Now You See Me (9 page)

Downing continued to stare at him for a moment longer before he inclined his head. “Whatever you say.”

As he walked away, Brad watched him for a moment. The guy had never questioned his decisions before. So why now? Why wouldn’t he want to know where the mushroom had come from? He didn’t have long to think before the clanging of wheels on concrete signaled the approach of medical help.

Paramedics wheeled a gurney down the hall and stopped outside Ramsey’s cell. As the prison doctor explained the situation, the men began the process of transport.

Brad didn’t move back until Ramsey had been properly cuffed to the gurney. Three guards approached from the opposite end of the corridor, falling into flanking positions beside him.

“Don’t take your eyes off him.” Brad ground out each word. If Ramsey thought eating a mushroom was going to be his get out of jail free card, he was sadly mistaken. He could ingest an entire fungus garden and Brad would still cart his ass back to prison the second the doctors released him.

He retreated to his office once the ambulance pulled away. His hands shook when he logged on to his computer, and he cursed. John Ramsey had the ability to take away all of his restraint, to send him to a dark place where rational didn’t exist.

After a brief check of the day’s activities Brad locked the computer down and headed toward the door, dialing Kate’s number on his way out. It rang three times, then went to voice mail.

Brad tried his home number on his way to his SUV. It didn’t ring at all. He sped through two red lights and had gained a police escort by the time he made it to his house.

“Kate!” He burst through the front door with two uniformed officers right behind him. When she didn’t answer his summons, his heart dropped.

Had Ramsey’s fake suicide attempt been a ruse to get him away from Kate? Had his protégé taken her? How in the hell could he have let this happen?

“Jericho, there’s a note.” One cop waved a slip of paper he’d discovered on the trunk in the living room.

Brad snatched it out of his hand and scanned the words and relief flowed through him. Aaron had picked her up. They’d gone for coffee. She hadn’t wanted to call him in the middle of a crisis.

Damn. He sank down onto the arm of the sofa and waved the cops away, with his thanks. Shaking hands dragged through his hair and he forced himself to remember how to breathe.

He didn’t know how Kate had gotten to be so important to him in such a short amount of time. Maybe it was just his protective instincts. He hadn’t been able to save Hannah, but he could save Kate.

Yeah, that was it. He shut out the small voice in his head calling him a liar.

Aaron dropped his phone onto the table next to his plate of eggs. “John Ramsey was just taken to the emergency room.”

Kate’s hand stilled on her fork. “Why?” Was that the reason Brad had taken off so suddenly? He’d only told her there was a situation at the prison, asked one of the police officers to take her back to his house and surprised them both by kissing her goodbye.

“I don’t know. My source at the hospital said he was taken straight to trauma. That’s all she could tell me.”

Kate glanced at her coffee then at Aaron. “So what are we waiting for?”

“You can’t go anywhere near him.” Aaron was already sliding out of the booth as he objected.

“I won’t, but there’s nothing stopping me from talking to the nurses. This is front-page stuff, Aaron, and you don’t want to get scooped.” She led the way to the counter and offered her credit card to the cashier.

“You really want to put yourself in this guy’s line of fire?”

“I really want answers, and the only way I’m going to get them is to dig for them.”

“What kind of answers do you need?” Aaron tried to snatch the ticket away, then grumbled when she blocked him. “You know why the guy is after you. He’s a nutcase.”

“But I want to know who’s working for him, how he knows so much about me and what Ramsey’s partner is getting out of all of this.”

Aaron surveyed her for a moment longer, then nodded. “I’ll pull the car up. You going to call your boyfriend and tell him where you’re going?”

Kate glared at him. “He’s not my boyfriend, and no. He’s probably still at the prison.”

“Okay.” Aaron gave her a look that clearly said he didn’t think it was okay.

She patted her pocket for her cell. Finding it empty, she did a quick search of her purse. “I left it at his house anyway.”

“Catch.” Aaron tossed her his BlackBerry on the way out the door.

Kate considered making the call, but she hesitated, considered the possibility Brad might be in the middle of a catastrophe at the prison. He very well could be at the hospital. So she’d just run into him. She doubted he was even thinking about her with all hell breaking loose.

Her decision made, she joined Aaron in his gleaming silver Jaguar and returned his phone. “I’ll just call him when we leave the hospital. Hopefully he’ll be home by then. Otherwise I can’t get back in.”

“Like I told you before, we always have room for you.”

