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“I can’t either. The footage isn’t that bad, but with the scrubs and the white coat, the surgical cap and mask...” He shrugged. “I can’t even tell if it’s male or female.”
“What about the badge clipped to his lapel?” Gabrielle asked. “Any way to get the name he used?”
“No, but one of the housekeepers reported her badge missing at 10:02 this morning.”
“Right.”
“They voided it so that it wouldn’t work, of course, but clipped to a coat, it still looks legit.”
“And someone would most likely hold the door if he asked,” Vince muttered.
“And here,” the guard said, pointing at the screen, “is where he puts something in her drink. The desk is empty, no one watching. He takes a syringe from his pocket, snags the drink, and empties the contents into the straw.”
Vince scowled. “And puts the drink back without anyone really noticing what he’s doing.”
“It’s busy and everyone is running like crazy to keep up. No one’s going to look twice at someone dressed like they belong.”
“But he doesn’t,” Vince said, “and I want to know why he targeted Raina.” He paused. “Can you follow his movements through the hospital? Find out where he comes out and possibly takes off his mask?” He glanced at the detective, who watched him with a smile. “Sorry. I guess I should shut up and let you do this?”
“Naw, you’re doing fine. If I have a question, I’ll ask it.”
A knock on the door interrupted them, and two uniformed officers stepped inside at the guard’s invitation. “We got a report of a woman who was drugged?”
Vince introduced himself and Gabrielle, then explained he was there when Raina passed out. “Not just drugged. This could have killed her.”
Gabrielle laid a hand on his arm and gave the officers a nod. “I don’t want to step on any toes, but this is going to get passed up the line. My partner is on his way. You guys good with that?”
The officers exchanged a glance and a shrug. “Sure thing,” the nearest one said. They left and Vince rubbed a hand over his eyes.
“You’ll want to talk to her when she wakes up,” he said, “but in the meantime, there’s footage of the person who drugged her.”
“Yeah,” the guard said, “and now I’ve got his face. At least I think it’s him. There were a couple of places I lost track of him, but he’s got the scrubs on, the hat on.” He sighed. “I don’t know.”
Vince looked at the screen. The man had pulled off his mask as soon as he’d exited the hospital. “That’s the PI, Freddy Harper, from California.” He blinked and leaned forward. “Wait a minute. Who walked out right behind him? He looks familiar.”
Gabrielle raised a brow. “Let’s run facial rec and see if we can ID him. Where do you know him from?”
“The last piece of security footage I saw Freddy Harper in. That’s good enough for me. Let’s bring Harper in for questioning.”
CHAPTER
TEN
Raina drew in a deep breath and opened her eyes. She found a blurry Vince looking down at her and registered the fact that his left hand held her right. She blinked. Blinked again to finally bring him into focus. “Vince? What’s going on?”
Was she slurring her words? And why did she feel like she was reliving a time in her life she never wanted to revisit? Hungover and trying to remember what she’d done. But that was all in the past. She didn’t do that anymore, so why—?
“Hey,” Vince said, “are you awake this time?”
“What?”
“You’ve been trying to wake up for the past thirty minutes but kept dozing back off.”
She scrambled for a memory to latch on to but came up empty. She swallowed her panic. Vince was here. She was okay. “What happened?”
“Someone drugged you.”
Raina digested the words, then pushed past the ripples of shock. “I’m sorry. Did you say drugged me? Why? Who?” She pulled from his grasp and shoved up onto her hands, ignoringthe lingering weakness. Vince gripped her biceps and helped her, straightening the pillow behind her. His musky scent wafted around her and she inhaled. “You smell good.”
