Callum looked up from his phone’s screen as Faith and Asher entered the emergency room waiting area. Faith was pulling a small black duffel bag on wheels behind her. He waved to catch their attention and they hurried over.
There was only one empty seat on his side of the long, crowded room, right beside Callum. Asher waved Faith to the chair and leaned against a post a few feet away.
She nodded her thanks and set the bag beside her chair. “How’s our unarmed abductor doing?”
Callum shook his head. “I still can’t believe she pulled that stunt with an empty gun.”
“She’s lucky to be alive,” Asher said. “That’s for sure.”
“Which brings me back to my question.” Faith arched a brow at Callum. “How is she? Since she wouldn’t let go of your hand at that ramshackle cottage and you rode in the ambulance with her, you must have some juicy details to share.”
He rolled his eyes. “She grabbed my hand when the police arrived because she was afraid I’d change my mind and have them arrest her. There’s nothing juicy to share.”
“If you say so.”
Asher laughed, then coughed when Callum narrowed his eyes at him.
“Is she going to be okay?” Faith pressed. “Why aren’t you in the emergency room with her?”
“Because I’m not her family.” He didn’t volunteer the fact that she had no family, no one outside of prison anyway. His guilt over hurting her had only been compounded when she told the triage nurse that she didn’t have anyone to call to be with her. “She did sign a form, though, giving the doctor permission to provide me with updates once he’s completed his examination.”
He gestured toward the volunteer desk at the other end of the room where a middle-aged woman sat with an old-fashioned clipboard. “The last update I received confirmed she has a concussion but her vital signs are normal. When the CT scan comes back, if it looks good and she doesn’t exhibit any neurological symptoms, aside from the headache, the doctor may let her leave rather than admit her.”
Faith flipped her long hair over her shoulder. “Even if they release her today, she’ll have to be checked every few hours to make sure she doesn’t get worse or slip into a coma. That’s what the doctor ordered for my sister when she had a concussion.”
“Daphne had a concussion?” Asher asked. “She never told me that.”
“She was ten, fell off her bicycle and wasn’t wearing a helmet. And if my sister ever gets chummy enough with you to share details about her childhood, you’re spending way too much time with her.”
Asher grinned. “Thou shalt not date Faith’s baby sister. Got it.”
“Dang straight.” She gave him a warning look, which only made him laugh.
Callum shook his head at them. “If the doctor releases her and wants her checked on throughout the night, we’ll have to arrange for a home health-care nurse.”
“No need,” Faith said. “I don’t mind watching over her. The cabin she’s renting isn’t far from my place.”
He frowned. “Why would you do that?”
“Why wouldn’t I? She needs our help. Besides.” She waved toward the duffel bag. “She delivered on her end of the deal you two made. All of the files were in the cabin right where she told us they’d be. The ones for her brother’s case are in that bag. The others we put in Asher’s car to take back to the office.”
Asher cleared his throat, the look on his face immediately making Callum wary. “We may have stumbled on a little surprise while gathering all those folders. Did Raine happen to tell you that she’s a lawyer?”
Callum groaned.
“She’s not a defense attorney,” Asher clarified, as Faith glanced back and forth between the two of them, clearly puzzled. “Not quite the lowest species on the legal food chain. She’s employed by a firm near where you used to work, in Athens, Georgia. They specialize in business law. Seems like a catchall for everything from mergers and acquisitions to human resource violations.”
“That explains why she didn’t seem knowledgeable about criminal law and death penalty cases. How did you find out about her firm? I wouldn’t have thought you had time to research that deeply yet.”
“I’d like to claim that I’m just that good, but instead I’ll admit that her business card was stapled to the front of one of the folders she told us to get.”
“Have you ascertained whether or not the information in those folders is worth me not pressing criminal charges and having to work with a lawyer on her brother’s case?”
Faith held up her hands. “Hold it. Catch me up here. You have a problem with lawyers?”
Asher chuckled. “Massive understatement.”
She frowned at him before looking at Callum again. “All of us, including you, respect and like the lawyers our company keeps on retainer. They’ve helped us countless times when we need legal muscle for our cases. And if I remember right, your friend in Athens, Brandon, is a prosecutor, isn’t he?”
He shrugged, unwilling to concede the point.
“Come on, Callum. It’s insulting that Asher knows this about you and I don’t. Clue me in. Why are you so against an entire profession?”
“It’s not a huge secret or anything. I’ve just... I had several bad experiences with lawyers when I was a police detective. I still bear the scars from my last major case at court. The defense attorney was unscrupulous and twisted everything around to confuse the jury. Because of him, a murderer was set free.”
