Tough As Nails

by Jackie Manning

  “Dr. Kent,” Kristi murmured when she saw Brianna. The teenager appeared to be under the effects of the medication that was being administered from an IV pole carried by the EMT at her side.

  “I’m here, Kristi.” Brianna jogged alongside the gurney. “Don’t worry, dear. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

  Mike stepped back and turned to Liam. “Do you think there was someone in the hallway?”

  “I’m not sure. I do know the girl doesn’t want to involve her boyfriend. She didn’t want me to call the police. She thinks he might be arrested. She’s banged up pretty good. She might invent a story to keep her boyfriend safe.”

  Mike swore under his breath.

  “Step back, please,” the burly EMT said as he helped hoist Kristi into the back of the waiting ambulance.

  Kristi’s face twisted with a wrench of pain as she was lifted and placed inside. The doors slammed shut and the siren screamed to life.

  Brianna felt Mike’s hand on her shoulder as she watched the ambulance move past the corner and race down the street.

  “I KNOW YOU’RE WORRIED about Kristi,” Mike said to Brianna as they waited in the E.R. waiting room. “Why don’t I drive you to the Crib. You can rest then come back later after Kristi gets out of recovery.”

  They had been waiting over four hours. From the E.R. doctor, Brianna had learned that Kristi was undergoing surgery. She’d suffered a broken pelvis, several broken ribs, a possible concussion, numerous bruises including a ripped eyebrow. The good news was they were able to save the baby.

  From what little that Kristi had told Brianna, and from Liam’s report that he’d given Mike, Brianna was able to piece together some idea of what had occurred. Liam said he’d followed Kristi and her boyfriend, Kevin, back from a party to Kristi’s second-floor apartment at 3:48 a.m. Through the open windows, Liam saw the apartment lights turn on, then a fight broke out. From the yelling and accusations, Liam heard that Kevin had taken Kristi’s savings, money he’d found in her jewelry box. One thing led to another, and at a little after 4:00 a.m., Kevin left on foot, leaving the front entrance door wide open.

  Mike sat quietly beside Brianna, scanning a dog-eared copy of Time magazine. She knew he was giving her the time she needed to absorb everything that had happened to Kristi. Although Brianna had at first been terrified that the stalker had caused Kristi’s injuries, something wasn’t right about her story. Liam had suggested that a homeless person might have curled up in the doorway for the night, then when Kristi stepped into the hall he attacked her, thinking she was an assailant.

  No, that didn’t make sense. Then why hadn’t Kristi’s boyfriend run into the attacker?

  “I wonder where Kristi was going?” she said as much to herself as to Mike.

  Mike looked up. “Going after her boyfriend?”

  “But Liam said five minutes had passed between Kevin’s leaving the building and Kristi’s scream.”

  “Maybe it took that long for her to pull herself together.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “In a little while you can ask Kristi herself.”

  “Hmm.” Brianna sat back, still not convinced. “While I was with Kristi, did Liam tell you anything else that you haven’t told me?”

  Mike folded the magazine and placed it on top of the side table. “He’s not totally convinced Kristi is telling the truth.”

  “He thinks she invented the man who pushed her down the stairs?”

  “Yeah. Liam thinks her story will save Kevin from facing possible charges. What she didn’t expect was Liam charging in, calling the police. That’s when she realized that Liam saw Kevin run out the door.” He gave her a serious look. “Has she ever lied to you before, Brianna?”

  She couldn’t deny that Kristi had lied in the past to protect Kevin. There was a grain of truth in what Liam thought. She sat back in the chair, silent.

  “Liam is trained to think of all the angles, Brianna.”

  She nodded. “And what do you think?”

  He shrugged. “I’m more interested in what we can prove. Do you think Kristi would take a polygraph test?”

  She covered her eyes with her hands. “Probably not, if she’s lying to protect Kevin.” She shook her head. “Damn, I feel so angry, so frustrated. Angry that Kristi would throw herself away on a worthless man like Kevin, and frustrated because there’s so little I can do to help her.” She looked up at the ceiling as she spoke. “I knew this was going to happen. As soon as Kristi’s boyfriend found out about the baby, I knew he’d react violently. But I could never get that through to Kristi. It seems when these things happen, I just…” She tossed up her hands. “I feel so helpless.”

