Private Affair

by Rebecca York

  Or Max would be when he got better. Her heart squeezed as she pictured him lying in that hospital bed. She didn’t want to leave him now, but she knew that if she stayed here, she’d give him something to worry about. And the less stressed he was, the faster he’d heal.

  It was a heart-wrenching choice to make, but she felt better both emotionally and physically after she’d made her decision and cleaned up. Turning to leave, she saw the door swing open, and a man dressed like a hospital staffer in a green uniform walked in. At first she thought he had come to clean up the bathroom. Then she saw his face and gasped.

  Chapter 25

  Olivia went rigid as she took in the sight of Troy Masters. “What…what are you doing here?”

  “Guess.” His voice sounded nasty. And the look on his face conveyed the same impression. Nasty or angry? Probably a combination of both.

  The expression and his mere presence here gave her a terrible jolt. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been wearing a gas mask to hide his identity and keep the smoke from choking him and burning his eyes.

  He was blocking half the doorway. She thought about pushing past him. She thought about screaming. But he was a step ahead of her.

  “Don’t do anything foolish,” he said, raising his arm to show her the gun he was holding. Probably the same gun he’d brought to the farm. Then she’d been armed too. Not now. She didn’t even have a canister of Mace in her purse, and that was a mistake. But she’d felt safe with Max. Then with Shane or Jack, and she’d honestly thought she was protected. Unfortunately, she’d stepped out of their protective zone when she’d gone to the ladies’ room.

  She’d told Jack a few minutes ago that she didn’t want Max doing anything foolish. Now she was thinking that she should have taken Shane’s advice and left while she still could.

  Would he come looking for her if she didn’t reappear in a reasonable time? Probably not, since she’d told him she’d be a while.

  “Come on. We’re leaving,” he said.

  “Let me go to the bathroom first.”

  “Nice try. You already did that.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I was outside the door. I heard the toilet flush, and I looked in and saw you washing.”

  She winced, hating the idea of his watching her take care of intimate personal details.

  “Stop stalling,” he said. “Or I could just kill you here.”

  Her gasp brought a smile to his face. “I guess you don’t like that idea. Probably you want to stay alive a little longer.”

  The offhand comment was like his fingers tightening around her neck, but maybe she still could get away. Maybe she could somehow signal Jack.

  “Quit wasting time. I don’t want that guy you’re with coming looking for you.”

  “What guy?”

  “The one in the lounge. Jack Brandt. The other hotshot Rockfort PI. Not the one whose cell phone I stole to trick your boyfriend.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend.”

  Troy snorted. “What is he?”

  “I don’t have to talk about him to you.”

  “Not now, anyway. Come on before I do something you’re really not going to like. We’re going to walk out of here together. I’m going to be right in back of you with the gun. Don’t try to go back to the lounge area where you spent the night. Turn the other way. You’ll come to an exit. Walk through the door and into the stairway.

  His directions were very explicit. He must have been here for a while, planning his moves.

  “How long have you been here?” she asked.

  “Stop wasting time. Get into the hall and turn right.”

  She did as he asked, praying that a nurse or someone would come along as they took a couple of awkward steps down the corridor. Then she canceled that prayer. If they did encounter someone, she could get them killed by asking for help.

  Just as she had that thought, a nurse came down the hall toward the ladies’ room.

  Olivia’s heart stopped, then started up in double time as she felt Troy’s gun pressing into the middle of her back.

  She raised her eyes, and for a moment, she met the other woman’s gaze. But probably the nurse had been on duty all night and she didn’t catch the urgency that Olivia was trying to convey.

  Feeling like she was on her way to her execution, she headed for the exit. As she walked, she eased her shoulder purse to the front and dipped her hand inside. At the exit, she pulled the door open and stepped into the stairs—where she scuffed her foot against the raised doorsill and stumbled.

  Troy cursed and grabbed for her, holding her upright, but in the moments when he was holding her up, she managed to pull out the credit card she’d extracted from her wallet and drop it on the floor. In the scuffle, he didn’t notice, and he pushed her ahead of himself as they headed downward.

  “We’re coming out at the side of the building,” he told her. “Turn right to the parking lot. And keep your head down.”

  “Okay,” she whispered. She didn’t want to leave the hospital. She kept hoping that there was some way to run from Troy Masters. On the ground floor, the door had one of those horizontal bars instead of a knob.

  “Push the bar,” he ordered, and she caught the tension in his voice. This was a dangerous time for her—and anybody who got in the way.

  With no alternative, she did as he asked, and they were outside in the morning grayness.

  “My car is in the lot. The red Beemer near the exit. I got a good space.”

  She’d seen that red car before, she realized, but she hadn’t paid attention to it. Then she remembered he’d been driving a red car ten years ago too.

  There were people out here, either walking toward the hospital or away, but she didn’t dare involve them. She and Troy made it to the car, and he opened the back door.

  “Get in.”

  Was he going to just leave her loose? Could she jump out when he stopped at a red light or something?

