Midnight Sacrifice (22 page)

Danny cruised down the main drag past dark shop after dark shop. Most of the local businesses closed at six. He pulled into a strip mall and parked in front of a pizza joint. He ordered a large pie with mushrooms and a Coke.

Hours had passed, and Mandy’s rebuff still stung as badly as if she’d slapped him across the face. When they were alone next, she wasn’t getting away so easily. Of course, he seriously doubted she’d ever let them be alone again. She’d successfully hidden from him all afternoon. He’d even skipped lunch in hopes of seeing her, but she hadn’t ventured into the public areas of the inn all afternoon.

She wanted to forget their kiss along with the case. Danny couldn’t get either out of his head.

The waitress brought his pizza. The aroma of hot cheese and spices wafted to his nose. Danny’s stomach rumbled, and he wolfed down slices in rapid succession. He took the remaining few to go.

He started the engine and rested his left wrist on the wheel. His fingers trembled, but they weren’t dancing like this morning when the doctor had stitched him up. Apparently, that rest thing really worked.

Since Mandy wasn’t talking, Danny had to find another information source. Who else knew stuff about Nathan? Like the identity of the secret girlfriend, for instance.

The Challenger drove past the clinic all by itself. Smart car. Danny did a double take. The flowers from the doctor’s window boxes looked like the same kind that had been left on the inn’s back porch. Bingo. He knew he’d seen them somewhere. Wishing he drove something less noticeable, Danny found an alley to park in a block away. The streets were deserted, but he strolled back to the doc’s office in the shadows just in case anyone was looking out a window.

Danny stopped in the shadow of a thick shrub. Lights still glowed in the clinic windows. Dr. Chandler had said his office closed at five. Was the good doctor working late? Or was he up to deeds best done in the dark?

The front door opened. Someone hurried out. A woman, from the shape and movement of her shadow. She passed under a streetlight. Carolyn Fitzgerald. She was stuffing a small package into her purse. Interesting. She didn’t look terribly ill or injured or anything else that would cause the doctor to keep his office open late to see her. The real estate agent strode to her car, parked at the curb fifty yards down the street. The engine turned over, and the car pulled out into the street and headed away from town. Red taillights faded into the dark.

The clinic went dark room by room, starting at the front. A few minutes later, Danny watched an SUV pull out of the alley that ran next to the clinic.

Nothing moved, not even Danny. Patience was, if not a virtue, a necessity when casing an establishment. A cool night breeze shifted Danny’s evergreen screen. A car passed, the headlights sweeping within five feet of his feet. The street went silent and dark, and Danny emerged.

He opted for the back door. Did the doctor have a security system? Danny popped the locks, opened the door, and waited. The building remained quiet. Guess not.

He slipped through the door into the darkness of the hall. His eyes had already adjusted to the night. Danny borrowed a handful of latex gloves from the first exam room. Handy, with the breaking and entering and all. Snapping a pair on, he stuffed the extras in his pocket. Inside the doc’s office, Danny used his flashlight to illuminate the hanging files inside the cabinets. He
searched three drawers before finding files for Nathan and his uncle.

Read them or steal them?

He did a quick perusal. Lots of info.

The overhead light snapped on. “What the fuck?”

Uh-oh.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“What part of patient confidentiality do you not understand?” Dr. Chandler glared from the doorway.

Danny closed the file and stood. “The part that might keep me from finding a killer.”

“Don’t you think that if I knew anything that might lead to Nathan’s arrest, I’d have told the police?”

“Well, I’d hope.”

“Dammit.” The doctor threw up his hands. “You know they subpoenaed copies of all his medical records, right?”

“Um. No.”
My bad
, Danny thought.

“Well, they did, and I’ll bet the cops read through them pretty carefully. But what do they know, right?”

Well, didn’t Danny feel like an idiot. “Just because they’re cops doesn’t mean they’re perfect.”

The doc gave him a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t give anybody access to my clients’ records without a court order. It’s illegal and against my oath.”

Shit. Danny hated when people brought superior morals into a discussion. He’d always seen things in shades of gray, specifically when things like breaking the law for the greater good were concerned. “Did you know a man and his son are missing?”

“What?” Dr. Chandler ran a hand through his hair.

“A fisherman and his kid just vanished on a family camping trip. There’s been no sign of them despite an extensive search.”

“I read about that. Sadly, they probably drowned.” The doctor waved a hand. “Doesn’t excuse you for breaking into my office.”

“Remember what really happened the last time a couple of outdoorsmen went missing?”

The doctor’s eyes narrowed. “You think this disappearance is related to the hikers Nathan and his uncle kidnapped last December?”

“Seems odd to have them occur back-to-back in the same area.”

“Maybe. Or it could be a giant coincidence. Huntsville is in the middle of the woods. People get lost out there every year.” The doctor scratched his head. “What does any of this have to do with Nathan’s medical records? All they show is that the man has a brain disease. He isn’t sane anymore. What more do you need to know?”

“Who filled your window boxes?”

“What?”

“The flowers out front. Who planted them?”

“I have no idea.” The doctor scratched his head. “My receptionist maybe, or the town business chamber. I don’t have time for flowers.”

“I think someone has been helping Nathan.”

“Well, shit.” The doctor dropped into a chair in front of his desk. “What makes you think that?”

“This whole area was searched multiple times. If he’s in the area, somebody has been keeping him under the radar.” Danny told him about the flowers on the inn’s porch and the branch nailed over the back door.

