After passing the nurse’s station, she followed the arrows on the wall.
The door to room 241 was partially open and she peered in before entering. Just as she surmised, Kane was there, sitting in a padded bright orange chair and looking at the man in the hospital bed. She saw that the man’s eyes were closed, and a variety of tubes were in his arm, some hooked up to a cluster of machines that in turn were monitoring a host of bodily functions.
“How is he?” Kelly asked as she entered the room.
She’d startled him. She could see that by the momentarily unguarded look on Kane’s face. He recovered quickly.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked. There was a note of irritation in the whispered question.
“Asking you how your uncle is,” she replied innocently. Why couldn’t he just accept her concern? Why did everything have to turn into a verbal duel? “I’m a better detective than you give me credit for,” she told him simply.
“And now you can just detective yourself home,” Kane told her. It was obvious that he thought she was going to comply.
Partnered for a few weeks and the man still didn’t know her, Kelly thought.
“If you don’t mind, I think I’ll stay for a while,” she told him. She kept her voice mild, but it was obvious she had no intention of going anywhere.
There was another chair in the room, shoved over in the corner and out of the way. Kelly claimed it and sank down on the seat.
“Why would you want to do that?” Kane asked impatiently. “Why would you want to stay here, watching him breathe? It doesn’t make any sense. You don’t even know him.”
“No,” Kelly readily agreed, “but I know you, and I think that you could use some emotional support right about now.”
“I’m fine,” Kane told her, all but growling the words.
“And you’ll be finer with company,” she replied, smiling at him sweetly.
Kane looked as if he wanted to say a few choice words, but then bit them back. “You are damn stubborn, you know that?” It was an accusation.
“I know,” she answered cheerfully. “It’s part of my charm.”
“Not hardly,” he retorted under his breath, but loud enough for her to hear.
Because of the nature of the situation, she was prepared to cut Kane a lot of slack. If that were her only living relative, she didn’t know how civil she would be, given that she would be almost crazy with worry.
Kelly gazed at the unconscious man in the hospital bed. “Have you spoken to the doctor yet?”
Kane didn’t bother to look at her. All his attention was focused on his uncle, on watching him breathe and fervently hoping he would continue to do so.
“Yes.”
When he didn’t say anything further, she prodded, “And?”
Kane shrugged, a great deal of helplessness evident in the single small gesture.
“And he could come out of it at any minute—or he could stay like this for the rest of his life.” The words weighed heavily on his tongue. “They’re not really sure.”
She tried to think of all the logical questions that needed to be answered. “Did they operate on him?” was the first one.
Kane scrubbed his hand over his face, as if that could somehow help him pull himself together.
“Yeah. They said they think they stopped all the internal bleeding.” She saw frustration in his eyes as he looked up at her. “They think,” he repeated, jeering at the word, making it sound like it was a definite liability.
Kelly did what she could to reassure her partner. “This is a really good hospital,” she told him. “Plenty of police officers have gotten patched up here and returned to duty, good as new. I can personally vouch for a bunch of them,” she said, thinking of all the times one of her relatives had landed on the operating table.
“Younger police officers,” Kane emphasized. “Keith’s going to be seventy...”
It was clear that the man’s age worried him. Kelly did what she could to reassure him. “And you’ll be with him to help him blow out the candles on his next birthday cake.”
“You can’t know that,” he told her flatly.
“Know that for a fact? No. But I can believe it with all my heart.” She needed to make him understand how important it was to hang on to positive thoughts. “Positive energy really does have its benefits, Kane. Doctors have made an actual study of the positive effects of positive thinking,” she told him.
He shook his head, partially irritated and partially grateful for her bullheadedness. “You don’t give up, do you?”
“What’s the fun in that?” she asked.
The next minute, Kelly rose to her feet.
“Leaving?” he asked. He’d been trying to make her go, but now that she looked as if she was going to comply, he found himself feeling let down.
What the hell was going on with him? He didn’t need anyone’s support, he reminded himself. He’d gotten along fine without it so far.
“No, I’m not leaving,” she answered. “I’m just going to get some coffee for us and see what they have in the vending machine. I skipped dinner. Can I get you anything?”
He ran his hand along the back of his neck, wishing he could somehow get rid of the tight knots he felt there. “Yeah, some of that positive energy you were talking about.”
The smile she flashed him was almost beatific. “That’ll take finding an extra special vending machine, but I’ll see what I can do,” Kelly promised.
* * *
“Go home, Cavanaugh.”
When she looked up, she found that Kane was standing over her. He obviously had to have been shaking her arm to get her to wake up.
When had she fallen asleep? She didn’t remember doing that. But she must have.
Stifling a yawn, she told him, “Can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“We can’t both be out from work,” he told her. “Not while we still have that home invasion case to solve.” He pulled her chair slightly over to the side to get her to stand up. “Be sensible for once in your life. Go home and get some sleep. I can’t have you falling asleep while you’re driving because of me,” he told her. There was no room left for argument.
