Person of Interest (A Celeste Eagan Mystery) (22 page)

“Can you hear me?”

I could. But was achy all over. Even my eyelids hurt and didn’t want to cooperate. Muldoon said my name. So much concern laced his voice that I fought harder to open my eyes and moaned.

“She’s coming to.”

I managed to get one eye open. Muldoon’s face hovered just above mine. It took me a minute to remember where I was. “Danny?”

“In custody.” Muldoon stroked the hair off my face. “Can you tell me what happened? Did he hit you?”

I started to shake my head and instantly regretted it. “Blood.”

He frowned for a moment, then a huge smile slashed across his face. “You fainted. From his cut.”

I opened the other eye only to glare at the man. “Not funny, Detective.”

“Babe, I’m not laughing at you.” He shifted his hand from my head to my shoulder. “Can you sit up?”

“I can try.” The world spun, but I much preferred being somewhat upright instead of at the feet of a handful of officers. “Whoa. I’m dizzy.”

Muldoon rubbed my back and gave me a moment. “Better?”

I glanced up. And did a double take. “I thought I was, but I’m seeing two of you.”

The other him shifted to the side and gave a Muldoon half smile. “That’s Finn.”

The brother. Right. “Oh, that’s good. I was starting to worry about me for a minute there.” I took a deep breath. “Did you find Mr. Henderson?”

Muldoon grunted. “Yeah. The SOB was hiding in a closet several floors down.” He gently rubbed my back again. “Where are you hurt?”

“I hit my elbow on one of the falls. It went numb so I don’t know how bad it is.” I tried to shrug but I was already tightening up. “I’d bet I’m covered in bruises.”

He called an EMT over who prodded my elbow. All the police officers standing around me left to give me a little privacy while the EMT examined me a little more thoroughly. Other than a nasty bruise on my elbow there were no open wounds or obvious broken bones. Without X-rays, though, there was little else that he could tell. He fitted me with a sling. “One of the guys is bringing a backboard down.”

“Is that necessary?” We were still in the stairwell, not a whole lot of room to maneuver much of anything, much less a bunch of EMTs and a backboard. “Can I walk to the nearest floor at least?”

The young man shook his head. “You really shouldn’t.”

“I fainted. That’s all.”

“After God knows what else.” Muldoon pushed up next to the EMT. He confirmed my...affliction when seeing blood.

“Most of the falling was on Danny.”

“Okay.” The EMT spoke into a walkie on his shoulder and told them to meet us on the fourteenth floor.

Fourteen—Wow
. I couldn’t believe I’d gone down so many floors. But once the chase was on, most of it had been a blur. I took a deep breath and readied myself to stand, but I still needed a little help. “Can you give me a hand?”

“Absolutely.” Muldoon wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me. When my knees gave out, he scooped me up in his arms.

“Put me down.” My weak protest was losing steam. “I can walk.”

“Sure you can.” He chuckled.

I was too sore and too tired to protest any further. And it was nice not to have to move more than absolutely necessary. Pain radiated out of everything from my hair to my toes. “How did you guys not find Danny? He didn’t seem to have any trouble finding me.”

“We think he was hiding in an AC duct. Maybe even tried to gain access to Henderson’s office that way when he couldn’t get to you through either door.”

A gurney waited by a bank of elevators for us and Muldoon set me down atop it. I felt silly but there was no telling what damage I’d done on my descent.

I lay back and chills set in. They covered me with a blanket and wheeled me into the elevator. “Muldoon?”

“Here.” He moved beside the gurney and took my non-slinged hand.

“Wh-why—” my teeth chattered some as I spoke “—was he so hell-bent on getting me, do you think?”

“We haven’t figured that out yet.”

“Did he say anything? Wh-when you took him away.”

“Other than cursing your name for unmanning him? Not really.” If I wasn’t mistaken, there was pride in Muldoon’s voice.

Despite the man coming after me, it was unnerving to know that I’d wounded him. “He gave me no choice.” I didn’t get a chance to say anything else as we’d reached the first floor. There was a great hustle and bustle of noise outside the building. Muldoon didn’t let go of my hand until they were ready to load me into the back of the ambulance. “Are you coming, too, Shaw?”

“Do you want me to?”

“I need you to.”

