Take a Risk (Risk #1) (18 page)

‘I’m not talking about others in your line of work, I’m talking about you.’

‘Me? Why would you have reason to believe that I would be so inappropriate? I’d lose my license.’

‘We have more than a reason to believe it, we have witness testimony,’ he said. ‘Being honest with us now is your best course of action.’

‘I have never had sex with a patient,’ she asserted. ‘I would never do such a thing. Your witness is lying.’

‘The eyewitness is dead.’

‘What?’ The gravity of those words made her search for their implication. ‘You’re saying that Bobby… I never had sex with Bobby.’

‘No, but he caught you in the act, on the very same day that he died… Why didn’t you tell us that when we were here the first time?’

‘Bobby… No—‘

‘He told Deshana what he saw, and she stated that your patient was angry at Bobby for interrupting the deed.’

At least she didn’t have to worry about anyone spreading lies, she relaxed and a smile began to form, which made Hoburn’s eyes flare. ‘I wasn’t having sex with a patient. I was making out with my boyfriend, we hadn’t got to the actual act yet. Yes, Bobby walked in on it, but it was the end of the day, and we thought we were alone. I was off-duty.’

‘Your boyfriend?’

‘He’s in the next room if you want to talk to him.’

‘Warner?’ she nodded. ‘So the stories of you and him are true?’

‘That we’re in an intimate relationship, yes.’

Hoburn closed his notebook and whispered something to his colleague who got up and left the room. The ominous act confused her, but Hoburn met her eye. ‘You ought to be careful with him.’

‘Who?’ she asked.

‘Warner. He’s not the good guy that he makes himself out to be.’

‘You came here to accuse me of breaking ethical rules, and now you’re warning me off the man I’m seeing?’

‘I don’t know what he’s told you about why he left the force.’

‘He hasn’t told me anything.’

‘And that doesn’t raise any red flags for you?’

Now that he pointed it out, it did. He’d been honest about his family and his ex-wife, he’d even invited her into his parent’s home. But he’d never spoken about his work in the police, other than to mention he’d done it, and that his work interfered in his marriage.

‘He’ll tell me in his own time.’

‘He killed a woman. A woman under his protection,’ Hoburn said and she tried not to react to that news. Part of her training was to remain neutral despite the confessions of her patients, and she pulled on that training now more than ever.

‘If that was true he’d be in prison.’

‘He didn’t pull the trigger, but he set her up for it,’ Hoburn said. ‘He set her up to die, he put her right where they wanted her to be and turned his back on her. It was jump or be pushed, that was why he left the force.’

Lyssa wanted to jump to Colt’s defence because she couldn’t believe that he’d ever do something so unbelievably callous. Except she had no information of her own that she could rely on to show that he hadn’t done such a thing.

Hoburn tucked his pad away and left the couch. ‘Take care of yourself, Doctor Cutler, that’s all I’m trying to say to you. You’re an intelligent woman with a lot to lose, don’t sacrifice it for a man who hasn’t been honest with you about his history.’

He left the office and she remained in her seat, but she saw that he didn’t go out of the door, he went right and toward the waiting room where Colt was. She had questions of her own for Colt, but they would wait, they would have to.

Colt had stayed to have dinner with her, but he didn’t tell her what Hoburn had said to him during their conversation downstairs. She hadn’t yet plucked up the courage to ask him about why he left the force either, or if anything that Hoburn had said to her was true. That being said, Colt wasted no time in plying her with questions of his own about what Hoburn had discussed with her about the case. She spent more time talking to Colt about what Hoburn had said to her than she’d spent talking to Hoburn himself.

They’d turned the pictures over to Chavez and Ronson when they arrived before dinner, and the cops asked a million questions of their own. Her head was spinning with all the information and activity taking place. Colt had gone over her whole abode, as she was cooking, looking for any hint of further surveillance equipment and although he didn’t find anything that didn’t prevent him from lecturing her about safety throughout the meal.

During their spell washing the dishes he’d asked her to come and stay with him at his apartment. She was grateful that he asked, as opposed to ordering her, but she’d known he’d push the issue until he got his way, so a command might have been quicker. She wasn’t going to fight too hard against the prospect of living with him while this was going on. Knowing that this person was watching gave her the creeps, and she had hard evidence now that he really was watching so she couldn’t ignore the possibility that had, until now, existed on the periphery of her mind. This man was everywhere that she was, she just couldn’t figure out how.

Packing up a bag with her essentials, she was surprised when Blaser appeared in her house. Colt had apparently filled him in, and then they were packing up more stuff for her. They seemed determined that she take anything and everything that might be remotely important or necessary as though there was a chance she would never come back to this house at all.

When they found this guy she’d be back, this was her home, but she’d be happy to spend a few days at Colt’s place, even if it meant cancelling on more clients, until she could request a work space at the hospital. The hospital had a floor of office space that they rented spaces to private practitioners. It shouldn’t be too hard to get lot there because she already had privileges at the hospital.

