Her Devoted HERO (Black Dawn Book 2)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  Huh? Dumbass probably thought he was talking to someone else.

  She got to the hospital and was making her way to the elevator when Patsy Harns rushed up to her.

  “Did you hear?” Patsy’s eyes were bright with tears.

  “Hear what?” Kenna asked as she shook out her raincoat.

  “Jean’s dead. She was murdered.”

  Kenna dropped her coat on the floor. “What?”

  “There are cops here, they’re asking people questions.”

  Kenna bent and slowly picked up her coat, hugging it close. “Murdered?” she whispered. “Somebody killed her?”

  “It happened over the weekend. When she didn’t show up to her appointments on Monday, they sent Abby to check on her when she didn’t answer her phone. She has a key to her house. It was bad.”

  “What do you mean bad?” Kenna asked.

  Patsy started to cry. “Abby said she was tortured. Doctor Larkin took her home and gave her a sedative.”

  Kenna couldn’t comprehend what Patsy was saying. It made no sense. Jean Baldwin was her friend. She just finished her residency last year. She was thinking about moving to Philadelphia to be close to her dad. She was not dead.

  “Patsy, are you sure?”

  The elevator opened and the charge nurse for the oncology floor came out, along with two men Kenna didn’t recognize.

  “Kenna, do you have a moment? I saw you walking in from the parking lot. I wanted to catch you before you came up to the floor. These two police detectives want to talk to you.”

  Kenna looked at her boss and then at the two cops. “Okay,” she said slowly.

  Please, let this be a bad dream.

  “Why don’t you take them to the cafeteria,” the woman suggested gently.

  “This is about Jean, isn’t it?” Kenna said staring at them.

  “Ms. Wright, let’s discuss this over a cup of coffee, all right?” The smaller of the two men smiled at her.

  Kenna nodded. She pointed toward the hallway. Her hand was trembling. “The cafeteria is down there.”

  “We know this is difficult. Please take a seat.” They allowed her to take a few moments to settle before they introduced themselves. Detectives Warren and Sanchez were working the murder of Dr. Jean Baldwin.

  Detective Warren went and got them coffee, and when he returned Kenna looked at the two men and asked the question that was on her mind.

  “But I don’t understand, are you having coffee with all of the nurses who worked with Jean?” Kenna asked.

  “We wanted to ask you about an e-mail that she forwarded to you. It was from a dating site.”

  “Do you think I might be of help in solving her murder?” she asked.

  “Right now, we’re investigating everything. Any information, any insights, that you can provide would be greatly appreciated.”

  Kenna stirred her coffee and thought about the e-mail. Then she looked at the detectives. “Why are you asking me about it, you’ve read it, haven’t you?”

  “What Clive meant was, what did Jean have to say about the guy? She must have said something. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have forwarded the e-mail to you,” Detective Sanchez clarified.

  “She wanted my take on him. I said surface-wise he seemed okay. I looked at his profile. But his e-mail seemed like he was trying too hard for somebody who was supposedly an attorney. I told her to use caution. Will this help you in finding out who killed her? Do you think it could have been him?” Kenna took a sip of her coffee and tried hard not to wiggle in her seat as the two men examined her.

  “How were you able to look at his profile? You don’t have a profile on CaliSingles.”

  “I did at the time she sent me the e-mail. I’ve taken it down since then. You didn’t answer my question.”

  “We really can’t answer your questions. This is an ongoing investigation, and we’re just following up on any and all leads.”

  Made sense.

  Kenna nodded.

  “If you told her to proceed with caution, would it surprise you to learn that she continued to correspond with him?”

  “No,” she answered.

  She watched as Detective Warren made notes. “Why didn’t it surprise you?” he asked.

  “What I meant when I said to proceed with caution was that she needed to do a lot of questioning. Hopefully, if you read through her e-mails, you’ll see where she was trying to see if he was for real or not.”

  “Did she ever talk to you about him again?”

  Kenna thought back and finally answered, “no.”

