Page 129 of I'm Watching You

‘I got a late-night call on Tuesday on my cell phone. It woke me out of a sound sleep. It really rattled me. The call came from outside the calling area, so I just figured it was a misdial. Was it Claire who called me?’

‘We don’t know.’

An unthinkable thought crossed her mind. ‘Richard Braxton got to her.’

‘Whoever killed Claire was a sadist.’

‘Nicole said Richard could be quite violent. We’ve got to warn her.’

‘I’ll have a sheriff’s deputy posted outside my folks’ place so we can keep an eye on her. I want you back there.’

‘No.’ When he frowned she added, ‘I appreciate what you’re doing, Zack, but I can’t let the Guardian or Richard ruin my life.’

‘You can’t stay here.’

‘I know. I’ll bunk with Ruby. No one will ever find me there.’

*

The elevator doors opened to Mercy Hospital’s fifth floor and out stepped a grim-faced Captain Ayden. Anger overrode fatigue and fueled him as he approached the intercom by the locked metal doors of the surgical recovery floor. He’d not slept in forty-eight hours. He had arranged for his boys to stay with the neighbors and had called them a couple of times just to hear the sound of their voices. He missed them now more than ever.

This latest shooting of the teenage boys had hit too close to home for him. His own sons, fourteen-year-old Zane and sixteen-year-old Caleb, were athletic and active in local mountain bike clubs. Each could have been on that trail this morning and stumbled upon the Guardian.

Ayden pressed the buzzer that sounded at theICUnurses station.

‘Yes,’ a woman said.

‘I’m Captain Ayden and I’m here to see Dr Moore.’

‘Sure, just a moment.’ Another buzzer sounded and this time a lock on the door clicked and the doors swung open.

Ayden strode into theICUward toward the nurses station, where a woman stood reading a chart. She was in her early fifties and wore her shoulder-length dark hair tied back with a rubber band. Wisps of hair stuck out, framing her angled face. Dark shadows hung under vivid blue eyes.

He pulled out his badge. ‘I’m Captain Ayden.’

The woman closed the chart and set it down. ‘My name is Dr Moore. I’m Mr Langford’s surgeon.’

‘MrLangford.’ Ayden swallowed an oath. He was doinghis best to keep his voice calm. ‘The kid isn’t old enough to shave and we’re talking about him like he’s an adult.’

Dr Moore kept her expression neutral, unapologetic. ‘The less attached I am the better, detective. I can’t do my job if I’m emotionally involved. A cop should understand that.’

Ayden frowned. ‘I understand but I still don’t like it.’ He turned his back to the curtain separating them from patients. Unseen monitors beeped. ‘How’s the kid doing?’

‘The bullet tore into his chest.’

‘But he will live,’ Ayden said.

Dr Moore met his direct gaze head-on. ‘I’m going to do everything I can to save him. Either way he’s got a long road ahead of him.’

He shoved out a breath. ‘Does he know his friend died?’

‘No.’

‘Can I talk to him?’

‘You can only if you promise to keep your conversation very short. The boy’s only been out of surgery for an hour.’

‘Understood,’ Ayden said. ‘I won’t do anything to jeopardize his health.’

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