Rotating her shoulders—God, but they ached—she glanced at her watch. The display told her that it was three in the morning.
Kane’s uncle was still unconscious. There had been no change.
She rose from the chair and stretched. Kane was right. He was the relative, she had no reason to call in and someone did have to work the case.
She briefly laid her hand on Kane’s shoulder. “Okay, call me when he comes to,” she requested. “If there’s no change, I’ll be back tonight.”
The fact that she had said “when” not “if” was not lost on Kane. The woman really was a Pollyanna, wasn’t she?
“You don’t have to,” Kane told her.
Kelly put her hands to her ears and announced, “Sorry, can’t hear you.” With that, she made her way to the door.
Raising his voice, Kane called after her, “Hey, Cavanaugh—”
With one hand on the doorknob, Kelly looked at him over her shoulder and waited.
“Thanks.”
All but melting, she smiled at him.
“No problem,” she answered, knowing that anything more personal than that would only cause Kane discomfort.
* * *
Kelly headed into her day operating on adrenaline, coffee and very little else. But for now it was more than enough. As a matter of fact, she felt as if she had gotten her second wind.
Mercifully, there were no new reports of home invasions. The number remained at seven. She spent her time organizing the information on the board, hoping that something would suddenly jump out and hit her.
&n
bsp; But it didn’t.
The only thing that still remained vaguely constant in all the cases was the age range of the victims. Maybe the key to all this was in their background.
At any rate, with nothing new to concentrate on, it was worth pursuing a little.
Running a background check on all the invasion victims not only would be tedious, it also would undoubtedly take a long time. There were loads of cases ahead of hers waiting for the senior tech wizard Brenda Cavanaugh’s magic touch. The chief of ds’ daughter-in-law was swamped. And she couldn’t lean on Valri again. Her sister was very good at getting computers to give up their secrets, but she had her own job at the police department and she couldn’t be expected to drop everything to do her a favor. It wasn’t fair to Valri.
But she also needed more information on all her victims. She decided to go to the horse’s mouth in this case.
Kelly worked up a questionnaire for all the victims to fill out, asking for various pieces of information, such as where they had been born, where they had received their elementary and high school educations, what colleges they attended, etc.
She ran off more than enough copies of the questionnaire, then, armed with the papers, she went to reconnect with the victims.
* * *
“Is this thing even legal?” Johnson asked, rereading the one page questionnaire for the third time. He frowned more deeply with each pass he made.
“Just think of it as a simple survey,” Kelly urged, then explained. “We’re just trying to narrow down the playing field so that we can pinpoint just where and when your path and the thief’s path crossed.”
Johnson looked disgusted. “This is a big waste of time.”
“Very little time,” Kelly contradicted, holding up the single page as if she were conducting a reality check on the man.
His scowl deepened, all but disappearing into the folds around his neck. “You expect me to do it right now?”
Once again she hunted up her very brightest smile. “Please?” she said, secretly hating every second of her impromptu performance. “Everyone else has already filled out their questionnaire,” she lied. “We just need yours to complete the set.”
After liberally bestowing several colorful curses on her, the investment broker finally and grudgingly filled out the form.
* * *
She told each of the victims the same story, saying that theirs was the last form and that it was needed in order to make a comparison.
Eventually—after having to return twice to talk to Edward Mitchum—she had forms from all the victims.
Kelly scanned all the forms into her smartphone so she had a full second copy—just in case. Then since it was well past her shift, rather than process the results at the precinct, she took the originals with her to the hospital.
If Kane’s uncle hadn’t regained consciousness yet—and she assumed he hadn’t since she had received no phone calls to that effect—she was fairly certain Kane could use some company. Even if he refused to admit it.
A sense of excitement pervaded her. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was onto something with her questionnaire or if it was because she was heading to the hospital to keep Kane company.
Most likely, she told herself, it was a combination of both.
Chapter 15
Peering into the hospital room, Kelly saw that her partner’s head was down, and it looked as if he had dozed off while keeping vigil at his uncle’s bedside. Watching Kane carefully for any signs of movement, she took great pains not to make any noise as she tiptoed into the private unit.
All but moving in slow motion, Kelly took the large shoulder bag she’d crammed with the completed questionnaires as well as her laptop and deposited it onto the other chair in the room.
“You know, you can make noise. I’m not asleep,” Kane said without looking up in her direction.
She’d been so intent on not making a sound that, when her partner spoke, she practically jumped. Her hand covered her chest as if to keep her heart from leaping out.
After taking a breath to compose herself, Kelly told him, “Well, I thought you were and I didn’t want to disturb you.”
