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“Two more people, both of whom are AWOL,” Talia grumbled.
“Interesting,” Fleet returned. “Keep going.”
“Your night nurse who was clearly annoyed that we were kissing earlier that evening, is one of them.”
“I remember her,” Fleet returned. “She was very grumpy that you were sitting on my bed, and pretty much told you to get lost.”
“Which I didn’t do,” Talia added. “That could have made her very pissed off.”
“Yeah, but… Pissed off enough to abduct me?” Fleet screwed up his face, obviously concentrating. “And wait. Wasn’t she the one who alerted everyone that I was gone? You said a night-nurse called it in.”
Talia sighed. “Uh, huh. She was the one. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t do the bad stuff first, before subsequently alerting us. It’s an action that would point to her innocence, which might be what she was aiming for.”
“So… AWOL, huh?”
“Yeah. Her supervisor said she was so upset that someone was taken off her floor, right from under her nose, that she put in for some mental-health leave. She’s currently somewhere in Upstate New York, according to her boss, but we don’t have an exact location.”
“Well, shit,” Fleet grumbled. “That sucks. So, who’s the last one who can’t be reached? And don’t tell me. They’ve not only taken some time off from their job, they can’t be found, either.”
“Right again.” Talia was furious that the three most likely suspects had suddenly gone off-grid. “The third person of interest is an asshole EMT named Brian who was with us when we rescued you after your fall. He was…extremely unhelpful, to say the least. He didn’t step up to do anything for you, all while trying to throw orders at Mason who was doing a professional assessment of your injuries.”
“Phht. I’m sure that went over well with Mase,” Fleet snickered.
“You think? The boss looked like he was ready to chew the guy up and spit him out.”
“But why does that make the man a suspect rather than just an asshole?”
“Just… It was the way he looked at you, then at me while I held your hand. He had a definite attitude. And he didn’t once offer to take a turn carrying your litter down the mountain.”
“Huh,” Fleet grunted. “That’s interesting. So three possibilities, with no way to confirm or dismiss. So right now we’re in a holding pattern.”
“We are. But don’t worry. We’ll continue with a security detail for you until we’ve caught our perp.”
His brows scrunched together. “A security detail for me, but,” he gave Talia a narrow-eyed glare, “what about you? And what about my parents?”
She sighed again.
“A few added complications, but Mason asked his chief at OPD to assign someone to your mother and father, and he agreed. They already have a 24/7 tail, although—according to Mason—your parents just think that helpful officers are popping up randomly as if our small town has a cop for every citizen,” she laughed. “Also, as you’ve seen with Kyle’s presence outside your door earlier, Bangor PD has stepped up, agreeing to have the officers who are on our SWAT team keep an eye on you for the duration.” Talia winked and pursed her lips at him provocatively, trying to distract him from asking anything more.
“And you?” Clearly Fleet wasn’t to be led astray by any contrived cuteness she could conjure.
She stuck her tongue out at him. “I’ll be fine, Fleet. First of all, when I’m on patrol I’m already armed and keeping my eyes peeled for danger. And when I’m home at the end of the day, we’ll be together. Can I trust you to have my back?” she teased.
“You know you can,” he practically growled, and Talia’s insides lit up. She loved that he’d instantly gotten all possessive and grumpy. She hadn’t really seen that side of him before.
She pushed her luck. “And you’re not going to fight me on coming to my house, or deny anymore that I’m your girlfriend?”
Fleet snorted. “Fat lot of good that did me. While I was busy trying to push you away, somebody copped an attitude anyway, so…” He beckoned with his finger for her to lean closer. “The fates declare I might as well go for it.”
Talia didn’t fight the invitation. She bent forward to kiss Fleet again, but dammit, the door behind her opened with a whoosh.
“Oh!” The exclamation from the portal sounded…delighted? “I can see we’re interrupting. We’ll just…take a little stroll around the hospital until you two kids are finished.”
Fleet and Talia both burst out laughing at the same time. Talia felt like a teenager who’d been caught necking on her parents’ couch.
“Uh, we’re through, Mom.” Fleet grinned, edging his head around Talia to address his mother. “Come on in and meet Talia.”
“We’d love to,” the excited voice answered.
