Witness Pursuit

“She didn’t say.”

“Where was she going?”

“She took off into the parking lot.” He pointed. “That way.”

“Thank you.” Nate dismissed the orderly and pulled Red aside. “Put out a BOLO on Cassie McBride. See how fast a few of the guys can get here to help search the woods bordering the parking lot.”

“You think he dumped her body—”

“Call Spike and Harvey,” Nate cut him off.

“What about SAR?”

“Too many personal connections.”

“You mean Aiden and Bree?”

“Let’s leave them out of this for now.”

“I think it’s too late for that.” Red nodded at Aiden, who sprinted toward them.

“What happened?” Aiden demanded.

“Cassie is missing,” Nate said.

“Wait, what? How is that possible?”

“Officer Carrington, continue the search.”

“Yes, sir.”

Nate turned back to Aiden. “She hasn’t been gone that long. It appears that she felt threatened, pulled the fire alarm and ran.”

“She ran?” Aiden’s voice pitched.

With a firm hand on his friend’s shoulder, Nate said, “We’ll start by searching the woods bordering the hospital. Knowing Cassie, if she was in danger she would have taken off, but perhaps didn’t think it through to the end.”

“She never does. She’s so impulsive sometimes.” Aiden’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen. “It’s Mom.”

“We don’t need more frantic people down here, Aiden. Let’s focus on finding Cassie and then you’ll call her back with good news, okay?”

Aiden nodded and paced a few steps away. “Hey, Mom. I have to call you back...in the middle of something. Soon, love you, bye.” Aiden turned to Nate. “She knows something’s up.”

“Let’s get to work. I’ve got a flashlight in my truck.”

“Yeah, okay,” Aiden said, dazed with worry about his sister. “I’ll get mine, too.”

Nate walked away, proud of himself for holding it together in front of his friend. He had no choice. As police chief, folks depended on him to be the grounding force in a crisis, and usually he excelled in that role.

Today was different. Someone was after Cassie. He never should have let her go to the hospital alone. He should have stayed with her, protected her. Right, and how ridiculous was that considering he had a potential murder on his hands?

He struggled to bury his concern and not let anyone see the utter panic tearing at his insides. But as he approached his truck, the bottled-up frustration got the better of him. He slammed his palm against the quarter panel.

A woman’s cry echoed back at him.

Nate froze, his heart pounding.

Leaning forward, he peered into the flatbed. Cassie blinked her bloodshot, terrified eyes.

“You’re in my truck,” he said.

“D-d-disappointed?” She broke into a round of shivers.

He grabbed a blanket from the backseat and climbed into the flatbed beside her. As he gently covered her body, a wave of calm washed over him. She was okay. For now.

“Aiden!” He motioned to his friend who’d gone to get a flashlight. “Over here!”

“I knew you’d come.”

Nate snapped his attention to Cassie. “What happened? Why did you run?”

“A guy...in the hospital...the guy with the shovel...from the cabin.”

“Is it...?” Aiden stopped short and looked at her. “What are you doing in there?”

“Aiden,” Nate warned, wanting him to soften his tone. “She’s trembling.”

“Let’s take her inside,” Aiden said.

“Nooooo.” She clamped her hand around Nate’s forearm. “Not back in there.”

“Cassie, you need medical attention,” Aiden argued.

“That man got to me in there. I can’t go back.” Her pleading blue eyes tugged at Nate’s heart.

“She’s delirious. She doesn’t know what she’s saying,” Aiden said.

“I am n-n-not!” she protested.

“Come on, I’ll help you out.” Aiden reached for her.

“Wait,” Nate said. “I’ve got another idea.”

* * *

Cassie couldn’t believe it. Nate had listened to her. He’d respected her fear of going back into the hospital and found an alternative.

Nate drove her to the urgent care, where Dr. Spencer was on duty. He was a good friend to both Nate and Aiden, and he’d done his share of triage with search and rescue. Cassie knew she wasn’t suffering from anything serious, but she did need medical attention for the gash in her arm.

Closing her eyes, she relaxed under the heated blanket in the examining room. She appreciated the warmth that finally drove the chill from her bones.

“Cassie?”

She blinked her eyes open. A frown creased Nate’s forehead.

“What’s wrong?” she said.

