Читать книгу Sworn To Protect - Shirlee McCoy - Страница 16

Katie didn’t like hospitals. The scents and sounds brought back memories she’d rather forget. She had been ten when her parents died. An only child being raised by only children, she had had an idyllic childhood—a pretty house in the suburbs, nice clothes, good food and parents who’d loved her.

That had changed the night of her parents’ fifteenth wedding anniversary. She had been at home with a babysitter when a drunk driver had blown through a red light and hit her parents’ sedan. Her father had been killed instantly. Her mother had lived for nearly a week. Katie had visited her every day, standing alone in the ICU and listening to the whoosh and beep of the machines keeping her mother alive. She’d had no grandparents, uncles or aunts to support her as she grieved. Just strangers who had meant well but who had not been able to give her the only thing she had wanted—her parents.

Even now, all these years later, hospitals made her stomach churn.

She touched her abdomen, her fingers skimming across the fetal monitor that was strapped there. The baby was moving, her rapid heartbeat filling the silence of the room. The contractions had ended as abruptly as they’d begun, and for the past two hours, she had been lying in the hospital bed, watching the clock, wondering how Ivy was doing and if Tony and Rusty were all right. Worrying about what Martin might be doing.

He’d tracked her here earlier. Walked right into the clinic, donned a lab coat and fooled everyone he’d passed. He could do it again. Had he managed to circle back to the building? Was he inside right now?

Breathe, she told herself. An officer is stationed outside your room. Martin can’t get you. Or, hurt the baby.

She wanted the thought to be comforting, but Jordan had been tough, strong and smart. Somehow Martin had managed to get to him. If that could happen, anything seemed possible.

She had not heard anything from her father-or brothers-in-law since she had insisted they stay by Ivy’s side. They had left reluctantly, but they had left. Katie hadn’t expected or wanted anything else.

That didn’t mean she liked being alone.

For the first hour, regular contractions had distracted her.

Now, with the pain gone, her mind was spinning, her thoughts jumping from one thing to the next. She had spent nearly nine months preparing to give birth without Jordan, but the threat of an early labor, even just by a couple of weeks, had made her realize how desperately she still wanted him there.

He’d promised her a lot of things before they had married.

He had promised her even more when they’d stood in front of friends and family and spoken their vows. He had said he would love her always, that she would be first in his life after God, that he would put her needs in front of his own and be the family she longed for. That he would always be there for her.

She had believed him. But, even in the first few months of their marriage, she had known that her needs were secondary to the needs of the K-9 unit and the community. Jordan had taken his responsibilities to both seriously. He had worked long hours and devoted himself to justice. She had admired that more than she had resented it, but there had been a tiny bit of jealousy—a small part of herself that had wondered how they would both feel in a decade or two, after his job had pulled him away from anniversaries and holidays and birthdays a few too many times.

She frowned, shoved aside the blanket that covered her legs and got to her feet. She unhooked the monitor and set it on a table near the bed.

Lately, she had spent too much time looking at the past through a microscopic lens. As if, somehow, that could change all of the things that had happened.

But, of course, no amount of dwelling on her decisions, on the things she had believed and expected, could change the fact that Jordan was dead, that she was alone, that a man who had seemed as innocuous as a buttercup in a field of daisies had killed her husband and nearly kidnapped her.

Martin was deranged.

A dangerous man with a twisted obsession.

And, she was the target of that obsession.

She was the reason Jordan had been murdered.

No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t forget that, and she couldn’t forgive herself.

If she could go back to the days before she and Jordan had met, she would. Instead of being open to all of the new people in her life, she would have ignored Martin when she saw him at the church they had both attended. She wouldn’t have chatted with him when they ran into each other in the parking lot after service. She certainly wouldn’t have accepted his invitation to coffee the following Sunday morning. Nor would she have had lunch with him the week after that.

To Katie, those had not been real dates. They had been opportunities to get to know a nice guy in her new church community. Martin had been charming. He had also been a Sunday school teacher, a deacon, a man who quoted Scripture and lived a seemingly upright life. Katie hadn’t seen any harm in saying yes to his invitations.

If she could go back, she would have known the truth about what lurked beneath Martin’s charming exterior. She wouldn’t have spoken to him. She wouldn’t have gone out with him. She wouldn’t have unwittingly sparked the obsession that had cost Jordan his life.

She swallowed a hard lump of grief.

Her clothes were folded neatly and set on a chair near the door. Her purse had been retrieved from Dr. Ritter’s office and was sitting on top of them. She grabbed the purse and her clothes and ducked into the bathroom to dress. She wanted to be quick, but pregnancy made her once-athletic body cumbersome and clumsy. By the time she managed to get out of the hospital gown and back into her clothes, a nurse was knocking on the bathroom door.

“Katie? Is everything okay?”

“Fine.” She opened the door and smiled as she sidled past the nurse and slid her feet into her shoes.

“We were worried when the fetal monitor stopped reading your baby’s heartbeat.” There was an unmistakable note of censure in the nurse’s tone.

“I haven’t had a contraction in a couple of hours. The doctor said the baby’s heart rate is great, so I thought I’d go see how my mother-in-law is doing.”

