“What flavor was it?” Gabe asked.
“Lemon. Strong enough to hide the taste of Special K,” she said.
Ryan wasn’t an expert on drugs, but he was pretty sure they weren’t talking about breakfast cereal. “What’s Special K?”
Gabe answered. “It’s the street name for ketamine. It’s used in veterinary clinics and sometimes by anesthesiologists as a preanesthetic drug. But people take it to enter a dissociative state. It can cause hallucinations. It’s common for them to see something they call a K-hole. It’s when it looks to them like there’s a hole about the size of a tennis ball and that’s all they can see through. Everything else goes dark. Special K is used recreationally in clubs, that kind of thing, but in a high enough dose, it can kill.”
Leigh continued to stare at the floor.
“It was meant for me.”
7
Leigh didn’t want to look at anyone. She wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.
Pete had been drugged.
And as fast as he’d reacted, it must have been a huge dose. Enough to kill her, and maybe enough to kill a big guy like Pete.
“Gentlemen.” Megyn’s voice broke through her thoughts. “I don’t think we’re going to solve this in the next two minutes, and I need to get my patient into some clean clothes and off her feet.”
“Of course,” Ryan said. “How can we help?”
“Stay out of the room for a few minutes.”
Heat flooded his face. “Yes, ma’am.”
Leigh tried to focus on the positive. The doctors knew what was going on. Dr. Sloan was awesome. Pete was getting the best possible care right now.
But would it be enough? Special K caused hallucinations and paralysis, and in high enough doses it could stop lung function. If enough oxygen didn’t get to the brain, a person could have permanent brain damage.
If she’d eaten that gelatin while in her room alone, she could have died before anyone knew she was in trouble.
Why?
As Megyn grabbed some towels, Leigh closed her eyes and prayed silently as she hadn’t prayed in months. She might not be able to generate much enthusiasm for praying for herself, but surely God couldn’t want Pete to die. Whatever his beef was, it was with her, not poor Pete.
“You okay?” Megyn asked as she helped her pull the vomit-covered shirt off. Thank goodness Keri had brought her pajamas that buttoned—or it would have been extra gross.
“No,” Leigh said.
“You shouldn’t have gotten out of the bed,” Megyn said in a chiding voice.
“I couldn’t just lie here.”
“Most would have.”
Leigh didn’t believe that.
Megyn smiled at her, her eyes full of compassion. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll be praying for you. And I’ll be sure you get a great nurse tonight. But you need to promise me you’ll take it easy. You’ll regret it if you don’t. There’s no point in slowing your recovery. The best way to get back to one hundred percent is to be sure you don’t overdo it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Leigh said. Megyn was right. She knew it. But taking it easy hadn’t ever been her strong suit.
Getting into clean pajamas and settling into the bed took fifteen minutes.
When Megyn left, it was with the promise that she’d be back to check on her soon.
The door never closed on her. Ryan poked his head into her room. “Can we come in?”
“Sure,” she said. He could bring in an army if he wanted to. She was terrified to be alone, but at the same time, her pounding head and throbbing leg begged for her to close her eyes and be still. When Megyn came back, she’d have to ask for some pain medicine or she’d never get through the night.
Gabe followed Ryan in. “Hey there,” he said.
“Hey yourself. Haven’t seen you around here lately.”
He dropped his head and shrugged. “Yeah.”
That was all the answer she got. There was a story there, but either he didn’t want to share it, or he couldn’t. She’d patched him up a few times in the ED the first month she’d been on the job. Once because he’d “missed the curb” and somehow split open the back of his head. The other time he’d “cut himself with scissors”—on his forearm.
Dr. Sloan had taken care of him both times, very quickly and quietly, and then Gabe had slipped away. When Leigh questioned it, she’d been told it would be in everyone’s best interest if she forgot she’d ever seen him.
But Gabe wasn’t the kind of guy you forgot. Not only because he turned the heads of every female in the place. But more because he was funny and intense.
He was similar to Ryan in some ways and completely different in others. They seemed at ease with each other. Like they’d been friends for a while. Or maybe they’d become friends fast because of what they’d been through together.
Gabe’s face had been splashed all over the news two months ago when the sheriff’s office busted a drug ring and the whole thing was broadcast live by a reporter in the local news helicopter. As soon as Leigh saw his face on her television, all the pieces fell into place. He’d been working undercover. But he couldn’t work undercover anymore. At least not in Carrington.
Ryan handed her a small box. “Gabe brought this from the station,” he said.
Leigh opened it. Her phone, purse, sunglasses, hospital ID, and headphones stared back at her.
Her eyes burned and she blinked hard and fast before looking up. “Thank you,” she said, first to Ryan, then Gabe. “I really appreciate this.”
“You’re welcome,” Gabe said. “It was Ryan’s idea.”
She set the box to the side.
Ryan shifted from one foot to the other. Gabe cleared his throat. These two had something to say but neither one seemed to want to be the first to speak.
“What’s on your mind, gentlemen?”
Ryan took a deep breath.
“Is it that bad?” she asked.
Ryan pulled out a small, clear bag from his pocket.
Leigh stared at the wretched gelatin container. “Where’d you find that?”
