by Rebecca York
Now what? Assault an innocent bystander? The thought twisted Luke’s guts, but it might be the only choice.
Even as the desperate thought flashed through his mind, he was still projecting toward Jerrold, trying to get the message through. And finally, he felt Gabriella muster some psychic energy.
It was as if someone was pressing down on a contact point. Moments later, the pressure became steadier, but was it enough to accomplish anything?
I am Dr. Simons. Dr. Simons. I have every right to be here. Dr. Mosley and I are just leaving.
Luke kept his gaze on the hand hovering over the phone.
Let me. Gabriella raised her large, appealing eyes toward Calvin Jerrold.
“We were just leaving,” she said in a warm voice. “We were here on an inspection trip from Monumental Insurance. We haven’t taken anything, and we will give you an excellent report. You’re just the type of employee this hospital needs.”
Jerrold stared at her. “I am?”
“Yes. Very alert and on your toes. Quick to take responsibility, but I know you have work to do, and we’ll get out of your way,” she said.
Luke kept projecting the information he’d given the guy.
I am Dr. Simons. Dr. Simons. I have every right to be here. Dr. Mosley and I are just leaving.
When the man nodded, Luke let out the breath he’d been holding.
They walked around him and out of the supply room. Once in the hall, Luke dared to hope that they’d escaped. He wanted to start running, but Gabriella gripped his arm, slowing him down.
It turned out he’d been right all along. When they were almost to the elevator, Jerrold charged out of the supply closet.
“Stop.” His voice boomed behind them.
Praying that Jerrold hadn’t taken the time to call for help, Luke rushed back and grabbed the phone, hurling it to the floor. Before he could change his mind, he slammed the guy against the wall, and all the fight went out of him.
As Jerrold made a moaning sound and slipped to the floor, Gabriella gasped.
“It’s going to be okay,” Luke answered, praying he wasn’t lying.
Teeth clenched, he dragged the limp man back into the closet. He hated to tie him up, but he didn’t see any alternative. He found packages of IV cord, which he used to tie the guy’s hands. Finally, he used a pair of scrub pants for a gag.
When he looked up, Gabriella was staring at him, wide-eyed.
“Don’t hurt him.”
“I don’t want to.”
Jerrold blinked and focused on her, making a pleading sound.
“We don’t want to hurt you,” she said in a soothing voice. She looked at Luke. Help me.
He nodded.
She focused on the supply clerk again. Dr. Simons is blond and about six foot four. That’s how he overpowered you. He’s so big. And Dr. Mosley is tall, too. She’s got strawberry-colored hair. And green eyes.
In his mind, Luke listened to her repeat the description several times.
“Somebody will find you soon,” he said, hoping it was true. Maybe they could call the hospital when they were far enough away.
“He was just doing his job,” Gabriella murmured as they stepped into the hall again and walked past the elevator to the stairs.
“I know. I’m sorry. We tried to con him, but neither one of us has enough juice to do it now.”
They reached the main floor and started toward the lobby. At least there weren’t many people around. Still, it was the longest walk Luke had ever taken.
When they were finally out of the building, he gulped in a breath of the humid night air.
“Thank the Lord,” Gabriella whispered.
He kept his arm around her, helping her to the car and opening the door. As she collapsed into the passenger seat, he came around to the other side and slipped behind the wheel.
There was so much he wanted to say, but he had to get away before Jerrold got loose.
“Do you think the description will hold up?” he asked as he headed for the exit.
“I don’t know. I hope so. And Simons and Mosley are the only names he’s got. If he compares notes with the guard up front, they’re not going to agree.” He swung his gaze toward her. “I’d better ask. He’s not someone you ever met in town, right?”
“Right,” she said in a weary voice.
As he drove out of town, he saw she was sitting with her eyes closed, and he knew she was at the end of her strength. When she dozed off, he wanted to let her sleep.
Before he had gotten a few miles from the hospital, a police car with flashing lights came speeding down the highway, directly toward them.
Chapter Fifteen
Luke was just passing a swampy area thick with the hulking trees, a lot like the place where they’d gotten stuck on the plantation—a thousand years ago. Spotting a narrow road, he turned off, cutting the lights and driving into the shadows of the trees, praying that the cops hadn’t spotted him.
He wondered what the hell they were going to do if the officers came to them. Not shoot their way out.
Drive on past, he broadcast several times, wondering if it was doing any good.
For whatever reason, the police car continued toward the hospital.
“Now what?” Gabriella whispered.
“I’m thinking.” And not liking his alternatives. He’d wanted to stop at a motel in the next town. That was out of the question now. Desperation was forcing a different decision.
He backed up cautiously onto the road, then kept driving toward town. When he began seeing widely spaced driveways, he slowed, looking for a house with no lights on. And, ideally, a pile of newspapers that hadn’t been delivered.