“I thought you passed out.”

“Why, because I stopped talking?” she joked.

Instead of smiling, he glanced down at his hands, holding his Echo Mountain PD cap. He seemed regretful, and she couldn’t understand why.

“Thanks,” she offered.

He looked at her. “For what?”

“Bringing me here. Listening to me, I guess. Not many people do that, especially not my brother.”

“I almost forgot.” He pulled her cell phone out of his jacket pocket. “Your cousin found it in the ambulance.”

“Awesome, thanks. Where is my bossy brother, anyway?”

“He went outside to call your mom.”

“Oh boy, now the whole town is going to know.”

“Maybe that’s not a bad thing,” Nate said.

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“People will be on the lookout. They’ll keep an eye on you.”

“Right, because I’m so fragile and incapable of taking care of myself. They should consider the fact that I escaped this guy—” she hesitated “—twice, and the first time with a dog in my arms.” She sat up. “Speaking of which, what happened to Dasher?”

“Relax, your sister and my sister are fighting over custody.”

She sighed and lay back down. “Thanks, I’ll pick him up after I get out of here.”

“You should worry more about yourself than some scruffy dog.”

“I have lots of people to support me, but Dasher? He’s got no one. And besides, he’s not scruffy, he’s got character.”

She thought Nate smiled but couldn’t be sure.

The door slid open and Dr. Spencer poked his head into the room. “Sorry, had an emergency. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Thanks,” Cassie said.

Dr. Spencer smiled and shut the door. Cassie glanced at Nate. “When my brother comes back, you can go. I know you should be figuring out what happened to the dead woman, instead of hanging around here.”

“Detective Vaughn is leading the investigation.”

“Why?”

“I delegate in order to keep a broader perspective on things. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but—” he pulled his stool close to Cassie’s bedside “—do you think you can identify the man carrying the shovel?”

“Absolutely, and I wanted to call you with that information, but I’d lost my phone.”

“I’ll try to get a forensic artist to come by tomorrow. Where will you be staying?”

“You know where my apartment is, over the tea shop.”

He straightened. “It would be wiser if you didn’t go back to your place for a few days. The perpetrator knows who you are.”

“I still don’t understand how.”

“Where’s your wallet?”

“Back at the cabin. Oh...so you think he went through my things?”

“It’s likely, yes.”

“But I did a good job of playing a daft property manager who runs from the sight of blood. I was pretty convincing that I didn’t see him at the cabin.”

“Cassie, he came after you in the hospital and knocked out the orderly who was supposed to take you to imaging.”

“Wait, what? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. That’s not the point.”

“I feel so bad since it’s my fault that—”

“Cassie, stop talking, just for one minute.”

She bit back more questions she wanted to ask about the injured orderly. At least she’d like his name so she could add him to her prayer list.

“We can’t take chances with your safety,” Nate said. “You need to be in the most protected environment possible until we solve this case.”

“Well, I could always leave the country. I have enough money saved to travel for a while, not as long as I’d originally intended, but a few months should work, right?”

Nate didn’t answer at first. He clenched his jaw and his green eyes darkened. “I’d rather you not.”

“You said I’m in danger here, so the most logical choice is to—”

He stood abruptly. “You’re a witness. I need you to stay in town.”

“Oh, okay.” She glanced at her fingers in her lap. Arguing with Nate was pointless. He was the police chief, after all, and his primary concern was the murder case, nothing more, nothing like...

He actually cared about Cassie.

Nope, Nathaniel Walsh was all business. He wanted to get his man, and Cassie was a means to that end.

“You’re upset with me,” he stated, studying her.

“I want to go home.”

“To your mother’s farm. Good idea.”

She cocked her chin. “When did I say that? I never said that.”

“But you agree that it’s a good idea?” He sat back down beside her.

“No, I don’t want to stay at the farm. Mom will hover and forbid me from leaving the house.”

“It’s probably a good idea to lie low for a while, stay at your mom’s and do your blogging stuff.”

“Hey, my blogging stuff doesn’t pay the bills. I’ve made a commitment to Echo Mountain Rentals and it’s good money.”

“Right, it’s about padding your getaway fund.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. You know what? Let’s not talk about this. What do you need?”

“Excuse me?”