So she bundled up patient notes and the basics that she needed for work, then climbed into the car that Blaser had brought to transport her and her things to Colt’s place. While she was unpacking into the closet in Colt’s bedroom, the brothers spoke in the kitchen. Then Colt came through and told her that they were going out; not her and him, him and Blaser. He’d gone through the safety spiel again, made sure she had her pepper spray, and told her that Gus was home if she needed reassurance or protection. Without giving her a chance to respond, he thoroughly kissed her on promise of following through when he came home.

By the time midnight came she had given up on waiting, so she’d gone to bed. She didn’t want to call and pester him but she was worried. Sleep didn’t want to come; she tossed and turned for a while, but must have eventually drifted off.

A loud bang woke her some time later and she sat bolt upright. The shuffle of feet and mumbling got her out of bed. From the ruckus of people coming from the living room she knew that something had happened, and that the bang was most likely from the door being thrown open.

‘Lys!’ Colt shouted and she grabbed a pair of panties to pull on. ‘Lys!’

‘I’m coming!’ she replied and pulled on a tee-shirt then rushed out to see what the emergency was. From the tone of his voice there was an emergency, because there was an urgency in him that was unusual.

Hope remained that she was overreacting and that there wasn’t really emergency. But the minute she got out into the living room she saw that there was. Colt and Ruger were manoeuvring a pale Blaser toward the couch, they laid him down and she hurried over. A reddened rag on his shoulder was being pressed in by Colt, and it didn’t take her long to comprehend what she was looking at.

Tying her hair back with the band on her wrist she went to Blaser’s side and fell to her knees to peel back the rag slightly giving her a view to assess the injury. ‘He was shot,’ Ruger said.

‘I see that,’ she said, checking for an exit wound, except she didn’t find one. ‘Ruger, I need towels and water. Get him a blanket and some water to drink. Colt, my medical bag is under the bed.’ The brothers ran off to complete their tasks. ‘Blaser, honey, you’re ok. We’re going to look after you. Can you wiggle your fingers for me?’

When Colt came back with the bag, the first thing she did was pull out her scissors and cut off Blaser’s shirt. ‘If you wanted me naked, all you had to do was say,’ Blaser croaked as she went through her process of checking his vitals, nerves, and joints.

‘I like my men in a vulnerable position,’ she said, pulling supplies from the bag. ‘That way they can’t run off.’

‘I’m going nowhere,’ Blaser said, his eyes closed.

‘Stay awake,’ she said, patting his cheek. ‘Colt, keep talking to him. Ruger! Blanket!’

‘I’m not going to pass out,’ Blaser said. ‘It just hurts like a sonofabitch.’

‘And it will,’ Lyssa said, cleaning out the wound, happy to see that most of the bleeding had stopped.

The next half an hour was tense. The brothers did their best to keep Blaser talking and distracted while she removed the bullet, cleaned out the wound and sewed it up. All the while she was dressing it she tried not to look at Colt, who had come to the head of the couch, and she had a feeling that he knew she was avoiding his gaze.

When there was a patient in front of you, you had to deal with them. It wasn’t worth asking why they didn’t take him directly to an emergency room because there was no time for talking while there was a chance of someone bleeding out. Now that she had the time to think of it, she was proud of herself for remembering her training on automatic pilot, she hadn’t dealt with anything like this since her residency.

‘Take him through to the bedroom,’ Lyssa said when she was finished. ‘He should sleep for a while.’

‘I can go downstairs to my own bed,’ Blaser said. ‘I don’t need to stay here.’

He groaned when sitting up. She was pleased to see some colour returning to his cheeks, though she’d be worried about shock for the rest of the night. ‘I want to check on you,’ Lyssa said. ‘So if you’re going downstairs then I’m coming with you.’ She packed up her supplies and then pulled out her prescription pad and began to write. ‘Ruger, you can help me downstairs with Blaser. Colt, I need you to find a pharmacy, and get me these things.’ Tearing off the slip, she handed it over.

‘An all-night pharmacy,’ Colt said.

‘I can do that,’ Ruger said.

‘No,’ Lyssa said, getting between the brothers under the guise of supporting Blaser. ‘I want Colt to do it. He’ll get it right.’

She carried on beside Blaser, who wasn’t paying any attention to what else was going on in the room. They got to the top of the stairs before Ruger caught up with them, he helped to ensure that Blaser got down the stairs without injury, and then he unlocked his brother’s door, presumably they all had keys for each other’s places because they didn’t ask.

Together, she and Ruger took Blaser through to his bed, and then she left the men alone so that Ruger could help his brother get comfortable. While they did that she returned to the living area in Blaser’s apartment, vehicle lights came on and an engine started. Through the blinds covering the windows she watched the light retreat until the sound of the engine faded away.

‘It wasn’t his fault,’ Ruger said and she spun around to see him only a couple of feet away. ‘I told him we should bring Blaser to you and he didn’t want to.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said, and went into the kitchen to find something to drink.