Kate smiled. “Thanks.” She didn’t add that she felt safer with Brad—or anything else she felt. There were some things Aaron didn’t need to know.

“You stay next to me when we get to the hospital. I don’t want you out of my sight.”

“Yes, sir.” If it made Aaron feel better to keep her next to him, she’d follow his lead. He’d never been big on displays of affection, so his expression of concern was his way of saying he cared.

“The warden might be worried about you, though.” Aaron shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

“I’m sure he’s not, but thanks for saying.”

Aaron chuckled and accelerated out of the parking lot of the restaurant. “You two got a thing going?”

Kate groaned mentally. She might have known this was coming. “I’m kind of busy trying to stay alive.”

“Whenever someone dodges a question, they’re usually hiding something.”

That was the number one thing he’d taught her the day she’d started working at
The
Chronicle
, and she’d given him the fodder he’d been looking for.

“I’m not looking for a relationship right now, Aaron, but you’ll be the first to know if one develops.”

“Sure I will. You’d sooner tell the whole gaggle of interns than me.”

“That’s only because you’re as nosy as my father.”

“Someone’s got to look out for you.”

She couldn’t bring herself to tell him that Brad had taken over that position smoothly. Aaron was so much like her father he’d want even more details, probably demand to talk to Brad to see if everything was on the up-and-up, as he called it.

Kate’s heart warmed and she touched his arm. “And I appreciate your caring about me. I really do.”

Aaron’s cheeks reddened and he coughed. “We’re a few minutes out from the hospital. Got your recorder?”

“Do I ever leave home without it?”

He snorted. “You didn’t use to leave home without your cell phone, either, but this warden’s got you all rattled.”

Kate didn’t respond. She wouldn’t win any argument with Aaron. He’d been in this business long enough to have grown suspicious of everyone. To him, every situation was possible front-page news. And she certainly didn’t want whatever this thing was between her and Brad ending up anywhere in black-and-white type.

Aaron wore a grin like he’d just won the lottery when he pulled into the parking spot closest to the emergency room entrance. “Now, you remember what I told you. We’ll hit the nurses in the ER first, see what they know.”

It had been a long time since Aaron had hit the streets looking for a story but Kate didn’t doubt he still had the chops. Still, she doubted the nurses were going to be interested in talking to the press.

“I have a better idea. Just follow my lead.”

Brad lost patience waiting. Kate hadn’t said where she was going or how long she’d be gone. And she’d left her phone behind, which surprised him. A phone was one of the things a reporter kept glued to their hand. Maybe she’d left it on purpose. Either way, he didn’t like it.

His mind wouldn’t give him a moment’s peace, so he might as well be doing something. Like checking on Ramsey. Yeah, he had twenty-four-hour guards, but Brad knew the man too well to think men with guns would be a deterrent.

His eyes as dry as sandpaper from lack of sleep when he approached the admittance desk thirty minutes later, he figured he looked like forty miles of bad road. The receptionist took pity on him and offered him a congenial smile.

“How can I help you, sir?”

He showed his credentials. “I need a status update on Prisoner 0413112.” When she stared at him blankly he amended his answer to include John Ramsey’s name.

“He’s still in trauma, sir.”

“Are there guards with him?” Brad’s stomach muscles tensed. No one knew a damn thing about those mushrooms. Ramsey could have ingested just enough to produce the symptoms but not enough to disable him. If the guards weren’t allowed in the trauma bay, Ramsey wouldn’t have any problem overpowering the medical staff.

“I’m not sure. If you’d like to wait, we have a visitor’s lobby around the corner.”

No, he didn’t like to wait. It was one of his least favorite activities. “I really need to know if there are guards in the trauma area with John Ramsey.”

The perky blonde pointed down the hallway. “Why don’t you take a seat and I’ll see if I can find someone to talk to you?”

“Just tell me where the trauma area is and I’ll see for myself.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but that’s not allowed. If you’ll—”

“I know it’s not allowed,” he checked her name tag, “Mindy, but if I don’t make sure John Ramsey is under constant supervision, he could walk out of this hospital. Trust me when I say you don’t want that to happen. He’s not on death row because he robbed a bank.”

The blonde’s face drained of all color and she nodded, one hand pressed against the strand of pearls encircling her throat. “Right. Down the hallway to your right and just follow the signs. You won’t be allowed into the room.”

Don’t bet on it.

