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He tucked his fingers in his pockets again and rocked back on his heels. “It was the hand holding, wasn’t it. Too over the top for you? I was afraid so, but you’re a tough one to read.”
She didn’t know whether to be annoyed or disarmed by his matter-of-fact admission. It suited her to be annoyed. “Has it ever occurred to you to just be upfront about what you want?”
“Sure, I tried that first. Figured you for a more straightforward approach. When that didn’t work, I had to improvise.”
Even as she was shaking her head at his blatant confession of manipulation, he was continuing. “You won’t be in any danger in there, if that’s what you’re afraid of. LeFrenz can’t get out of the bed, and if he could, the officer and I will be in there with you.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” she said automatically.
“You should be.” His voice was grim. “He may look like a choirboy, but he’s got a rap sheet as long as my arm. His juvie record dates back to when he was ten and mugged a homeless woman for her social-security check. He’s one of the major drug dealers in the city now.”
Despite herself, a chill chased up her spine. The detective was painting a picture of a hardened criminal. But she was painfully aware of the spin law enforcement types could put on people’s pasts. She had no doubt that St. Theresa herself would be demonized beyond recognition if an ambitious prosecutor dug into her life.
It was that knowledge, rather than any real sympathy for LeFrenz, that kept her carefully noncommittal. “I don’t know what help I’d be in there.”
“You’ll only be there to pacify LeFrenz.” The detective’s mouth curled. “The scumbag is being manipulative, but you’re the only lever I’ve got on him. For some reason he’s fixated on you. If he gets what he wants, seeing you, he might give up some information in return.”
“He didn’t seem about to give anything up in the emergency room a few days ago,” she pointed out.
He shrugged. “I’ve got nothing to lose, do I? What do you say?”
Shae stalled by checking her watch. If she walked away as she wanted to, she’d certainly hear about it from the hospital administrator. But it would almost be worth it to avoid the detective.
He made her uneasy. Not nervous, but…on edge. She’d have to be dead not to be aware of the currents of energy that rolled off him. Her femininity might be dormant, but it wasn’t dead. She didn’t want to get involved in whatever mission drove the man hard enough for him to put his job before his health. She didn’t want to get caught up with the police in any capacity.
As if her agreement was already determined, he started issuing commands. “When you go in the room, I want you to stand on the side of the bed he’s cuffed on. Don’t go too close. The officer will stay on the other side, and he’ll stop him if he makes a grab for you.”
“I hardly think I have anything to fear from an I.C.U. patient with only one hand free,” she said dryly.
His expression was not amused. “Don’t make the mistake of underestimating him. People who do that have a way of going missing.”
He turned and headed back toward the room, leaving her to follow more slowly. Slipping her hand into her pocket, she brought out her beeper, as if she could will it to summon her back downstairs. But it remained stubbornly silent. With a sigh, she dropped it back into her pocket and entered the room.
“Angel Eyes.” LeFrenz’s gaze burned fever-bright. “Thought you might have decided not to join our little party.”
“Me?” She kept her voice carefully expressionless as she positioned herself near the side of his bed. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
“I was startin’ to think you’d forgotten me down there.” LeFrenz seemed intent on ignoring the policemen in the room. “Figured you’d at least come to check on me.”
“As I explained to Detective Tremaine, there was no need. You’re under Dr. Lyndstrom’s care now. He’ll do the follow-up visits.”
“Dr. Lyndstrom don’t have big blue eyes that a guy could drown in.” LeFrenz looked her up and down with an insulting familiarity. “Don’t have long legs like yours, neither.”
When Shae had worked on LeFrenz in the E.R., he’d been just another patient needing her help. But now there was something revolting about that lascivious expression sitting on his cherubic countenance. Her flesh prickled. She experienced the same sort of revulsion by kicking over a rock and watching the disgusting creatures beneath scuttle for cover. “In the short time you’ll be with us, I think you’ll come to appreciate some of Dr. Lyndstrom’s better qualities.”
