respond. “I understand.” His face was hidden in the dark, but his words conveyed his feelings quite well. “You care about your patients. That’s one of the things I love about you.”
A car wheeled into the lot, and Adam stopped talking as it pulled into a space at the end of the row and turned off its lights. Carrie hunched her shoulders against an invisible bullet. She wondered if it was true a person never heard the shot that ended their life. She hoped she wasn’t about to find out.
Two doors slammed, and a young couple joined hands and walked slowly to one of the unit doors. Beside her, Adam let out a big breath, and Carrie realized she’d been holding hers as well.
“We’d better get inside,” Adam said.
Carrie’s senses were on high alert as she scurried through the semidarkness beside Adam. She heaved a sigh and dropped into the room’s only chair while he closed and locked the door.
Adam perched on the edge of the bed. “Here’s the big question,” he said. “How did the person who sent the text get the number of this new cell phone? No one knows it except you. I haven’t even called my brother to give it to him.”
Carrie’s answer came without hesitation. “I haven’t told anyone.”
“I’ll accept that,” Adam said. “But what if someone had access to your cell phone? Whoever texted me, and I have to assume it was the killer, must have thought, ‘This was the last number dialed on her cell phone.’ It was a pretty good bet that your last call would have been to me. When would youhave made that call? And who had access to your cell phone after that?”
When had she called him last? They’d talked while she was on her way back after lunch with Julie. Where had her phone been since then? “After we talked I put my phone in my pocket. Sometimes I get text messages or calls from the hospital.”
“Was it there the rest of the afternoon?”
Carrie started to say yes, but then she stopped. “No. I was seeing that patient in the ER, and while I was bending over his gurney, my phone almost dropped out of my pocket. I gave it to the nurse to stow in a locker in the break room, along with my purse.”
“Was it locked up?”
“It’s supposed to be.” She thought back and felt a chill down her spine. “When I went to pick up the purse, the locker was unlocked.”
“So for an hour or two, anyone going through the ER could have had access to it.”
“I can’t believe someone on the ER staff would do this,” Carrie said.
“Not just the ER staff. It could have been someone pretending to be a patient or family member. Almost anyone could have walked through the ER and slipped into that room. It would only take a matter of a minute or two to identify your purse and check the call log on your phone.”
“Would they know where to look?” Carrie asked.
“I’ll bet I could find the nurses’ locker room inside three minutes,” Adam said. “And even if the locker was secured, you can open those things with a bent paper clip.” He shook his head. “No, the list of suspects is pretty large.”
Carrie couldn’t help it. She got up and walked to the window, where she peered through a slit in the blinds. The parking lot was dark and still, but there could be a killer out there somewhere—a killer who had marked Adam for death.
“Let’s talk about what I have to do next,” Adam said.
Carrie was still at the window with her back to Adam, so he couldn’t see her face, but her next words, the very tone, left no doubt of her feelings. “Not just you—we. I’m with you on this. Neither of us is going to be safe until we identify the attacker and see that he’s locked up.”
“You know this could put you in danger,” Adam said.
“I’m already in danger,” Carrie said. She turned to face him. “Besides . . . I love you.”
Hearing the words made Adam’s heart sing. His happiness was fleeting, though, because he knew what he had to do. And it broke his
A car wheeled into the lot, and Adam stopped talking as it pulled into a space at the end of the row and turned off its lights. Carrie hunched her shoulders against an invisible bullet. She wondered if it was true a person never heard the shot that ended their life. She hoped she wasn’t about to find out.
Two doors slammed, and a young couple joined hands and walked slowly to one of the unit doors. Beside her, Adam let out a big breath, and Carrie realized she’d been holding hers as well.
“We’d better get inside,” Adam said.
Carrie’s senses were on high alert as she scurried through the semidarkness beside Adam. She heaved a sigh and dropped into the room’s only chair while he closed and locked the door.
Adam perched on the edge of the bed. “Here’s the big question,” he said. “How did the person who sent the text get the number of this new cell phone? No one knows it except you. I haven’t even called my brother to give it to him.”
Carrie’s answer came without hesitation. “I haven’t told anyone.”
“I’ll accept that,” Adam said. “But what if someone had access to your cell phone? Whoever texted me, and I have to assume it was the killer, must have thought, ‘This was the last number dialed on her cell phone.’ It was a pretty good bet that your last call would have been to me. When would youhave made that call? And who had access to your cell phone after that?”
When had she called him last? They’d talked while she was on her way back after lunch with Julie. Where had her phone been since then? “After we talked I put my phone in my pocket. Sometimes I get text messages or calls from the hospital.”
“Was it there the rest of the afternoon?”
Carrie started to say yes, but then she stopped. “No. I was seeing that patient in the ER, and while I was bending over his gurney, my phone almost dropped out of my pocket. I gave it to the nurse to stow in a locker in the break room, along with my purse.”
“Was it locked up?”
“It’s supposed to be.” She thought back and felt a chill down her spine. “When I went to pick up the purse, the locker was unlocked.”
“So for an hour or two, anyone going through the ER could have had access to it.”
“I can’t believe someone on the ER staff would do this,” Carrie said.
“Not just the ER staff. It could have been someone pretending to be a patient or family member. Almost anyone could have walked through the ER and slipped into that room. It would only take a matter of a minute or two to identify your purse and check the call log on your phone.”
“Would they know where to look?” Carrie asked.
“I’ll bet I could find the nurses’ locker room inside three minutes,” Adam said. “And even if the locker was secured, you can open those things with a bent paper clip.” He shook his head. “No, the list of suspects is pretty large.”
Carrie couldn’t help it. She got up and walked to the window, where she peered through a slit in the blinds. The parking lot was dark and still, but there could be a killer out there somewhere—a killer who had marked Adam for death.
“Let’s talk about what I have to do next,” Adam said.
Carrie was still at the window with her back to Adam, so he couldn’t see her face, but her next words, the very tone, left no doubt of her feelings. “Not just you—we. I’m with you on this. Neither of us is going to be safe until we identify the attacker and see that he’s locked up.”
“You know this could put you in danger,” Adam said.
“I’m already in danger,” Carrie said. She turned to face him. “Besides . . . I love you.”
Hearing the words made Adam’s heart sing. His happiness was fleeting, though, because he knew what he had to do. And it broke his
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