“Trash can two feet from your door,” Ryan said.
He’d dug through the trash?
“You think it’s the one from my tray?”
“There’s no way to know for sure until we test it. It was lemon flavored. It was by your door. There was no other food in the trash can. Odds are good.”
He handed it to Gabe. “Gabe’s gonna get the forensics guys to check it for drugs. We’ll compare it to the vomit. If we get a match, we’ll know for sure. This could be a solid piece of evidence.”
Evidence. In an attempted homicide.
Maybe a successful one if Pete died. Had she killed Pete?
She tried to reach for the phone on the bedside table, but the IV Megyn had insisted on reattaching snagged on her pillowcase.
“Whoa,” Ryan said as he jumped to help her. “What do you need?”
“I want to check on Pete,” she said. “Does he have family? A wife? Kids?”
Ryan handed her the phone. “I don’t know. He’s fairly new. I’ve seen him in the halls, but we haven’t worked together.” He looked to Gabe, but Gabe didn’t have more to offer. “I’ll find out.”
Leigh called the ED desk. Miss Edna answered. “Miss Edna, this is Leigh Weston,” she said.
Gabe paused at the door. He and Ryan probably wanted to hear what Miss Edna had to say too.
“Leigh Weston, what are you doing calling me? You should be resting. I already heard you hopped out of your bed and got puked on. Don’t make me come up there and hog-tie you. Because I can and I will.”
Miss Edna’s love language was bossiness.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m in the bed and I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” Miss Edna said with a humph.
“Can you tell me how the officer is doing?”
Father, please, please let him be okay. Please.
“Oh, child,” Miss Edna
said.
The compassion in her words did not bode well for what would come next.
“He’s not too good. There’s about a hundred cops in here right now. Not sure who’s out there keeping Carrington safe at the moment, since they all seem to be converging in my department.”
Miss Edna didn’t care for converging.
“Dr. Sloan’s still in there. They’ll be taking him to ICU in a few minutes. Got him on a vent. His lungs quit working. They’re trying to get as much of that mess out of his system as they can. I heard them say they think if they can keep the oxygen going that he’ll be all right. We just have to wait and see.”
Leigh had to pull the phone away from her ear as Miss Edna yelled at someone. She’d hate to be working right now. This was going to have Miss Edna on the warpath for the rest of the shift and possibly the rest of the week.
“Leigh, hon, I need to go. You call me back whenever you want to, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am. I will. Thank you.”
She handed the phone to Ryan and he returned it to the side table. “It’s not good,” she said. She filled them in on Pete’s condition.
“I’d better get this to the lab and then see what I can do,” Gabe said. “I’ll call you when I find out more about Pete,” he said to Ryan. “You behave,” he said to her.
When the door closed behind him, Ryan leaned against the wall. She didn’t miss that he’d positioned himself between her and the door. Again.
“I need to get out of here,” she said.
“You need to recover.”
“How many more people are going to get hurt because of me?”
“First of all, no one has been hurt because of you,” Ryan said. “And in the case of Pete, we don’t actually know that you were the intended target.”
It took every ounce of willpower she possessed not to throw something at him.
“Ryan Parker. You don’t honestly expect me to believe that, do you?”
He offered a weak smile. “It was worth a shot.”
She could not believe this was happening. “I can’t even eat here,” she said. “And I am a nurse. I can take care of myself well enough at home.”
“We can make sure you have plenty of food. We’ll get it from outside the hospital—and we won’t advertise where it’s coming from. And I’ll talk to Dr. Price about getting you out of here as soon as it’s completely safe for your health.”
“Being here isn’t safe for my health.”
“It will be tonight. I made a few phone calls while you were getting cleaned up, and I think you’ll like your nurse tonight. You can take some high-powered pain medicine and get some sleep.”
Like she could sleep now. “I’ll stick with ibuprofen if it’s all the same to you.”
“Well, it isn’t all the same to me,” Keri said from the door.
“I don’t know what kind of pull you have, Parker, but I get here a bit early and find out I’ve been asked to babysit a very difficult patient up here for the night. This is not in keeping with standard hospital procedure.”
Ryan looked unrepentant.
“You’re my nurse for tonight?” she asked Keri.
“I am. And you’re going to regret it. I’m going to insist on pain medicine. And something other than Coke to drink.” Keri glared at the Coke bottle tucked at her side.
“I like it.”
“That stuff can kill you.”
“It’s going to have to get in line.”
Keri and Ryan both reacted to that. Keri frowned. Ryan looked like he was considering punching a wall.
“Not tonight,” Keri said.
“We will figure this out,” Ryan said.
The silence filled the room like a weighted blanket.
“I need you to live long enough to take care of my cats while I’m on vacation,” Keri said in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood.
“You don’t take vacations,” Leigh said.
“That’s because I’m saving for a big one. I’m going to Ireland for a month.”
“When?”
Keri ignored her question. “Investigator Parker, unless you have further questions for my patient, shouldn’t you be out investigating?”
She couldn’t help but notice the intentional change of subject, but Keri had a point.
“She’s right, isn’t she? Don’t you need to work on your other case?”