“That’s right, Jonny.” Cade strolled toward the bed. “You aren’t going to be here long enough to get too attached. County lockup has a medical wing, and I’m betting they have a comfortable cot with your name on it. Can’t promise you any good-looking nurses, but hey—” he gave a negligent shrug “—with where you’re going, it’s best you get used to not seeing women, anyway.”
For the first time the patient pulled his gaze from Shae and looked at the detective. “You don’t have enough to hold me, Tremaine.”
Derision sounded in the detective’s voice. “What are you, slow or something? I stood over that dying kid’s body and he gave you up as the one who sold him the cocaine. I walk in on you in the middle of bagging your stash, you pull a gun on me and fire while attempting to flee. What part of that doesn’t add up to ‘enough’ for you?”
Shae had the feeling she’d been all but forgotten. This was a private war, being fought between LeFrenz and Tremaine. The patient’s voice was still cocky when he answered, “Okay, so you’ll get the possession with intent to stick. With the new sentencing laws in Louisiana, I’ll be out in five. You can’t tie the kid to me, though. With him dead, his naming me is hearsay. Ain’t no jury in the world gonna convict on only your word.”
Tremaine’s face remained remarkably calm. “That might be true under normal circumstances. But that kid was the nephew of the mayor’s wife.” He waited for the news to sink in, noted with satisfaction that LeFrenz had gone a bit paler. “Even you have to figure out what that means.”
The boy’s death had already received more than the usual attention from the media. High-profile names in a police investigation always invited scandal, and scandal made for good copy. The political spin on this one was to turn the dead boy into an unwitting victim of a murderous drug dealer. The version was close enough to the truth to suit Cade, especially when resulting local sentiments were screams for LeFrenz’s blood.
“Your only chance of surviving this is to tell me who’s supplying you, Jonny.” No one rose as rapidly as LeFrenz had in the illegal drug market without help. “Give me the name and you become just another cog in the wheel. Cooperation buys a lot of leniency in the courts. Say the word and I can have the D.A. in here working out a deal.”
He knew he’d gotten to the man when he glanced away, looked at Dr. O’Riley as if he’d read the solution on her impassive face. Despite his impatience at the delay, Cade could hardly blame the man for his distraction. The leggy redhead was difficult to ignore. Today her mane of hair was scraped back in some kind of fancy braid that hung to the center of her shoulder blades. The severe style showed off those high cheekbones, her short straight nose and her come-to-bed eyes. With the white examining coat and the shapeless scrubs she wore, it was difficult to guess at the figure beneath. But that didn’t stop a man’s imagination from filling in the details.
He’d never lacked for imagination.
“Whaddaya think, Doc?” Jonny’s voice was conversational. If he’d been shaken by Cade’s earlier remarks, he’d since recovered. “Think I can trust the detective here to play straight with me?”
A moment passed. Then another. Cade found himself hardly daring to breathe. Shae O’Riley had made no effort to hide her reluctance to be involved in this scene. But instinct told him that reluctance stemmed from more than her unwillingness to leave the E.R. There was something in her voice when she talked to him, something in her eyes that shouted distrust. Since he’d met her just a few days ago, he could only figure it was directed at all cops, not just him. And if that was the case, she was the last person in the world he needed advising his perp.
But her words, when they came, were noncommittal. “Seems to me you’ve been playing roulette with your choices for some time now. The question is, are you man enough to face the consequences?”
“Honey, I’m man enough for anything you have in mind.” Cade sprang forward when LeFrenz reached for her with his free hand, but the uniform got to him first, restraining him. Jonny never took his eyes off Shae, just kept talking, his voice low and suggestive. “I’m looking forward to showing you that sometime. You and me, we could have us a real good time.”
“Make your choice, LeFrenz.” There was a slow burn in the pit of Cade’s belly. Not a little of it was due to the way the punk kept looking at the doctor, as if she was starring in a pornographic movie reel playing in his head. “She can’t help you with this. No one can. But you can help yourself.”
“Maybe I can cooperate with this detective, Angel Eyes, whaddaya think?” LeFrenz’s attention never swerved from Shae. “Maybe I can even tell him who put those bullets in his chest.” Her breathing stilled. She stared back at the young man, noted the mouth curled in sardonic amusement, so at odds with the angelic face. How did he know about the detective’s injury? She saw the same question reflected on the polished ebony face of the policeman at his side. But the man was too well trained to do more than look at the detective. Her gaze followed the direction of his, met Tremaine’s. His expression was inscrutable.