“Major ouch. But automatically assuming Raine is a bad person because she’s in the same profession as your nemesis isn’t fair.”
Callum stared at her in amazement. “Is it fair to assume she’s a bad person because she held me at gunpoint and handcuffed me to a chair?”
Asher chuckled. “He’s got you there, Faith.”
“No. He doesn’t. The gun wasn’t loaded. She didn’t actually hurt Callum. And she only threatened him because she loves her brother, believes he’s innocent and is desperate to save his life. Love and family loyalty drove her to do what she did. Otherwise, she’d never have crossed that line.”
“Which line?” Asher asked. “The one where she kidnapped someone or the one where she tied them up?”
“Shut up, Asher.”
He grinned.
“Back to Raine’s research for our serial killer case. What did you find?” Callum asked.
Asher sobered. “An impressive amount of information, amazingly indexed and detailed. When she said she’d been investigating, she didn’t mean as a hobby. She poured herself into it. I’d be hard-pressed to find a better documented case in my own archives.”
“But will it help with our current investigation?”
He shrugged. “Until I review it more in-depth and corroborate her findings, I can’t say for sure. But from what I’ve seen so far, if it pans out, yeah. It’ll help. A lot. She may very well have found the key we need. As to the suspect she’s zeroed in on, Pete Scoggin, Lance is already on his way to Athens, Georgia, to start surveillance on him while we build our own dossier. But even if Raine’s wrong about the killer’s identity, it looks promising that she’s found several other murders that bear remarkable similarities to the murders we’ve already attributed to the serial killer we’re trying to find.”
“Meaning,” Callum said, “if her information is reliable, then worst case, she’s given us a lot more evidence to work with. Best case, she’s solved a string of murders and all we have to do is tie up the loose ends.”
“Pretty much.”
Callum swore.
Faith lightly shoved him. “Stop being such a pessimist. This is good news.”
“It’s horrible news. It means I have to follow through on my part of the deal and work with her.”
She shook her head in exasperation. “You never know. You may actually become friends.”
“Not in this lifetime.”
“You’re impossible. When you come to her cabin to work on her brother’s case, I may have to stick around so she at least has one person there who’s friendly and supportive.”
“You really plan on watching over her?”
“As long as she needs me, yes.”
“If you want to spend your time getting chummy with her, feel free. Meanwhile, I’ll be focusing on her brother’s death row situation so I can resolve this as fast as possible and move on to my next cold case for UB.”
The person sitting on Callum’s right gave him an odd look, then got up and left the waiting room.
Asher chuckled and took the vacated seat. “If we raise our voices and talk more murder and mayhem, we could probably clear the whole waiting room.”
Faith gave him an admonishing look. “This isn’t a laughing matter. Poor Raine. Can you imagine a sister being under that kind of pressure, knowing she’s the only hope her brother has at not being executed? Be nice to her, Callum. She’s going through a lot.” She held up her hands. “And don’t lecture me again about what she put you through. You’ve survived far worse. And that was truly horrible that you counted down the minutes out loud until the police arrived, making her scramble to convince you about the information she had even though her head was hurting so much. You owe her an apology.”
Asher’s mouth dropped open in shock as he stared at her.
“Please tell me that was a joke,” Callum said.
“Men.” She crossed her arms. “In addition to the folders Asher and I have, we’ve got Raine’s laptop. She gave me her password right before the EMTs loaded her into the ambulance, said she has more information on her brother’s case on her computer. We’ll take a look and see what we can find and print it out for you.”
“Leave the laptop with me so I don’t have to wait for printouts. Speed is the name of the game with the clock ticking on her brother’s case.”
She arched a brow. “You sure you want to tackle her computer? You know how you are with electronics.”
“Oh, good grief. Dumb luck and a few missteps here and there doesn’t make me technologically challenged. And I’m not the only one who has problems using our ridiculously complicated videoconferencing system at the office.”
Asher’s eyes widened. “What about that time you managed to erase a suspect’s confession while you were playing it back?”
Callum narrowed his eyes.
Asher laughed.
Faith shook her head at both of them. “I’ll text you the password, Callum.”
“I appreciate it. Asher, you said Lance is going to watch our potential suspect. I’m almost afraid to ask, but if we have a name and address, and as much information as you alluded to, can I assume that Raine performed physical surveillance on our would-be killer?”
Asher sobered. “No question. There are logs she kept that speak to his routine.”
Callum fisted his hands on his knees. “I can see a lawyer, with no police background, performing surveillance on me by sitting in her car in the parking lot. I wouldn’t have had a reason to notice her. But a murderer, a serial killer, is always on the hunt for his next victim. And on the watch for police who may be on to him. We need to consider that he may have noticed her at some point. For all we know, he could have decided to add her to his future victim list.”