  He took her small hand. “I wish you’d come back to the Crib and rest.”

  “Mike, be reasonable. Kristi is my client. This is my work. I have to be here with her.”

  “You can’t forget about the stalker, Bria. He practically told us he was planning to harm Kristi when he sent you her picture.” His words trailed off when he saw her bite her lower lip and bravely face the truth.

  She took a deep breath. “I know what you’re saying is true. But I hate that he can manipulate us like this.” She glanced down at her hands in her lap. “Let’s compromise. Stay with me until Dr. Andrews comes out of surgery. I’ll leave as soon as I talk with him.”

  Mike sighed. “Honey, the stalker is probably somebody you see every day as you go about your routine. Somebody who knows how hands-on you are with Kristi—”

  “I resent your saying that. I’m not hands-on.”

  “I’m sorry if that’s not the right term. But I can’t think of many psychologists who would be sitting in a waiting room while their patients were in surgery.”

  “First of all, there will be an armed guard at Kristi’s room. She’s only seventeen years old. She’s alienated from her parents. Her boyfriend has managed to isolate her from all her friends and family. All she has is me. It’s a miracle she hasn’t given up on therapy, too.” She leveled her gaze at him. “If you’re asking me to run and hide, Mike, I won’t do it.”

  “Okay, but you’re making my job that much harder.”

  She shrugged. “I can’t help that.”

  “That may be exactly what the stalker wants.”

  Just then the double doors of the E.R. opened and a gray-haired man wearing a white lab coat strode into the room. His shoulders slumped with fatigue. “Dr. Kent,” he said as he swung his hand and gave her a tired handshake.

  “Dr. Andrews.” Brianna turned to Mike and briefly introduced him.

  “She’s a strong young woman,” Andrews said, gazing at them over his bifocals. “Her bones will mend quickly. She didn’t lose a lot of blood, and the fetus remains stable. We’ve sutured her face as good as new, and she won’t have any lasting scars. We’re giving her something for pain, so she’ll be groggy when she comes out of recovery. Why don’t you go home for a while, Dr. Kent. Come back in a few hours. You can see her then.”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her,” Mike added.

  “Okay, I might do that.” She smiled, then asked, “Dr. Andrews, was there any residual damage…I mean—”

  “She’ll be fine.” He smiled.

  Brianna let out a whoosh of relief. “Thank you, Doctor. Have Kristi’s parents been notified?”

  “No. You’re the only name listed on her medical release. She told me again that she doesn’t want her boyfriend to be allowed to visit her.”

  Brianna couldn’t help but wonder if Kristi had finally given up on him or if she was afraid that Kevin might be arrested if he came near her.

  The doctor took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. “I’ll be interested in your psychological evaluation, Dr. Kent.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Andrews.”

  After he left, Brianna drew a shaky hand through her hair. “Let’s go back to your office, Mike. I’d like to ask Liam some more questions.” She had no sooner stepped into the hall when her name was paged over the P.A. system. Sh
e glanced at Mike, then they both hurried to the nurse’s station at the end of the hall.

  “I’m Dr. Kent,” she said to the smiling, round-faced nurse at the desk.

  “Oh, Dr. Kent. This just came for you.” She swiveled in her chair and returned with an envelope. “If you’ll sign on this line, please.” She handed Brianna a clipboard with a pen attached to a chain.

  After she scribbled her name, Brianna glanced at the business-size white envelope. Before she had a chance to turn it over to lift the flap, Mike grabbed it from her fingers.

  “Mind if I open that, Brianna?”

  “No, but why?”

  Mike took the envelope, realizing there was a small bulge in the corner. He lifted the flap and glanced inside. A folded slip of blue-lined, yellow paper contained what looked like a small silver hoop. A delicate initial K hung from a hook on the post.

  “An earring?” Mike asked.

  Brianna gasped. “No, it’s a captive-bead ring. Kristi wore it in her pierced eyebrow.”

