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“Am I ever?”
“That means no police emergencies, either.” Cassie winked and shut the door behind her and her mom.
“If only that were up to me,” Nate said softly. He joined Spence in the living room, sitting on the sofa. “How ya feeling, buddy?”
“Better, now that I’m home.”
Nate glanced across the cabin. “Maddie, can you take a break? You should hear this, too.”
Spence didn’t like the sound of that. He didn’t want Maddie to be threatened by the danger stalking him.
When Maddie joined them, Spence noticed a few strands of hair had escaped her ponytail, framing her face. He snapped his attention from her and looked at Nate.
“We went through video footage from the hospital and came up with this.” Nate flashed a photo on his phone of a man in a black jacket with a cap pulled low over his forehead.
“It’s the same guy from the mountains,” Maddie said.
“How can you be sure? You can’t see his face,” Nate said.
“His shoes squeaked. I heard it in the mountains, and again after he shoved me against the wall and ran out of the MRI room.”
It felt like someone punched Spence in the gut. “He shoved you against the wall?”
“I’m fine, and he is too apparently. Obviously survived the fall off the trail. Do you have any better images?”
“Unfortunately not.” Nate pocketed his phone. “He disappeared right in front of security.”
“How is that possible?” Spence asked, growing more frustrated.
“We’re not sure,” Nate said.
“What about Kurt? Did he remember anything?” Maddie asked.
“Nothing usable,” Nate said. “The attacker got him by the throat and stuck him with a syringe. As he was losing consciousness he said he saw a gorilla.”
“Whoa, that was some drug,” Maddie said.
“What we can’t figure out is why he came after you at the hospital, Spence,” Nate said. “At first this looked like you randomly stepped into trouble when you went to help Gwen. Now I’m not so sure that’s all it is. I hate to ask, but can you think of anyone who’d want to hurt you?”
“Hurt me?” Spence scoffed. “Dr. Dreamboat?”
Nate and Maddie weren’t smiling.
“What?” Spence challenged, anxiety trickling across his nerve endings.
“You’re being awfully cavalier about this,” Nate said.
“As opposed to what, launching into full-blown panic?” Which was exactly where he was going. Then he remembered the emails.
“What is it?” Nate said, eyeing him.
“Nothing.”
“It’s something if it made you frown like that,” Maddie said.
“I started getting emails about a month ago. Nasty emails.”
“Nasty, as in threatening?” Nate pushed.
“You could say that, but anyone can send an email. That doesn’t mean they’d concoct a plan to come after me.”
“We’ll need to look at those emails,” Nate said. “In the meantime I’ve assigned an off-duty officer on the cabin until we find the assailant.”
Frustration bubbled up in Spence’s chest. “Yeah, right. We don’t even know what he looks like.” Spence stood. “I need an aspirin.”
“I can get it.”
“No,” he snapped at Maddie. “You need to leave.”
“Spence?” Nate questioned his friend’s abruptness.
“Look, if you’re right and I’m in danger then I don’t want Maddie anywhere near me.”
“But—”
“Thanks for making dinner, Maddie,” he interrupted her. “Please let yourself out.” Spence marched into his bedroom and shut the door, feeling like a total jerk, but he truly didn’t want to put Maddie at risk.
Besides, he craved peace and quiet to calm the annoying anxiety taunting him. He struggled to accept the fact that he could be a killer’s primary target. He’d tried joking it off because the thought of someone coming for him in his current, damaged state was more than he could process.
His head ached and his world seemed to be teetering on rocky ground. All he wanted was time alone to regroup. Instead Maddie was here offering to get him aspirin; cooking him dinner.
Blinking those adorable green eyes at him.
Singing heartfelt songs about love.
He stumbled toward the bed and flopped down on his stomach. It was rude to walk out on Nate and Maddie like that, but he didn’t have another ounce of energy to continue the conversation. Hopefully she’d pack up her things and leave.
Go home.
Where she’d be safe.
* * *
An hour later Maddie had finished the food prep, done the dishes and set the table for Dr. Spencer’s dinner. There were no more excuses to hang around.
He’d given her a firm order to leave, which meant technically she was trespassing.
Something niggled at her brain as she headed for the door. Hesitating, she glanced at his bedroom door, wondering if she should check on him before she left. His assistant wasn’t going to be here for another hour.
A soft knock echoed from the front door. She cracked it open and greeted off-duty police officer Red Carrington.
“Hi, Red.”
“Maddie. The chief wanted me to make sure you were okay in here.”
“The chief should be focused on his date.”
Red frowned in confusion.
“He’s out with my cousin Cassie.”
“Ah, right. How’s the doc?” Red glanced over her shoulder into the cabin.