Faith turned pale. “He could be following her right now.”
He nodded. “It’s certainly possible. As soon as either of you hear back from Lance, give me an update. I’d feel a lot better about her security if our team locates him and we know he’s nowhere near this place, or Raine’s cabin she rented here.”
“I’ll let you know the minute Lance reports in,” Asher told him.
“Thanks.”
Faith motioned to Asher. “Go ahead and get Raine’s laptop. It’s under my book bag on the left side of your trunk.”
“A please would be nice.”
“Asher—”
“Okay, okay.” He aimed a long-suffering look at Callum. “I’m not only Faith’s chauffeur today, I’m her gopher.”
Callum glanced back and forth between them. “Is there something I should know about the two of you? Something juicy the rest of our team might want to hear about?”
Horrified didn’t begin to describe the expressions on their faces.
“My car’s in the shop. I needed a ride.” Faith managed to sound defensive and insulted at the same time. “And, please, seriously? Asher? And me? Not a chance, ever.”
Asher frowned. “Hold on a minute. What’s so bad about me?”
She arched a brow. “How much time do you have?”
Callum laughed and held up his hands. “All right, children. Continue your argument elsewhere.” He motioned toward the volunteer working the desk, who was waving at him. “Looks like I’m being summoned.” He stood and extended the duffel bag’s handle so he could roll it behind him.
Asher frowned at Faith before heading toward the exit with long, angry strides.
She chuckled. “Be nice to Raine, Callum. Keep me updated on her medical status and let me know when to head over to her cabin.”
“I’m always nice. And I’ll keep you updated on Ms. Quintero as long as you keep me updated on your and Asher’s budding relationship.” He laughed when she made a rude gesture and hurried after Asher.
At the volunteer desk, he smiled at the bright red–haired woman in charge of updating visitors about their loved ones. “You have an update about Ms. Quintero?”
She added a check to one of the boxes on her clipboard and stood. “Doctor Bagnoli will meet you in privacy room three, just around the corner. I’ll show you the way.”
Callum had just settled into one of the plastic chairs in the windowless closet-like room when the doctor rapped on the door and stepped inside. Less than a minute later, Dr. Bagnoli was gone. And just like that, Callum was responsible for the health and well-being of a woman he barely knew. A woman he’d met under bizarre circumstances that had him wavering between wanting to help her and wanting to send her on her way.
Of course, that decision had already been made. A deal had been struck between them seconds before the police had arrived at the run-down cottage in the woods. As a result, he’d lied to the police. Something vague about misunderstandings. It was obvious they hadn’t bought his fabrication. But Gatlinburg PD’s excellent relationship and history with UB had smoothed the way for them to pretend they believed him and leave. Callum changing his mind wasn’t an option now. There was no going back.
A few moments later, a nurse brought him into the busy part of the emergency room where patients were being treated and medical staff were scurrying around like ants in a thunderstorm. She pointed toward the curtained alcove where Raine was and hurried off to another patient.
When Callum was just a few feet away, he stopped, stunned and riddled with guilt again at how pitiful she looked. She was lying on her left side in the bed, her knees drawn up in a fetal position. Her eyes were closed, but she was frowning in her sleep. Since both of her hands were clutching her head, it didn’t take a medical degree to conclude that she was in pain.
He immediately turned around and headed to the circular desk in the middle of the ER. A dozen nurses and doctors created a chaotic scene buzzing with activity. Some were talking to each other. A handful were on the phone. Several more were sitting at desktop computers or standing at the counter tapping on computer pads. They were all doing their best to ignore him.
He could understand their desire not to be interrupted, especially as overworked as they all appeared to be. But Raine needed pain medication and he wasn’t going to back down until she got it.
The first person who had the misfortune of making eye contact with him became his target. Five minutes later, Raine was sleeping comfortably. Her frown was gone and she was no longer clutching her head.
“As soon as her doctor’s release orders come through,” another nurse told him, “I’ll send someone in with a wheelchair so you can take her home. But don’t be surprised if it takes a while. We’re slammed around here. I’m not sure when the doctor will input the orders.”
“Not my first time in a hospital. I know how slowly the wheels of bureaucracy can turn.” He smiled to soften his words and thanked the nurse, who eagerly left, pulling the curtain closed behind him.
Callum settled into one of the ridiculously small chairs built for someone half his size and pulled the duffel bag beside him. After a quick glance at Raine to make sure she was still resting comfortably, he took out one of the thick folders and plopped it on his lap.
“All right, Ms. Quintero, attorney-at-law. Let’s see what kind of a mess you’ve gotten me into.”