Page 38 of Lethal Lover

I glance over my shoulder where the group seems to be huddling around the director, and I see the doctor coming out of the medical-staff-only doors.

“Ms. Cortez, can I ask you a few questions?” the detective says, but I’m already two steps away. If the doctor has updates, I want to know what they are.

“Can you give me a sec?” I call over my shoulder as I float toward the center of gravity. A desperate need to know what’s going on pulls me away from where I should be into the chaos of emotion surrounding everyone from the theater. I walk up next to Celia, who puts her arm around me and pulls me to her side as the doctor starts talking.

“I know you’re all anxious for information. Thank you for being patient. We have only just now gotten permission from our patient to give you an update. Trixie is going to be okay. She will be admitted to the hospital for a few days to continue clearing her blood of the toxins?—”

“What was it?” I blurt out, not even afraid to interrupt him. Everyone glances at me, and then he replies.

“It was an opioid overdose. Whoever dosed her did it good, too. Fentanyl is dangerous in even low doses when it’s not prescribed for a medical condition. Trixie is very lucky you found her when you did. She could have died. Now, she’s ready for visitors, but only two at a time.”

My heart instantly feels relieved. I’m finally able to let the tears flow freely, and man, do they flow. Celia, Schrader, and Mr. Monroe are there with me, hugging me and telling me how grateful they are that I found her so quickly. I did nothing. I just showed up to work like normal, but I’m glad I found her too. A drug overdose is scary.

“Well, who wants to go back first?” The doctor waits for us, and I raise my hand.

“I want to go first, please. I have to see her to make my brain believe this nightmare is over.” I wipe the tears from my eyes and glance at the director hoping he’ll go with me, but before he can even chime in, Warren is there grabbing my hand.

“I’ll go with her. Trixie and I are close too. We used to date.”

Warren doesn’t even seem concerned. If anything, he seems angry. A storm is brewing in his eyes even though there is a soft smile on his face. I’ve seen it a million times when he takes the stage. He can be in a nasty mood backstage and then walk out to perform and nail the role of the happiest man on Earth. He’s acting, but why does he need to act? Why isn’t he relieved Trixie is going to be okay?

“Uh, okay,” I mumble, feeling myself being ushered away from the safety of my people. The hair on my arms stands on end. I glance over my shoulder at Liam who is engrossed in aconversation with his detective friend and Slick, and I wish he were coming with me, not Warren.

Warren’s hand in the small of my back makes me queasy and nervous. We follow the doctor through the double doors and down a long, wide hallway with a low ceiling and fluorescent lighting. Nurses and doctors scurry around, and I hear a patient moaning in pain. This doesn’t feel like a hospital. This feels like a haunted house of horrors. I find myself wanting to run away.

“She’s just down that hallway in room seven. Go on down.” The doctor points to the right as he turns to the left. He’s not coming with us? We’re going in alone?

My heart is racing now. Something doesn’t feel right. Warren is pushing me harder, faster, making me go at his pace. A knot forms in my stomach and a lump in my throat.

“Maybe we should?—”

“Shh,” he hisses, and his eyes dart around, as if looking for an escape.

“Warren, I don’t like this. I want to go back. I think the director should come back first.” I try to turn and walk back up the hallway, but he wraps a hand around my head so fast I almost get whiplash. His thick fingers cover my mouth, and he pins me against his body with his other hand as he forces me down the hallway. I kick and swing my arms, but he’s twice my strength. What the hell is he doing? Why is he doing this? Oh, my God, Warren is the stalker.

“No! Help!” I scream, but my screams are muffled by his hand on my mouth. He walks toward a closed door with a black plaque labeled “storage” stuck to the door. I try to put my feet on thedoor frame to keep him from taking me in the room, but he is too strong.

“Stop fighting me, Elena, and this will be so much easier for you.” His thick, grumbling voice makes my skin crawl.

He did it. He really did it. It was him.

Inside the room, he shoves me hard into the back wall where I bump my head. I slam into a shelf of boxes and bottles, and a few things topple to the floor around me as I turn and stare at him in horror. I want to scream, but it’s like my voice is trapped in my throat. I can’t make a sound. I feel like I’m in a nightmare.

This can’t be happening.

25

LIAM

When Elena walks off, I know it’s for the best. She’s going to her friends from work and I have real business to get down to. Kraus probably has news she won’t want to hear, and Slick stands guard to make sure no one can eavesdrop on our conversation.

“So tell me what you have.” I stand a little closer than I want to, but before anyone else learns the scoop, I want to confirm my suspicions.

Kraus’s eyes flick around. He’s nervous too, because he knows what I’ll do to whoever is threatening my girl. He knows me well enough to know what sort of mess he’s gotten himself into, and I hope he’s covered his tracks as far as the investigation he’s done.

“We should talk outside,” he tells me, but I’m not going anywhere.

“Now, Kraus. What did you learn?” I leave no room for misinterpretation in my tone. He will cough up the information or I’ll choke it out of him. “What do you know?”

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