Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 307(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 307(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
A photograph that now featured a big black X directly over her face.
CHAPTER 12
TWO HOURS LATER, MARLEY SAT on her living-room couch, stiff as a board, unable to erase the memory of Patrick’s vile message. She and Gwen had called the police immediately, and officers had turned the nurses’ locker room into a crime scene, dusting Marley’s locker for fingerprints and questioning everyone who’d been working on the floor that day. So far, none of the hospital staff had admitted to seeing Patrick.
She fought a wave of nausea as she pictured what had happened. He’d waltzed into her place of work, strolled into the locker room. Opened her locker. Touched her things. She wanted to throw up just thinking about it. Was he fearless, or just crazy?
Crazy, obviously. And apparently enraged. She shivered and wondered what on earth she’d done to earn Patrick’s rage. The disgusting message was so different from the sweet email he’d sent only days ago. Something had changed during that time, something had infuriated Patrick so much that he’d decided to paint a target on her.
Fortunately, the police had decided to take this matter seriously. Her house was swarming with law-enforcement officers. Hernandez was in the armchair next to the couch, a notepad in his hand so he could take her statement. Three other officers from the SDPD hovered behind him, while three DEA agents, including Caleb and his partner, stood near the door. Caleb’s partner had introduced himself as AJ Callaghan, and Marley had been angry just shaking his hand, especially when she learned he’d been next door with Caleb this entire time.
Caleb had reacted with a brief flash of guilt during the introduction with AJ, but now he leaned against the bookshelf, his face completely expressionless.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at him for more than a few seconds. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt and snug black trousers. The butt of a gun poked out of the holster on his hip. The weapon was a reminder of his true identity.
He hadn’t said a word to her since entering the house, but concern creased his handsome features.
How concerned had he been when he’d slept with her while pretending to be someone else?
She shoved aside the bitter thought and focused on Hernandez’s latest question. “It’s the picture from his wallet,” she said for the second time. “I gave it to him a few days after he proposed. You can tell from the creases that it was folded a few times to fit somewhere small.”
Hernandez jotted a note, then looked up at her with hard eyes. “And you say the locker was that way when you opened it?”
“Yes.” She gritted her teeth, wondering how many times she’d have to answer the same questions. “My last shift was yesterday morning, and I didn’t go back to the hospital until eight o’clock tonight. When I left yesterday, my locker looked normal.”
Hernandez made a harsh sound under his breath. Annoyance pricked at her skin like tiny little needles. For the love of God. What would it take to convince this man she was innocent, that she was the victim?
She opened her mouth to ask him just that, only to be interrupted by Caleb’s husky voice. “Detective Hernandez?” he called from behind. “May I speak to you for a moment?”
Looking irritated, Hernandez excused himself and made his way over to Caleb. As Marley watched, the two men went out into the hall, heads bent together, voices low. Whatever Caleb had to say, the detective didn’t like it. She could tell from the way his thick black eyebrows bunched together. Then Hernandez looked at the ground and his shoulders slumped.
What was Caleb saying? Whatever it was must have worked, because when Hernandez returned, his normally frosty tone had thawed considerably.
“Ms. Kincaid, do you have any idea what this message means?”
“I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m a whore,” she said dryly.
“Yes, but do you know why he might think that? Do you have a new boyfriend?”
She forced herself not to glance over at Caleb. “No.”
“Are you casually seeing anyone?”
She hesitated. “I did have a date two nights ago.”
Hernandez leaned forward. “Where did you go on the date, which restaurant? Perhaps Grier saw you with another man and—”
“We didn’t go out,” she cut in. “We stayed in and ordered take-out.”
For a moment she was tempted to stand up, point directly at Caleb, and yell, “It was him! We slept together that night, too.”
Instinctively, she knew to keep her mouth shut. It wouldn’t look good for Caleb if she announced his involvement with her. But she wasn’t simply covering for him. The truth made her look like a total idiot, and she was tired of Hernandez glaring at her with that belittling and antagonistic expression.
Right now, he just looked disappointed. “You stayed in,” he repeated. “Okay, well, my gut tells me Grier knows about that date, Ms. Kincaid. Somehow, he heard about it, or maybe—”