  That hope was dashed when he slapped something wet and cold over her face. She coughed, then felt blackness closing in on her.

  ***

  Jack glanced at his watch, thinking Olivia had been gone a long time. Trying to tell himself not to worry, he walked down toward the nurses’ station.

  “Did the woman who was with me come this way to the ladies’ room?” he asked.

  “Yes. I gave her one of our packages of personal articles.”

  He looked at his watch, thinking that she might still be in there brushing her teeth. But he didn’t think she would have taken this long. She’d want to get back so she could see Max.

  Another nurse came from the direction of the ladies’ room.

  “Did you see the woman who was with me?” he asked.

  “Why yes. She was with another man.”

  “Who?”

  “Someone on the hospital staff.”

  “Someone you knew?”

  “No. But he had on an orderly’s uniform.”

  Which meant it wasn’t Shane. And he hadn’t come back yet, anyway.

  “Which way did they go?”

  The nurse pointed in the other direction, and Jack sprinted off. When he came to the stairs, he stopped short and pushed the door open. A credit card was lying on the floor, and when he picked it up, he saw Olivia’s name on the front.

  “Oh Jesus.” She’d said she was just going to the ladies’ room. Apparently she’d taken an unexpected detour.

  Cursing, he sprinted down the steps and out onto the sidewalk. But he didn’t see Olivia outside—or anyone else he recognized. And when he tried to get back into the hospital through the exit door, he found it was locked from the outside.

  Cursing again, he ran back to the hospital entrance, where Shane was just coming in. His partner took in his wild-eyed look.

  “What happened?”

  “Olivia said she was going to the ladies’ room to freshen up. When she didn’t come back, I went looking for her. She dropped her credit card in the s
tairwell,” Jack said.

  “To tell us where she’d gone,” Shane finished.

  They both stepped into the lobby, bypassed the desk, and strode to the elevator. When they arrived on Max’s floor, they hurried to his room. The IV had been taken out of his arm, and he was sitting up with a breakfast tray in front of him.

  When he saw the expressions on their faces, he went rigid.

  “What happened?”

  Jack closed his eyes for a moment, then forced himself to speak. “I was with Olivia. She said she wanted to freshen up. She stopped at the nurses’ station, then went around the corner to the ladies’ room. When she didn’t come back after ten minutes, I went down there. A nurse saw her with a man in an orderly’s uniform. I went to the nearest stairwell where I found her credit card lying on the floor.”

  Max’s face had taken on a look of horror. “The killer’s got her. And we don’t even know who the hell he is.”

  “I should have gone down the hall to the bathroom with her,” Jack said, sounding miserable.

  Max saw the stricken look on his partner’s face. “He would have found some other way to get her,” he said, not sure if it was true. But he wasn’t going to yell at Jack, not when he’d made his own mistakes in this case.

  He pushed the breakfast tray aside and climbed out of bed, then had to grab the rail to steady himself. When he turned back to his friends, he saw them watching him.

  “You should be in bed,” Shane said.

  “Right. But I can’t be.” He took several breaths and tested his footing, then said, “It has to be one of the two suspects. Masters or Larson. That woman, Julie, picked out their pictures from the classmates I showed her.”

  “We’ll do it,” Jack said.

  “It’s going to take three guys.”

  “The cops?” Jack said.

  Max laughed. “You think Hamilton is even going to believe us? If we’re going to get Olivia back, it’s got to be us.”

  “But you lost a lot of blood yesterday,” Shane argued.

  “And they replaced it. I’m okay.”

  “The hell you are. You almost fell down when you got out of bed.”

  “Because I’d just gotten up. I’m better now.”

  Before Shane could put forth another objection, a nurse walked into the room and looked at the three men facing each other. “What’s going on?” she demanded.

  Max swung toward her. “What’s happening is that I’m leaving.”

  “You haven’t been discharged. You can’t simply leave.”

  “Watch me.”

  “It will be against medical advice.”

  “Screw medical advice.”

  She turned on her heel, probably on her way to report him. But Max was already thinking about his current problem. “Christ, I don’t even have a shirt and pants.”

  “Not to worry,” Jack said. “I brought clothes for you. I just didn’t know you’d need them today.”

  “Bless you, my brother.” Max grabbed the bag Jack held out, tore off the hospital gown, and dressed as fast as he could, considering that he was still a little unsteady on his feet.

  “We’ve got to be quick,” he told his partners as he dressed. “This guy has killed at least five or six people.”

  “If he wanted to kill Olivia right away, he could have done it here,” Shane pointed out.

  “Yeah, but why don’t I find that reassuring?” Max snapped as he thought about what the bastard might want with her. He knew what had already happened to her at that damn cabin.

  He started for the door, then stopped. “Oh shit. Something else I forgot. They took away my wallet, phone, and car keys when they admitted me, not to mention my gun.”

  “I have them too,” Jack said, hefting a briefcase.

  “Thank God.”

  Max took back his belongings, and the three men exited the room. As they approached the nurses’ station, a dark-haired man wearing a white coat stepped into their path, his gaze fixed on Max.

