Private Affair(86)
He looked at his watch, thinking that she might still be in there brushing her teeth. But he didn’t think she would have taken this long. She’d want to get back so she could see Max.
Another nurse came from the direction of the ladies’ room.
“Did you see the woman who was with me?” he asked.
“Why yes. She was with another man.”
“Who?”
“Someone on the hospital staff.”
“Someone you knew?”
“No. But he had on an orderly’s uniform.”
Which meant it wasn’t Shane. And he hadn’t come back yet, anyway.
“Which way did they go?”
The nurse pointed in the other direction, and Jack sprinted off. When he came to the stairs, he stopped short and pushed the door open. A credit card was lying on the floor, and when he picked it up, he saw Olivia’s name on the front.
“Oh Jesus.” She’d said she was just going to the ladies’ room. Apparently she’d taken an unexpected detour.
Cursing, he sprinted down the steps and out onto the sidewalk. But he didn’t see Olivia outside—or anyone else he recognized. And when he tried to get back into the hospital through the exit door, he found it was locked from the outside.
Cursing again, he ran back to the hospital entrance, where Shane was just coming in. His partner took in his wild-eyed look.
“What happened?”
“Olivia said she was going to the ladies’ room to freshen up. When she didn’t come back, I went looking for her. She dropped her credit card in the stairwell,” Jack said.
“To tell us where she’d gone,” Shane finished.
They both stepped into the lobby, bypassed the desk, and strode to the elevator. When they arrived on Max’s floor, they hurried to his room. The IV had been taken out of his arm, and he was sitting up with a breakfast tray in front of him.
When he saw the expressions on their faces, he went rigid.
“What happened?”
Jack closed his eyes for a moment, then forced himself to speak. “I was with Olivia. She said she wanted to freshen up. She stopped at the nurses’ station, then went around the corner to the ladies’ room. When she didn’t come back after ten minutes, I went down there. A nurse saw her with a man in an orderly’s uniform. I went to the nearest stairwell where I found her credit card lying on the floor.”
Max’s face had taken on a look of horror. “The killer’s got her. And we don’t even know who the hell he is.”
“I should have gone down the hall to the bathroom with her,” Jack said, sounding miserable.
Max saw the stricken look on his partner’s face. “He would have found some other way to get her,” he said, not sure if it was true. But he wasn’t going to yell at Jack, not when he’d made his own mistakes in this case.
He pushed the breakfast tray aside and climbed out of bed, then had to grab the rail to steady himself. When he turned back to his friends, he saw them watching him.
“You should be in bed,” Shane said.
“Right. But I can’t be.” He took several breaths and tested his footing, then said, “It has to be one of the two suspects. Masters or Larson. That woman, Julie, picked out their pictures from the classmates I showed her.”
“We’ll do it,” Jack said.
“It’s going to take three guys.”
“The cops?” Jack said.
Max laughed. “You think Hamilton is even going to believe us? If we’re going to get Olivia back, it’s got to be us.”
“But you lost a lot of blood yesterday,” Shane argued.
“And they replaced it. I’m okay.”
“The hell you are. You almost fell down when you got out of bed.”
“Because I’d just gotten up. I’m better now.”
Before Shane could put forth another objection, a nurse walked into the room and looked at the three men facing each other. “What’s going on?” she demanded.
Max swung toward her. “What’s happening is that I’m leaving.”
“You haven’t been discharged. You can’t simply leave.”
“Watch me.”
“It will be against medical advice.”
“Screw medical advice.”
She turned on her heel, probably on her way to report him. But Max was already thinking about his current problem. “Christ, I don’t even have a shirt and pants.”
“Not to worry,” Jack said. “I brought clothes for you. I just didn’t know you’d need them today.”
“Bless you, my brother.” Max grabbed the bag Jack held out, tore off the hospital gown, and dressed as fast as he could, considering that he was still a little unsteady on his feet.