  “How about other men from the dating site?”

  “No.”

  “Other men in general?”

  “The last time we talked was about this attorney.” Then it hit her. That was the last time that she was ever going to talk to Jean. She pushed away her coffee and covered her mouth.

  Oh God.

  Jean was dead.

  “Ms. Wright, are you okay?” Detective Warren asked.

  She nodded. Then she shook her head. “No,” Kenna answered. She closed her eyes and tried breathing through her mouth until she could focus, then she opened her eyes and looked at the men sitting across from her.

  They were patient as they waited for her to get control. She grabbed a napkin out of the dispenser and blew her nose.

  “Is there anything else you can tell us about Jean. Not just the e-mail, but any men she has seen recently?” Detective Sanchez asked. “Where else does she meet men?”

  Kenna thought about it. “She didn’t want to date guys here at the hospital, so she joined Fresh Fitness gym. She’s been going for the last four months. She told me about two guys from there.”

  The detective made notes as she told him everything she could remember about the two men.

  “Any bars or clubs? How about volunteer agencies?” Detective Warren asked.

  “The only other thing besides the dating site and the gym she mentioned was that she was going to go sailing. But I didn’t follow up on that. She was single, but she didn’t want to be. Ever since she finished her residency, she wanted to find a man to settle down with. If I’d been a better friend, I would have kept up with her better.”

  She was dead. Kenna couldn’t stop thinking about that.

  Jean was dead.

  “We’ve been interviewing the people in her life, you sound like a good friend to her, Ms. Wright,” Detective Sanchez said.

  Detective Warren pulled out a card and slid it across the table to her. “If you think of anything else, please give us a call.”

  Kenna nodded.

  ***

  When she took a break, she found five messages on her cell phone. Three from her mother and two from Rosalie. They all concerned Jean. Apparently, it had made the news that a doctor from Sharp Memorial had been murdered.

  She called her mother first.

  “Kenna, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “This was your friend Jean, wasn’t it? The one who came to our house two years ago for Halloween?”

  Kenna swallowed. She remembered how Jean had wanted to hand out candy. She’d met Austin. “Yes Mom, that’s her.”

  “I’m so sorry. When are the services?”

  “I’ll let you know.” She thought her dad would want them in Philadelphia, but she couldn’t think about it right now.

  “Are you doing all right, Honey?”

  Kenna settled at the sound of her mother’s tone.

  “Yeah.”

  “Have someone walk you out to your car tonight.”

  “Mom, it’ll still be daylight when I get off work,” she protested.

  “Just do that for me.”

  Kenna pressed a thumb against her temple. “I will.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow night when I watch Austin.”

  “See you tomorrow, Mom. I love you.”

  “Love you too, Honey.”

  She hung up and called Rosalie and got her voicemail. She left
a message and went back to work. When she finished her shift for the day, Patsy sidled up to her.

  “Let’s walk out together,” she suggested.

  “Did you get a lecture too?” Kenna asked with a laugh.

  “What are you talking about?” Patsy asked, clearly confused. “I’ll just feel better if I have someone to walk with me to the parking lot.”

  Kenna ducked her head. “Oh. Yeah, that makes sense,” she agreed.

  She walked with Patsy to her Prius and the woman then insisted on driving Kenna to her car. It was clear she was really freaked.

  “You know that this didn’t happen here. It happened at her house,” Kenna tried to reassure the woman.

  “We don’t know that he didn’t target her from the hospital,” Patsy said.

  It was true. But still, it all seemed like overkill to Kenna. All that mattered was that Jean was dead. She sucked in air through her nose, trying to keep it together.

  She got out of Patsy’s car and leaned in. “Thanks. I’ll see you on Thursday.”

  “Not tomorrow?” Patsy asked.

  “I work four tens. I’m off on Wednesdays,” Kenna reminded her.

  “Oh yeah. You work longer hours than me, so I guess carpooling is out.”