  “Mr. Lyon?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I am Dr. Applebaum,” he said. “I looked at your chart, and I do not advise your leaving the hospital at this time.”

  “I have business to attend to,” Max snapped.

  “And you have fifteen stitches in your arm, which could pull out if you don’t take it easy.”

  “Okay, I heard your warning,” Max answered. “Now I have to leave.”

  “At least let me…”

  Max stepped around him. “No time. We’re trying to save a life.”

  Jack looked back. “Sorry. Wild horses couldn’t keep him here.”

  Shane had already pressed the elevator button. When the car arrived, they all stepped in, Max feeling the disapproving looks of the doctor and nurses on his back. In some corner of his mind, he knew they were right. He could end up doing himself serious damage. Yet he simply couldn’t stay here and let others look for Olivia.

  Another thought struck him. “Shit.”

  “Now what?” Shane asked.

  “My damn car. It’s about a block from where I was cut.” He looked hopefully toward Jack. “You didn’t bring it over, did you?”

  “Um, I figured you’d get a ride back to the hotel with one of us. We’ve got two cars here,” Jack said. “Either Shane or I can take you over to where you left yours.”

  “Which means we’re going to have to separate,” Max said, letting the implications sink in and realizing that they couldn’t simply rush off. “We’d better do some planning before we leave.”

  The three of them found a quiet corner in the waiting room.

  “The reason this is going to take three of us is that there are three likely locations where Olivia might be held,” Max said, focusing on the logic of this mess as they stood facing each other. “Larson’s house. Masters’s house, and that cabin up by the dam. I’m betting that’s going to turn out to be it, but we have to check the other two places, in case one of them had plans to hole up at home.”

  “I’ll take Larson’s house,” Jack said.

  “I’ll go to the cabin,” Shane said.

  “No. I’m going there. You check out Masters’s.”

  Shane gave him a doubtful look. “You’re not exactly in fighting shape.”

  “Unfortunately,” he conceded. “If you don’t find Olivia at either suspect’s house, you can join me at the cabin.”

  He could see his friends didn’t love the arrangement, but he wasn’t going to budge. He was pretty sure Olivia would be at the cabin, and he wasn’t going to waste time getting there.

  Outside, he and Shane went to the latter’s car. Jack climbed into his own vehicle, and they went in separate directions.

  Shane glanced at Max’s pale face. “Listen, I was thinking about what that Dr. Applebaum said.”

  “Don’t tell me to go back to the hospital,” Max shot back.

  “I’m not. But he talked about the stitches in your arm. If you drive, you could start bleeding again before you get to the damn cabin. And if you pass out, you’re not going to do Olivia any good.”

  “I’m not going to fucking pass out.”

  “Yeah, but why don’t we both take a quick trip to Masters’s house. If he’s not there, we go to the cabin. Unless Jack calls us with better information.”

  Max clenched his fists. That could be wasting precious time, but he knew his friend was right. If he got to the cabin and passed out or started bleeding, he’d be putting Olivia in even more danger.

  Chapter 26

  Olivia woke feeling cold and confused. It took a moment for her to remember what had happened to her, and when she did, she shuddered. Smelling dampness, she opened her eyes and found herself in a small room lit by an electric lantern on the floor in one corner. It had a floor made of plywood strips. The walls were the same material. When she looked up, she saw the ceiling was just dirt. Below her was a bare mattress that was dirty and stained. It looked like it could have been here for years.

  She cle
nched her teeth, fighting a surge of panic. She was in the underground room Max had described to her.

  Had she been in this place before? She couldn’t be sure, but Max’s account was vivid in her mind. This was the room under the cabin that he had inspected the other day.

  She fought terror—and tears. If she’d tried to imagine the worst thing that could have happened to her, this was it. That is, the worst thing besides losing Max. And at least she could comfort herself that he was safe. Troy had gone after her—not him.

  She closed her eyes, desperately wanting to shut out reality. It was tempting to withdraw into herself. Maybe that was the way she had coped when…

  She cut off that thought. How she’d coped in the past wasn’t important. Right now, she knew that if she shut down, she would end up dead, like Angela and Claire. Clenching her fists, she willed herself to coherence. But the last things she remembered sent a shudder through her. Troy had been dressed like a hospital staffer, and he’d come into the ladies room with a gun. He’d taken her down the stairs and outside. Then he’d put something wet over her nose and mouth, and then she had woken up here.

  When she shivered and tried to wrap her arms around her shoulders, she found her wrists were tied together. So were her ankles. And the wrists were linked to a chain that was fastened to a stake pounded through the floor to her right. It gave her enough room to sit up, which she did. Leaning over, she pulled at the stake with her bound hands. It didn’t budge, and she wondered if it was cemented into the ground below the wood floor. Max hadn’t mentioned it. Which must mean it was newly planted—for her.

  A sound a few feet away made her focus on the entrance to the room, which was nothing more than a large, dark rectangle.

  As she watched, Troy Masters came in and sat down on a plump red cushion across from her.