Page 19 of Scorched Secrets

“I don’t want you to be hurt because of me.” Her voice was low and husky.

“I feel the exact same way.” He took her hand in his. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you because I wasn’t there to help protect you.”

She didn’t say anything for a long time.

“Don’t you see? We’re better off sticking together.” He headed downtown, away from Brookland and Trinity Medical Center.

“Okay, we can stay together, for now.” She sounded so exhausted and worn out that he didn’t take any joy in getting his way.

Now all he needed to do was keep her safe. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take Mitch too long to find this guy, getting him off the street once and for all.

Chapter Five

Allowing Colin to stay close was a mistake. Logically, she knew that. Practically, it was difficult to say no. For one thing she didn’t have a car or a place to stay. She also didn’t own anything but what she had in her purse and the scrubs she wore. Dirty, wet, stained scrubs that she couldn’t wait to get rid of.

She made a silent promise to convince Colin to leave after they’d stopped to get new clothes and decided on temporary housing. The idea of a hotel didn’t thrill her, but without a vehicle to get groceries, she didn’t have another option. Unless they were able to find a vacation rental close to a grocery store.

“I’d like to stop and get a few things.” She plucked at the scrubs. “Real clothes would be nice. These smell like smoke.”

“Sure, where do you usually shop?” He glanced at her curiously. “I can take you to the mall if that helps.”

“No need. A discount store will do for now.” Not smart to spend a bunch of money when she had no idea what the insurance company would do related to her car and house. Did they pay if the loss was related to a crime? She had no idea.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind.”

“I’m positive. I only need a few things to get through the rest of the weekend. I’ll be back at work on Monday.”

Colin looked like he wanted to argue but then nodded. Using the Jeep’s GPS screen, he pulled up a map. “There’s a discount store about five miles from here.”

“Perfect.” Rubbing her temple, she tried not to dwell on how close she’d been to being burned. Or suffering extreme smoke inhalation. Both could be deadly.

Which seemed to have been the goal. Unlike the previous attempts that had simply damaged her personal property.

“It seems odd that a firefighter who’d lost his job would risk killing me.” She was having trouble coming up with a viable reason why anyone would want to kill her. “Same goes for an irate patient or family member. It’s so drastic. And extreme. If caught and convicted, they’d face life in prison without the possibility of parole.”

“He’s already killed Larry, but that may have not been intentional. Not like the fire in the restroom. I’ve been thinking about that too,” Colin admitted. “The fire may not have been intended to harm you. Especially as it was set in the middle of the day in August when kids are still out of school and known to play at the park. I wasn’t the only one to call 911, they’d already received other calls related to the fire.”

She shivered, remembering those panicked moments she’d been trapped. “The arsonist may have underestimated the impact of severe smoke inhalation, then. If not for you helping to remove that grate, things could have ended with me being intubated and placed in a critical care unit.” Or worse. Hyperbaric treatments were a last-ditch resort and didn’t always work to reverse the impact of severely damaged lung tissue.

“I know.” He took her hand. “I still wish you had gone in to be evaluated.”

“I’m fine.” Her throat was still sore, and her voice sounded scratchy, but her coughing had mostly subsided.

“Maybe we need to think about which patients may have died under your care.” Colin pulled into the parking lot of a popular discount store. “This may be about revenge.”

“I don’t keep a list. Besides, we already talked about patient privacy, remember?” She pushed out of the passenger door, frustrated over the way Colin and Mitch didn’t seem to understand her position.

Colin seemed just as annoyed, slamming his driver’s side door harder than necessary. She scowled at him, then hurried inside. She wasn’t rehashing the subject again. She would not provide names outside of a subpoena. End of discussion.

Rolling her cart through the aisles, she chose a few simple summery outfits. Ignoring Colin standing beside her, she then headed over to purchase underclothes too. Lastly, she picked up several personal items.

Colin didn’t say anything until they were standing in line, waiting to check out. “I have plenty of cash if you need it.”

“I don’t.” She wasn’t taking his money, even though it was a sweet offer. Again, very different from her ex-husband. Rory expected her to pay for everything, including his incidentals. Which she’d gladly done, until she happened to see a few of his text messages with his yoga instructor. Then she’d come home early from a shift to find Rory and Tiffany in bed together. She shook off the depressing thoughts, and added, “I’m fine, thanks.”

When she’d finished paying for her things, Colin took the bag as they headed back to his Jeep. He opened her door for her. “There’s a hotel near the courthouse; it seems to be reasonably priced and would be a good place to stay for a few days. Close to restaurants anyway. Give me a minute to see if they have any rooms.”

She shrugged and slid into the passenger seat. “Sure, why not? I’ll stay there until Monday, then I need to find a place closer to the hospital.”

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