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He rose—moving in a way to incite the least amount of pain—and followed her to the door. “Lainie, before you go home, what do you say we head to security and check out the footage of this area? See if we can get the identity of any people who entered while you were sleeping.”
She stilled. “I actually thought of that, but...”
“But?”
“But was too scared to see what might be there. Or...”
“Or?”
“Or what mightnotbe there.” Her tortured gaze landed on his and she shrugged. “What if nothing—no one—is there? What if it’s all in my messed-up head?”
“Well, from one messed-up head to another, I think we need to know for sure. Once you see that it’s not really Adam, you’ll be able to put this behind you.”
“But that’s just it. I don’t think I will. Before the note? Maybe. The note feels like something else.”
He couldn’t say he blamed her for that thought. “Then let’s find out who.”
“What about you? You should be resting, not worrying about my problems.”
“You know as well as I do that I don’t rest well. Helping you will help me too.”
“And your pain level?”
“About a five, but I’ll deal.”
“James...”
“Lainie...”
He knew the moment she caved.
“All right, then,” she said. “Let’s see what we can find on the security footage. I’ll call and let them know we’re coming.” She paused. “Should I talk to the police? I mean, I have the note, of course, butwhat are they going to do about it? It’s not exactly something someone would consider threatening.”
“Agreed. They’d take your statement, but yeah, I doubt the note would be considered anything more than a bad joke. Especially since the person just left it when he had the opportunity to hurt you if he wanted.”
She shuddered, then nodded. “All right, let’s go see what we can see.”
Ten minutes later, she knocked on the door of the security room. Jared Beckham opened it and motioned them inside. It was a large, impressive area with monitors on all the walls displaying multiple areas of the hospital on each one. Two other security personnel looked up at their entrance, and Lainie gave them a small wave. “Thanks for letting us do this.”
“If there’s someone running around the hospital who shouldn’t be, we need to know,” Jared said. It didn’t take long for the man to pull up the footage from the areas she described and the approximate times. “All right,” he said, “let’s look at this one first. I’ll play it and you tell me when to stop.”
Lainie watched the footage while James watched her. “Okay,” she said, her voice low, “there I am, walking toward the elevator. I look down the hallway and that’s when I see him.” In the video, James could make out the expression on her face. She definitely saw something that did not sit well with her.
“Who’s the guy on the elevator?” he asked.
“Chris Stanton, one of the radiologists. He asked me if I was coming.” She stepped into the elevator, her gaze distant, expression troubled. The doors shut and that was it. “Do you have another angle?” she asked. “The guy that I saw was standing by the stairwell door.”
“Yes. There are cameras trained on the exits.” Jared worked the mouse and tapped a few keys. Then pulled up the man by the exit just as he turned to slip through the door.
“Wait,” Lainie said, “go back.”
Jared did and finally got the guy’s face in the frame. “It’s not perfect, but you should be able to say whether or not you know him.”
The visible shudder that rippled through her brought a frown to James’ face. She looked at him, and her hand went to her throat to grasp the key like she had done each time he’d seen her stressed. “It’s absolutely not possible, but I know him.”
Six
Lainie dropped the key and pressed her shaky hands to her thighs, confusion and fear running rampant. “At least, I think I do.” She was just glad they saw the guy too and she wasn’t hallucinating. “If you see him again, would you try to detain him? I need to talk to him in person.”
