The Complete Arms of Grace Series

by Eleanor Chance

  Grace watched the scenery speed past as Alec drove them to meet Katrina. How many times had she crossed that bridge over The James River from her house to Richmond City Hospital over the years? She did the math in her head. Close to six thousand trips. She squeezed Alec’s hand as the memories welled up. Alec raised her eyebrows but Grace just smiled.

  Grace shifted her gaze to the city skyline. She hadn’t been downtown since searching hospitals for Mara the previous week. In fact, she’d hardly left the house since the press conference. Ryan had been right to pressure her to go to dinner. The change of scenery was refreshing, and she looked forward to eating at the Italian restaurant they’d chosen. It had only been open for two months but was a big hit in Richmond. Even Mark had given it his stamp of approval.

  Alec pulled into the parking garage and drove around for five minutes before finding a spot at the far end.

  “I miss access to staff parking,” she said. “We have to park in the sticks like civilians. Almost makes me want to go back into nursing.”

  “And give up all that fame and money? You’re just spoiled from pulling up to the curb in your limo,” Grace said as she climbed out of the car.

  “I wish. I could be a nurse and author, too.” Alec fell into step with Grace as they walked to the hospital entrance and said, “Speaking of my career, I’m glad the book is doing so well, but it’s so frustrating that it hasn’t helped Johnny. I hope that bitch Mara is taking care of him.”

  “Wes and Scott insist she is, but they just say that to placate me. The strain is showing in Wes’ face. I wish he wouldn’t blame himself. I’m not sure what else he could have done.”

  Alec stepped in front of Grace, blocking her way. “Stop talking like Johnny is dead. I know that’s what’s rolling around in that brain of yours. Mara has no reason to kill him. That doesn’t even make sense. She’s in hiding, plain and simple.”

  “Maybe it got to be too much for her, taking care of Johnny on the run. She probably realized how much work it is and abandoned him in the middle of some secluded field.”

  Alec rolled her eyes. “Even if that were true, why wouldn’t she just drop him on a street corner and get the hell out of Richmond? She would be long gone before Johnny made contact with us.”

  Grace held Alec’s gaze while she pondered her logic. It made sense, but her gut wouldn’t accept it. “You know I want you to be right with all my heart. I’m just preparing myself for the worst.”

  Alec turned and started walking. “Why don’t you put all that energy into thinking of a way to find him instead? That’s what I’m doing. Maybe one of our friends will have a fresh perspective.”

  Grace followed Alec in silence. She wanted to be optimistic and hopeful like Alec, but she was too afraid of the devastation that would come if it turned out to be the one that was right and Johnny was dead.

  She caught up with Alec and said, “I’ll try. I will, but please do me a favor and steer the conversation away from Johnny as much as you can. I know it will come up, but I don’t want him to be the sole topic tonight. I agreed to come to dinner as a way of distraction, remember?”

  Alec nodded. “Deal. I’ll do my best.”

  Grace gave her the best smile she could muster and followed her into the lobby. Katrina worked in the cardiac wing, so it took four hallways and two elevators to get to her. Grace marveled at how much the hospital had changed since she’d left nearly thirteen years earlier. A wealthy patient had donated the lion share of the funds for the new cardiac wing and had raised more for a massive refurbishing of the rest of the facility. The hospital was modern with state-of-the-art medical equipment and systems. Grace wished it had been that way when she’d worked there.

  Katrina was coming out of the locker room when they reached the nurses’ station. Grace was happy to see her and gave her a quick hug. She was about ten years younger than Grace but looked ten years younger than that, and it didn’t show that she’d just worked a twelve-hour shift. Her light-brown hair was highlighted and had a stylish, layered cut that complimented her face and sparkling green eyes. Grace had always told Katrina how jealous she was of her thick, wavy hair.

  Alec and Katrina hadn’t seen each other in the past year, so they had catching up to do. Grace walked behind them quietly lost in her own thoughts. She glanced up as they passed the cafeteria on the main floor. A woman in a pink baseball cap came out of the cafeteria and headed down the hallway in the opposite direction. She was at least twenty feet from Grace when she turned, but it was close enough for Grace to get a look at her profile.

