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“What drug did you use?” Lacey needed the information. When she got Bethany out of here, she needed to be able to tell the doctor what was injected in her.
Janice shifted, pulled in a deep breath and rolled her eyes. “Ketamine. It’s used in surgeries. All I had to do was sneak in the operating room after hours and snatch it from the cart.”
The cart that held the medications used in surgery. Easily accessible to someone who knew her way around the hospital and where the drugs were kept.
Lacey shifted toward Bethany who seemed to be more conscious and taking it all in. Her eyes never stopped, bouncing between her mother and the woman with the gun. Then her eyes fixed on Mason and she frowned.
A phone rang and Janice jerked, her finger twitching on the trigger. Lacey flinched, expecting to hear the sharp crack of the gun.
It didn’t happen and she breathed a prayer of thanks. The phone rang again.
“That’s Daniel,” Catelyn offered.
Indecision flickered over Janice’s face, then she said to Lacey. “Answer it.”
Lacey reached out a shaky hand to snatch the cordless handset from the wall. She held it out to Janice who snapped, “Put it on speaker phone.”
Lacey pressed the button and Janice said, “So you had the guts to call.”
“They said you wanted to talk to me.”
* * *
Mason’s gut clenched and twisted on top of itself as Daniel’s terse voice came over the phone. Mason had a hard time restraining himself from throwing his body at the woman who had a gun trained on his daughter’s head. But he promised. As Bethany’s eyes stared at him, questions flickered there and he gave her a slow wink.
She blinked and tears sprang to her eyes. “Daddy,” she whispered, her voice almost no more than a whisper.
But he heard her and his throat tightened.
Then Janice said, “Do you see what you’ve done, Daniel?”
“I haven’t done anything. Put the gun down and let’s talk about this.” Mason had to give the man credit. He kept his voice low, his anger tempered.
“There’s nothing to talk about. This is all your fault. Now tell them to go away and leave me alone. You’re the big bad detective always bragging about your connections and power in the department. Now would be a good time to put it to use.”
Mason heard a muffled sigh. “Janice, this is beyond the scope of my power. Please, just put the gun down and come out. No one has died yet. No one has to.” A pause. “Your father will get you out of this with just a slap on the wrist.”
Mason saw Bethany’s eyes narrow and her nostrils flare. He raised a finger to his lips and she clamped her mouth shut. But he could see she wanted desperately to say something.
She didn’t understand that Daniel was telling Janice anything she wanted to hear. Anything that might get her to drop that gun from Bethany’s head.
“Daddy.” Janice snorted. “Daddy always hated you. I never understood why. But now I do. You weren’t good enough for me. Just a cop who thought he was a big man….”
As Janice ranted her ire, her attention slipped from Bethany. But her finger tightened on the trigger.
And Lacey acted a nanosecond before Mason was going to move. She dove at the woman just as a gunshot sounded.
As though in slow motion, Mason watched it happen. Lacey’s outstretched arms rammed into Janice’s midsection. The air whooshed from her and the two women fell to the floor. Another gunshot.
Mason grabbed Bethany and passed her to a fellow officer who hustled her from the room.
“Mom! Mom!” The girl’s screams echoed behind her.
Neither Lacey nor Janice moved and Mason felt like his heart might stop. “Lacey!”
Ignoring the chaos around him, he bolted to her side and pulled her from on top of Janice.
Crimson stared back at him.