“What can your primary witness do to help you solve this case?”

“You’re injured. I can conduct an interview tomorrow.”

She continued anyway. “He was about six feet tall, with thin lips and bushy eyebrows. Oh, and a bump on his nose, here.” She reached out to illustrate on Nate’s nose, but he jerked away, like she was contagious.

“Wow, okay.” She swallowed the hurt burning her throat and pointed to her own nose. “A bump right here. He’s got dark brown eyes and he smelled of something... I can’t put my finger on it, something pungent.”

“What did he say to you?” Nate pulled a small notebook out of his jacket pocket.

“I did most of the talking. Especially after I figured out who he was. I did my best flaky girl impression, and told him I ran away from the cabin because of the blood, then tripped and fell down a mountain.”

“You think he bought it?”

“He seemed to. I’m not dead.” The inappropriate comment awkwardly slipped out.

Nate’s fingers froze as he gripped the pen.

“Sorry, that was morbid,” she said.

“Is there anything else you can tell me about him?”

“No, sorry.”

He glanced up. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”

In that moment she felt caught by something in his green eyes, something intense and sad. She struggled to form words.

“I... You... Thanks,” she uttered.

She didn’t like this feeling, a feeling of being derailed, yanked off course. It seemed to happen only when Chief Walsh was looking straight at her.

The door swung open. “How’s the patient?” Dr. Spencer asked, approaching her.

His presence ripped Cassie out of the intense moment with the chief. She smiled at the doctor and said, “Pretty good, considering.”

“Attitude is everything,” the cheerful doctor said. “Let’s stitch you up and send you home.”

Nate stood. “I’ll get her brother.”

“Wait,” she said. “Would you mind staying?” For some reason she didn’t feel overly judged by Nate, whereas every word that came out of Aiden’s mouth felt like a criticism.

“Are you sure?” Nate said.

“Yes, but you probably have to get back.”

“I’ve got a few minutes.” Nate offered to hold her hand for support.

She accepted the gesture, appreciating the warmth. As she focused on a spot across the room, the doctor raised the sleeve of her hospital gown and explained how he was numbing her arm in preparation for sutures.

A few minutes later she felt a tugging sensation, but no pain.

“Not so bad, right?” Dr. Spencer said.

She glanced at him. “That’s it?”

“Only needed ten stitches. A little more paperwork and you’re good to go.” He smiled.

The sound of gunfire echoed through the door.

FOUR

Nate instinctively withdrew his firearm.

“Stay here,” he said to Spence.

As Nate tried to pull away from Cassie, she clung tighter to his hand. Her face had drained of color.

“You’re okay, Cassie, but I need to get out there and make sure everyone else is, too.”

With a reluctant nod, she let him go, and he rushed to investigate.

“Be careful,” she said.

He nodded, slid the door open and peered into the main area. It looked empty, as if staff had suddenly abandoned the urgent care. He left Cassie’s examining room and shut the door.

Taking a few steps toward a computer station, he hesitated. Whimpering echoed from below. He knelt and peeked beneath a desk. Two staff members, young women in their twenties, were huddled together, fear coloring their eyes.

“Where did the shot come from?” he whispered.

One of the women pointed toward the reception area.

Just then the reception door flew open. Aiden and a middle-aged woman stepped into the examining area with their hands raised. Someone was obviously behind them. Nate took cover beside the desk to better assess what he was dealing with. If he exposed himself now he could lose his weapon in exchange for sparing someone’s life. Without a weapon he had no control of the situation.

“She needs help now!” a male voice demanded. “Where’s the doctor?”

“I—I don’t know,” the woman beside Aiden said.

“How can you not know?”

“Hey, can’t we talk about this?” Aiden argued.

“Get down, facedown on the ground, and put your hands behind your head!”

Aiden must have hesitated, because another shot rang out and the two women beneath the desk shrieked.

“Okay, okay.” Aiden dropped to the floor and made eye contact with Nate.

The assailant placed his boot on Aiden’s back. “Now stay there. And you, get in a room!”

The front-end receptionist who’d entered with Aiden did as ordered.

If the guy would just move a few inches to the right Nate could get him from behind, the goal being to disarm him without the gun going off again.

“Where’s the doctor? The nurses? I heard them scream.”