Chapter Twenty

I need you to.
Gawd, I couldn’t believe I’d said that. Muldoon hadn’t said a word, just climbed into the back of the ambulance, held onto me and didn’t yell one single time. When we’d arrived at the hospital, I was whisked in a flurry through the halls and into a cubicle. Muldoon had let go of my hand and was nowhere to be seen—in my limited line of curtained sight.

Quite a while later, I was x-rayed, poked and prodded. And other than a severely bruised elbow and some abrasions, I was good to go.

Unfortunately, my car was at Henderson’s building. My cell phone was broken and Muldoon had disappeared. I had a huge hole in my blue silk shirt. If I moved just so, most of my bra popped into view. If the painkiller they’d given me hadn’t already kicked in, I might have sat down somewhere and just cried. Alas, I was a wee bit high and found it all funny. I snickered as I walked to the lobby. I needed to find a way home. “Eureka. A pay phone. I didn’t know they made these anymore,” I said aloud. I was bummed. There wasn’t anyone around to congratulate me on my find. “Whatever.” I patted my pockets. “No change.”

Maybe the little lady inside the phone could help me. I pushed the zero. When the operator answered, I told her I needed to call my friend but I didn’t have any change.

“You want to make a collect call?”

“Collect? Sure.”

I gave her Levi’s number and my name and waited.

“Hey, Levi.”

“Celeste.” He sighed heavily on the other end of the line. “I have been so worried about you.”

“Me too.”

“Sweets, are you okay?”

I leaned against the wall, not entirely sure my legs were steady yet. “Depends.”

“On?” So much concern laced those two little letters.

“Can you come get me?”

“Where are you? I haven’t been able to get one iota of info from anyone. Your cell keeps going straight to voice mail, and the Peytonville police station refuses to patch me into your detective.”

“I busted my phone.”

“Where are you?” he asked slower.

“At the hospital.”

“Which one?”

I frowned. “I’m not entirely sure.” I stepped away from the wall and looked around the lobby to see if I could find a name. “Somewhere in Dallas, I guess.” It hadn’t occurred to me to ask. Maybe the doctor had said, but my brain had been a little fuzzled since they gave me the painkiller.

“Sweets,
why
are you at the hospital?”

“Danny and I fell down some stairs. Like forty thousand of them, I think.”

Levi gasped.

“That was before the police arrested him. Hang on.” I let the phone receiver drop to the length of the cord. My nose itched and I needed my hand to rub the tip. When it was thoroughly scratched, I snatched up the receiver. “I bumped my elbow. Arm’s in a pretty blue sling. But it doesn’t match my shirt.” I tilted my head and examined the rip down the front. “But it’s garbage now anyway so I guess it’s okay.”

“Did you hit your head, too?”

I took a moment to see if there was any pain from my head. Naw. “Don’t think so. Why?”

“You’re not making too much sense.”

“Oh that’s just the Percodan or cet. I’m not sure which one they gave me. It works pretty dern good, though. No pain.”

“And even less sense,” Levi mumbled. “Who brought you into the hospital? Is there anyone around who I can talk to?”

“The ambulance dropped me off. They released me. I didn’t have anyone waiting so I called you.”

“Sweets, I don’t think they’d just let you up and leave without someone being there. I’m sure the police have some questions for you.”

“I already answered everything.”

“Where’s Muldoon?”

I looked around the lobby and didn’t see Muldoon anywhere. “Don’t know.”

“Celeste, sweets, you need to listen to me. Go up to one of the information centers and have them page Detective Muldoon. Do you understand?”

“Sure.” I nodded.

“Right now. Hang up the phone and find someone who works there.”

“‘Kay.”

I pulled the phone from my ear, but I could still hear Levi. “...let the woman just walk around without supervision.” I wondered who he was talking about when I hung up the phone.

I frowned again. What was I supposed to do? Find an info desk. I walked around the corner and saw several lab-coated men. “Can you help me? I need to page my detective.”

The men all looked at me suspiciously, but the taller one in the front pulled away from the group. “Sure. Mind if I have a look at your bracelet?”

I wasn’t wearing any jewelry—they’d made me take it off before the X-rays. Come to think of it, I hadn’t gotten that back.

The doctor gently took hold of my non-sling wrist. “Mrs. Eagan?”

“That’s me.”