And, then, she was going to ask one of her brothers-in-law to arrange for an escort home. She would call Tony on the way there and make sure he and Rusty were all right. She hoped they were. The last thing she wanted or needed was more blood on her hands.

She frowned, hiking her purse up on her shoulder and trying to shove the thought and the guilt away.

Maybe one day she would stop feeling as if she were responsible for the horrible things Martin had done.

Today was apparently not that day.

“We need to clear that with the doctor and with...” The nurse’s voice trailed off, her gaze darting to the now-open door.

“The police?” Katie offered. “I know they’re standing guard, but I’m not a criminal and I can go where I want.”

“We still need to clear things with the doctor,” the nurse argued. “You had quite a scare this morning, and Dr. Ritter wants to be certain you and the baby are healthy.”

“I’m as concerned as he is, but he has already assured me the baby looks great,” Katie responded, anxious to get back to the quiet home she and Jordan had shared. Sometimes, if she allowed herself, she could still hear him walking up the steps and sliding his key into the lock.

Despite the long hours he’d spent on the job and the weekends she had often spent alone, she had always run into his arms when he returned home.

She missed that.

She missed him.

“Is everything okay in here?” A uniformed officer peered into the room.

“Everything is fine, but I would like to visit my mother-in-law. If you wouldn’t mind escorting me there, I would appreciate it.”

“I’ll have to check with the chief,” he responded. She recognized most of the men and women in the NYC K-9 Command Unit. He wasn’t one of them.

“Noah Jameson is my brother-in-law,” she said. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“Currently the chief is out in the field.” Another officer stepped into the room, a yellow Lab on a lead beside her. Katie recognized her immediately. Brianne Hayes was new to the K-9 team. One of the few female officers in the unit, she had proved herself to be a top-notch handler when she had helped apprehend a bombing suspect a few months back.

“Can you contact him? I’m anxious to see Ivy.”

“I can try, but...” Brianne hesitated, the look in her eyes reminding Katie of the one she had seen in the faces of the officers who had informed her of Jordan’s death.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “Did something else happen to Ivy? Is she...worse than they originally thought?”

“She’s fine,” Brianne answered hurriedly.

“Did something happen to Tony?” Katie asked, her mind rushing in a direction she had been trying not to allow it to go.

She had been married to a police officer.

She knew the risks.

Every time Jordan had left the house, she had known there was a possibility he wouldn’t be coming home. Over the past few months, that nagging worry had transferred to the other men in Katie’s life—her brothers-in-law and Tony.

Brianne hesitated, her gaze jumping to the other officer. “He’s fine.”

Her answer was about as reassuring as the concerned look on her face.

“Then, why do you look like he’s not?”

“You need to relax and not worry, okay?” Brianne responded.

“I would worry less if someone would tell me what’s going on.”

“There isn’t much to tell. Martin Fisher hasn’t been apprehended. The chief is out searching for him with other members of the team. Until I hear something different, I’d rather you just sit tight and wait here.”

“The NYPD have been hunting for Martin since he escaped the mental hospital. There’s no guarantee he’ll be found tonight or tomorrow, and I can’t remain in the hospital indefinitely. Besides, I’m not asking to leave. I’m just asking to visit Ivy.” She wanted to leave, though, and if she could talk one of her brothers-in-law into bringing her home, that’s exactly what she planned to do.

“I have to check with the chief, but if I can get in touch with him, I’ll see if I can clear it. Just give me a few minutes, okay?”

“Sure,” Katie conceded. She was too tired to argue. Even if she weren’t, she would have allowed Brianne to do her job. She had too much respect for law enforcement to make trouble for any of the officers.

“Thanks.” Brianne smiled, her eyes shadowed with fatigue, her auburn hair tucked behind her ears. Like everyone on the K-9 team, she had been burning the candle at both ends, trying to locate and apprehend Martin.

“I’ll contact Dr. Ritter,” the nurse added, walking out of the room as the officers left.

Katie waited until they closed the door, then dug through her purse until she found her phone. She scrolled through text messages from friends who had heard about the attempted kidnapping on the news and were worried about her. Former colleagues had called, and she had gotten a call from her pastor. She didn’t listen to the voice mails. She’d do that later. For now, she had the information she wanted. Tony had not tried to contact her. That wasn’t surprising, if he was still out searching for Martin.

But, she couldn’t forget Brianne’s hesitation.

Something was wrong.

She was sure of it.

She swung open the door, determined to get the truth.

Tony was there, hand raised as if he’d been getting ready to knock. His jacket and uniform shirt were off, and a thick bandage was showing beneath the short sleeve of his T-shirt. There were specks of blood on his forearm and a smear of it on his cheek.

But, he was on his feet and alive, Rusty standing beside him.

She was so relieved, she threw her arms around him, pulling him close before she realized what she was doing.

Tony had been hugged hundreds of times, and he’d given plenty of hugs. At Jordan’s funeral, he had stood beside Katie, his arm around her shoulders, offering support, because he had known that’s what his friend would have wanted.