“Think that would interest him, Doc?” There was a hard note of glee underlying LeFrenz’s words. “I’m betting it would. I’m betting he’d arrange a pretty fine deal if I was to tell him where to look for the shooter.”
“Don’t change the subject, LeFrenz. You have one piece of information I want, and that’s pretty simple. Just a name.” Amazingly enough, the detective’s voice sounded bored. “Make it easy on yourself and give it up. Then you can start planning for your retirement.”
“He don’t believe me,” LeFrenz told Shae confidingly. “I’d think I would. We have something in common, me and him. We both know what it’s like to have a bullet plow into us, to watch the blood pour out. ’Course, I don’t know what it’s like to watch my partner die on the sidewalk next to me.” There was a stillness in the room that reminded Shae of an explosive waiting to detonate. “But then, maybe Tremaine don’t care about none of that. Maybe his partner was as dirty as everyone’s saying.”
There was no warning of his intention. One moment Cade was standing there, face grim. The next he’d leaned down, yanked LeFrenz up with one fist on the neck of his hospital gown. “You’ll show a little respect.” The words were murmured almost soundlessly, but the warning in them sent a shiver down Shae’s spine. Here was the control she’d sensed that first day from him, dangerously close to slipping. Here was the lethal intent that would drive a man from his hospital bed back to the streets much too soon.
And if LeFrenz was even half-right, here was the reason for that sense of purpose.
“A good cop is dead,” Cade went on. “If you have anything to report on that, let’s hear it. But don’t even think about yanking me around on this, LeFrenz. Brian Hollister got a hero’s funeral. No one in the city would even blink at the death of a two-bit drug dealer.”
The two men’s gazes did battle, while LeFrenz’s face slowly flushed red from the stranglehold the detective had on him. When Tremaine showed no signs of releasing him, Shae put her hand on his arm.
“Let’s give his wound a chance to heal before we inflict any further damage, shall we?” For a moment she didn’t think the detective was going to respond. LeFrenz was turning scarlet. She exerted a bit of pressure on the detective’s arm, and he slanted a look at her, the bitterness in it as sharp as a blade. Then in the next instant he released his grip, allowing the patient to drop down to the bed again.
“You’re the doctor” was all he said.
The pent-up breath she’d been holding streamed out of her. “That’s right. And I need to get back to the E.R. Let’s end this.”
“You tell the D.A. I got information on the shooting, Tremaine,” LeFrenz said when he could speak again. “You tell him that’s what I’m dealing. The name of a cop killer ought to trump a dead kid, right?”
“No one is going to believe you have something to trade on Hollister’s murder.” Shae listened in horrified fascination as the two men bartered. “Do you think you can just throw out some street gossip and beat a murder rap with it? You can’t be that stupid.”
“I got more than that, Tremaine. I got me a personal relationship with Freddie. You ’member Freddie, doncha?” Shae saw from the look on the detective’s face that the name was all too familiar. “I’ve had me some…transactions with him.”
“You mean you deal to him,” Cade said flatly.
LeFrenz rolled his shoulders. “Don’t matter how I know him. Just that he came to me that night in a big hurry. Had to get out of town and he needed some…supplies before he went.”
Cade folded his arms over his chest. “Let me guess. You set him up with a quick fix. Easier to pump a junkie for details when he’s just starting to reach for that high, isn’t it? And Freddie must have been getting desperate by the time he found you.”
“You never know when this kind of information is going to come in handy.” One eye slid closed in a sly wink. “He was shook up, all right. Figured you both for dead. Had himself a wad of cash, too, so someone paid him off. Since cops don’t deal in that kind of money, I’m thinking the shooters did.”
The conversation was painting an all-too-vivid picture for Shae. She could almost hear the gunfire, see the bodies crumpled on the ground. But if the words were bringing back traumatic memories for Tremaine, it didn’t show in his expression. That awesome control was back, and the rage that had briefly flared had been reined in, hidden. Somehow that evidence of his restraint was as fearsome as his temper had been.