As Brad rushed down the hallway, his mind raced ahead of him. If Ramsey was out of commission, who was giving orders to his partner or whatever in the hell he was? Had Ramsey given him orders before he’d eaten the mushroom? The thought made Brad’s veins ice.

John Ramsey wasn’t the type to take unnecessary risks with his own life. He was a coward that way, fearing his own death. So Brad didn’t doubt Ramsey had orchestrated this little scheme in an attempt to get closer to Kate. Maybe he’d gotten tired of sitting on the sidelines while his student got to have all the fun.

Whatever the reason, the killer had a plan, and it didn’t involve returning to the prison. The knife in the pit of Brad’s stomach twisted deeper. What part did Ramsey’s puppet play in all of this? Was the mushroom snack supposed to distract Brad long enough to allow the student to get close to Kate, maybe bring her to Ramsey?

Damn. He hated being in the dark. It made him jittery inside. But short of getting inside Ramsey’s head, he wasn’t going to get any answers.

Kate’s idea had paid off, but that didn’t stop Aaron from bitching about the white-striped coat he had to wear.

“You could have made us doctors,” he muttered around a face full of fresh daisies.

“That requires credentials, Aaron. At least this way we get to look around the hospital and get some information without drawing attention to ourselves.”

“And you don’t think these red-and-white coats draw attention to us? We look like we belong in the circus.” He lowered the vase of flowers long enough to glare at her. “All I can say is we better get a story out of this.”

She smiled by way of comfort, but Aaron wasn’t buying it.

“With this guy making your life a living hell, you’d think you’d want to stay away from him at all costs.”

“We’re not going to get a story if we hang on the sidelines. Besides that, facing fear is the best way to overcome it.” In truth, Kate’s anxiety had faded into the background since she’d slipped back into reporter mode. This was where she was most comfortable, and as long as she had her recorder she could shut out the world and focus on her career.

“I’m not telling you to hang on the sidelines, but I don’t want you sticking your nose in the lion’s den, either.” He sniffed. “But I do smell a front-page headline.”

As they rounded the corner leading to a door marked Personnel Only, Kate saw Brad seconds before he saw her. A part of her almost panicked before she remembered that she had every right to be there, but the way Brad stormed toward her told her he wasn’t feeling the same thing.

“What in the hell are you doing here?” He took hold of her arm and towed her away from the elevator. “I thought you’d gone to have coffee with Aaron.”

“I did have coffee with him, then we heard about John Ramsey being brought here.”

Aaron slipped into place next to Kate and stuck out his hand. “Aaron Kendrick. It’s a pleasure.”

Brad accepted the shake but didn’t take his eyes off Kate’s face. “So if you were having coffee, why are you here?”

Kate saw several people glance their way as they walked by. “Could you lower your voice, please?”

“I’m the guilty one here, Mr. Jericho.” Aaron adopted his “aw shucks” routine he used infrequently to charm bullheaded suppliers. “My contact called me and I smelled a story. Well, I wasn’t about to let Kate out of my sight, so I brought her with me.”

Brad’s gaze lasered Aaron’s face. “Knowing John Ramsey is here and that he has his sights set on Kate? Is a story worth that much to you?”

“He didn’t bring me here. I wanted to come.” Kate pressed her hand against Brad’s chest. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

“Ramsey ate some poisonous mushrooms but the doctors pumped his stomach. He’s still in trauma but will moved to a room soon. He’s being kept overnight for observation.”

Kate’s gaze zeroed in on Brad’s. “He had to have known he would be brought to the hospital, that his stomach would be pumped. So what’s he getting out of this? What’s the point?”

“He’s planning to escape.” Brad took her hand in his, and she didn’t miss the knowing look on Aaron’s face. “But I’ve got guards on him, and the police have guys here as well.” He led them into the waiting area and indicated a brown leather sofa with the sweep of one hand. “One of the guards will be down here in a few minutes to stay with you. Until then, don’t try to leave.”

Kate remained standing, her temper slowly climbing. As much as she appreciated Brad’s help and protection, she didn’t need a babysitter, nor did she want to be treated like a porcelain doll in front of her boss.

“Since I’m already here, I’m going to talk to some of the nurses and other staff.” She tugged her hand free. “I left my phone at your house, so I can’t call you when I’m done. Aaron, can you give him your number?”