Ryan groaned.
Had she said the wrong thing? Maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned it in front of Keri.
“Sorry. Am I not supposed to talk about that?”
“Oh no. It’s not that. I’m frustrated because the case is currently in limbo. We’re waiting on the autopsy, and due to the intensity of this situation, the medical examiner wanted a buddy of hers from Raleigh to help out. Water exposure has a drastic effect on the decomposition process. I won’t get anything back until tomorrow at the earliest.”
“I would think the water would mess up a lot of things,” Leigh said.
“It does,” Ryan said. “There’s a good chance we won’t get anything back on any sort of tox screens. And all the tox screens and DNA analysis take a lot longer than they do on TV anyway. We’re talking weeks on the tox screens and months on the DNA.”
“This homicide investigating thing doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as it is on TV,” Keri said.
“Not usually. But on the other hand, I’m okay with not getting shot at every week.” Ryan gave them a small smile. “In reality, it’s a lot of long days and late nights. Right now I have a new investigator poring through missing persons cases in ever-widening circles from here, trying to find something to go on. The problem is all we know is we have a male. The ME is guessing he was around six feet tall and could have been in his fifties, but until she gets him opened up, she won’t know more.”
“That doesn’t narrow things down much,” Leigh said.
“Doesn’t narrow things down at all,” Keri said.
“The guy doesn’t have any tattoos or obvious birthmarks. Unless someone reports a missing person that in some way matches our body, we’ve got a whole lot of nothing.”
Ryan’s frustration was palpable, and Leigh found herself wishing Keri would go away so she could try to encourage him without an audience. As it was, she couldn’t think of anything helpful to say.
Keri didn’t have that problem. “That stinks,” she said.
“Yeah,” Ryan said. “But while I’m waiting, I’m happy to help find you something tasty to eat for supper. If your dietary guardian will allow it.”
“Dietary guardian.” Keri rolled the words around. “I like it.”
“I don’t need anything right now, but at some point I’d like another Coke,” Leigh said. “And some crackers from the store, not from here, obviously. Saltines.”
Keri smacked her hands together. “I’ve got it,” she said. “Let’s order from Soup’s On. They have a great chicken soup that wouldn’t be too hard on your stomach. It’s only ten minutes from here.”
Ryan nodded. “On it.”
He looked like he wanted to say something else but changed his mind. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, cleared his throat, and pulled his phone from his pocket. “Text me when you place your order and I’ll get it. I’ll plan to be back around seven.” With that, he walked out the door.
That was weird.
“Oh, Leigh,” Keri said. “I think you’ve been keeping secrets. Very handsome secrets.”
An hour later, Ryan stared at the monitor on his desk. He’d forced himself to come back to the office. All he wanted to do was hang out with Leigh at the hospital, but when he’d delivered the soup, she’d been sleeping. Keri said she was exhausted and might even sleep through the night. He’d left her a note and told her he’d be back to check on her Monday morning.
He’d also told her not to leave the hospital without checking with him first. Visions of some nut job posing as a police officer and then abducting Leigh haunted him.
&nb
sp; He shoved them aside. She was smart and not oblivious to the danger. She wasn’t going to do anything stupid. Right now she was asleep and well protected.
And as much as he didn’t want to admit it to Leigh, he had a ton of work to do.
He spent several hours managing the paperwork already flooding in from the John Doe. Reports from every member of the dive team and the officers who’d set up the perimeter, as well as statements from the homeowners they’d interviewed, all had to be filed. The paperwork on a case like this was a beast he had to stay in control of or it would devour him.
Investigators had had a surprisingly difficult time retrieving footage from the security systems on the lake. Not because they couldn’t get the warrant they needed on a weekend or because the homeowners were uncooperative. The problem was that many of the homeowners weren’t home. They’d only managed to review footage from five other houses. Two of them had camera angles that showed a boat had driven by during the time period they were interested in, but none of them were close enough for them to identify the boat.
He had several investigators who had volunteered to go door-to-door and now were calling each homeowner in an attempt to get the footage they needed. The process was taking forever. He’d had no idea half the lake population took vacations in April, but at the rate they were going, it would be a couple of weeks before they would get through all the footage.
Maybe tomorrow would be better.
He placed the John Doe file to the side. It was thin now. By the time this case went to trial, it would be a foot thick. At least. And it would go to trial. They’d find who did this. There was no way they could rest until the person responsible was behind bars.
Gabe came through the door and tossed a takeout box on Ryan’s desk. The scent of garlic permeated the room. “Are these what I think they are?” He eased the lid back. Garlic knots the size of baseballs lay in a tub of butter and spices. His mouth watered. “You went to Luigi’s without me?”
“You went to Pancake Hut without me.”
“It was a mission of mercy.”
“Whatever,” Gabe said. “I also brought you some ziti if you want it.”
“Thanks,” he said. “I owe you.”
He owed him for more than the ziti and garlic knots. Gabe wasn’t even on call. He didn’t have to be here, but he’d been hard at work all afternoon and had pulled hospital personnel records, security camera footage, and highway cameras showing Leigh’s trip to and from the hospital.
Beneath the Surface Page 8