  It was Mara!

  “Alec, it’s Mara,” she called and ran in the direction she’d gone.

  “What are you doing, Grace?” Alec said and chased after her with Katrina not far behind.

  Grace wove her way through the halls and checked inside a few rooms, but Mara had disappeared. She ran as far as she could until she came to a door that only medical staff was authorized to enter. She came to a halt and pounded her fists on the door. Katrina came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

  “Grace, stop that. I’ll open the door.” Katrina slid her badge through the reader, and the doors swung open. Grace burst into the surgical wing. “Wait,” Katrina called after her. “Mara wouldn’t have access to this area, but I’ll ask if anyone has seen her. Retrace your steps in the hallway. Alec, call the girls and tell them we’ll be late.”

  Grace debated with herself before going out the way she came. She and Alec searched every hallway on every floor, but there was no sign of Mara. Katrina texted to say she hadn’t had any luck either and asked them to meet her in the lobby.

  Grace went directly to Katrina and said, “Can you contact anyone in HR and see if Mara works here?”

  “HR is closed. No one will be back until Monday, and I don’t know anyone that works in that department, but I alerted security. They’re searching for her.”

  Alec faced Grace and said, “You’re sure it was her? You only saw her for a split second.”

  “Yes, I’m sure just like I was when I saw her at Johnny’s PT appointment. I was right then, and I’m right now. I recognized her profile and the way she walks. It was her. I’m going to call Wes to meet me at the field office. Maybe they can get a security feed for this hospital, and he can get the personnel records. Mara was here. I’m positive it was her.” She took out her phone and called Wes before Alec could protest. “Go to dinner. I’ll get an Uber.”

  Alec started to protest as Wes answered. Grace held up a hand to quiet Alec and told Wes about their hunt for Mara. Wes was as skeptical as Alec.

  “That’s the last place Mara would be,” he said.

  “That makes sense, but what about Johnny’s abduction has made sense? It was Mara. Work on getting the security footage and live feed from the hospital. Meet me at the office. I’m not far.”

  Wes chuckled. “Yes, ma’am. I guess we have nothing to lose by trying. I’m still at the office.”

  Grace called an Uber and ran out of the lobby entrance. Alec and Katrina caught up with her, and Alec offered to go to the FBI with her.

  “Go enjoy dinner. You can’t ID Mara. You’ve never seen her, so there’s no point in coming with me,” Grace said as she scanned the road leading to the parking lot for her ride.

  “I feel guilty going to girl’s night when you’re dealing with this.”

  Grace turned to face her. “Don’t. I’ll be more upset if you miss it. You needed a night out as much as I did. If we find Mara because of my seeing her tonight, it will have been worth it. Here’s my ride. Hug everyone for me. I’ll keep you posted.”

  Grace got into the car and gave Alec a reassuring smile as the driver wove his way out of the parking lot.

  Wes and Steph met Grace in the field office lobby. Steph peppered Grace with questions as they walked to the elevator.

  Grace interrupted her and said, “I’ll tell you the whole story if you answer a question for me first. What are you doing here?” />
  Grace caught the glance that passed between Steph and Wes.

  “We were having dinner. To discuss the case,” Wes said, without meeting Grace’s eye.

  Grace was pleased to hear that they were spending time together. Steph had taken a step back from involvement in the case after the incident with the ME. Grace thought that meant she’d taken a step back from Wes, too. She wasn’t sure what kind of future the two of them could have given their unique careers, but she was glad Steph had someone to spend time with who could empathize with her situation.

  Wes took them to the bank of monitors that Grace was coming to know and detest, but that night she hoped they’d reveal the answers they sought. She settled in for the long haul, and Wes and Steph looked over her shoulder while she watched the prerecorded security footage from the timeframe where she saw Mara.

