Page 15 of Christmas Ransom

When Davy walked through her hospital door and rushed to her bedside, she threw her arms around him. She was so glad to see him.

“HEY,” DAVYSAID,unable not to grin as he held her. It felt good having her in his arms again. He told himself not to make more of it than it probably was. Carla was scared after her ordeal at the bank. Who wouldn’t be?

“I wasn’t expecting that kind of reception, but I liked it,” he joked as he pulled back to look at her and sobered. “What’s happened?” He could feel her trembling and swore he could hear her heart pounding it was beating so hard.

She looked toward the door. She was biting at her lower lip, tears welling in her blue eyes, and all the color had leached from her face.

“Talk to me,” he said, drawing her attention back to him. He’d never seen her like this in all the years he’d known her, including the intimate ones. “You’re scaring me.”

She let out a strangled bark of a laugh. “You’rescared? No one’s threatening to kill you.”

He stared at her in confusion. He’d talked to Willie before coming into her room. His brother had sworn that the only people who’d come into her room were two FBI agents and a food server. “You were threatened here at the hospital?”

As she nodded, she brushed at her tears. “There was a note on my dinner tray.”

“You still have it?” he asked and looked around. The tray was gone. When he met her eyes again, he knew that so was the note. “How long ago was this? Maybe I can still—”

“No, I don’t want you getting involved,” she cried.

He shook his head. “Carla, I am involved. You’re in trouble and I’m here for you. Tell me. What was on the note?” He listened as she described it. TALK AND YOU DIE.

“He’s here in the hospital,” she cried. “He can get to me at any time.”

“No, he can’t,” Davy assured her, angry with himself for leaving her room. Not that it would have kept someone from getting the note to her. But at least they would have the note to give to the feds. “I’m not leaving you alone again.”

She groaned, but no longer appeared to be trembling. “You can’t protect me. Not from a killer. Or the FBI.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The FBI agent who questioned me? I can tell he thinks the robbery was an inside job and that I was involved.” She buried her face in her hands. “If only I hadn’t stopped by my office on my day off...”

“Don’t.” He took her hands in both of his. They felt cold. He rubbed a little heat back into them and thought about the winter they were together. She had always had cold hands and feet. He’d been more than happy to warm them up for her. “You can’t rewrite history. I’ve done some of that and all it does is make you feel worse.” He frowned. TALK AND YOU DIE. “Carla, why would the robber think you know something he doesn’t want you telling the law?”

She looked away for a moment, swallowed and then met his gaze as if making up her mind. “I remembered something about the robbery. He had a tattoo, the man who tried to abduct me.” She described it. “I’m assuming his name starts withJ. Maybe so does his partner’s.”

“Did you tell the agent?”

Carla shook her head. “I was too afraid.”

“Tell me about the tattoo.”

“It was on his neck close to his shoulder. It was fairly crude. AJ, then a heart and anotherJ. The heart was a little sloppy and the ink had settled in the bottom of it.”

“You need to tell the FBI agent.”

She looked close to tears. “How is it going to help?”

“I’m not sure,” Davy said. “But it’s something. What about his voice? Would you recognize it if you heard it again?”

She shook her head. “It was muffled because of the mask and beard.”

He questioned her about the size of the man. Average in every way. She hadn’t gotten a good look at the other men. She thought one of them, the one who acted like the boss, had been larger, stockier.

“Who do you know whose name begins withJ—other than my brother?”

She shook her head and winced. He could tell her headache had come back and was starting to hurt again.

“Try not to worry about it,” he said. “I’m staying right here to make sure you’re safe. No one is going to get to you.”

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