Kane laughed drily. “You’re a few weeks too late in that department.” Sitting up straighter, he scrutinized her for a long moment. “The chief of ds and his wife stopped by here around noon to check on Keith’s condition. You know anything about that?”
As far as he was concerned, it was a rhetorical question, but he wanted to see what Kelly would say when confronted with it.
Kelly’s shrug was vague and noncommittal. “I might have mentioned to him in passing that your uncle was in the hospital.”
“In passing,” Kane echoed, not buying her story. “And just when did you do this passing?”
Kelly gave up the ruse. “Or, I could have just called him up with the information. The chief is close to his officers and detectives. And it doesn’t matter to him if they’re active or if they put in their papers years ago,” she added before Kane could bring up the fact that his uncle was retired.
“It seems the chief subscribes to the same theory as you do,” Kane told her. When she looked at him blankly, he elaborated. “The chief gave me a message to give to Keith when he wakes up—not if, but when. Looks to me like all of you Cavanaughs believe in miracles.”
“You make it sound like it’s a bad thing,” she accused, then pointed out, “There’s nothing wrong with expecting the best.”
He had a different take on that. “There is if the worst happens.”
She shook her head. She just didn’t operate that way. “There’s plenty of time to feel awful if that comes to pass. Besides,” she maintained, “I told you what positive energy can do.”
His eyes met hers. “Yes, drive a logical person crazy,” he declared. But then he reconsidered his statement and his harsh stand in view of what she’d done for his uncle by telling the chief of ds about Keith’s accident. In a somewhat humbler voice, Kane said, “Again, thanks.”
Her eyes seemed to light up right in front of him as she said, “My pleasure.”
Kane shook his head, more in wonder than in denial. The woman was one of a kind. He really wished she wasn’t so attractive.
“You know, I actually believe that,” he told her. And then, because he was getting too close both to her and to the feelings he always tried to keep in check, he asked, “How’s the case coming? Any new home invasions?”
At least she could give him a little positive news, so to speak. “None, thank God.”
“Anything new at all?”
Moving her shoulder bag to the floor, Kelly sat down in the other chair. “No, but I think there’s something old we’re overlooking. The only thing these people have in common is they’re all around the same age.” Something that they’d already mentioned. “I’ve been thinking maybe they all attended the same school somewhere along the line. I had them all fill out a general questionnaire.”
The same school might have been a connection, but it didn’t point to any reason why they were all victims, Kane thought.
“So what did you find?” he asked.
“I haven’t had a chance to look the questionnaires over yet. But I did bring them with me. I thought you might want to take a crack at them, as well. See if anything occurs to you.”
After opening the shoulder bag, Kelly removed the nine pages she had collected from the victims. She rose from her chair and brought the pages over to Kane.
“You brought me a pretty girl,” a low, raspy voice said. Neither one of them had seen Keith open his eyes. It sounded as if he wanted to chuckle but couldn’t. “Just what I wanted.”
The words were spoken so softly that had the machines not been in a temporary lull as they rested before starting on their next complete cycle, neith
er Kane nor his partner would have heard anything.
Afraid that he’d imagined it, Kane was immediately on his feet and at the man’s side. Frantically, he searched the deathly still face for any signs, however minute, of consciousness.
Taking the man’s wide hand in his, Kane whispered, “Uncle Keith?”
To his overwhelming relief, Kane saw the man’s chest move up and then down in a halting but definitely rhythmic pattern.
“You haven’t called me Uncle Keith since you were a little boy,” Keith said, a paper-thin smile attempting to curve at least a portion of his lips. He opened his eyes again, and it was obvious he was trying very hard to get his bearings. Shifting slightly in the bed, he groaned from the pain. “Where am I and why do I feel like I got hit by a train?”
“You’re in the hospital,” Kane told him. “And you feel like that because you were in a car accident. Witnesses said the other guy came out of nowhere and slammed into you before taking off.”
It was a clear case of hit-and-run and whoever was responsible better hope that someone else found him and brought him in, Kane thought. Because if he did, he wasn’t sure he could refrain from mopping the floor with the coward. Only a coward would do something like that and then flee rather than own up to it.
“Beatrice?” Keith asked in a hushed whisper.
She was about to ask Kane who that was when he answered his uncle’s question as well as her own by saying, “She’s totaled.”
Beatrice was the car, Kelly realized. She couldn’t picture the tall, thin man in the hospital bed naming his ride.
“Damn,” Keith bit off. “I always liked her.”
“At least you’ll live to get a new one,” Kane told the man. “The chief of detectives was here, along with his wife.”
Keith nodded, or made a movement that passed for nodding. “Lila,” he acknowledged. “Damn fine cop in her day.”
“They said to tell you that the precinct is taking up a collection to help pay for your physical therapy sessions.”
Keith tried to nod again. This time he wound up wincing. “Guess then I’d better get well.”
How to Seduce a Cavanaugh Page 15
