Fatal Reaction (25 page)

CHAPTER 65

Ana scuffed her boots on the coarse mat inside the County Memorial ER, hoping she had made the right decision in going there. Hours of tossing in bed, of thinking about what Dorian had said, and of finding nothing useful on Noreen, had made Jared her last hope.

She approached the young, bottle blonde sitting at Cecelia’s desk and wondered if Cecelia had finally gone into labor. The girl’s tanned skin had an unnatural orange hue, in-line with her fake fingernails and lashes.

Ana had never seen her before and assumed she was another in a long line of temps that County hired because they were too cheap to have extra regular staff.

“May I help you?” the girl asked.

“I’m looking for Dr. Monroe, please.”

Jared peeked out from behind a privacy curtain in triage. “Ana?”

“Hey.” She waved her hand and grimaced.

“What are you doing here?” Jared looked in both directions down the empty hall and excused himself from his patient.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’ve been trying to call.”

Jared took his phone out of his lab coat pocket. “
Ugh.
The battery’s dead. Come here.” He led her into a small copy room and closed the door behind them. “Is everything okay? What’s wrong?”

His nervous behavior had her feeling like a dirty secret.

“What do you know about Noreen Pafford?”

“Dorian’s nurse, Noreen?” Jared reached for her hand, but she pulled away.

“She’s unlisted, and I need to know where she lives.”

“I’m not sure.” Jared drew his eyebrows together and moved to touch her.

Again, she avoided him. “You’re not sure, or you don’t know?”

“She mentioned something at a Christmas party a year or so back about moving into Pemberton Trace, but I have no idea which unit, or if she did actually move there. What’s wrong?”

“With?” Ana noted her own icy tone. Too many unreturned phone calls, being shoved in a private room, and Colby’s resurfacing had her conflicted.

“With you? With
us
?”

“There’s no
us
, Jared. You’re married.”

“Divorcing, Ana. What did I do wrong?”

Mike’s words rang in her head:
home wrecker.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s been a rough day. Mike’s on my case, and I went to see Dorian.”

“You
saw
him?” Jared’s expression went from wounded to angry. “And he what, blamed everything on Noreen? Is that why you’re looking for her? What did he say?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter. I have to go.” Ana opened the door, nearly tripping over Wilson Quinn as she stumbled out into the hall.

“Ana, what did he say?”

“Jared, we have to talk.” Flecks of what looked like potato chips speckled Wilson’s beard.

“Not now.” Jared waved him off. “Ana, wait. Please.”

Ana kept walking.

The young blonde watched their escalating conversations with interest.

Wilson persisted. “Doc, it’s important.”

“
This
is important.” Jared caught up to Ana and took her hands in his, a public display that caught her off guard. “I need to know what’s wrong.”

“People are watching.” Ana squirmed, and when she tried to pull away, again, Jared held her firm.

“Let them. Please, talk to me.”

“Jared, I mean it.” Wilson set a hand on Jared’s shoulder. “Colby’s coming to.”

Ana leered and pulled her hands away. “Don’t worry about me,
really
. Go take care of your wife.”

CHAPTER 66

“Noreen, it’s Brandon. I have some bad news.”

Noreen sighed. With her lawyer, it was always bad news. “What is it?”

“I got a call from Kelly McTiernan, Dorian’s attorney. She says the judge is considering letting him out on bail. Apparently, there’s nothing but circumstantial evidence.”

“Circumstantial! Are you kidding me? After what they found at his house?”

“Crime lab says his fingerprints aren’t on any of it.”

“And that’s enough? He’s a rapist, Brandon. What am I supposed to do here?” Her mind worked out the possibilities even as she said it.

“I’ll keep in touch. If he contacts you, call the police. It might be a good time to get away for a couple of days.”

Get away.

“That’s a great idea.”

She hung up the phone and turned on the morning news. Terri Tate, who had inadvertently been one of her prime sources for information, appeared on the screen in front of a house she would’ve recognized anywhere as the one next to Dorian’s office. Noreen turned up the volume, expecting to hear that the police had found Colby Monroe, dead.

“Breaking news in the case that has police baffled: Colby Monroe, who had recently been abducted from her Marion home, has been found, in an abandoned garage at the office of Dr. Dorian Carmichael, County Memorial’s fallen star who is behind bars this morning on unrelated charges. County Memorial’s CEO, Mitchell Altman, continues to be unavailable for interview. The hospital’s Public Relations department claims ‘no comment.’ The victim is reported as being in critical condition. No other information is available.”

