Page 94 of Tough Justice

Horror dawned. “You’ve been working at the prison here, too?”

A smile spread across his face. “Do you remember those times I said I was going skiing with an old med school buddy?”

She did remember. It was last year, in early spring. Another of Wil’s vacations.

“I was actually filling in for that friend at the prison. When I moved back, I left my distribution network behind. I knew I’d find what I needed here in prison.”

“T-Lo.”

“Yes, T-Lo. And I needed to test my new formula. That’s probably where Sanchez and I met.” Wil chuckled. “I didn’t even remember him. The version he received was probably one I tested early on. That one was…stronger than I intended.”

She gaped at him. How could he find any of this amusing? How was this the same man who used to make her laugh at his jokes or who’d held her hand when Mike had moved away? All she saw was an evil, mad scientist, and it made her stomach roll with disgust. “How were you able to experiment on prisoners and get away with it?”

“Generally speaking, prison inmates are a population that nobody cares about. Even the warden. A few bucks under the table was all it took to buy the man’s silence.” He reached into his pocket and tugged out a small cylindrical glass bottle filled with gray powder. “This is the last of my first-gen cocktail. I keep this little baby for posterity, so I can remember how it all got started.” He held up the bottle, grinning as if he’d been inventing a cure for cancer, not creating an illicit drug that killed people.

Tori jerked back, not wanting to be anywhere near the stuff. This was worse than any nightmare. “Deck will figure this out. I left him a message, telling him what happened in the ER tonight and to look into Sanchez’s death. He’ll find me.” Even as she said the words, she didn’t know exactly how he’d find her, but she had to have faith.

He stuffed the bottle back into the pocket of his coveralls, looking thoughtful. “You know, I’ve always liked you, Tori. If I was ever going to get married, it would be to someone like you. But I could never let anyone get that close, and you’re too smart. There was only one person who ever suspected anything, and that was a complete fluke. Mike.”

“Mike?” As in, the doctor she’d dated?

Wil nodded. “He saw me one night in Fort Collins talking to T-Lo. Just a coincidence, but I had to get rid of him. I thought about killing him, but that’s messy, too close to home. It was easier and cleaner to get him booted from North Metro.”

“What? How?” She’d always thought Mike was just a victim of North Metro’s ruthless administrators.

“I altered a few records then dropped a little bug in the hospital board’s ears. Being the head of the ER, they listened. Two days later, Mike resigned in lieu of being fired.”

She stared, wide-eyed. Yet another clue she’d missed.

“Things are getting too hot again. Soon, I’ll have to leave Denver.” Abruptly, he stood then knelt before her, taking her limp hands surprisingly gently in his. “Come with me. We can start over somewhere else.”

She jerked her hands away. He must be out of his mind if he thought she could ever excuse all the heinous crimes he’d committed. It took everything she had to swallow the vile words threatening to escape. The last thing she needed was to piss him off.

“Think about it.” Without another word, he stood and went to the gate, unlocking it then turning around. “You’re a good person. Good people wear their hearts on their sleeves. Whatever you decide, if you’re lying…I’ll know it. I know you, Tori.”

The gate clanged shut behind him, and he turned the key, leaving her to digest her horrible reality. While she’d been in the dark about his true character, Wil did know her. Convincing him she’d consider his offer would never work. He was right. The only possible way out of this was to stall long enough for Deck to find her.

Otherwise, Wil would have no alternative but to kill her.

Chapter Thirty-One

Deck placed his weapon in the secure lock box and pocketed the key. As usual, Thor wasn’t too happy at being left in the SUV again. Given that Deck had been on medical leave for nearly two months and technically still was, his dog hadn’t been working, either, and was bouncing off the walls of his kennel. This time, Thor had actually growled his frustration.

A Federal Bureau of Prisons guard led him down a gray corridor to meet the physician on call, Dr. Shuren. The walk seemed to take forever.

FCI Sheridan was a low-security federal correctional institution with a satellite prison camp and housed nearly two thousand male inmates. At each locked gate, Deck waited while the guard unlocked it then re-secured it after they’d gone through. Finally, they stopped at a door with a sign on it that read Health Services.

The guard knocked, and a moment later, the door opened. A tall man of about forty, with blond hair and wearing a white doctor’s coat, stood on the other side. Dr. Shuren, he presumed.

“Special Agent Decker?” the doctor asked.

“Yes.”

“Come in.”

“I’ll wait here for you,” the guard said, following prison protocol by leaving no visitor—even a federal agent—unescorted.

Deck followed the doctor through a small reception area and into an office.