Alone in the Dark (20 page)

breath, she forced a smile to her lips.

The serious expression on his face made her feel uneasy. "Hi. Where's your partner?"

"At the station." His tone was somber, his words measured, as if he didn't know how to

deliver them. "Patience, Brady's been hurt."

This was it, this was what she'd always feared. Her head began to ache as she tried to

sort her thoughts out.

"Oh, God. How bad?" Rounding the counter, she was at his side.

Josh didn't mince words. "Bad. He's at the hospital. He asked me to come get you."

He was asking for her? That didn't sound like Brady. This had to be bad. Her heart felt

constricted within her chest.

"Shirley." She tossed the name over her shoulder, not bothering to even look at the

receptionist. "I'm going with Josh to the hospital to see Brady. If anyone comes in, either

reschedule their appointment or, if it's urgent, send them to Dr. Johnson." As in the case

of most doctors, she and the other vet covered each other's patients. "And look in on King

for me."

"Will do," Shirley promised, calling after her as Patience flew out of the clinic. "Call me as soon as you know anything," she begged. But Patience was already gone.

"All right, no kid gloves. Tell me everything. What happened to Brady?" Patience

demanded as she got into Josh's car.

He took off the second she closed the door.

"Some guy went nuts at the gas station on Wayne and Murphy. Said the attendant was out

to get him. He pulled a gun. Brady tried to disarm him. He'd just stopped there to fill up,"

Josh explained. "The gun went off during the struggle."

She thought of the story that Brady had told her about attempting to wrestle the gun

from his father. That had had fatal results for his father.

Was it Brady's turn now?

Her blood ran cold even as she struggled to push the thought out of her head.

Brady had felt guilty all morning. He'd left things on a bad note with Patience. It wasn't

as if he'd changed his mind about his underlying concern. He knew that staying in her life

would probably only result in grief for her.

But contemplating not being part of it tore him apart. It had only been a few hours since

he'd made up his mind not to see her again. He'd thought, after the first time, that he

could walk away. Two days of that had him crumbling. He'd found himself thinking about

her almost constantly. She was like a fever of the blood and he didn't know what to do

about it. The only possible antidote to the way he felt was more of the same.

Damn, was this what love was, feeling as if someone was tearing you apart and

disintegrating you into tiny, useless pieces? Did it mean struggling with an overwhelming

desire to see them again, to be with them again even though there was only heartache at

the end of the road?

He had no answers, only questions.

And a longing so huge that he felt it was going to eat him up alive.

He lasted four hours. By the beginning of the fifth, he found himself turning his vehicle

toward the familiar path that led to the clinic. Even pretending that he was just going to

see King felt like a flimsy lie. He couldn't fool himself. He was going to see her.

Squaring his shoulders, Brady walked into the clinic. For once it was completely empty. He

heard off-key singing coming from the back.

"Hello?" he called.

In response, Shirley popped her head around the corner. Confusion descended over her

face the moment she saw him, followed by a huge, relieved smile. Shirley rushed around to

the other side of the counter. "Should you be up and around?"

Obviously, Patience must have told her about the less-than-friendly encounter with the

pit bull last night. He shrugged carelessly.

"Yes," he answered tersely. "Is the Doc around?"

"No, she went to see you."

Why would she leave her practice in the middle of the day? "When?"

Shirley stopped to think, then glanced at the clock on the wall. "An hour ago."

There hadn't been any calls from dispatch, or on his cell. "Did she say where she was

going?"

"The hospital." Shirley looked at him wide-eyed, as if she was examining him for bullet

holes. "That's where Josh said you were. He's the one who came to get her."

Brady stared at her, a very sick feeling suddenly spreading through his stomach.

«^»

Patience struggled to keep her imagination from running away with her. The inside of the

car felt hot and stifling as she fought to get hold of herself. "How badly is Brady hurt?"

Josh spared her a look. An odd expression crossed his face. "That would upset you,

wouldn't it? That he was badly hurt."

She stared at him. How could Josh even ask such a question? "Of course I'd be upset.

Iamupset." It was difficult to keep her voice from rising. "I'd be upset if anyone I knew would be badly hurt."

What was wrong with him? she wondered, irritated. Okay, he and Brady weren't exactly

friends, but this was a fellow policeman Josh was talking about. There was supposed to be

a bond between them, a loyalty that went beyond petty issues.

Stepping on the gas, Josh drove right through a light that was turning red. She saw his

hands tighten on the wheel. Maybe Brady was dead and he was searching for a way to tell

her.

Oh, dear God, don't let him be dead. Please don't let him be dead.

Josh slanted a look at her before focusing back on the flow of traffic. "But this is special, isn't it, Patience? You'dreallybe upset if Brady was hurt."

Something didn't feel right, and anxiety began to undulate through her.

"What do you mean, 'if'? Is Brady hurt or not?" she asked. Josh made no answer. They

whizzed through traffic, switching from lane to lane. She braced her hand against the

dashboard as he took a right corner. "Josh, what's going on here?"

She saw his face darken, his jaw clench. A malevolence hardened in his eyes as he turned

toward her. "Don't take that high-handed tone with me, you little liar."

Patience stared at him, stunned. The word was a slap in the face. What the hell was going

on with him? He'd always been so easygoing, so charming. Had something happened on the

job to make him crack?

"Liar?"

He snorted contemptuously. "What would you call it? You go on and on about your precious

rules. Rules for this, rules for that," he mimicked her voice. "Rules for not getting involved with a policeman." The singsong tone stopped. Pure rage vibrated in his tone. "Those rules didn't stop you from getting involved with Coltrane, did they?"

She stiffened. How did he know? "What are you talking about? I'm not involved with

Coltrane."

