Worth The Wait: Crystal Lake Series

by Laura Scott

  Amy cleaned and reconnected the IV tubing to the catheter in his arm. “I’ve called for a late lunch tray. It should be here soon.”

  “Thanks.” He glanced over at Duke, who was once again stretched out on the floor beside his bed. “Don’t worry. Hopefully your food will be here soon.”

  Duke’s tail thumped against the side of his bed, making him smile.

  He hoped Merry made good on her promise. Duke deserved the best. While he waited, he used the phone to call his boss. Unfortunately, Gavin didn’t answer. Leaving a message didn’t feel right, but what else could he do? No doubt, Gavin was out at the scene of the fire.

  Where he should be, too. Making sure the blond dude didn’t get away with attempted murder.

  Too bad he still had no clue as to the blond dude’s identity, which made it difficult to know where to find him.

  After cleaning up and eating the tray of food that arrived courtesy of her nurse, Katy stared out the window, fighting the urge to go over to talk to Reese.

  No sense in pushing her company on him. Heaven knew they’d spent over half a day together. No doubt he was appreciating some time alone.

  She closed her eyes and tried to rest, but despite her lack of sleep the night before and her bone-deep exhaustion, sleep eluded her.

  Another hour dragged by, and finally she gave up and crawled out of bed. She didn’t want to use the wheelchair—bad enough to be a patient—so she connected her oxygen to a portable wheeling tank to take with her.

  The door to Reese’s room was partially closed, and for a moment, she stood uncertainly. Just because she couldn’t sleep didn’t mean he wasn’t.

  She’d turned around to head back to her room when she heard him talking. “Gavin, please call me as soon as you get this message. Thanks.”

  Okay, so he wasn’t sleeping. Taking a deep breath to bolster her courage, she lightly tapped on the door. “Reese? It’s Katy.”

  “Come in,” he called. His voice was still a little hoarse, just like hers.

  “Hi, how’s Duke?” She really did care about the dog, even though it was also an easy excuse for her being there.

  “He’s good. Wow, you look great.” The warmth in Reese’s gaze made her toes curl.

  “Thanks, so do you. Although I can’t seem to get rid of the smoke smell,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

  “Well, you might want to keep your distance from Duke, then, because I haven’t given him a bath yet, and his fur still reeks from the fire.”

  “It’s not his fault,” she said, sitting in the chair beside his bed. She leaned over and rubbed Duke’s fur, wondering again how she could ever have been afraid of him. “Did your boss call you back yet?”

  He grimaced and shook his head. “Not yet. Sitting around here is driving me crazy. I feel like I should be out at the scene of the fire.”

  “I didn’t realize that DNR game wardens were also trained as firefighters.”

  “We have some training, but not to the extent the smoke jumpers do,” he admitted. “Still, I’d rather be near the action.”

  “I get it,” Katy said with a sigh. “I’m not used to being at loose ends, either. I keep thinking about the patients who are probably coming in for treatment. I’m sure Gabe could use help, yet here I am, doing nothing.”

  “You’re resting and getting better,” he pointed out.

  She lifted a brow. “So are you. And so is Duke.”

  “Touché,” he said with a wry smile. But then his gaze turned serious. “I’m sorry you had to get mixed up in all this.”

  “It’s not your fault,” she reminded him. “And trust me, I made sure that Deputy Kramer was crystal clear on my opinion.”

  Reese scowled. “You mean he still thinks I’m involved?”

  Maybe she shouldn’t have brought the subject up. “I’m sure it’s just his usual suspicious nature.”

  Reese didn’t look convinced. “Funny, Armbruster didn’t seem to share his opinion. In fact, he told me straight up that I wasn’t a suspect.”

  “Really? That’s wonderful!” Katy was thrilled and relieved to hear it. “I’m sure Devon will talk some sense into Ian.”

  “You’re on a first-name basis with him, huh?”

  She frowned. “Well, yeah, sort of. I see the deputies all the time, and last year I took care of Devon after he was injured. Ian was there the whole time, so I guess it was natural to call him by his first name.”

