Page 76 of The Deadly Shallows

Noah held up his hands. “I’d love to stay and finish this conversation, but I still need to question Macken and Brooke.”

He balanced on the bothersome crutch Greene insisted he use, hating the idea of being dependent on it. Brooke had pushed for a wheelchair, but that wasn’t happening.

“Let’s head to the nurses’ station,” he said to Brooke and Macken. Hearing their recollections before viewing the security footage would help him better understand the full situation and direct his viewing of the footage.

“Can you run through what happened, starting with the man coming out of Connor Andrews’s room?”

Macken explained the order of events, and Brooke fully agreed with his statement.

“Did he turn and fire on you when you reached the bottom of the stairs?” Noah asked.

“No,” Brooke said. “There were two men in the back of the van Connor’s killer jumped in.”

“A van?”

“Yes, sir,” Macken concurred.

“The men in the van raised weapons. I pushed her back,” he said, looking at Brooke, “and slammed the steel door shut.”

“Quick thinking,” Noah said, grateful he’d protected Brooke. “Could you see the color of the van?” he continued.

“White,” Macken said.

That was not at all surprising. White van sightings had popped up along every curve of their investigation. Noah shifted and regretted the motion as fresh pain shot through his thigh.

“What about any identifying markers?”

“It all happened so fast,” Macken said, “but after the shooting stopped, I heard them peel away.”

Noah looked to Brooke.

“I only saw the white van and the men in the back for the briefest of seconds before the shooting started.”

“Do you think you could identity the two men in the van?” he asked them both. “Their faces, build, anything to help identify them?”

She shook her head.

“No,” Macken said. “Only that they were dressed in black.”

So it looked like the best lead was their close-up glimpse of the man who killed Connor. He hated to put Brooke back through this, but he had no choice. “Do you think you could give enough detail of the man posing as a nurse for Logan to do a sketch?”

“I’ll do my best,” she said. Beside her, Macken nodded his agreement.

“I’ll give him a call,” Noah said, praying the sketch would lead them to the man. Or even better, that the men or van had been caught on camera.

FORTY

Felix Cruz approached the security-station door at the same time as Noah.

“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting,” Felix said. “Leonard returned from his dinner break, and we made our rounds ensuring the hospital is secure.”

“Far more important. I just appreciate you meeting me,” Noah said. He supposed two security guards plus one in the booth were plenty for what was normally a quiet local hospital. But not tonight. Tonight, they could have used a whole force.

“I radioed Tom, our man in the booth, to let him know we were coming, but he didn’t respond, which isn’t like him,” Felix said, pulling out his keys. “But he sometimes forgets his radio when he goes to hit the head or grab a soda from the vending machine.”

Noah hoped Felix was right, because the body count was continuing to rise. He prayed Tom wasn’t part of it.

“I’m assuming you’re going to want a copy of all the video footage?” Felix said, unlocking the door.