  There wasn’t a camera in the hallway near the cafeteria, but they had recordings from cameras in that area. Grace’s heart pounded with excitement. Seeing Mara meant that not only was she still in the city, but they might also have a way to track her!

  Once they’d studied the footage with no luck, a tech switched to the live feed that hospital security had allowed them to patch into. The feed rotated between zones of the facility. Grace’s heart rate slowed to normal after thirty minutes passed with no sign of Mara. Wes came and went during that time, but Steph stayed at her side. Even though she’d talked Alec out of coming with her, Grace was glad not to be alone.

  She jumped when Steph broke the silence and said, “Does Dad know you’re here?”

  Grace put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. “No. I didn’t want him trying to convince me that I’d imagined seeing Mara, and I didn’t want to get his hopes up either. I’ll call him as soon as we confirm she was at the hospital.”

  Steph nodded and turned her eyes back to the screens. Another hour passed while Wes came and went but still no sign of Mara.

  When Wes’ phone buzzed for the tenth time, he checked it and said, “We have access to the HR records. A team is combing through them now. I’m going to join them. I’ll be more help there than here.”

  Steph stood and stretched. “I could use a break. You must be starving, Grace. What can I get you?”

  Grace hadn’t noticed how hungry she was until Steph mentioned it. “Just a chicken sandwich and salad. And something small and sweet would be nice.”

  “I know just the thing,” Steph said, as she left with Wes.

  Grace followed Steph’s example and stood to stretch, but she kept her eyes on the screen. It was after ten, so there were no visitors at the hospital, and the hallways were quiet. Grace wondered if staring at those screens all night hoping to see Mara was an exercise in futility. Mara could have been long gone by then.

  Grace tried to figure out what Mara had been doing at the hospital. She hadn’t been wearing a uniform, but that could have meant she was getting dinner before starting her shift. That was Grace’s hope because it meant she might catch sight of her while she worked. The other possibility was that Mara had just come off her shift and had changed before getting dinner and heading back to her hideout.

  Wes had insisted that Mara wasn’t foolish enough to try to get a job in the most likely place they’d look for her, but they hadn’t been looking for her there for that very reason. Maybe getting a job at Richmond City had been one of Mara’s evil-genius tactics.

  Grace swung her arms and paced a few quick laps to get her heart pumping before dropping into her chair. She hoped the added blood flow to her brain would be enough to solve the Mara puzzle. If Wes was so insistent that Mara wouldn’t apply for a job, why else would she have been there? She was puzzling over her questions when the camera panned over a sign in the ICU that posted visiting hours.

  Grace sprang out of her chair and leaned closer to the monitors. Mara hadn’t been at the hospital to work. She’d been there because Johnny was a patient. If Johnny was there, Mara wouldn’t leave him alone overnight. The ICU had a lounge for immediate family to sleep, eat and shower, so they wouldn’t have to leave their loved ones.

  It only took two more minutes of watching the security feed to prove her hunch right. As the image of the ICU came on the center monitor, Mara stepped out of a patient room and went to the nurses’ station to talk to a doctor leaning against the counter. She wasn’t wearing the baseball cap, but her hair was pulled into the same ponytail. Grace tapped the button on the keyboard to freeze the feed just as Mara raised her face to the camera.

  Grace grabbed her purse and raced down the stairwell. She retrieved her phone at the reception desk and opened the app for an Uber. Since it was Friday night, she wouldn’t have to wait long for one to arrive and carry her to her Johnny.

  Wes rubbed his face and yawned before flipping to the next record in the HR file from the hospital. It was his third time through the records. It had been a revelation to him how many people are employed in a big facility like Richmond City, and he didn’t even have all the files. The team looking for Mara had split them up to save time, but much to Wes’ frustration, none of them had found anyone who remotely resembled Mara.

  “Agent Reid,” someone said, startling him just as he was about to take a sip of coffee. Half of it spilled down the front of his shirt. “Ms. Walker is asking for you. She says it’s urgent.”