The women under the desk eyed Nate. He shook his head, warning them off, not wanting to put more innocents in the line of fire.

The shooter turned. Nate saw the man’s reflection in an examining room window: the shooter was holding on to a young, barely conscious woman.

“Nurses, get out here!”

Nate got ready to take his shot.

A door slid open. “I’m Dr. Spencer.”

Nate froze. Spence was sacrificing his own safety to protect his patients and staff.

“What happened here?” Spence said calmly, as if the man wasn’t threatening him with a gun.

“She’s hurt, she’s hurt and needs help and they said I had to wait for a doctor, but we can’t wait!”

“I understand. Where is she hurt?”

As Spence engaged the shooter, Nate debated firing his weapon with so many innocents around. The last thing he wanted was to get into a heated exchange of gunfire.

He holstered his gun. The minute the perp’s gun was no longer aimed at Spence, or anyone else for that matter, Nate would make his move. He’d take the guy down, hopefully before he could get a shot off.

“She’s bleeding, can’t you see that?” the guy said.

“I can’t tell from this vantage point. How about we get her into a room?”

There were only three rooms: the receptionist was in one, an emergency patient in another, and Cassie in the third.

And hers was the closest.

“How did this happen?” Spence asked.

“Stop asking so many questions!” To drive home his point, the shooter pointed his weapon at the ceiling to fire off another shot.

Nate charged the guy from behind, the force making him release the injured woman. Distressed about letting her go, the guy lost his focus. Nate slammed the shooter’s fist against the wall and the gun sprang free, dropping to the floor. Nate swung the guy to the ground, pinned him with a knee to his back and zip-tied his wrists.

“You’ve gotta help her,” the man groaned.

Nate glanced at Aiden. “Help Dr. Spencer get the female victim into a room.”

Aiden got up off the floor and assisted Spence.

“Ladies hiding beneath the desk?” Nate said.

Their heads popped out.

“Call 911. I need backup.”

“I already did,” Cassie said from the doorway of her examining room.

On cue, the wail of sirens echoed from the parking lot.

“You okay?” Nate asked Cassie.

“Yep.”

Aiden approached Nate. “Doc says she’ll need to be transported to the hospital. It’s a gunshot wound.”

“It was an accident,” the perp said.

“You’re under arrest for reckless conduct and aggravated assault,” Nate said.

Red rushed into the examining area, gun drawn.

“Don’t need the weapon.” Nate stood, pulling the perp to his feet. “Take this guy to lockup.”

“Yes, sir.” Red led him away.

“Good job, Chief,” Aiden said.

“Thanks.” He glanced at Cassie. “Ready to go home?”

“Beyond ready.”

“I’ll take her to Mom’s,” Aiden offered.

“I don’t think she wants to stay at the farm,” Nate countered.

“It’s okay. I’ll go,” Cassie said.

Nate guessed that after what just happened, she was upset and could use the support of family.

“But...” Cassie hesitated. “Can you drive me, Chief?”

“Come on, Cassie,” Aiden said. “Nate has more important stuff to do.”

“It’s fine,” Nate said. “I’ll take her.”

* * *

When she’d asked him to drive her to Mom’s farm, she hadn’t expected the chief to hang around as long as he did. He’d been here over an hour.

Mom, who lived alone since Dad’s passing more than ten years ago, kept hammering him with questions about the dead woman, but he explained he couldn’t discuss an ongoing investigation. She’d even bribed him with food, but he declined, opting for coffee instead.

He had a long night ahead of him. Not only had Cassie found a dead body, but then she wouldn’t go back into the hospital, and ended up in the urgent care, where a man went nutty and shot up the place.

Her mom politely asked another question and Cassie jumped in for the save. “I think he needs a refill.”

Mom glanced at his mug. “Oh, of course.” She went into the kitchen to get the pot.

“I’m sorry,” Cassie said to Nate.

Nate glanced up from his mug. “For what?”

“I feel like I’m a trouble magnet.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The dead woman in the cabin, having to rescue me, Jesse James in the urgent care. You wouldn’t have been there at all if not for my fear of the hospital.”

“It was a good thing I was there or more people might have been seriously injured.”

She shrugged. Her mind still spun about everything that had happened...and in one night!

