Page 46 of The Chance

With… accusations McCoy had shared.

He believed the other man. Maybe McCoy Laird had only worked at BCGH for a little while, but the man was honest. And when he’d come to Guthrie to report his suspicions about the missing meds—Guthrie had believed him.

They just needed to make sure they were right before they went to that damned Laughlin with accusations first. Guthrie would not do anything to potentially ruin a man’s career, not without careful consideration.

Even Dr. Justin Michaels.

“What are you saying exactly?” he looked at the man. Dr. Laird was former military, and the single father of five kids—nothing phased him.

“I don’t think it, I know something’s off. I’ve seen Dr. Howard sneaking into supply rooms when he shouldn’t be anywhere near them. Michaels is just as bad, if not worse.Always watching. For Howard. And I caught them both down by the boiler room a couple of weeks ago. Came up on them arguing.”

“The boiler room? That’s hardly a storage room. What the hell were they doing down there? What were you?”

“I followed a nurse practitioner down there after I saw her looking suspicious. Until I realized she was just looking for a good time with Michaels down there. They end up down there once a day at minimum. Your guess is as good as mine about Howard and Michaels. I’ve been keeping an eye on them since then. Even found an Oxycodone pill on the floor near the boiler room after they left two days ago. Didn’t think it was a coincidence—I heard… you and Dr. Fisher… her audits. I wanted to let you know that I am going to Alvaro this evening with my suspicions.” McCoy’s face was tight with anger. Guthrie understood—his wife had OD’d on prescription opioids after a surgery to repair a bulging disk in her neck had been unsuccessful. She’d accidentally taken too many—and had an allergic reaction that had proven fatal eighteen months ago. Their youngest had been two months old at the time.

“Why didn’t you report this sooner?” Guthrie asked. “You know how serious this is.”

Laird didn’t flinch. The guy was damned calm in any situation. He was a blond version of Caine Alvaro. Guthrie had thought that before. “Because I wanted to be sure before I went pointing fingers. You’ve seen what accusations can do around here. Hell, I was on Aubrey Fisher’s list, wasn’t I? Let me guess—I showed up on camera where I shouldn’t have been.”

His phone rang. Guthrie checked it quickly. Tennison Laughlin. That guy didn’t have any reason to call Guthrie. Not that Guthrie could think of. Guthrie didn’t like that guy much either—something about the way Laughlin looked at a certain assistant-COM that Guthrie adored…

It was a territorial thing; Guthrie knew himself well enough to know that.

“Hey, Hiller, you seen your woman lately?” The question was light, but the tone—no.

“Aubrey? What about her?”

“We were supposed to meet half an hour ago. It’s not like her to skip out on me—and I have Alvaro and Dathan here with me. We’re just patiently waiting here. For her. And Jordan. So… I figured she was with you somewhere, and lost track of time staring into your eyes, or something. Heard you have the prettiest eyes of all the doctors in the hospital recently. So you know where she is or not?”

“No. I haven’t heard from Aubrey in a few hours. We had plans to meet back up at six.” And she’d told him that he had to stop distracting her. But her cheeks had been red and her eyes had had that look in them. He’d wanted to just scoop her up and carry her off to his cave, just like he’d had the misfortune to hear Chad promising to do with his own baby sister.

“Find her. I’ll start looking on my end. You start there. We’ve had a few developments in that little project we’re working on. We’re going to move quickly on them, and she needs to be ready. Probably make an arrest today. Just have to track down all the players.”

“I’ll check in with her and get back to you.” Sometimes they just couldn’t stop what they were doing to answer the phone. But…

“See you do, lover boy. And… she’s too good for you, lucky bastard. Just so you know. If I wasn’t anti-romance I’d have already scooped her up and ridden off into the sunset. You might have to fight Dathan for her, though. I think he’s smitten.”

“Appreciate your restraint, but she’s mine. And Carrington can be smitten with someone else. I heard there’s a nurse over at FCGH that has his number, recently. I’ll get back to you soon.”

He disconnected, and switched to the tracking app Greer had put on his phone—Greer had put her number code in there, and Aubrey’s and Genny’s. He’d teasingly tracked Aubrey throughout the hospital during his lunch break yesterday until he’d found her. Because he could hunt her like the caveman he was. He’d told her that, too. And that he was enjoying it.

She’d just given him that look again. So he’d put his own number code in her phone. So she could track him, too, whenever she wanted. She’d told him she was going to add Ayla later. And that he was such a caveman. But he thought she liked that idea, honestly.

She’d let him kiss her—very chastely—when he’d walked her back to her office after they’d eaten in the cafeteria.Aftershe had let him into her hallowed sanctuary, where there weren’t any cameras. A very chaste, very appropriate, ‘see you after I finish work, darling,’ kind of kiss that had had him floating on air the rest of the day.

Now the app…had a more important function.

It showed Aubrey toward the rear of the building. But… that part of the building was inaccessible above ground. She could be… but… “She’s in the north end of the hospital. But she’s in a part of the hospital that’s blocked off. Haven’t been used in years and those doors are kept locked. But she’s in an area where there are no doors. It doesn’t make sense.”

Laird looked at Guthrie’s screen. “This is Barratt-Handley Tech. It’s new software; I’ve used that app before to track my older kids. That app shows two stories below ground. She’s probably in the basement. Boiler room, it looks like it. That’s a busy place lately.”

“The same place you found a loose opioid?” Guthrie stood and grabbed his keys and his phone, shoving them into his pocket. “And Laird, if she’s in that part of the building, underground, it’s probably not by choice. She missed a meeting with Alvaro—Aubrey wouldn’t do that. She’s in the basement. Aubrey is terrified of basements. She wouldn’t be in the basement here without damned good reason.”

“You think she’s in trouble.” The other man stood, six-five and muscled, menacing. Guthrie was damned glad to have Laird on the good guys’ team.

“I need to get to her. I’d rather be wrong, than be right. I just need to get to her.”

“As fast as we can get there,” Laird said, following Guthrie out the door.

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