“I was actually going to check on him before I left. Did you want some coffee or dinner? There’s plenty of food.”
“Nah, I brought a sandwich from home. I’ve got the key to the cabin to lock up after you leave.”
“Great, thanks. Just give me a few minutes.”
“Take your time.”
She shut and locked the front door, grateful to Nate for assigning an officer to Dr. Spencer’s cabin. No matter how aloof he seemed, the doc knew he was in trouble and it had to terrify him, especially in his current state.
Heading for his room, she decided she’d take his pulse and check him for a fever, not that she expected him to have one. If he seemed okay, she could leave with a clear mind and calm heart. She wouldn’t be up all night worrying about him.
Really, Maddie? She wondered how she’d become so attached to the doc and figured it was twofold: she could never repay him for saving her cousin Cassie’s life, plus, Maddie was a fixer at her core. If she saw someone in emotional turmoil, she did everything within her power to help ease his pain.
Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Dr. Spencer was certainly in trouble.
She turned the doorknob to his bedroom, relieved that it wasn’t locked. “Dr. Spencer?”
The room was dark except for the shaft of light streaming in from the living room behind her. The doc was stretched diagonally across the bed on his stomach.
She considered her options. She didn’t want to turn on the light and rouse him from much-needed sleep. He got little sleep last night in the hospital thanks to nightmares that plagued him until about 3:00 a.m. It was a good thing she’d stayed to awaken him from the terror each time he’d called out the name Bobby.
Maddie went to his bedside, knelt and took his pulse. Solid at sixty beats per minute. She placed her palm across his forehead. It was cool to the touch, not warm and clammy. Still, should she wake him to check his pupils?
No, if Dr. Carver suspected it was more serious than a mild concussion she wouldn’t have discharged him. Maddie pulled the comforter across the bed to cover his body. He looked so peaceful. She sighed, glad he wasn’t thrashing about, tortured by nightmares.
Since there was nothing more she could do for him, she decided to scoot. If Spence awakened and found her hovering, he’d surely be cross. She’d leave the doctor in the capable hands of Officer Carrington.
As she made her way to the front door, she considered taking a personal day off work tomorrow. She had plenty coming, actually enough days to piece together a nice trip somewhere. A vacation would be perfect right about now, especially after the craziness of the last twenty-four hours.
She opened the front door and froze.
The driver’s side door of Officer Carrington’s car was open but he was nowhere in sight.
“Red?” she called out.
A gunshot echoed across the property.
FOUR (#u4ac38662-c546-58cb-b7e2-12103666bcd9)
Maddie darted inside the cabin and slammed the door, her heart hammering against her chest. Was it the masked man from the mountains? Had he tracked Dr. Spencer home, waiting for the best moment to attack?
Officer Carrington must have seen the guy stalking the cabin and went after him.
She hoped. She prayed. She also prayed that Red had been the one to fire the shot, perhaps a warning shot, to get the guy to stop. Yeah, she knew how well that did not work when she’d fired a warning shot. On the off chance the masked attacker neutralized the police officer, she had to focus on protecting herself and the doctor.
Since his curtainless living room windows exposed them to the world, she clicked off all the lights. Snapping the small flashlight off her keychain, she aimed the beam and made her way into the bedroom.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and called emergency.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
“This is Maddie McBride. I’m at Dr. Kyle Spencer’s cabin and I heard gunfire outside.”
“We have an officer posted on the premises.”
“He’s not in his car. Send help, and notify Chief Walsh ASAP.”
Someone pounded on the front door, obviously not Red because he had a key to the cabin.
“He’s trying to get in,” she said to the operator. “I have to go.”
“Maddie, please stay on the line.”
Shoving the phone into her pocket, she crouched beside Dr. Spencer. She could only focus on one thing at a time, and right now her priority was to keep herself and Spence alive.
She clicked on his nightstand lamp. Shades covered his windows, probably so he could sleep after getting off a night shift at the hospital.
“Spence, wake up.” She gave his shoulder a gentle nudge.
More pounding echoed from the front door.
“Spence?” When that didn’t work, she decided to use his full name. “Dr. Kyle Spencer, wake up.”
The doctor moaned and blinked his eyes open. “What, where am I?”
Her breath caught in her throat. Did he really not know he was in his own bedroom? Or was he disoriented because she’d awakened him from a deep sleep?
“What is that racket?” He rolled onto his back and threw an arm across his eyes as if he intended to fall back asleep.
“You can’t go back to sleep. Someone’s trying to break in.”
“What?” He sat up abruptly and gripped his head with both hands. “Ah, man.” He looked at her with bloodshot eyes. “What are you still doing here?”
“Yell at me later. Do you keep any weapons in the cabin?”