  “It’s going to be okay, Patsy. They’ll get this guy.”

  “I know. I’m just antsy.”

  “Well, when I am here at the hospital, I will definitely walk with you to and from your car. You have my number, right?”

  Patsy nodded.

  “Good. Thanks for the lift.” Kenna shut the door and waved.

  She got into her car and immediately locked the car doors, then took a deep breath.

  She bent her head and said a soft prayer for her dead friend, then started her car.

  ***

  Getting Austin to bed that night had taken longer than normal. They’d talked for a while. Initially, Kenna thought it was because Jean had made an impression on him, and he needed to process the fact that she was now dead, but she soon realized that wasn’t it. He needed reassurance that she was safe. Hopefully, she’d been able to provide that to him.

  She waited until he was asleep before tears fell. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair. Jean was a beautiful person, inside and out, and she should be alive.

  Kenna wandered through the house, swiping at her face, turning off all the lights and heading for bed. She was under the covers when she went to set the alarm on her phone, that was when she noticed she’d missed a call from Dex. She debated calling him back so late. Didn’t SEAL’s have to be up early?

  Then she saw the text.

  Poppy,

  I’m worried, was the doctor at the hospital a friend of yours? Do you need to talk?

  She replied.

  Yes, Jean is a friend of mine. I’m fine.

  Dammit, she’d talked in the present tense. Jean’s dead, she reminded herself.

  Her phone vibrated. It was Dex.

  “Are you okay?” His voice was warm and worried.

  “Yeah.” She settled against the pillows of her bed.

  “Ahhh Honey, I’m so sorry for your friend.” He paused, his voice went lower. “For you.”

  “All I keep thinking about is her poor dad and being thankful that her mom is dead. It would kill her. Here I am happy that Jean’s mom is dead. What kind of monster does that make me?”

  “Human. It makes you human and compassionate.”

  “Thank you,” she let out a breath. There was a long silence. “I’m glad you texted me. I wasn’t going to call you back. I thought you’d be asleep.”

  “Why didn’t you think I would be awake?” he asked. He had changed to a teasing tone. She needed it. She sank deeper into her pillows.

  “Usually we talk about eight o’clock. Don’t you have to hit the base early?”

  “Yeah, but I operate on about six hours of sleep a night.”

  Now she was thinking about his sleeping habits. Not a good thing. Time to change the direction of this conversation.

  “Austin and mom want you to come over to dinner again this Saturday.”

  “I’d like a little alone time with you. I’ll do a meal with the fam on Sunday if I can have a date with you on Saturday.”

  “We’re going to see each other from eight to two on Saturday when we visit the facilities, isn’t that too much time?”

  “No.” Immediate. Decisive.

  “What happened to a snail in peanut butter?” she asked.

  “Isn’t that what the French eat?” She could hear the smile in his voice.

  She liked it. She’d been liking all of their calls.

  “I don’t think the French eat escargot in peanut butter, Dex.”

  “We’re going slow. We’re still in the getting to know you stage. Last Saturday we had a lunch date, and I got to have a meal with you, your mom and your son. This week, we’ll have a dinner date and a meal with your son and mom over at my place. I’ll grill. Let’s have Rosalie too, so it doesn’t feel too intimate. I promised a couple of the guys some meat at my place. It’ll just be a backyard barbeque. No family I promise.”

  She pushed up on her pillows.

  “Family?” she squeaked.

  “I was going to suggest you come over to my grandparents on Sunday for the family barbeque, but I figured that would freak you out.”

  “Well yes, meeting your family would definitely freak me out,” she said weakly.

  “Come on over to my place, and I’ll grill.”

  “Could we skip the date, and just do the grilling?”

  “No way. I thought every woman likes to play dress-up.”

  “It’s a dress up kind of date?” Her voice went up an octave.

  “If your voice goes any higher, I’ll think you’re auditioning to be a soprano. Yep, it’ll be fancy. How does that sound?”

  It sounded good.

  It sounded bad.

  It sounded scary.

