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Those words had barely left my lips when an alarm started blaring from somewhere. It only took a few seconds to ascertain that it was coming from Kim’s room. The next thing I knew, doctors and nurses were rushing in.
Immediately, my eyes went to Wick’s and the nod he gave me told me he was thinking the same thing I was – here was yet another incident that was too-well timed to be coincidental.
“I wasjustin there with her,” I whispered, standing up as Wick straightened from his squatted stance. “She was in bad shape, but stable. Suddenly now she isn’t? Kellen, Sheila, - two people who could’ve given me answers, dead. What do you want to bet that Kim is next?”
“You think that Asher is what… finishing the job? You don’t think if he wanted her dead, she would’ve already been?”
I shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think anymore. But… I just have this feeling, and I know you do too. This isnothappenstance.”
“I agree with you, but Asher isn’t here, and hasn’tbeenhere. At least not since we have.”
“Okay, so he got someone else to do it. Someone like… the nurse. Thenurse. When you were on the phone with Sam, a nurse came out of the room and practically ran to get out of here. Two minutes later, that alarm went off, and I didnotsee her in that rush to get back in there.”
Wick’s eyes narrowed, and then he walked away, pulling his laptop from his bag. He waited a few seconds for it to power on, and then his fingers were flying over the keyboard as he stared at the screen – a state I knew not to bother him in.
“Come here,” he told me, a few moments later, motioning at the chair beside him. When I sat down, my eyes went wide – he’d hacked into the security camera feeds for the hospital. “This is our hall, right here,” he said, pointing. “Now if I rewind back, instead of watching live… is this her? Right there?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “But… we can’t see her face.”
Wick sighed. “Yeah. Purposely angled away. She knew the camera was there. Probably where all the cameras are, and how to avoid them. Shit.”
“Right.Shit.”
My disappointment only magnified when I looked up to see Kim’s family coming down the hall, looking full and content from my suggested lunch. They had no idea what they were about to walk into. And just as I was working up the courage to stop them before they opened that door, the doctor stepped out, hands on his hips as he looked around.
I knew that look.
He was looking for the family.
And apparently, Kim’s mother knew it too. Before the doctor even opened his mouth, she crumpled right there in the hall, sobbing as her other children tried to pull her back to her feet. Tears welled in my eyes too – despite what Kim had done, she’d been with me so long that she was like a younger cousin to me. It was completely unfair – completely fucked up – that her mother was going to have to bury her.
Especially since a desire to take care of her mother was what had gotten her wrapped up in all of this in the first place.
It was sad, for sure, but… mostly, I found myself feeling guilty. Had I flirted with Asher? Stared a little too long, accidentally brushed against him at a party,somethingto make it make sense that he thought we would be together. Had I inadvertently been leading him on? For it to come to this… there had to besomething.
Right?
Wick and I slipped out, to save me the heartache of dealing with her family… for now, at least. I knew that at some point soon, I would have to talk with them, addressing the fact that I no longer considered Kim an employee, after finding out how she’d double-crossed me. For now, my head was spinning with everything I’d learned today.
All I wanted to do was lay down.
In the car, I closed my eyes for the long drive home, not opening them again until Wick’s phone rang. Curiosity drew my gaze to the console, where “Turner” was displayed as the incoming caller. Wick glanced at me first, seeming to hesitate, but I stared right back, and nodded. I didn’t have a good feeling about it, but I wanted him to answer.
“Talk to me,” he said, and Sam answered right back.
“We got him. Heading down to the station now.”
Wick grinned. “Good. He have anything to say for himself?”
“Not really. Wanted to call his lawyer. And… he wants to speak to Monica Stuart. I wouldn’t advise it though. This motherfucker is a wack job, through and through.”
“Why do you say that?” Wick asked. “You found something in his apartment? Proof?”
Sam was quiet for a second. “Not of what he’s accused of, not yet. But… Ms. Stuart would definitely have grounds for a stalking charge.”
“Wait, what? Sam, explain.”
“I’m just gonna send you some pictures I snapped. Shit is self-explanatory.”
