Page 43 of A Colby Christmas Rescue

Holy cow. Was he speaking to her? Since he stared directly at her, she assumed so. Mrs. Mason was whispering softly to her husband.

Jamie mustered up a vague smile. “Sure.”

Maybe he had recognized her.

Oh hell.

Once they were outside the room and the door closed, he set his attention on Jamie. “Were you here in the room when the nurse told Mrs. Mason I needed to be called?”

Aha. They were attempting to nail down the reason this happened. “No. I’m sorry. I wasn’t here.” At his frustrated look, she shrugged and offered, “I went for coffee.”

“Anyway,” Case said. “I’m here now and I’ll be hanging around for a while. Just as a precaution.”

Obviously, he was worried this Nurse Johnson had done something more than make a fake call. Damn.

“If you or Mrs. Mason notice anything unusual, don’t hesitate to call for assistance.”

“We will. Thank you.”

Case walked away. By the weary set of his shoulders, he seemed exhausted. His day had begun very early and certainly had not ended the way he had anticipated.

She decided to call Abi rather than bother with a text.

“Where are you? I’m in the waiting room.”

She gave him the abridged version of what had occurred. “Doesn’t sound like Case is going home anytime soon.”

“I’ll make some calls about this fake nurse.”

“Dr. Case feels overly safe here at the hospital,” she said, thinking about how he’d come to the room alone. “He didn’t have any of his security personnel with him when he visited the patient’s room. Considering what just went down with the nurse, I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.”

“That is a very astute observation, Colby,” Abi said. “I’ll have to ensure he’s made aware of this oversight.”

Jamie had no idea how he intended to make that happen.

“You want me to hang around here? Case said he would be stopping back by?”

“Yes, please do. I have something else to look into.”

“I’ll let you know when I see him again.” She ended the call and put her phone away.

At the Mason’s door, Jamie knocked softly and pushed the door inward far enough to step inside. “Mrs. Mason, Dr. Case will be back after the next CT is taken. Do you need anything for now? My friend is still in surgery, so I have some time if you need anything.”

“You are so kind. I’m good for now though.”

“Great.” Jamie frowned. “They seem a bit concerned about this Nurse Johnson.”

Mason made a distressed face. “It’s so strange. It makes me wonder if she was even a nurse or if she was high or something.”

Jamie wondered the same thing. “What did she look like?”

“Brown hair. Short and spiky.” She scrunched her face in thought. “Kind of tall.” She shrugged. “I always think anyone taller than me is tall. But a couple or three inches taller than me for sure. Thin. Kind of willowy.”

“I’m sure they’ll get to the bottom of it,” Jamie assured her. “They have cameras everywhere here. Maybe she was from one of those temp agencies.” Jamie shrugged. “There are so many staffing shortages these days.”

If the point of this nurse’s lie about Mr. Mason was to get Dr. Case back to the hospital, why would she just disappear without completing the rest of her mission? Had her backup failed to step up? Or had the plan not been executed as of yet?

Which meant Dr. Case could be in danger right now.

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