“Here we go,” her mom said, returning with the coffee. “We’re so glad you could stay and chat for a bit. I’m sure it makes Cassie feel less anxious to have the chief of police here. It’s important to keep her anxiety at a minimum.”

“It’s important to keep everyone’s anxiety at a minimum,” Cassie said.

“True, but we don’t want yours triggering an episode.”

Cassie shook her head, mortified. To have her illness mentioned in front of Nate made her feel broken and pitiful.

“Could I get some cream?” Nate asked Mom.

Not what kind of episode? Or how bad is Cassie’s issue with anxiety?

Her big brother had probably told Nate the whole ugly story.

“Of course.” Mom went back into the kitchen.

“I’m okay,” Cassie said to Nate. “You don’t have to stay.”

“But your mom said—”

“I’m fine.” She stood and paced to the front window. “I’m not going to freak out if you leave, and I haven’t had an episode since I was a teenager.”

“Oh, okay.”

She turned to him. He was staring into his coffee.

“Go ahead, ask,” she said.

He glanced up. “Ask what?”

“About my anxiety, my—” she made quote marks with her fingers “—episodes.”

“It’s none of my business.”

“You mean Aiden hasn’t told you?”

“No.”

“I’m shocked. Well, you should probably know since everyone else seems to. I had a childhood autoimmune disease,” she started, wandering back to the sofa. “Juvenile idiopathic arthritis. It’s hard to diagnose in kids since there’s no blood test for it. I’d be stiff in the morning, tired throughout the day, and not the most coordinated person on the planet. Aiden used to call me lazy bird. Since the symptoms would flare up and go away, it took a while to diagnose. Mom blames herself for not figuring it out sooner.”

“Wasn’t that the doctor’s responsibility?”

“Sure, but she was the one who took care of me, saw me wince when I’d get up in the morning. I’ve outgrown it, but Mom can’t see me as anything but that sick little girl.”

“She loves you. It’s her job to worry.”

“But not her job to shame me in front of people.”

“Shame you?”

“Telling you how my anxiety could trigger an episode? It’s like I have no control over my health, but I do. I follow an anti-inflammatory diet and get my share of exercise.”

“She might have some post-trauma issues related to your illness, Cassie. Try to see it from her point of view.”

“Here we go,” her mom said, breezing into the living room with cream for Nate’s coffee. “Sorry it took so long, but I was looking for an appropriate accompaniment to the coffee. I know you said you weren’t hungry, Chief, but I thought I’d tempt you anyway.” She placed a tray of pastries on the coffee table and sat on the sofa beside Cassie. “So, what are we talking about?”

Nate’s phone buzzed and he eyed the screen. “They need me.” He glanced at Cassie as if waiting for her permission to leave.

Cassie stood and motioned toward the door. “Thanks for bringing me home.”

“Wait,” her mom said. “Let me put some sweets in a container to take with you.”

Before he could respond, she’d dashed into the kitchen. Good old Mom, always feeding people to make them feel better.

“You’ll be okay?” he asked Cassie.

“Yeah, don’t worry about me. I’m tough.”

* * *

The container of sweets on the seat beside him, Nate pulled away from the farmhouse. Glancing in the rearview, he couldn’t ignore the pit in his stomach.

Don’t worry about me.

Which was asking the impossible. Sure, the house had a new security system installed after the break-in last year, but the property was off the beaten path, and if Cassie and her mom needed emergency services it would take a good ten minutes to get to them.

A lot could happen in ten minutes.

Yet Nate couldn’t be in two places at once. They might not have a large staff at the Echo Mountain PD, but SAR had its share of former military. Nate decided to see if Harvey, retired security manager for Echo Mountain Resort, could watch the farmhouse.

Harvey answered on the second ring. “Hey, Chief, heard you’ve had a busy night.”

“Word gets around.”

“How’s Cassie McBride?”

“That’s why I’m calling. She’s staying at her mom’s temporarily and I was wondering—”

“I’d love to.”

“I haven’t asked the question yet.”

“You want me to keep an eye on Margaret and Cassie.”

“If you’ve got time.”

“Got plenty of that. Fishing trip was canceled so the timing is perfect. Besides, Margaret makes a dynamite cup of coffee.”

“That she does. I’ll let them know you’re coming.”