“How about I take you to your detective?”

I sighed. “That would be so great.”

He escorted me to a desk two floors up. Muldoon was pacing back and forth. He glanced up when we neared. “Where in the hell have you been?”

“You say that a lot, you know.” I smiled up at him. “They told me I could leave.”

“No, they didn’t.”

“Ya-huh. The doc put the sling on me and said I was good to go.”

“He didn’t mean it literally. He meant...” Muldoon ran his hand over his face. “We need to sign you out before you can leave.”

“Oh, sorry.” I nodded, a little too wide-eyed I think because Muldoon narrowed his gaze. When he didn’t say anything else, I snapped my fingers. “Make sure they give me back my jewelry. They’re holding it hostage, I think,” I said in a loud whisper.

Muldoon held my gaze for a long moment, then turned to the woman at the desk and said something.

The young woman was batting her eyes. At my detective. “Hussy.”

I didn’t think I’d said the word aloud, but Muldoon glanced over his shoulder at me with amusement on his face while the hussy merely went back to typing away at her computer.

It took a few more minutes with some paperwork and to get my things back. Once it was done, a nurse made me sit in a wheelchair. I thought it was silly, I’d already been all over the hospital on foot, but who was I to argue with Muldoon staring me down.

“I know you’re mad at me. I can tell.” We’d just entered the elevator to go down—Muldoon, me and my own private chauffeur.

“I’m not mad. I’m considering putting a tracking device in your ass.”

“You’re gonna LoJack me, Detective?” I snorted. And if I wasn’t mistaken, the nurse/chauffeur giggled. “What was I supposed to do? They told me I could leave. I thought you abandoned me.”

“I didn’t leave. Not far. I was arranging to have your car towed back to Peytonville and get my car to the hospital so I can take you home.”

“Oh.” We reached the bottom floor and the doors hissed open. I was wheeled to a service-looking entrance. “Why are we going out here?”

“There are reporters everywhere out front.”

“Gotcha.” All I needed was more scrutiny, though I had promised Kellen an interview. Did I ever have a doozy of a tale for him.

I snuggled into the passenger seat of Muldoon’s police-issued sedan. He walked around and got in behind the wheel. “Ready?”

“Yep.” I yawned. “It’s much nicer sitting up in the front seat rather than handcuffed in the back.”

He chuckled but didn’t comment.

“Did you get the 4-1-1?”

“What?” Muldoon looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

“Did you find out any information? On Danny.”

“Oh. It was all tied to the professor, his mother. He was six when she hung herself and even though he was so young, he’d heard enough to think Jones and the others were completely responsible. He was put into foster care, later adopted. He’d been working on a plan to get even.” He paused for a moment. “When the detective was talking to him—”

“You got to see him getting interrogated?”

“Yes. He told the detective he initially wanted to make the men lose any and all credibility, lose their jobs and whatnot. It had been unintentional killing Carpenter. He’d been trying to scare the man, but it had gone too far and he died. Once it was ruled a suicide and he’d been left out of the investigation entirely, Danny couldn’t—I believe his actual words were
didn’t want to
—turn back. He decided to go after the other two.”

“What about Kelsey?”

Muldoon tightened his hands on the steering wheel. “Danny didn’t know about Jones’s...operation with the video cameras. He killed Jones and staged it to look like a suicide. Best as we can tell, Kelsey had gone to the office to get the equipment and make sure there wasn’t any other evidence of what Jones did. Instead she found the DVD in the camera with the killing. She decided to blackmail Danny.”

“So he killed her.”

“Looks that way.”

“Why me?”

“He saw the two of you outside the building the night she grabbed the equipment.”

I shook my head slowly. “And he thought I was in on it too?”

“Yes.”

I shuddered. Here he’d been coming after me this whole time and I hadn’t had the slightest clue. “Why did he tell y’all all this? Why did he confess?”

“Aside from you knocking his nuts up into his nose?’ Muldoon shrugged. “Might have been a combo of guilt. And the painkillers.”

“Will that hold up in court? Y’all drugging a suspect to get a confession out of him?”

“I didn’t drug him.”

“Semantics.”

“They found his apartment here in Dallas while he was being interviewed. Found his address in the employment records from Henderson’s. They recovered the DVDs with Jones’s death. He’ll be charged with attempted murder of you in the stairwell. If we can physically tie him to any of the other attempts on you, the charges will keep piling up.”