‘You’re pissed that we brought a gunshot victim to you in the middle of the night and you’re wondering what happened.’

‘No, I’m not,’ she said, slamming the fridge door. ‘I’m pissed that I thought I was falling in love with a man I clearly know nothing about.’

‘You know him. You two have been inseparable.’

‘No,’ she said. ‘It’s been all about me because of this stupid stalker situation and my work at Risqué. I don’t know anything about Colt and that’s been made abundantly clear to me tonight.’

‘Colt didn’t shoot anyone, if that’s what you think. We weren’t doing anything illegal.’

‘So why not take Blaser to a hospital?’

‘Because we were where we shouldn’t have been,’ Ruger said, moving around her to collect a couple of beers from the fridge and open them. ‘And we’re not in the habit of getting others into trouble.’

‘So you were doing something illegal?’

‘No,’ he said.

‘Is this the stalker? Was Blaser shot because—‘

He took a long drink and lowered the bottle from his mouth. ‘No, this isn’t that.’

‘So what is it?’

‘I’ll let Colt explain it to you when he gets back,’ Ruger said, handing her a cold bottle as he went past her and to the couch.

‘Hoburn told me that Colt killed someone and that’s why he left the force.’

‘Did he now?’ Ruger said. ‘My brother will be thrilled to hear that his old colleagues are interfering in his life.’

Putting the beer bottle on the kitchen counter, without touching the liquid, she hurried to him and sat on the couch at his side. ‘Tell me if it’s true, Ruger. Please.’

‘It depends on who you ask,’ Ruger said. ‘If you ask Colt then he’ll tell you yes, which is the only reason I’m saying this now. He didn’t kill Emma, he was watching out for her. She was under his protection. She was convinced that her ex-pimp was watching her, that he was obsessed with her, and it turns out that she was right. Colt was the only one to believe her and the department gave up on his crazy theories and all but pulled out of all involvement with the case. Colt was the only cop left on the assignment and his lieutenant only left him on the case to shut him up.’

‘But she died?’

‘Yeah,’ Ruger said. ‘Colt got information that the ex-pimp was going to be somewhere and he wanted to check the guy out, maybe talk to him if he got the chance, scare him a little bit.’

‘But?’

‘Emma followed him,’ Ruger said. ‘Can you believe it? The stalkee becomes the stalker. I’m not convinced that the girl didn’t have a thing for Colt, or the ex-pimp, or someone. She wasn’t all there if you ask me. But she followed Colt, he didn’t know it, and she ended up dead.’

‘And that’s why he left the force?’

Ruger was drinking again, he kicked off his boots and put his feet up on Blaser’s coffee table. ‘He didn’t leave because she died, I mean yeah, it fucked him up, there’s no doubt about that. But that wasn’t the reason.’

‘So what was the reason?’

‘The force had the resources to protect her, if he had back up, or had others on the case who could’ve covered Emma or gone to that meeting for him… he got fed up playing by the rules because as far as he was concerned the rules and regulations got people killed. He’s not wrong.’

‘He was bogged down by the rules and so wanted to do things his own way?’

‘I guess that you could say that.’

‘And there was no one in the department he could rely on?’ she asked, wondering if it was connected to what she’d heard about his partner.

‘He was kind of working on his own then, he had trust issues, and didn’t have a partner.’

‘Because his partner was sleeping with Carrie?’

‘You’re a good detective,’ Ruger said, slurping from the bottle.

‘So he went into business on his own.’ Contemplating this, she rested back on the couch. ‘He left the force because he thought he could do better on his own. But, I don’t get it. Why would Hoburn hate him now?’

‘There was animosity towards him before Emma’s death, but it was all about that case. Others believed that Colt abandoned his post, that he could have done more if he had just given up on Emma like the rest of them did. Colt pulled in favours and tried to convince others about the danger that Emma was in but no one cared, at least they didn’t listen. Then when she died Colt made no secret of it that they’d let Emma down. He told them all that her blood was on the hands of everyone who refused to hear her out, just because of who she was.’

‘Who was she?’

‘An ex-hooker,’ he said. ‘Well, I guess she was a current hooker, but she was freelance, trying to build herself up a nest egg to get to college and better herself.’

‘They don’t like to look in the mirror, I guess,’ Lyssa said. ‘They thought less of her because of her position in society. But a death, any death, is still tough to come to terms with, especially if you have any feeling of responsibility yourself.’

‘Colt has gotten over it, and in a way his work after that has made up for a lot of shortcomings. He’s mended some relationships in the force and still has favours that he can call in. He feels more useful now that he’s not constrained by chain of command.’

‘But Emma is still dead.’

‘Yes, she is,’ Ruger said. ‘Colt won’t let that happen again, he’s more careful now, and more aware of when things can go wrong. You’re lucky, not just because he’s on your case, but because he cares about you. Colt’s not going to let anything happen to you.’