“Where’s Freddie now?”
Again LeFrenz shrugged. “Split, man. Guess it wouldn’t be too healthy for him to stick around here. But before he left, he told me all about the whole thing.”
Cade considered him for a long moment. “I’ll run it by the D.A., see if he wants to deal. But your tip has to lead somewhere before he even considers trading for it. And we’re still gonna need the name of your supplier, too, if you’re hoping to slip out of a murder rap.”
Her beeper sounded, an insistent reminder. Shae didn’t reach for it. She was transfixed by the scene playing out before her.
LeFrenz laughed, an ugly sound. “Now who’s blowing smoke? I give up a cop killer, they gonna give me the key to the city. You go on and call the D.A., Tremaine. Run this by him. He’ll deal. I guarantee it.” He looked at Shae then, clearly finished with the conversation. “So Angel Eyes, you gonna stay up here a while and keep me company? Fluff my pillows? Give me a sponge bath, maybe?”
“She needs to get back to the E.R. You’ve already wasted enough of her time, LeFrenz.” The detective took her elbow and guided her of the room.
“You come on back and see me tomorrow, Doc,” LeFrenz called after her. “You and me, we have lots to talk about.”
Once in the hallway, she reached for her beeper, saw the E.R. number. “I have to get downstairs,” she said numbly.
“I figured.” Tremaine was all business now. “Thanks for coming up today. There shouldn’t be any reason for you to be here tomorrow. I think Jonny will jump at whatever bone the D.A. decides to throw him.”
He walked her to the elevator, jabbed the down button. Shae cautioned herself to keep silent. This wasn’t her business, none of it. But the questions whirling around inside her wouldn’t be quieted. “Is what he said in there true?” When Cade only looked at her, she continued, “I mean about what happened to you and your partner.”
The doors of the elevator slid open. Before they stepped inside, she was forced nearer to him to make room for people to exit. She chose the corner opposite his at the back of the compartment and leaned against the wall as she waited for his answer.
“It was close enough,” he finally responded. “Whether he has any more than that remains to be seen. He might just be bluffing, trying to avoid giving up his supplier’s name.”
She studied him, but his profile could have been set in stone. No one would guess that he was talking about discovering the identity of the man, or men, who’d shot him. Who’d killed his partner.
Something compelled her to push further. “And if he does have information about your partner’s death?” She waited for the detective’s gaze to meet hers. “What then? Will that boy who died be ignored in favor of arresting a cop killer?”
“Unless you want to loan me that crystal ball of yours, I have no idea what the D.A. is going to go for. Whichever is the surest thing, I imagine.”
The elevator doors opened to the E.R. floor. But Shae didn’t move. She couldn’t. No more than she could prevent the bitterness from shading her tone. “So that’s justice to you? The surest thing? Trading information for freedom with scum like that the way kids trade baseball cards?” There was a burning in her chest that was all too familiar. A helpless hopeless fury that she could never seem to completely dispel.
He stepped out of the elevator, his voice trailing over his shoulder. “It might not pass for justice to you, Doc. But sometimes it’s the only thing we’ve got.”
Chapter 3
“I liked the monkeys best.” The pigtailed six-year-old at Shae’s side skipped a little as they made their way down the hallway back to her apartment. “Especially the ones with the rainbows on their bottoms.”
“Those are baboons, honey.” Shae smiled at TeKayla’s description. “But they were funny, weren’t they?”
The little girl nodded. “And I liked feeding crackers to the giraffes, too. Can we go back to the zoo sometime?”
Stopping before the girl’s door, Shae rang the bell. “Maybe next month.” Noting a sulk on the way, she reminded the girl, “You wanted to go to the alligator farm next, remember?”
TeKayla brightened just as the door swung open. “Momma, Momma, guess what?” She barreled through the doorway and wrapped her arms around her mother’s legs. “Shae’s gonna take me to a gator farm next.”
“That sounds fine, baby doll.” Weariness sounded in the woman’s voice, showed on her face. She managed a wan smile for Shae. “Thanks for taking her to the zoo. I know she can be a handful.”