“That’s crazy. Nathan’s probably dead.” Doc sighed. “But even if your wild theory is correct, you can’t think I had anything to do with it?”

“I don’t know you, and you were evasive when I asked about Nathan.”

“Of course I was evasive,” the doctor snapped. “Doctors don’t talk about patients. Mandy doesn’t think I’m in collusion with Nathan, does she?”

Danny shook his head. “Mandy doesn’t know I’m here.” Doubt flickered in Danny’s gut. He probably shouldn’t have told the doctor that no one knew he’d come here.

The doctor gave him a thoughtful stare. “I should call Doug and have you arrested.”

Danny stared back. “You could do that.”

Dr. Chandler’s mouth tightened. “I’m giving you a second chance, based on your altruistic motives.” The doctor stood. His fingers moved in a give-it-here gesture. “But I’ll take my file back.”

Danny handed it over.

“Honestly, there’s nothing in there of any use.” The doctor shook the file at Danny. “Now get the hell out of here.”

The hair on the back of Danny’s neck was going haywire. Had that been a threat? Was the doctor hiding something, or was he merely adhering to his medical oath?

Danny did not wait for the doc to change his mind. But that didn’t mean the doctor was off his suspect list. Nathan’s file had been awfully thick, and the volumes of specialized medical books told Danny that Dr. Chandler knew a lot more about Campbell’s Insomnia that he was willing to share. Plus, there was the late-night business between the doctor and the real estate agent to consider.

For a small town, Huntsville held a lot of secrets.

The sound of female chatter carried over the running faucet. With one eye on the clock, Mandy rinsed a baking pan. She shut off the
water with her elbow, then dried the pan and stowed it in the cabinet. On the opposite side of the kitchen island, Danny glared at her. At least he’d waited until she finished with breakfast.

There was only so long she could avoid him. This morning he hadn’t come down to offer any help with breakfast. Unfortunately, she’d missed his company more than she wanted to admit. After the kiss, she’d hidden—yes, hidden—in the apartment, only venturing into the kitchen to do the breakfast prep after she’d seen his car pull out of the lot in the evening.

But now that he was here, full of questions, she didn’t want to talk to him.

“Were you serious yesterday? Do you really want me to leave?”

No.
Mandy pictured her brother with his throat slit like bleeding game, like the boy Nathan’s uncle had killed last fall. The boy who’d been decapitated. “Yes.”

He glared at her from the other side of the kitchen island. “I can’t leave until I have some answers.” The sexy warmth in his voice was gone. Damn, she really missed it. Almost as much as she missed the contact with his lean body and his masculine scent in her nose. She could pretend that she didn’t need a man, but Danny was a constant reminder of what she was missing. It went beyond physical contact. Being with a man made her feel like a woman, not a sister or a daughter or an innkeeper. A woman. Desirable. An individual who didn’t exist solely to take care of others.

It was a feeling no one in her hometown evoked. Just Danny.

Unfortunately, her first loyalty was to her family’s needs, not her own. Speaking of which…

Mandy ducked into the family apartment. The buzzing and whooshing of a lightsaber battle sounded from behind her brother’s closed door. Her mother and two friends were sitting
on the living-room sofa, drinking coffee and munching on fresh blueberry muffins. “Mom, do you all need anything before I go?”

Her mother waved her off. “We’re fine. You go right ahead, dear.”

Mandy returned to the kitchen. Leaning a hip on the counter, arms crossed over his chest, Danny hadn’t budged. He would not be so easy to dissuade. Once again, she considered trusting him with everything. What would he do if she simply told him the truth? Would he go away if she asked him? She looked at him. His expression was tight and angry, with an undercurrent of aggression in his posture. He was a soldier. A fighter. Unlike her, he wasn’t a person who would roll over for a blackmailer. But what choice did she have? How did one fight an unknown enemy?

No, she couldn’t take the chance. Danny had to leave. “What if there aren’t any answers?”

“Then I don’t know.” Danny paced two steps, pivoted, and strode back. “But I can’t go until I’ve taken care of Reed’s house. Plus, I have this…this feeling that something very bad is coming. I can’t explain it.”

The dishwasher emitted a hiss of steam. He was right. There was a real
Something Wicked This Way Comes
vibe to the air, minus the carnival fun.

“Then don’t you want to get out of its path?”

“And leave you to face it alone?” Danny stopped pacing. The glance he fired at her was full of possession that Mandy wished didn’t make her feminine heart thump. Damn her sentimental heart. “No.”

She didn’t have a response. She flipped the keys around in her hand. “Look, I have a short window of time this morning while the ladies from my mother’s church are here. I have to attend the chamber meeting and run some errands on my way back.” Grabbing her handbag and keys, she started toward the
door. “We’ll talk about it later.” And she’d think of some way to make him go home.

She went out into the backyard. Danny followed and fell into step beside her. “I’ll come with you.”

“That’s not necessary.” She rested her hand on the gun at the back of her hip. The weapon was well concealed by her bulky sweater. The sun, unusually warm for April, hit her back. Sweat broke out between her shoulder blades. “As you know, I can protect myself.”

“Against a deadly sack of sand, yeah.” Danny spun around. “Shooting a person is a much different experience. For instance, people move. They shoot back. And sometimes they look you right in the eye and remind you they’re human. If you can’t kill them, you’re dead.” Danny’s voice cracked.