Now, though, she was nearly nine months pregnant, her belly pressing against his abdomen, her arms wrapped around his waist. He felt the baby move, the tiny life demanding attention.

He had made a promise to Jordan, and he meant to keep it. He would make certain Katie and the baby were safe. Even if that meant going out to hunt for Martin with a bandaged arm.

Katie stepped back, eyes dark in her pale face. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“The hug.” Her gaze jumped to Brianne.

“No need to apologize. We’re family.”

“You and Jordan always did call each other brother,” she said, offering a half smile.

“We did,” he agreed. She was obviously self-conscious about what had been a completely platonic hug.

“I was worried about you.” She touched the edge of the bandage that covered his cleaned and sutured wound. “Are you okay?”

“Fine. I would have been here sooner, but Martin grabbed a teenager in the park, and he was wounded.”

“Oh no! Will he be okay?”

“He has a cut on his cheek and is shaken up, but he’ll be fine.”

“And your shoulder?”

“Also fine, but Noah insisted I get checked out at the hospital and take a couple of days to recuperate.”

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

“It wouldn’t be, if Martin weren’t still running free.” He took her arm and led her back into the room. The less time she spent out in the open, the happier he’d be.

“I was hoping to avoid returning to the hospital room,” she murmured, stopping just over the threshold.

“It’s best if you stay here.”

“So everyone keeps telling me, but I’d prefer to go check on Ivy.”

“I spoke with Carter a few minutes ago. Ivy is doing well. She broke her wrist and has a mild concussion. They plan to keep her for observation, but she should be able to return home tomorrow.”

“Poor Ivy. This is all—”

“Don’t say it,” he cut in.

“What?” she asked, raising one light brown brow and eyeing him with a look she had probably used on her fifth-grade class when she was teaching.

“That it’s your fault.”

“If I hadn’t—”

“Katie, we could all spend our lives thinking about what we could have done differently, but none of us can go back. You and I go to the same church. I’ve spoken to Martin a few dozen times, and I never would have imagined he was capable of murder.”

“You’re right. I know that.”

“Then, stop feeling guilty for the actions of a sick individual. There is nothing you could have done to keep him from becoming fixated on you. Even if you hadn’t gone out with him, he may still have stalked you. He’s unhinged.”

“Maybe so.” She smiled, but her eyes were sad. They’d been that way since Jordan’s death.

“Exactly so,” he replied, and some of the sadness left her eyes.

“You’re always a cheerleader, Tony, and I appreciate it. But, I’d appreciate it a lot more if you would bring me to see Ivy and then drive me home.”

He should have refused.

Noah had already told him to get treatment and to return home to rest. There’d been nothing in his directives about visiting Katie or taking her home. But, Tony had never been one to blindly follow someone else’s lead. He was off the clock, and he knew how to protect Katie.

He’d bring her up to see Ivy, and then he’d check in with Jordan’s brother Carter, who was still recovering from being shot several months ago and had only just returned to the office part-time. The other two Jameson brothers, Noah and Zach, were hunting Martin while Carter stayed at the hospital with Ivy and their father.

“All right,” he agreed.

Her eyes widened, and she offered the first real smile he had seen in months. “Really?”

“Did you think I’d refuse?”

“Everyone else has.”

“I’m not everyone else.”

He touched her shoulder, brushing aside a thick strand of hair. She looked exhausted, her cheeks hollow, her eyes red-rimmed. In the few years that he’d known her, she had always seemed energetic and enthusiastic, her outlook optimistic. She had a clear-eyed, pragmatic view of life that had attracted Jordan and intrigued Tony. He had grown up in a family filled with silence and unspoken resentment. His mother had gone to the grave bitterly resentful of his father’s career. An NYPD homicide detective, Dillard Knight had devoted his life to law enforcement. He’d had little time for his wife or his only child. Even when Tony’s mother had been dying of cancer, Dillard had spent more time working than he had at home.

Jordan and his family had been Tony’s escape from that, and when Katie had entered the picture, the joy she took in the simple things in life had captured his attention. That may have dimmed after Jordan’s death, but she had kept her focus on the future and tried hard to stay positive.

He didn’t want that to change.

Not because of someone like Martin.

“It’s going to be okay, Katie,” he said.

“Ivy told me that right before Martin showed up,” she responded, stepping away and walking into the hall.

He followed, staying close as they walked to the bank of elevators that would bring them up to Ivy’s room.

Jordan had never been one to ask for much.

He was more likely to give than to expect to receive help.

Tony once again thought about how Jordan had pulled him aside on the morning of the wedding and asked him to look after Katie if anything happened to him.

She’s strong. She can go it alone, but I don’t want her to have to. I know my family will be there for her, but I want to know that she’ll have someone on her side who knows what it’s like to grow up without a firm support system in place. She’s like you, man—just looking for a place to belong. You two will understand each other better than any two people I know.

Tony remembered the words as if they’d been spoken seconds rather than years ago, and he remembered his response. That he’d be there if Katie needed him. Always. For a lifetime. If that’s what was necessary.

Right now, she needed him.

Whether she realized it or not.

For as long as that was true, he’d be there, ready to do what Jordan couldn’t—keep her and the baby safe.