  “Maybe he just doesn’t like the way you’re always defending me,” Reese pointed out. “He might believe the gossip circling around town.”

  “What, you mean, like, he’s jealous? Don’t be ridiculous. There’s absolutely nothing like that between us.”

  “Maybe he’d like there to be something more,” Reese said in a low voice. “He’s not a bad guy, seems to have a solid career.”

  Her stomach clenched painfully as she realized Reese was trying to subtly tell her that he wasn’t interested.

  As if the closeness between them, and that heated kiss, hadn’t happened.

  As if she didn’t already care about him, obviously more than she should.

  “I’m not interested in Ian that way,” she said, forcing herself to meet his gaze head on. “You’re the first man I’ve kissed in well over a year.”

  A strained silence fell between them, making her wish she’d held her tongue.

  “Knock, knock,” a female voice called out, breaking the moment. “Reese? Are you decent?”

  Katy froze for a second, but then recognized Merry’s voice. Merry popped into the room, a half-full bag of dog food in her arms.

  “Hi, Merry,” Reese greeted her warmly. Katy wondered if he realized that Merry was married to Deputy Zack Crain. “Thanks so much for bringing Duke’s dinner.”

  “You’re welcome, and actually, Zack’s the one who brought it in.” She set the bag down and pulled two silver bowls out. “Do you want me to fill these for you?”

  “I can get it,” Reese protested, swinging his scrub-clad legs over the side of the bed. “But thanks, anyway.”

  “Sounds good. Hey, Dr. Katy, how are you feeling?” Merry asked.

  “I’m fine. Should be back to work tomorrow.”

  Merry grinned and shook her head. “I know it’s not easy to be on the wrong side of a hospital bed, but there’s no reason to rush back to work. We have it all under control.”

  Katy smiled, remembering how Merry had suffered a concussion last year after being hit by one of their psych patients. “I’ll be back to work tomorrow,” she repeated.

  “You can fight that out with Gabe,” Merry said with a wave of her hand. “I have to run, but let me know if you need anything else, okay?”

  The room seemed painfully quiet after Merry left, despite the crunching sounds from Duke enjoying his dinner.

  Katy thought that Reese might be trying to avoid a personal conversation, so she rose to her feet and grabbed her oxygen tank. “I’m almost out of air. Have a good night, Reese.”

  His smile seemed strained. “You, too, Katy. And don’t go back to work too soon, okay?”

  “I won’t.” She kept her gaze focused on maneuvering the oxygen tank as she returned to her room.

  She crawled beneath the covers, wishing she could forget the awkward conversation with Reese. Her throat felt thick with tears. Ridiculous to cry over a man she barely knew.

  So why did she feel so miserable?

  Katy closed her eyes and opened her heart and her mind to God. She needed to believe that God had a plan for her, even if she didn’t understand what it entailed.

  She slept fitfully, getting up several times, not used to hearing the hospital sounds from a patient’s perspective. Not that the staff were exceptionally noisy or anything.

  She heard a thud when she came out of the bathroom, and she stood for a minute, trying to figure out what was wrong. Had Reese fallen to the floor? Or maybe some other patient had fallen?

  The door of her room abruptly swung open,
and she stumbled backward in surprise when a tall blond-haired man entered her room. He was wearing scrubs but didn’t look at all familiar. He wasn’t wearing a name tag, either.

  A chill snaked down her spine. Was this the guy who Reese had seen in the woods?

  He took another step into the room, and that’s when she saw the gun clutched in his right hand. “If you scream, I’ll shoot,” he said in a flat tone.

  She swallowed hard and nodded. Oh, yeah, she believed him. “Who are you?” she asked in a whisper.

  “That doesn’t matter. You’re going to do exactly as I say, understand?”

  The chill congealed into ice. She licked her suddenly dry lips. “O-okay.”

  “You’re going to come with me,” the blond guy said in that eerily calm voice. “I’m going to keep you directly in front of me so that game warden can’t sic that dog of his on me.”

  Katy didn’t want to do as he asked, but what choice did she have? If she’d been closer to her bed, she could use the call light to call the nurse, but she wasn’t.