Finally spotting what he wanted, he turned in at a gravel lane and drove toward a one-story dwelling surrounded by a grove of trees.
“What are we doing?” Gabriella asked.
“Finding a place to stay.”
“What do you mean? This is somebody’s house.”
“Yeah.” He pulled to a stop near the front door. “Wait here while I investigate.”
“No.”
“It would be better if we don’t both get shot.”
She winced but stayed in the car as he got out and stood for a moment, sniffing the air for cooking smells, listening for a barking dog.
The property seemed deserted. After he rang the bell at the front door, got no answer and didn’t hear a dog barking, he went around the back and looked for an alarm system. As far as he could tell, there was none, so he began trying windows.
The second one had a weak lock, and he was able to push it up and climb inside. When nobody appeared with a gun, he opened the back door.
Outside, he walked quietly around to the car. Gabriella jumped as he opened the driver’s door.
“Are we leaving?” she asked, her voice sounding so hopeful that he wished he could give her the answer she wanted. But they had passed the point where law-abiding behavior would to do them any good.
“We’re parking around back.”
“Oh, goody.” She turned to look at him. “We started out perfectly innocent. Now…we’ve left my friend’s apartment in a mess, assaulted a man and broken into someone’s house.”
“We won’t steal anything—well, except maybe some food.”
“Super.”
Still, she followed him inside, through the kitchen and into a darkened family room. Moonlight filtered in through a window, giving them enough illumination to see the layout but not enough to pick up a lot of personal details. Which was good. The less they knew about these people, the better.
After looking around for several moments, she plopped down on a high-backed sofa.
He came over and sat beside her.
When she said nothing, he reached for her hand. He’d never been great at discussing his feelings, but there was something he needed to say.
“Back at the hospital when you went unconscious....” He dragged in a breath and started again. “I was scare
d spitless. I was afraid I’d lose you. I love you. I need you. If anything had happened to you, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“Oh, Luke. Luke.” She had been sitting stone-still. Now she turned toward him, pulling him into her arms, and they clung together.
“I love you,” she answered him. “I was afraid of how much I need you.”
They held on to each other, each glad that they had said the words.
“We’re in bad trouble,” she whispered.
“We’ll fix it.”
“We don’t know what we’re going to find in Houma,” she added. “Remember what Wellington said to George about that clinic doing freak experiments.”
Luke felt his anger rising. “Don’t put any stock in what that jerk said.”
“He was talking to a man he was going to kill.”
“All the more reason to discount it,” he argued, even when he couldn’t stop his own doubts.
“We should sleep while we can.”
“Then what?”
“Let’s wait until we’re feeling fresher.”
They curled together on the sofa, comforted by the closeness. He had the vague idea that he should keep guard, but he also knew that he couldn’t keep going with no sleep.
He awoke before dawn, feeling steadier. When he shifted to get off the couch, Gabriella grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”
“To shower.”
She sat up and ran her hand through her hair. “Is it okay to use the shower?”
“We’ll be neat.”
She sighed, and he knew she didn’t want to use anything in the house, but that desire was outweighed by her craving to get clean.
He used the bathroom first, then got out of her way. While she was getting ready, he hit a bit of luck when he checked the garage. With the household equipment, he found electrical tape, which he used to change the “I” on his license plate to an “L”, hoping it would throw the cops off if they’d been caught on surveillance cameras in the hospital parking lot.
When he came back, he stopped short and stared at Gabriella. Apparently she’d given up keeping her hands off the owner’s property. She’d used scissors to give herself a pixie cut. It was cute but startling.
“It’ll grow back,” she said as she held up a plastic bag. “We’ll take the hair with us and get rid of it in a dumpster. And I put the towels we used in the hamper. There were others in there. Maybe they won’t know we were here.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, wondering if the homeowners would make a police report. They wiped off everything they had touched.
After only seven hours in the borrowed house they left, heading toward Houma and staying well within the speed limit. With Luke’s baseball cap firmly on his head.
The first time they saw a cop car, they both tensed, but the cruiser passed them by with only a cursory glance.
“He could check that license plate,” Gabriella fretted.
“He’d have to hook into the New Jersey system, and he’s got better things to do. When they actually investigate, they’ll find out we didn’t steal anything from the hospital or the morgue. Really, it’s no big deal.”
“Except the assault.”
“You can bake the guy a special dessert when this is over.”
She snorted.
THEY BOUGHT COFFEE AND breakfast sandwiches at a fast-food restaurant drive-through and ate in the parking lot.
“We don’t have a strategy,” she said as she sat staring out the front window, sipping the coffee.
“Maybe we do have to start with that nurse after all,” he said. “The one who was mentioned in the article.”
“And ask her questions about the clinic?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m hoping you can use your technique. If you touch her, maybe you can get the names of other people who worked there.”
“And if I can’t?”
“We’ll come up with plan B.”