Noreen let out a frustrated growl and threw the hairbrush in her hand across the living room.

“Shit!”

An untraceable burner cell sat in a box on the counter; it was something she bought for “just in case.” She cut the box open with a sharp kitchen knife and followed the activation instructions. She jotted down the number and texted it to Brandon. The last thing she needed was someone tracking her position.

She fired up the laptop in the corner of the living room, searched for a high-end car rental place, and dialed the phone number.

“Good morning, Go Rentals. This is Chuck. How can I help you?”

“Good morning, Chuck. I’m looking to rent an SUV for a few days, something that will stand up to all this snow.”

“I’m sure we can help you. I have several vehicles in mind—”

“I want a Land Rover LR2. Baltic Blue, please.”

The man didn’t immediately respond. “Let me take a look at our inventory. I’m not sure we have one of those in stock.” Noreen listened as he pecked away at the keyboard. “Nope, I’m sorry. I have a 2014 Acura MDX, or a Lexus RX 350.”

“Neither of those will work. May I speak with your manager, please?”

“Just a minute.”

“This is Marcy. May I help you?”

“Marcy, I was just speaking with Chuck, and I have a request he doesn’t seem to be able to help with. I guess I should’ve told him the whole story, but I’m hoping you can help me. See, my truck was in a terrible accident, probably totaled, and not my fault, but I’m going up to Bristol Mountain for the weekend, and I really don’t want to explain what happened to my parents. They’re meeting me up there and they’re elderly, the concerned type, you understand? I don’t want them worried. They wouldn’t necessarily notice a different license plate, but they’d notice a different car. I need a Baltic Blue Land Rover LR2.”

“I understand completely. My mom’s the same way. You’d think they’d stop worrying by now.” She let out a soft laugh. “Let me see what we have coming back in. Can you hold on a minute?”

“Absolutely. Thank you.” Noreen listened as Marcy searched for an exact match to Dorian’s SUV.

“You’re in luck.”

“Really?” Noreen almost couldn’t believe it.

“Yep. Looks like we have a Baltic Blue LR2 scheduled to be returned later this morning. It’ll need to be checked in and detailed, but we can have it to you by tomorrow.”

“How about tonight and I’ll vacuum it myself?”

“I’ll do what I can to rush it. Will you be picking up the vehicle, or would you like it delivered?”

“Delivered, please, to unit thirteen, Pemberton Trace.”

“Absolutely, we have a lot of clients there. We know right where that is. Is there anything else I can do for you this morning?”

“That will be it, thank you.”

“I’ll just need a good phone number to reach you at.”

Noreen gave Marcy her home phone number, unwilling to risk anything tying her to the burner cell.

“We’ll call you as soon as the car is in. Thank you for renting with Go Rentals.”

Noreen hung up the phone and searched her key ring for the spare key to Dorian’s cabin.

CHAPTER 67

“Colby, can you hear me?”

Colby’s eyes opened, and she rolled her head to the side. “Jared?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Wilson, hit that light, would you?”

Colby reached out until her IV line pulled, Jared doing nothing to close the distance between them. “Where am I?” She squinted at the brightness.

“You’re at County, in the ICU,” Jared said.

Wilson checked her vitals and did a repeat finger stick. “Glucose is back to normal. Vitals are good. Heart rate is stable.”

“How long have I been here?” she said.

“About a day. What do you remember about what happened?”

Colby stared out the windows, struggling to piece together a series of disconnected events. “Not much.”

“Maybe this will jog your memory.” Jared held up the sweatshirt he assumed belonged to Dorian. “Where were you two nights ago?”

Wilson hung a fresh bag of saline and kept his eyes averted. It wasn’t like him to be so quiet. Jared could tell he was uncomfortable. After what he witnessed with Ana, Jared couldn’t blame him.

“Why don’t you let me finish this?” Jared said. “One of us should get back to the ER.”

Wilson looked more than a little relieved. “I’ll meet you down there.”

Jared lifted the blanket covering Colby’s leg and peeled back the dressing. “So, two nights ago?” He had to get the conversation back on track. “What do you remember?” He could tell from the long pause and Colby’s concentrating expression that she was filtering what she told him.