  “Kenna?”

  “What?”

  “Will you go out with me on Saturday?”

  She blew out a breath. “This isn’t slow,” she admonished. “How about another lunch date,” she suggested hopefully.

  “You’re braver than that, Kenna.”

  Damn, he had a great voice.

  “Come on Kenna. It’s a date for dinner. I dare you.”

  She sank back into her pillows. “Are you always going to dare me SailorBoy?”

  “Yes Poppy, if it will get me what I want.”

  “What time are you going to pick me up?”

  “Six.”

  She didn’t have a nice dress. She had presentable. She had PTA. She didn’t have Navy nice.

  “Kenna, you with me?”

  “I’m here.”

  “You won’t bail, will you?”

  “You dared me, didn’t you?”

  “I would have double dog dared you if necessary. But I was holding that in reserve.”

  Shit. “You know about those?”

  “Yep,” he answered.

  She was so screwed.

  “I’ll see you at eight on Saturday morning. And I’ll be ready at six when you pick me up. But this is a whole lot of Dex for one weekend.”

  It didn’t sound all that bad.

  He laughed again.

  His laugh didn’t sound all that bad either.

  Yep, she was screwed.

  “I’ll let you go to bed now. You start early in the mornings,” he said.

  “I’m already in bed,” she blurted out.

  He groaned. “Now I’ll have that thought in my head all night.”

  She laughed. Then stopped. She couldn’t believe she was laughing after having just been in tears.

  “Dex?”

  “Yeah, Honey?”

  “Thanks for making me feel better.”

  “You’re welcome. Good night, Kenna.”

  “Good night, Dex.”

  ***

  “Cut!”

  “I thought we agr
eed those damned dogs were supposed to be boarded!” the director shouted at Rosalie.

  Kenna was busy talking to the producer of this unadulterated mayhem when she heard that asshole yelling at Rosalie. She cut him off and started sprinting across the rose garden ready to throat punch the guy who’d raised his voice at her boss when she saw and heard something amazing. Buddy Finch was nose-to-nose with the director.

  “Get off the premises,” Buddy roared.

  “What?”

  “You’re so gone, today is a memory and tomorrow won’t even register.”

  “Who the hell are you?” the man sputtered.

  “He’s the man who can buy and sell you, and you’ve just been sold,” Kenna said as she came to a stop at Buddy’s elbow.

  The director looked at them with disdain. “This documentary is being funded by Mr. Shapiro’s foundation.”

  “Exactly,” Buddy said with satisfaction. “You just yelled at the late Mr. Shapiro’s widow.”

  “Her name is Rosalie Randall,” he sputtered.

  “That’s her stage name,” Kenna informed him.

  “Ken, go apologize to Ms. Randall,” the producer said as he joined them.

  “That won’t cut it,” Buddy said. “He’s fired. Find another director.”

  “Buddy, you can’t mean that,” the producer whined.

  “I’ll shut down this entire production. This documentary doesn’t have to be made,” he ground out.

  Kenna watched in amazement. This was not the easy-going man she was used to seeing, but she liked it. It was good to know that Rosalie’s grandson could stand up for her so well. Rosalie was walking towards them with a smile on her face, it was obvious she had heard Buddy.

  “Jim, you can’t let this little shit walk all over you,” the director said.

  “It’s done. You’re fired. Get your things and go.” The producer turned to a younger man who was standing close by. “Roy, you’ve just been promoted. Don’t fuck up.”

  Five teacup poodles ran across the lawn, Smooches leading the way, followed by the maid.

  “Smooches, bad girl,” she yelled.

  “I think the dogs would make an excellent addition to the documentary,” Roy said to Rosalie.

  “What a fucking suck-up,” the original director muttered before he stomped away.

  Kenna looked at Buddy who was fighting a grin.

  “I wanted to talk to you, Kenna Dear,” Rosalie said as she gripped her arm. Kenna allowed herself to be pulled towards the low stairs that led to the verandah.