GABRIELLA’S STOMACH WAS in knots. The closer they got to Houma, the more she wanted to scream at Luke to turn around and go somewhere else. Anywhere else. What if the two of them just kept driving?
“That Bill Wellington guy would still be looking for us. We couldn’t go back to our lives.”
“You could. He’s looking for me.”
“I’m not leaving you. It’s going to be okay,” he murmured as they crossed the town limits.
“You can say that, but you know I have the feeling something bad is going to happen here.”
“What?”
“That’s the worst part. I don’t know.”
“You have a better suggestion?”
She clenched and unclenched her hands. “I wish I did. Let’s just get it over with.”
They drove to the address he’d found, which turned out to be a one-story red brick residence and nursing facility for the elderly.
“I hope this works,” Gabriella said as they pulled into the parking lot and Luke cut the engine.
“Do you want to leave?”
“No,” she lied, then switched away from her own doubts while she focused on the building and grounds.
“It’s well maintained,” she murmured as they followed a winding path through well-tended gardens.
Just beyond, the double doors led to a reception area where a young woman sat at an antique desk.
Her name tag identified her as Sarah Dalton.
“Can I help you?” she asked in a gracious southern accent.
“We’d like to visit with Maven Bolton.”
She tipped her head to one side. “Maven has gotten very popular.”
“Oh?” Luke asked.
“Why, yes. Another couple was here to see her a couple of weeks ago.”
Gabriella tensed. “Two men?”
“No, a man and a woman. About your ages,” she added as she looked them up and down.
Gabriella took that in. “We…we’re old friends.”
“They were as well.”
That sounds weird. Should we leave? Gabriella silently asked Luke.
No.
But who were they?
Maybe we’ll find out.
“I’m sure she’ll be pleased to see you,” Ms. Dalton said, standing up and checking her watch. “Maven should be in the dayroom now.”
They followed the woman down a hallway to a pleasantly large recreation room with windows looking out onto the gardens.
About twenty elderly women and a few elderly men were sitting around the room. Some were in wheelchairs. Others were in easy chairs watching television or at tables playing cards or working puzzles.
Ms. Dalton led them to a woman who was sitting by the window with a magazine in her lap. She had short gray hair and a wrinkled face, and she was wearing a nice-looking flowered blouse and tan slacks.
“Some people to see you, Maven.”
The older woman looked up a bit apprehensively.
“We just stopped in to say hello,” Luke said. They both pulled up chairs and sat down.
After a few moments the attendant left them.
“Are you like that other couple?” the old woman asked.
“I don’t know. What can you tell us about them?” Gabriella asked, pulling her chair a little closer.
“They were getting married. They wanted to check…I don’t remember if it was his or her background.”
“Why?” she murmured.
Maven lowered her voice. “His…or her…mother had the fertility treatments from Dr. Solomon.”
“Um,” Luke answered.
“Yes. But he doesn’t like me to talk about that. Not since everything came to an end.”
“We won’t tell anyone.” Gabriella gently put her hand over the old woman’s arm. For a moment, she hesitated, remembering what had happened when she’d gotten into George’s mind after his death, but this had to be different. This was an elderly woman who had lived a much more conventional life. Still, she fought not to tense as she reached for Mrs. Bolton’s mind. It was vague
about recent events, but a rich wealth of memories flooded into Gabriella.
Luke and the old woman’s voice buzzed in the background, as he pretended that he’d just come there to chat, distracting the old woman from their real mission.
Gabriella let the spoken words flow over her as she rummaged for the real information.
“You grew up here in Houma?” Luke asked.
“Uh-huh.”
“Was it a good place to live?”
“I loved it here.”
“And you were married?”
“Yes, but my husband died years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I got by on my own.”
“You didn’t have any children?”
“We had a little boy who died.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said again.
The questions went on in that vein for several minutes.
We should go, Gabriella said silently.
Okay. Luke turned his attention back to the old woman. “It was nice talking to you.”
“Do you know that other couple?” Mrs. Bolton asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“If you see them, say hello for me.”
“We will,” Luke replied before they turned and headed back the way they’d come. They didn’t speak until they’d left the building and gotten into the car.
“That was strange,” he said. “Someone else was here. Asking about the clinic.”
She shuddered. “Someone else looking for us?”
“There’s another explanation. What if it was someone else like us, doing the same thing we were?”
“If they were here, what happened to them?”
Luke shook his head, but she caught his thought.
Let’s hope they’re not dead.
Could George have been after them?
I wish I knew.
They sat for a few moments in silence, unable to come to any conclusions. Finally they turned back to the reason for coming to the nursing home.
“Did you get some names of people who worked at the clinic from her?” Luke asked.
She was glad to change the subject. “Yes.”
Reaching for his hand, she let the information she’d obtained flow from her mind to his. There were two other nurses who had worked at the clinic who were also still in town.
