Page 36 of Crosshairs

Was it a drug addict who’d attacked her? Her gut said no. It also said the attack had nothing to do with the investigation, but where did that leave her?

“There’s cell coverage at Mount Locust,” Linc said. “We can pull in and you can call your supervisor.”

His voice startled her, setting off a flurry of heartbeats. She wasn’t sure if it was because the truck cab was so quiet or if it was the deep timbre of his voice. If it was the latter, she was in trouble.

“I’ll try, but I don’t want to spend a lot of time here.” She tooka breath and dialed Brent Murphy’s number. She groaned when she got his voicemail but left a message asking for Troy Maddox’s status. “I can’t believe he’s been released.”

“Maybe he escaped.”

“I think someone would have notified me if that had happened. Maddox has been pretty vocal about what he’d do if he got out. I was counting on those twenty-five years to change his mind and decide harming me wasn’t worth going back to prison for.”

“Still, I’ll feel better once you get in touch with your supervisor,” he said.

So would Ainsley, if nothing more than to verify Maddox was where he was supposed to be. She leaned her head back on the seat, the sound of the tires calming her. She liked the man Linc had become, not that she’d admit it to him. Her heart sped up at the memory of his fingers stroking her cheek. Was he dating anyone?

Immediately Sarah came to mind and the way she’d put her hand on his arm. Maybe they were a couple. The thought pained her. Why? Ainsley had no claim to Linc. Her time would be better spent trying to figure out who wanted to kill her.

Half an hour later, they rolled into the hospital parking lot. There’d been no more texts from her grandmother and nothing from her supervisor. “I’ll take you to get your SUV as soon as I’ve talked to Gran,” she said and slipped into the vest he retrieved from the toolbox. She hated wearing the vest inside the hospital.

“No hurry. I want to see how Cora is.” He tilted his head. “What’s the matter?”

“Just trying to figure out how to keep Gran from worrying when she sees me in this vest.”

“I think you’ll be safe in the hospital, so why don’t you see if you can stash it at the front desk until you get ready to leave?”

“Good thinking.”

When they walked into the hospital, she slipped out of thevest and asked the volunteers manning the reception desk if she could leave it there. They agreed but eyed the Sig Sauer in her holster. “I’ll keep this,” she said.

As they walked to the ICU waiting room, she asked, “How did you get roped into helping Cora with her book?”

“I wasn’t ‘roped’ into it,” he replied. “She told me she was writing a book about her great-grandparents and she needed my assistance. It seemed like such an interesting story that I offered to help.”

“Really?” Ainsley supposed someone hearing the story for the first time would find it interesting. She’d heard the story a hundred times. How Gran and Cora’s great-grandfather was arrested for murdering his brother-in-law and then killed by an angry mob made up of friends of the murdered man before he could stand trial.

“Cora has her own theory formulated by the first diary she found almost a year ago. She believes there are more diaries, if she just knew where to look. Evidently the diary that went missing was written well after the murder, and according to Cora, it’s rich with history about the Reconstruction era.”

“Cora mentioned diaries last night. Do you think she may have found more?”

“She was certainly looking for them,” he said. “Had been since before I started helping her.”

Talking about the diaries reminded Ainsley of the wet carpet. “Once we leave here, do you have time to go by her house?”

“I was hoping you would ask,” he said with a grin.

It surprised her that she looked forward to his help searching for evidence that someone else was in the library.

20

Maddox pulled into the hospital parking lot and parked several rows over from the pickup he’d followed from the Trace. His information about Beaumont hadn’t included her location in Natchez, so following her to wherever she was staying was a must.

Time ticked by slowly as Maddox slouched down in the seat and waited for them to exit the hospital. A slight breeze through the open windows barely kept him awake. He tipped his hat down on his forehead and watched the front entrance.

21

When they entered the ICU waiting room, Linc narrowed his eyes. Sarah was sitting with Rose. The videographer he’d seen with her last night was leaning against the wall. What were they doing here?

That was a dumb question. The news reporter was looking for Ainsley to interview her. Beside him, Ainsley caught her breath.

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