“No thanks to me. I just got in the way and almost got myself killed.”

“You probably saved Henderson’s life. Danny had a plane ticket flying out next week. A day or two more and it’d be too late.”

“For Henderson, maybe. Danny still thought I could bust him.”

“I don’t know that it mattered once he got to Henderson. It’s over now. So you don’t need to worry.” He patted my knee.

“Good.” Too many thoughts to ponder, my brain slowed to a crawl. I watched the scenery fly by. The pain pill was making it harder and harder to keep my eyes open. But the last time I closed them, Muldoon’d gone—even if only to make transportation arrangements.

I woke but this time Muldoon was still by my side. Sometime while I was sleeping we started holding hands. His fingers were laced with mine on the center console. “Was I snoring?”

Muldoon glanced over at me and squeezed my hand. “Naw. Talked a little, but you swore me to secrecy, so we’re good.”

“Cute and funny.” I grimaced as soon as the words left my mouth, but thankfully Muldoon didn’t say a word.

Not one for uncomfortable quiet, I began to chatter away. “So I guess it’s all over now, huh? They have Danny locked up in Dallas.” I released his hand and sat a little straighter in the seat. “Life can get back to normal now that I don’t have anyone gunning after me. And you can stop running over to my house to see if I’m knee-deep in someone else’s troubles. That’s got to be a huge relief for you.”

He pulled into my neighborhood. And still hadn’t said a word. As we neared my street, the little butterflies in my tummy swarmed. After all we’d been through, why was I nervous to be alone with the man?

Muldoon pulled into the driveway and shifted the car into park. “I will be stopping by.”

I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. “Oh?”

“There may be follow-up questions between Danny’s trial and Jerry Pullman’s.”

The smile slid from my face. “Sure.” Here I thought he could leave the shield aside yet he was still thinking cop duties. I was still an “on the job” responsibility despite his stopping by comment. “I want to put it all behind me. I just want to grab my daughter and get my life back on track. No more sticking my nose into anyone else’s business.”

Muldoon nodded and got out of the car. Despite the sling, I was out the passenger side before he could get around to open the door. He walked me up to the house. The two of us stared at one another. “Well...” he said at the same time I said, “... Um.”

The front door whisked open. “There you are. Oh my gawd. He-woman.” Levi wrapped me up in his arms and hugged until I squirmed. “Thank you for bringing her back safe, Detective.”

“I didn’t do anything. She took care of herself. She needs to thank whoever taught her karate.”

“Wha...?” Levi eyed me. “Re-eally?” One blond eyebrow arched upward.

“What can I say?” I winked up at my friend. “I picked up a few things from you.”

Levi threw his head back and laughed. “Indeed. Well don’t just stand there. I have dinner set out for you. There’s plenty to go around, Detective.” Levi leaned around me and slapped Muldoon on the shoulder, then turned to go, calling over his shoulder, “You’re welcome to stay.”

“No, thanks. I have to get back to the station to finish up some paperwork.” He waved at Levi’s departing back, then turned to me. “Nice of him to invite me to
your
house.”

I shrugged with a slight grimace. “That’s Levi.”

“Hmm.” Muldoon shook his head. “So.”

“So.” I leaned against the doorframe.

Muldoon gazed at me for a long minute, then leaned forward and planted a sweet kiss on my lips.

I swayed a little, but it might have been as much from the fall as the kiss.

Muldoon pulled away. “You need to take it easy.” He tapped the tip of my nose. “I’ll call you. Soon.”

Muldoon turned to go.

That was it? He was going to “call me” and that was it? I’d faced down a serial killer, taken a lump or twelve in the process, and he was just going to walk away and
call me
. Um. No.

“That doesn’t work for me,” I said aloud. “Hey, Shaw. Wait a sec.”

He stopped halfway up the sidewalk and glanced back over his shoulder. “Hmm?”

I was going to walk over to him, but things ached that I hadn’t realized could ache and I was a little dizzier than I might want to admit. Instead, I stayed up against the doorframe in what I hoped looked sexy with a twist of come-hither and motioned for him to come back to me, but as long as I stayed upright I wasn’t too concerned with what it actually looked like.