  Mike watched her pale as she saw the typed note he’d already read:

  NO MORE GAMES, BITCH. YOU’RE NEXT!

  “WHERE’S LIAM?” Mike asked Bailey when he and Brianna returned to the TALON-6 office a half hour later.

  “He got a call about an hour ago. As he was leaving, he told me to say that he’d call by 2:00 p.m.” She glanced at her watch. “He should be calling any minute.”

  “Bailey, why don’t you take Brianna downstairs to your apartment. She needs to rest—”

  “Dammit, Mike. No!” Brianna’s eyes glittered with defiance. “I need some answers, not rest. Liam must have seen someone. He’s been following Kristi since yesterday afternoon.”

  “Brianna, listen. I’d like you to wait here with Bailey until Liam calls. When he does, ask him whatever questions you want. Meanwhile, there’s something I need to do—”

  “Michael Landis, don’t you dare leave me here. If you’re going someplace, I want to go, too.”

  He let out a long breath. “I want to go back to Kristi’s apartment building. In the daylight, maybe I can find something.”

  Anything, dammit, Mike thought to himself. Whoever this stalker is, so far he’s only been playing with us. But kicking an innocent teenager and ripping her ring from her eyebrow as proof that he was her attacker was sadistic as well as barbaric. This wacko was showing all the signs that he was at the end of his rope. If he wasn’t caught soon, then… Mike refused to think of the alternative. He frowned at Bailey.

  “When Liam calls, have him get back here and wait for us. I want to stop at police headquarters first, then I’ll check out the grounds and hallway of the victim’s apartment.”

  Brianna dashed toward the door. “Wish us luck, Bailey.”

  Mike pushed the door open as she stepped into the hall. “Wish us luck, hell. We’ll make our own luck!”

  “WELL, THAT WAS a wild-goose chase,” Mike said as he slipped the Escalade into a vacant space at St. Luke’s Hospital’s parking lot. The police detectives assigned to the case had turned up nothing, which was no surprise to Mike. And for the past two hours, he and Brianna had combed every inch of the grounds at Kristi McFarland’s apartment building and they’d found nothing out of the ordinary.

  Brianna smiled across the small space between them. “Something will turn up, Mike. Don’t worry.”

  He shot her a look of mild surprise. “That’s my usual line to a client, not the other way around.”

  “Well, maybe you need a little reassurance now and then, too.” Her gentle hand cupped his fingers that were still resting on the gearshift.

  He lifted her hand and placed it against his sternum. “When you look at me like that, my heart beats like a primitive tribal drum. Feel it?” He grinned when he saw her blush, and he knew they were both thinking of other parts of his body that were affected by her. “I can think of more pleasant ways to spend a few hours with you than retracing a crime scene,” he added.

  “Maybe so, but right now I have to see my client.” She leaned over and brushed her lips against his. “Happy drumming,” she said against his mouth.

  His hand clamped hers as he pulled her closer. “Not so fast.” He drew her to him, her lush mouth giving in to him. His fingers twisted into the shimmering sunbeam of her hair as she opened for him. His tongue plunged into her, savoring her sweetness. She sighed with a purr of pure female triumph as she arched against him.

  “Oh, Bria.”

  He heard her catch her breath. “I-I’ve got to see my client,” she said, her voice husky.

  He let her go, and for a stunned minute realized that he was staggering on the edge of control. His hand was shaking as he turned off the engine. He heard the click as she unbuckled her seat belt. The car door opened and the burst of hot, humid New York City afternoon heat felt cool on his skin compared to the fire in his veins.

  Damn, it was going to be a very long afternoon.

  They had no sooner reached the fifth floor of the East Wing and greeted the police officer standing guard in front of Kristi McFarland’s hospital room, when Mike’s pager buzzed. He glanced at the digital readout. “It’s Bailey,” he said to Brianna, who waited for him at the door. “I’ll be down the hall at the pay station,” he whispered.

  Brianna nodded before stepping inside Kristi’s room and closing the door.

  Mike hurried to the phone booth across from the public rest rooms. After he punched in the TALON-6 phone number, Bailey answered.