  Wes jumped up and rushed to meet Steph in the hallway. “What is it? Did Grace see Mara?”

  “Better than that. Come on.” Wes had a hard time keeping up with her as she ran back to the room where Grace had been watching the security feed. “I’ve been trying to call you for five minutes,” Steph said over her shoulder.

  “I turned my phone off so I could concentrate. Explain what’s happening.”

  They reached the AV room, and instead of answering, Steph pointed at the monitors. Mara was frozen on the screen looking directly into the camera.

  Steph handed him a sheet of paper. While he read it, she said, “Johnny’s in the ICU. Grace has gone after Mara. You better get your team over there ASAP. Who knows what she’ll do?”

  Wes didn’t wait to hear more. He got on his radio and barked orders for his team to gear up and meet him at the SWAT vehicles.

  20

  Grace jumped out of the car the instant the driver stopped at the hospital entrance. As she raced through the halls after taking the elevator to the third floor, she racked her brain for anyone she knew that worked in the ICU but came up empty. Her only hope was that someone from her past would recognize her and buzz her into the unit. If not, she would fight her way in. She refused to let a little thing like a locked door keep her from her son.

  The problem was solved for her when a middle-aged couple came out just as Grace arrived at the ICU doors. The man held tightly to the woman who was sobbing into a bloodied flannel shirt. Grace’s heart went out to them as she grabbed for the door before it closed. Her actions didn’t even register with them as they passed, consumed with their grief.

  Grace stepped into the ICU and forced herself to stop and regain her composure before forging ahead. The ICU staff would recognize all authorized visitors. They’d toss her out in an instant if she barged in gunning for Mara. Grace had to act like she belonged there. She waited for her breathing to slow before continuing down the hallway.

  The unit had been refurbished since she was last there, but the layout was the same. The circular nurses’ station was in the center with the rooms laid out in a larger circle surrounding it. There was a clear view of the patients from any angle of the nurse’s station, and few people were as familiar with that department as Grace was. From the video she’d seen of Mara, she knew exactly where to find her.

  Grace turned in that direction, but the hallway was vacant. In the twenty minutes that had passed, Mara would have had time to get to the parking lot and speed off in any direction, but Grace’s gut told her the enemy was close.

  Grace made a circuit of the floor without finding Mara. She had pa
used to step into an empty room if anyone gave her a second glance. She was about to make a second loop when Mara stepped out of room four and started for the exit. Grace crossed the ICU in record time and bowled into Mara with as much force as she could muster. The momentum slammed them into a wall. When Grace caught her breath, she spun Mara around and held her shoulders against the wall. Mara struggled to break free, but the adrenaline pumping through Grace gave her strength she didn’t know she possessed.

  “Where’s my son?” Grace asked through clenched teeth.

  Mara’s lips curled into a sadistic grin. “You don’t know? Then that’s too bad. I’ll never tell you.”

  Mara braced her left foot against the base of the wall and pushed. The movement shoved Grace off balance and she fell backward. Mara tried to run past but Grace caught her foot and toppled her onto her back. The fall knocked the wind out of Mara, so Grace used the advantage to straddle her and pin her arms at her sides.

  “Trust me, you’re going to tell me where to find Johnny.”

  A cart stacked with medical supplies stood inches from where she held Mara. Grace grabbed a sterile suture kit off it and tore it open. A pair of scissors clattered to the floor. Grace picked them up and held the point half an inch from Mara’s throat.

  Grace felt a hand on her shoulder but shrugged it off without moving the scissors. She watched as a pair of feet moved to the top of Mara’s head and stopped. “Grace, is that you?”

  Grace recognized the voice. She tore her eyes from Mara and looked up to make sure. “Marci? What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in Baltimore.”

  “I started here as the charge nurse three days ago.”

  “Touching reunion,” Mara said, “but could you get this maniac off me, Marci?”

  Marci knelt next to Grace. “I’m not sure who you think this is, but she the mother of one of our patients. You need to hand me the scissors and let her go.”