Mike glanced over at the passenger’s seat and shook his head when he saw it was empty. “My partner is taking a restroom break. Can you send another unit?”

“10-4.”

Mike glanced at his watch and cursed again. He’d been asleep for over thirty minutes. If he didn’t get a grip, he was going to end up losing his job. And God only knew that with a newborn daughter and a girlfriend who had an aversion to working, someone had to make a paycheck. He shoved the door open and stepped out of the ambulance to go find Drew. He was probably smoking again. How any one human being could smoke that much, Mike would never know. Not to mention that Drew had to spend a rent payment on cigarettes.

Mike yawned and stretched his arms over his head. He wouldn’t even care if Amy never got a job if she’d bother to pull her weight around the apartment. But every morning when he got home, it was a wreck, and that was the case even before she had the baby. Now he spent all day tending to a screaming colicky infant because Amy claimed she needed to sleep. What the hell did she think he was—a vampire? Tomorrow night was his night off, but swear to God, if he didn’t get some sleep tomorrow, he was going to tell Amy he had to work and check into a motel. Let her go a day or two without any sleep and see how it felt.

“Yo, Drew!” Mike yelled as he stepped around the hedge that blocked the smoking area from the parking lot.

He glanced around the benches but didn’t see his partner anywhere. Maybe he hadn’t lied when he told dispatch Drew was in the john. As he turned around to leave, an ear-splitting wail filled the air. He whipped around and saw an alley cat on top of one of the benches, his tail flickering. A second later, he jumped off the bench and the sounds of a cat fight filled the air. Mike frowned and headed over to the bench. Alley cats usually scattered when people came around, but these two hadn’t even noticed he was there.

“What’s the matter, you two?” he asked as he stopped at the bench and peered over. “You fighting over some hot pussy?” He laughed at his own joke, then focused on the lump that the cats were poised on.

And screamed.

###

Clara had just reached the reception desk when a paramedic ran into the emergency room, yelling incoherently. His eyes were wide open, all color was drained from his face, and his entire body shook.

“He’s in shock,” Clara said. “Call for backup.”

She tossed the pillowcase on the reception desk and ran over to the paramedic, scanning his body for injury. “What’s wrong, Mike? Where is Drew?”

“Dead!” Mike screamed. “He’s dead!”

Two nurses ran into the lobby and looked at Clara, clearly out of their element. “Take him to a room and get him calmed down.” She looked at the receptionist. “Call Jeremy and tell him to meet me out front. And then call the police and tell them that someone tried to murder a patient.”

The girl paled. “Yes, ma’am.” She grabbed the phone. Clara could hear her shaky voice summoning Jeremy as she walked outside.

She looked across the parking lot and spotted Mike’s ambulance. Nothing appeared out of place except that Drew was nowhere in sight. The young paramedic was never without a pack of cigarettes in his pocket. If he wasn’t inside the hospital, he was probably in the smoking area. The door behind her swung open and Jeremy hurried outside.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“One of the paramedics came inside in shock, screaming that the other boy was dead. And someone tried to kill one of my patients.”

“What?” Jeremy stared at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“You heard me. Now pull out that gun of yours and let’s go see if we can find Drew. He may need medical attention.” Clara took off down the sidewalk, pleased that her voice sounded strong, because the truth was, she was scared shitless. During her career, she’d seen all manner of violence, but always sometime after it had occurred. She hadn’t been on-site for any of the evil men perpetrated against one another since she’d left the Ninth Ward.

Jeremy strode next to her, gripping his pistol and casting glances her way. She knew he was confused, but he was also a good man and he’d known her forever.

“You all right?” she asked him.

“I’m a little confused, but if you think something’s wrong, then I’m betting something’s wrong. You really think something happened to Drew?”

“I think Mike was in shock, and in the five years he’s worked this hospital, I’ve never even seen him lift an eyebrow.”

Jeremy nodded. He knew Mike as well as she did. He was efficient and focused to the point of appearing callous. Clara was already bracing herself for whatever had sent him over the edge that way. It had to be bad beyond imagination.

They walked around the hedges into the smoking area and alley cats raced from behind a park bench and scattered around them. Clara’s heart dropped and she slowed as she approached the bench. Jeremy pulled out his flashlight and shone it over the bench, but the moonlight had been enough for Clara to see what had done Mike in. It damned near did her in as well.

Her hand flew up over her mouth and she took a step back, bumping into Jeremy.

“Sweet Jesus,” Jeremy said.

Panic coursed through Clara, setting every nerve ending in her body on edge. Her stomach rolled and a wave of dizziness washed over her. “We’ve got to get the police. Something horrible is going on here.”

Jeremy nodded and silently backed away from the bench. Clara paused long enough to say a silent prayer for Drew, then spun around and practically ran back to the hospital.

With every pounding footstep, she tried to make sense of the irrational.

And failed.

Chapter Twenty-One

Emma awakened to the sound of commotion in the break room. So many voices, and all of them talking at once. It sounded more like a college dorm room than a hospital. She pushed herself up a bit, trying to make out the muddled words. Her head felt as if it were stuffed with cotton. She looked at her watch and blinked several times, trying to focus on the time. Damned sleeping pill.

Six a.m.

Too early for the day shift. So why all the racket? She struggled up to a sitting position and frowned. The noise level was that of a party, but the tone of the voices was all wrong—high-pitched and strained. Something was wrong.

The door opened and Clara stuck her head inside. “You’re awake?”

“Sorta. What’s going on out there?”

“Give me a minute.” Clara closed the door and Emma heard her giving orders to the staff.

Orders that included the police?

Emma stiffened. Surely she’d heard wrong. The medicine was messing everything up. A second later, Clara came into the room, and one look at the senior nurse’s face and Emma knew something was horribly wrong.

“What happened?”

“Someone attacked Miss Melody last night.”

“Oh no! Is she all right?”

“She’s still unconscious but stable.”

“Thank God. Who attacked her? How did he get in?”

“He killed one of the paramedics and took his shirt.”

Emma sucked in a breath, her head spinning. “He killed a…oh my God. Why would anyone want to hurt Melody?”

Clara shook her head. “The police are questioning everyone on shift last night but they’re not giving out any information.”

“Do you know anything about her?”

“Personal you mean?”

Emma nodded.

“What little bit I know I told the police. I know she’s got money. Her clothes are tailor-made and the jewelry she was wearing when they brought her in isn’t the kind you buy from a case. She was arguing with someone on the phone this morning about money. When I told her not to take calls that upset her, she told me her nephew was the most useless human God had ever created.”