“No problem. Did you get any sleep while we were gone?” Hapi Gleason worked two jobs, one of them third shift. TeKayla spent much of the time at home with a sitter when her mother could afford it, and alone when she couldn’t. Shae knew Social Services were aware of the situation, but recent budget cuts had decreased their resources. So far, their involvement hadn’t seemed to change things appreciably.
The door was already closing. “Had me laundry to do. Din’t have no time for sleep.”
“Well, let me know if I can—” the door closed in her face “—help.” Staring at the raised panels, she sighed. There was no doubt in her mind that Hapi considered her an interfering do-gooder. But the truth was…
The truth, she thought, as she made her way to the elevator to go up to her apartment, was that fifteen years ago she’d have thought the same thing about anyone who tried to lend her assistance. She’d have viewed it with doubt and suspicion and sooner have spit on it than accept help, however well intended. At any rate, it was totally out of character for her to get involved like this. Her patients were her duty, her neighbors were not. Other than the Gleasons and the super, she had only a nodding acquaintance with the other people in her building. That had always been the way she liked it. Her hours didn’t give her a lot of free time, and the time off she did have would be better spent on her own errands and chores.
When the elevator doors opened on the top floor, she went to her door and inserted the key. From the first there had been something about TeKayla’s gap-toothed grin and puppy-dog friendliness that had charmed her. The child spent way too much time unsupervised on the stoop out front, even when her mother was home. Although this was a decent enough neighborhood, it was old and close enough to the projects to warrant exercising some caution.
She pushed open the door, dropped her keys and the mail she’d collected from her mailbox downstairs on the table beside it. Crossing to the closet, she hung up her coat and purse. There was no way she would have been able to afford this much space in a more exclusive neighborhood. The entire top floor had been converted to a loft apartment, with screens and throw rugs delineating the space. Upstairs, beneath a huge skylight, was a bedroom with an attached bath. It was simple, comfortable and private. It fit her needs precisely.
Walking to the kitchen tucked into one corner, she opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water. Twisting off the cap, she tipped it to her lips, drank.
“Quite a place you got here, Shae girl.”
The bottle dropped from nerveless fingers as she swung around, her gaze sweeping the area for a weapon. She had her hand on the knife board before she recognized the voice. It was telling that even then, especially then, she had to force herself to release her grip on the weapon.
“What are you doing here, Da?” Her tone was flat, no welcome in it. She watched the tall handsome, man stroll down the spiral staircase from the loft, before posing theatrically at its base, arms spread.
“Shae, my girl, is that any way to greet your old man? Come over and give me a proper welcome.”
A proper welcome would be something between a knife in his heart and a boot out the door. She settled for uncompromising indifference. “Most people use the doorbell. Mind telling me how you got in here?”
One well-manicured index finger to his lips, Ryan O’Riley said, “Now, now. You know I never divulge my methods.”
“You don’t have to. You either broke in or bribed someone.” She bent down, picked up the bottle she’d dropped and grabbed a towel to wipe up the water that had spilled. “Knowing your basic lack of ambition, I imagine bribery was your means of choice.”
“You’ve grown hard, girl.” An expression of sadness settled on Ryan’s face as he heaved a sigh. “I blame myself for that.”
Rising again, she tossed the wet towel in the sink. “There’s plenty to blame yourself for, Da. By all means, don’t stop there.”
If age had caught up with Ryan McCabe O’Riley, it hadn’t dared to show itself. His six-foot frame was still straight, his red hair as bright as her own. His unlined face looked a good ten years younger than its fifty years. It was amazing, Shae thought bitterly, what living without care or conscience could do for a person.
“I wouldn’t say no to one of those bottled waters if you were to offer,” he hinted broadly, leaning against the counter.
It was on the tip of her tongue to refuse. But spitefulness wouldn’t solve anything, and it certainly wouldn’t get rid of him. When he wanted something, her father could be amazingly thick-skinned. And he definitely wanted something, or he never would have shown up here.
She got him a water, slid it over to him. “I’m not giving you any money.”