Before Aaron could answer either way, Brad pelted her with another question that had even more bite. “Why would you leave your phone, Kate? It’s too dangerous to be walking around without a way to call for help.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose. The battery was low and I left it charging. When Aaron got to your house, I didn’t even think about it. I guess that’s not something you would ever do since you’re so on top of everything.” She swung her gaze to her boss. “Will you just give him your number, please?”

Aaron looked from her face to Brad’s, then walked away, a clear sign he wasn’t getting involved.

Her eyes shot daggers at the back of his head. “Never mind. I’ll just call you from one of the courtesy phones when I’m done.”

Brad’s jaw had tightened so much it looked like it might snap. He snatched her hand again and pulled her to the far corner of the waiting room, away from Aaron and the one other person in the area.

“What are you trying to do?” Each word dripped with pure fury.

“My job, Brad. I report the news, and that’s what this is. I can’t hide out in your house until Ramsey’s friend, protégé or whatever in the hell he is gets caught. Aren’t you the one who told me I needed to take back control?”

His brows lowered into a full-on scowl. “This isn’t what I meant.”

“Look,” she lowered her voice to a hiss, “I’ve been cowering in fear for the past few hours and I’m sick of it. That’s not who I am, and the longer I allow John Ramsey to keep me too afraid to do my job, the more I lose of myself.”

Brad’s expression changed, the deep blue of his eyes softening. “I hear what you’re saying but playing John Ramsey’s game is like playing chicken on I-26 during rush hour traffic.”

Since his tone had gentled, she backed off her own anger. “I know, but I have to keep living my life. Ramsey’s helper could go into hiding. Am I supposed to do the same until he’s caught?”

His warm breath bathed her face on a sigh, and Brad shook his head. “No, but you’re not supposed to take stupid risks either.” He held up one hand before she could respond. “I tried to get in touch with Ramsey’s attorney on the way to the prison but he didn’t answer. He might know something about Ramsey’s man on the outside. So I am working on this, Kate, but I really need you to trust me.”

The last man she’d trusted besides her father had broken her heart. That was too many years ago to even think about but every now and again the memory surfaced long enough to remind her why a relationship wasn’t in the cards for her. Not that she would ever seriously consider a relationship with Brad. They’d been brought together under traumatic circumstances and had little in common. Certainly nothing to build a foundation on.

“Kate?”

She looked away. “I do trust you, but the road runs both ways. I’m not going to put myself in harm’s way.”

“That’s just it. Any time you’re in Ramsey’s vicinity, you’re in harm’s way.”

“He’s surrounded by guards.”

“He still found a way to get to you from behind bars.”

The reminder smacked her in the face. “Fine. I’ll stay here in the waiting room while you go do whatever it is you need to do, but I don’t want a watchdog. I’ll be perfectly fine with Aaron.”

Brad transferred his gaze to where Aaron now sat on the edge of the sofa watching the news scroll on the overhead television. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“Didn’t I just say that? Just go.” She gave him a little push before turning away.

“Kate?”

His tone had her looking over her shoulder. “Yes?”

“Next time you feel like going out for coffee, how about giving me a call instead of leaving a note?”

When she read the worry on his face, she couldn’t get angry. “Okay.” She just hoped there wasn’t a next time. The longer she stayed with Brad, hiding out, the longer Ramsey held the reins to her life. And she wanted them back.

Ramsey’s room held four guards, a doctor, a nurse and Ramsey, now shackled to the bed. Brad breathed a sigh of relief but the sight didn’t erase all the tension from his body. The killer was still unconscious. The real danger would begin once he awoke.

He gave additional orders to the senior officer, checked Ramsey’s restraints himself and confiscated all sets of keys from the guards, even though the doctor and nurse protested.

“In order to properly treat a patient, we may need to remove the restraints,” declared the gray-haired physician, his face scrunched with disapproval.

“You really don’t want to free this guy, Doctor, but more than that, I don’t
want
you to free him. And since he’s my responsibility, I’m taking the keys. One less thing for Ramsey to go after.”

“He’ll be unconscious for quite some time, Warden, but should he go into cardiac arrest, our having those keys could mean the difference between life and death for him.” That wasn’t really a good argument for Brad. If Ramsey died tonight, it would solve a lot of problems. “My deputy warden has a master key and he’ll be here for quite a while. The guards have his number.”

“If anything happens to him because of your refusal to leave a key available immediately, you will be held responsible.”

Brad held up one hand on the way out of the room. “The guards have my number too.”