  “Liam’s in the lab,” she said. “I’ll switch your call downstairs to him.”

  “What’s up?” Mike asked when Liam came on the line.

  “I just came from Brianna’s office,” Liam said, his voice grave. “I got a call that a security break occurred this morning at 9:37 a.m.”

  “Someone broke in?”

  “No. A man entered her office with a key. We’ve got it all recorded on the security video camera I installed yesterday.”

  “Do you recognize him?”

  “No, but Brianna might. There’s more. He screwed a listening device inside the ceiling-sprinkler head.”

  “You didn’t deactivate it, did you?” Mike asked.

  “No. Figured we need it for evidence.”

  “Yeah, and for the time being let him think we don’t know about it. Might come in handy later.”

  “I enlarged a clear negative of the man’s face from the tape. I’m developing a print from it now. Want me to bring it to you when it’s dry? I know you’ll be anxious for Brianna to see him.”

  Mike let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, but I’ll need to explain a few things to Brianna first.” He rubbed his darkening shadow of a beard. “Wait for us at the lab. When Brianna finishes with her patient, we’ll head back to TALON-6.”

  Damn, he should feel elated, Mike thought as he strode back toward Kristi’s room. Finally they had a picture of the stalker, and with the evidence of the newly installed bug, he’d be sent up for good.

  Would Brianna understand that he had to install that camera in her office? Maybe she’d be so relieved to know they’d caught the stalker on videotape that she wouldn’t care. He could only hope.

  BRIANNA CLOSED the hospital door behind her and tiptoed to the edge of the bed. Kristi’s eyes fluttered open. Without her black-lined eyelids and spiked, moussed hair, she looked younger, almost like an innocent child. A thick bandage covered her left eyebrow. The thought of the silver eyebrow ring delivered in an envelope by private courier, like a barbaric war token, made her skin crawl. Whoever did this to you, Kristi, so help me, I’ll make him sorry!

  “Hi, Kristi. How are you feeling?”

  “I—I never want to see Kevin again!” Kristi’s words broke off with a sob.

  Brianna listened, holding Kristi’s hand as the girl explained everything that had happened after she and Kevin had returned from a party. When she finished, Brianna realized that Liam’s account of those early-morning hours had been accurate. She shivered with the thought
of the stalker, lurking in the darkened hallway, waiting to harm this innocent girl.

  Dear God, would this never stop?

  “I couldn’t believe Kevin would take my savings!” Kristi’s eyes rimmed with fresh tears. “All my money. My money for the baby. Gone.”

  “Shh, we can talk later. Right now you need to rest. You need to rest for your baby’s sake.” Brianna knew only too well how many times she and Kristi had played this scene before. Since she was thirteen, Kristi had been dependent on her relationship with Kevin. During their bad times together, Kristi would vow never to see him again. Yet the minute he curled his little finger at her, she’d fly back with him, ready to forgive and forget.

  Brianna stood, still holding the girl’s hand. “I want you to think about how lucky you were this time. You might have lost the baby. You need to get away, be with people who love you. I want you to think about calling your parents. You know they’re worried and would love to hear from you. I want you to think about this, okay?”

  Kristi said nothing, but a fresh welling of tears brightened her eyes.

  “Maybe visit them for a weekend, for a start,” Brianna said. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

  Kristi remained silent, her mouth trembling slightly. Brianna wasn’t sure if she was quietly refusing or if the pain medication was making her drowsy.

  “Thanks,” Kristi said thickly. “I’m getting a bit sleepy.”

  “I’ll call you this evening.” Brianna turned and smiled before she left the room.

  When she came into the hall, Mike lifted his head from the folded crossword puzzle in his lap. A paper container half-full of black coffee sat on the floor beside his chair. “How’s she doing?”

  Brianna nodded. “Physically she’ll be okay. But I won’t know the effects of her attack until she’s had a chance to think through her options.” She crossed her arms and walked down the corridor, Mike following in step. “She needs sleep. I thought in the meantime we might go to my office. I’ll make a few calls, then head back here for when Kristi wakes up.”