration, it was definitely a bachelor pad. A short hall took us to his bedroom, with the bathroom acros
s the way.

  Besides the bed, a nightstand holding a lamp was the only furniture in the room. At least his bed was made. I helped him sit down on the side of his bed. I wasn’t sure about helping him unbutton his shirt after the hand slapping he’d given Ella, so I stood there, uncertain of what else I could do for him. He finally noticed and told me I could leave. “You’ve done enough. I’ll be fine.”

  “Do you want me to try and find a drug store to fill your prescription?”

  “No. I think a couple of aspirin or some Tylenol will be fine. They’re in the bathroom cabinet if you want to get them for me.”

  I found the Tylenol and a glass, which I filled with water. He took the pills, and I set the glass on the nightstand. “Need help with anything else?”

  “No.” He was thinking there was no way in hell he’d let me help him go to the bathroom or get undressed. “I can take it from here.”

  “Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow and see how you’re doing.”

  “Sure.” I turned to leave, but he stopped me. “Shelby. Uh… thanks for coming back for me.”

  “You bet. Get some sleep.” I left a few of the lights on and hurried out to the main room, where Ramos waited by the door. “Okay. We can go now.”

  He sent me a nod and opened the door, making sure to lock it behind us. On the way to the car, I tried to shield my mind so I could give Ramos some privacy, but who was I kidding? I lost that battle pretty quick and heard Ramos thinking that I was in over my head with the police. He wondered why I was spending so much time with the detective on this case. Wasn’t it just supposed to be a one-time thing? So what had happened?

  “I know, but the girl in the coma died this morning.” I explained the whole story about how I’d saved her from certain death yesterday, only to have her die today. “It’s not right, so I have to see this through.”

  He unlocked the car, and I climbed in the passenger side. As he drove us out of the parking garage, I picked up his irritation that I was too helpful, and now this whole case looked like it was tied to the Bilottis. Manetto wasn’t going to like it.