“You had left a message, and I came home late.”

“Late from where?” Colby didn’t immediately answer. “You were with Dorian, weren’t you?”

Colby nodded.

“Can I ask you something?” As angry as he should have been, he didn’t want another argument. He wanted closure.

“Shoot.” She reached for the cup on the tray next to her bed.

Jared filled it with water, added a straw, and handed it to her. “Do you love him?”

Colby drew her lips into a thin line. “I think so, yes.”

Jared sensed the answer before she said it. “Even after all of this?” Rather than acknowledge the instinctual hurt, he kept the conversation going.

“All of what?”

“This, Colby, all of what happened to you. He nearly killed you, and for what?”

“Jared, are you nuts? Dorian didn’t have anything to do with this. I have no idea who it was, or why, but I know for a fact it was a woman.”

“What?”

“I didn’t get a look at her or anything, but her voice was definitely female.”

Jared pressed the call button for a nurse to take over with Colby and searched his pockets for his car keys. “I have to go.”

“Go where?” she asked.

He didn’t know how to tell her, but it was Noreen who attacked her, and he’d sent Ana right to her.

CHAPTER 68

Noreen stood in the doorway of her spacious condo, wearing an oversized cardigan and a pair of skinny jeans. She was gym-fit, and attractive underneath the cuts, scrapes, and bruises. Her full lips spread into a wide grin and she said, “Ana, I’ve been expecting you.”

“Really?” Ana said. “And why’s that?”

“Because my lawyer called me and said you’d met with Dorian, who, from the sounds of things, is looking to make the case that I framed him.” Noreen shook her head. “Would you like to come in?”

Instinct warned Ana to run, but she hadn’t come this far to leave.

“Yes, thank you.”

Noreen’s expertly decorated and expensively furnished place hinted at nothing out of the ordinary, not that Ana expected displayed murder trophies or anything, but she anticipated that there would be something different about the home of a woman she assumed was a sociopath.

Noreen poured herself a cup of coffee and held up the carafe. “Can I offer you a cup?”

“Sure, thank you.” Ana scanned for anything to support Dorian’s claims.

“I can tell you’re nervous,” Noreen said. “I don’t blame you, but you have to understand that Dorian would do anything,
say
anything, to get out of the spot he’s in. That doesn’t necessarily make it true.”

“Doesn’t exactly make it false, either.”

Ana stood at the kitchen counter rather than taking a seat. No matter how even-keeled and casual their discussion, Ana intended to keep a straight shot between her and the front door.

Noreen stirred a packet of artificial sweetener into her coffee and took a sip. “Do you think the police would’ve arrested Dorian without evidence? That they would have held him this long without proof of what he did to me?” Her eyes glossed over with tears. “Do you know how hard it is to get a night’s sleep after you’ve been raped?”

Ana felt like a jerk. “I’m sorry, I . . .”

“Excuse me a minute, please.” Noreen set her mug on the counter and closed herself in a room down the hall that Ana assumed was the bathroom.

The sobbing echoed in the otherwise silent first floor, punctuated by Noreen blowing her nose.

Ana hadn’t meant to upset her, but the time alone was fortuitous.

Papers covered the computer desk in the far corner of the living room that faced out the picture window. Ana waited for Noreen to come back, listening to the sounds of drawers opening and closing.

“Are you all right?”

“I’ll be out in a minute.”

A minute turned to two, and then five.

Ana decided to take a closer look. Old bills, receipts, and copies of recent OR and office schedules were tucked beneath the foot of a closed laptop. Two manila folders of personal financial statements sat to the right of a small desk lamp, and when Ana moved them, she gasped. Underneath was a purple notepad with a watermark image of flowers in the background.

It was the
exact
paper Sydney’s supposed suicide note had been written on.

Ana had been so engrossed that she hadn’t heard Noreen come back. She felt a sharp pinch in her biceps and let out a yell, instinctively grabbing her arm. A disorienting feeling took hold, and the sensation of losing control hit her so fast, she couldn’t fight back, or run. She pressed her palms to the desktop and struggled to draw a breath. Her legs buckled, and she collapsed, paralyzed on the floor at Noreen’s feet.

“On second thought,” Noreen said, “maybe you were right to insult me.”