  She wanted to believe there was a way to use her brain to get away from the blond guy, but she hesitated a moment too long. Suddenly he was right beside her, grabbing her arm in a grip so painful she felt tears sting her eyes.

  “Don’t even think about trying anything stupid,” he said in a low voice.

  Her throat was so tight with fear she couldn’t speak. She gave a brief nod, indicating she understood.

  “Let’s go.” He pressed the gun into her side.

  She walked slowly toward the doorway, hoping and praying that Reese would figure out a way to get them out of this mess.

  Before this maniac killed them both, and poor Duke, too.

  Chapter Thirteen

  A low growl from Duke awakened Reese from a restless sleep. How on earth anyone managed to sleep in a hospital bed was beyond him. Of course, the fact that Duke was sleeping on the foot of the mattress didn’t help. The hospital bed definitely wasn’t big enough for the two of them.

  But he’d refused to make Duke stay on the hard floor. Not after the way he’d saved his life. He was glad that the dog had been given the same meds he’d been given, just in a smaller dose.

  “What’s wrong, boy?” he whispered.

  Duke had lifted his head and was staring intently at the doorway. Was someone out there? Duke hadn’t growled when the nurse had come in a few hours ago to check his blood pressure and to hang another dose of the IV antibiotic. She’d also checked the oxygen level in his blood. His readings continued to improve, which was good news.

  Reese swung his legs over the edge of the bed and slowly rose to his feet. He was hampered a bit by the IV tubing and resisted the urge to pull the stupid catheter out. He hadn’t gotten very far when he heard someone call his name.

  “Reese?” The whisper sounded like Katy, although that didn’t make sense because Duke knew Katy’s scent and wouldn’t growl at her.

  “I’m awake,” he said in a low voice. “Come in. Is something wrong?”

  The door to his room swung open at the same time Duke rose off the bed, the growl in his throat growing louder. It took a minute for him to realize that Katy wasn’t alone. The blond dude was standing almost directly behind her.

  “Call off your dog, or I’ll kill her.”

  “Down, Duke.” The frightened expression in Katy’s eyes ripped at his heart, and based on the awkward angle the guy had on her, he realized the blond dude was holding a gun pressed against her side. His stomach clenched, and he took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. “Duke won’t attack unless I give the command. What do you want?”

  For several long seconds, the blond guy didn’t say anything. Even though it was dark in his room, the muted light from the hall revealed the guy was wearing scrubs.

  “We’re going to take care of the dog first,” the blond stranger said.

  “Wait, why are you doing this? I don’t even know your name! What’s the point of killing us?”

  Reese couldn’t make out the expression in the blond guy’s eyes in the dim light, but his cold, flat tone was not reassuring.

  “I have no choice. Boyle would have eventually ratted me out, and you wouldn’t stop searching for me.”

  Reese still didn’t understand, but he wanted to keep him talking, hoping someone might come down the hall to find them. “I might not have kept searching for you if you hadn’t smashed my truck.”

  “I needed to keep you from going back into the woods to find the cougar.”

  Okay, the way this guy answered every question in that same emotionless tone was really eerie. Why was he acting like some sort of robot?

  “Look, no one has to die here tonight,” Reese said. “I’m sure we can work something out.”

  “I disagree. Once you’re out of my way, I can go back to living in the woods without interference.”

  Reese had always suspected the guy was ex-military, and seeing him up close only confirmed his original impression. He wished he understood what was going on in his mind. Did he really think that he could kill two people and a dog without being caught? Was he poaching to live off the land to stay off grid? And if so, why kill a cougar?

  Unless Boyle had decided to kill the cougar on his own? Suddenly it made sense. “You were tracking Boyle, the same way I was,” he said slowly. “You weren’t working together at all. You were upset with Boyle because he was drawing unwanted attention from the DNR.”

  “Too smart for your own good.”

  Reese would have felt better if there had been satisfaction in his tone, but there wasn’t.

  How could he get through to the blond guy if he didn’t feel anything? There wasn’t a hint of emotion for him to exploit. Nothing that Reese could appeal to in order to make him change his mind.