"Stop lying to me," he shouted. The veins along his neck bulged, his face turning a deep shade of red. "You think I don't know? That I'm stupid or something? Is that it? You think

I don't know that you've been sleeping with him?"

The noises within the vehicle blended and faded into the background. She could hear the

blood rushing in her veins. "And how would you know that?"

He took another sharp turn. She struggled not to lean into him.

"Because I know everything there is to know about you, Patience. I know all about your

family, about how your father mistreated your mother and that's why you're afraid to go

out with a policeman. I know that you're wasting your time with someone like Coltrane

when I'm the one who understands you. I'm the one who can love you the way you deserve

to be loved." The cell phone rang in her purse. He glared at it accusingly. "Don't answer that."

Her heart raced. Josh was acting crazy. She needed to get away before his reckless

driving killed them both.

"But it could be about a patient," she protested.

He knew better. "And it could be Coltrane, looking for you. Don't answer that!" It wasn't a warning but a threat. Josh put out his hand. "Give me your cell," he ordered.

Patience opened her purse. Damn it, why wasn't she one of those women who carried

everything but the kitchen sink in her purse? If she had scissors, a screwdriver or even a

sharpened pencil, she could have used it on him. But her purse was the very essences of

barren. She had nothing there to use as a weapon. Taking out her phone, she placed it in

his hand.

The sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach nauseated her. Josh was the one, not Walter.

For one insane second, she'd even thought it might have been Shirley wanting to make her

think someone was interested in her so that her attention would be drawn away from

Brady. But it was neither of them. It had been Josh all along.

"You sent the flowers, didn't you?" The words echoed within the car.

She saw his shoulders stiffen. He shot her an accusing look. "I would have sent you an

ocean of roses if you'd just stopped lying and gone out with me." His face contoured into a

sneer. "But you didn't even want to give me a chance. Just Coltrane."

"It's not like that."

"Isn't it?" he demanded hotly. "You didn't take him into your bed last night? Didn't shower with him this morning?"

The accusations, so on target, stole her breath away. She could feel the skin along her

arms and neck puckering into gooseflesh. There was only one way he could have been so

dead-on.

"You have the house bugged."

His sneer only deepened. "Only way to find out what you're up to."

Patience pressed her lips together. Her stomach rose up into her throat. She fought not

to throw up.

And then it hit her. She was being kidnapped. "Brady isn't in the hospital, is he?"

The laugh was dry, mocking. Cold. "If he were, I wouldn't be taking you to him."

Her mind began to scramble, searching for a way out. "Where are we going?"

When he looked at her again, his face had softened once more. It was as if two separate

individuals took turns channeling through him. And she was afraid of both of them.

"Where I can talk some sense into you and make you see that we belong together."

She tried to focus on what he was like whenever he came by the clinic. Patience put her

hand on his arm, making a connection, mutely supplicating. "Josh, you need help."

"No." He yanked his arm away. "I don't. I finally know what to do and how to get you to stop throwing yourself away on Coltrane. He's a murderer, you know." He let the words

sink in, taking their effect. "He killed his old man."

If he expected her to be repelled, he was going to be disappointed, she thought. The

threat Josh posed far outweighed anything he had to tell her about Brady. "That was an

accident."

"Yeah, right." Josh laughed coldly. "That was what Coltrane wanted you to believe. It was a small hick town and the only witnesses to the murder were his mother and sister. What

did you expect them to say?" They drove down a street that was unfamiliar to her. Where

was he taking her? "That he did it? He was the only male member of the family left and

they needed him to take care of them, of course they were going to say it was an

accident."

Josh shrugged and continued, "Doesn't matter. From what I heard, the old man deserved

killing. But that doesn't change what Coltrane is." He went through a red light. To her

right, a car came to a screeching halt, fishtailing in a wild effort to keep from hitting

them. "He's no good for you, Patience."

She summoned her most authoritative voice. She had to get him to listen to her. "Take me

home, Josh."

He didn't bother taking his eyes off the road. "I am."

And then it hit her. He was taking her to his house. To keep her a prisoner. She struggled

against panic taking hold. "My home."

"It is," he informed her, his voice matter-of-fact. "From now on."

They drove far above the speed limit, but she felt she had only one chance to escape.

Bracing herself, Patience released her seat belt, one hand on the lever of the passenger

door. She heard the unmistakable click of a hammer being cocked.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he told her evenly. "You'd be dead before you hit the ground."

Shifting her eyes slowly, she saw the gun that he had on his lap. The gun that was now

pointed at her stomach. She galvanized herself against the fear that spread through her

like a forest fire.

"You won't shoot me."

"Don't go betting the farm on that. Or better yet, your life." Sarcasm dripped from every syllable. "I never was a generous man, Patience. If I can't have you, neither can Coltrane.

Or anybody else." His eyes bore into her for a split second, making her blood run cold. She

knew he wasn't bluffing. "Now get your damn hand off the damn door."

She did as he told her.

"I said I need his address, Woodrow.Now,"Brady barked at the dispatcher on the other

end of the two-way radio. He heard nothing for a second, then the woman rattled off

Josh's address. The patrolman lived in a second-floor walk-up on the other side of town.

"What's this all about, Officer Coltrane?" the dispatcher asked.

He prayed he was jumping to conclusions. "I'll fill you in when I figure it all out."

Switching on his siren, Brady tore across the city streets. Weaving in and out of the

moderatemiddaytraffic, he got there in record time. His vehicle had barely stopped

moving as he jumped out. Taking the stairs two at a time, he got to the door in less than

half a minute. It was a cool morning. Brady was perspiring so badly, his shirt stuck to his

back beneath his jacket.