Page 39 of Bad Blood

My eyes travel over her body, the lab coat, the badge around her neck. The blooming red stain across her left side.

She’s one of us.

12

The Pest

Brighton

Thursday, May 11 th

1:27 a.m.

I keep getting furtive glances from the police, the detectives, and the hospital security. I want to scream I’m fine and to back off. But then they would think something’s wrong. Heat rushes to my face as I nibble on a fingernail. When I pull my hand away, my eyes land on the dried blood covering fingers. My skin crawls, knowing it’s not mine. The continuous pacing in front of the nurses’ station helps my focus as I continue to avoid eye contact.

Is it hot in here? Just me? I grab the edge of my crimson-stained lab coat and fan it out, but the hairs prick on the nape of my neck with the feeling someone is watching me. If I crack, there will be more questions. And the last thing I need is more attention.

So, I don’t scream. I’m not fine.

Where was Kline, and how did he get there so fast? Was it the scream? Could he have been in the stairwell? A room? Was he the sound I kept hearing? I catch him in the middle of a conversation I can’t hear over the ringing in my ears. I glare at the back of Kline’s head as he explains to a tall, broody detective what he found, accompanied by wild hand movements. He darts his eyes in my direction, and the detective follows his gaze.

Despite trying to evade the truth—that I don’t want to think Kline’s involved, but that he could be—the last thing I want to do is give my side of what happened to the detective with him listening in, but why’d he have to look at me that way? Does he think it was me? Is he going to try to pin this on me?

I need to get out of here. Pretend none of this happened.

My eyes land on the body covered by a sheet, which shoots a pang of fear through my chest. Am I being too callous? Do they suspect me?

“You need to check the surveillance.” My voice comes as a shock to my own ears.

Kline’s brow’s pinch together. He shakes his head. I throw off the blanket that someone draped over my shoulders and close the distance between us.

“Maybe the killer will be on there.”

“We’ve already checked, ma’am.” The detective braces one arm on the counter, his other hand on his hip. “There’s a cover over all the cameras because of the construction.”

Of course there is. Because who would be brazen enough to shoot someone if there were live cameras? My gaze darts to Kline. To the nurse. Her face is blotchy as she talks to a woman detective. But Kline’s face is blank, nondescript.

I can’t believe I’m suspicious of Kline. Sure, he’d mess with some files, screw with the insurance—but kill someone?

And why? What would be his motive?

“Did you check for cameras in the stairwell?” The realization that I never got any more information on the body lying beneath the skewed sheet floods me like a levee breaking open. I saw her face. Looked into her eyes. But I saw her leave after work.

The detective shakes his head. “There aren’t any cameras on the stairs?”

“Have they figured out why she was here?” The sound of my voice cracking makes me feel inept. Why wouldn’t we have cameras on the stairs? And how come I didn’t know? They could have caught something.

Kline crosses his arms over his chest, wipes a hand down the whiskers on his chin, and looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Dr. Pendegrass?”

The sound of her name does me in. My legs shake, and my head turns woozy, turning Kline into two bodies instead of one. A heat flushes up my neck and settles into my face. I blink my eyes, trying to hold myself upright at the edge of the counter.

Too many hands are on me, guiding me to the ground, steadying me against the counter wall.

When my eyes meet Kline’s, I know my thoughts are going haywire, and I need to redirect them. This is nonsense. He would never . . .

“Where is she? Is she okay?” Luca’s voice pulls me from the chaos as the elevator doors close behind him. His gaze swings to the right before he searches the floor.

I wave as he comes rushing over. Does he mean me? Or Dr. Pendegrass?

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