  “Dog first,” he repeated. He let go of Katy’s arm for a brief moment and pulled something out of the pocket of his scrubs. He tossed the syringe on the bedside table and quickly resumed his tight grip on Katy’s arm. “Inject him with the contents of that syringe. Don’t worry, the sedative will act quickly, and he’ll die a painless death.”

  Reese stared at the syringe and then dragged his gaze up to meet Katy’s. Her mouth was pulled together in a terse frown, and she gave her head a slight shake.

  She winced as the blond guy pressed the gun painfully into her side. “Don’t make me shoot all three of you. Gunshot wounds hurt. But if that’s truly the way you want to go, that’s fine with me. I can shoot all three of you and still find a way to escape. I won’t be taken prisoner again.”

  Reese stepped forward and picked up the syringe, his thoughts whirling. Again? Had this guy been captured during the war in Afghanistan? Was that what had messed with his mind?

  “Let us go, and I’ll make sure that you can resume living off the land where no one will bother you,” he said, making one last effort. “I promise that you don’t have to kill us in order to get away.”

  “I’ll count to three. If you haven’t injected the dog by then, I’ll start shooting. One…”

  Reese wished he knew what was in the syringe. If he only gave a partial dose, would Duke still die? Could he find a way to pretend to inject him? But if Duke didn’t go down, then the blond guy would know he’d faked it.

  “Two…”

  “Okay, stop counting. I’ll do it.” He stepped closer to Duke and put his left arm around the dog’s neck. Tears burned his eyes as he lifted the syringe.

  “I love you, Duke,” he whispered.

  “Jesse, don’t! Let her go!”

  Reese froze and glanced up in surprise to see Ian Kramer standing in the doorway of his room. The deputy was wearing full SWAT gear and held his gun trained on the blond dude, who still held Katy in a tight grip. It dawned on Reese that the two men had similar facial features, although Ian Kramer’s hair was as dark as Jesse’s was light. Still, now that he saw them together, he wondered why he hadn’t noticed the resemblance before.

  They looked simil
ar enough to be brothers.

  “Go away, Ian. This isn’t your business.” Jesse didn’t as much as glance at the deputy.

  “I didn’t want to believe you were involved in this, Jesse.” Ian Kramer looked upset, but the tip of his gun didn’t waver. “I turned my back on the illegal hunting, knowing how important it was for you to be independent and live off the land. But you went too far when you tried to run them off the road, which I figured out when I ran the license plate tag. Then you set that fire. And now murder? What are you thinking? You know I can’t let you get away with this.”

  Reese palmed the syringe and edged a little closer to Jesse. He wanted to imbed the syringe into Jesse, but he couldn’t risk the gun going off and killing Katy.

  “You won’t kill me,” Jesse said in that same eerie voice. “You love me, remember? You told me that at least a dozen times while I was recuperating from being held prisoner.”

  “I do love you, Jesse. You’re my brother. That’s why I can’t let you do this. Don’t you see? There’s no point in killing them if we have you surrounded. You can’t escape. Please surrender your weapon. I’ll make sure you get the help you need.”

  “The only thing that helps me is to be alone in the woods with nothing surrounding me.”

  “I know, Jesse. I’ll find a way to make that happen. I promise I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”

  Reese wanted to believe the deputy was getting through to Jesse. Had his hand loosened its grip on the gun pressed against Katy’s side? He inched closer.

  “Okay, here’s another idea,” Ian said, sounding desperate. “Use me as your hostage. We can leave the hospital, and I’ll take you someplace safe.”

  Reese held his breath as Jesse seemed to seriously consider the idea. “The other deputies won’t let me through, not if I have you.”

  “Trust me, they will.” Ian’s voice oozed confidence. “Especially if I tell them to.”

  “I need to go far away,” Jesse said. “The other side of the country if necessary. Maybe Alaska.”

  “We will. I promise.”

  Ian glanced at Reese for an intense moment, and he understood the silent message. Ian wanted Reese to use the sedative in the syringe to subdue Jesse.