Armed With Steele (2 page)

I crossed the room and skidded to a stop in front of him.

“How is she?”

He looked up, a mixture of frustration and worry upon his face. “I don’t know. They shooed me out of the examination room as soon as we got here.”

“You don’t know?” I planted a hand on my hip and worked to catch my breath. “Matt, you rode in the ambulance with her. Didn’t the paramedics tell you anything?”

“I tried to stay quiet and let them take care of her. Besides, I don’t speak
ER
, Jessica. Hell, I didn’t understand half the shit they were saying.” He shook his head and looked down at his hands. “I don’t understand any of this. Why Grace?”

“I’m sorry,” I said, and lowered myself into the seat next to him. “I’ve been a nervous wreck since you called. And then I got pulled over—”

“Pulled over? For what?”

“It doesn’t matter.” I ran a hand through my hair and tried to ignore the overwhelming smell of industrial-strength disinfectant permeating the room. “So, what happened?”

Matt slid back in his seat, knee slowing to the speed of sound. “I was on my way home, coming across North River Road like I always do. Only, traffic was horrible, barely crawling. A DJ came on and said there was an accident near North River and Maysville. And about a blue car in the ditch.”

“The ditch?”

He nodded, avoiding my eyes. “I tried calling Grace, but she didn’t answer. And somehow I just knew...” His knee went slack. He sucked in a ragged breath and turned his pained face toward me. “When I saw her Infiniti, Jess, I nearly lost my mind.”

I put a hand on his shoulder and tried to come up with something comforting to say. Something that would ease both our worries. But I was at a complete loss for words.

For as much as I loved my best friend, Matt’s love for her went to an entirely different level. They’d been together almost two years now—long enough that I’d started bracing myself for the day when he might pop the question and steal her away from me.

His gaze returned to the floor. “By the time I got there, they were getting ready to load her into the ambulance. A cop tried to hold me back, but after I explained who I was, he let me through.” Matt shuddered. “There was just so much
blood
…”

“Blood?” Definitely not one of my favorite subjects.

“From the cut on her head. They think she got it when her car rolled.”

My stomach began to do some rolling of its own. I changed the subject in a feeble attempt to keep whatever was left of my lunch down. “Was anyone in the other car hurt?”

“There wasn’t another car. Just hers.”

“Well, did she tell you what caused her to go off the road then?”

Matt’s shoulders slumped. “No. She was unconscious. Has been this whole time.”

“Oh.” My voice sounded a mile away. I struggled with the image of my fun-loving roommate, my vibrant best friend, unconscious and bleeding atop some wobbly gurney. I needed to see her, to know she would be okay. Then it dawned on me, so did her parents. “Did anyone call Sharon and Norm?”

“Yeah, I did. Her folks got here about ten minutes before you did. A nurse rushed them back to see Grace. They’ve been gone ever since.”

“They’re here? We should go find them!” I hopped to my feet and started forward, but Matt caught my arm.

“Can’t.” He tipped his head toward the hallway behind the registration desk. “Only family’s allowed back there.”

“Says who?”

“Says the woman behind the desk.”

I glanced over at the forty-something heavyset woman with fresh-out-of-the-box platinum blonde hair popping her bubble gum behind the desk. She looked harmless enough.

“You don’t think I should try and ask to see Grace?” I said in a hush. “Maybe she just didn’t like you.”

He shook his head. “No way. I don’t want that temper of yours getting us both kicked out of here.”

My gaze shifted from Blondie back to Matt. Okay, maybe I wasn’t always the queen of tact. So sue me.

“Jess,” he warned.

I sank back down, arms crossed. “Stupid rules. So, what do we do now?”

“We wait.”

* * * *

At seven o’clock, we’d both had enough of the hurry up and wait routine. Matt took off to locate a vending machine with the ulterior motive of trying to find an unlocked door that might lead us back to Grace. I remained behind on the lookout for any signs of Mr. or Mrs. Sullivan, my patience waning by the minute.

If I didn’t get an update on Grace soon, heads were going to roll.

Once Matt was out of sight, I traded our front row seats for two in the far corner of the room. From there I kept watch for Grace’s parents, relieved to have put some distance between myself and the near constant stream of people with varying ailments shuffling in and out of the lobby. Head wounds, broken arms, bad colds—you name it, they were here.

And every single one of them made me uneasy.

There was a reason I’d chosen computers over nursing—flesh wounds and runny noses weren’t exactly my cup of tea. In fact, I usually did my utmost to avoid any medical-related environments. Especially hospitals and nursing homes.

Matt re-appeared fifteen minutes later, a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew in one hand and a Coke Zero in the other.

I pulled the collar of my t-shirt, which I’d been using as an impromptu respirator, down from my nose. “No luck?”

He lowered himself into the seat next to me and handed over the Coke. “No, dammit. This place is locked down tighter than Fort Knox.”

“It figures. Well, thanks for trying. And for the drink. “

“Sure.”

Of all the guys Grace had dated over the years, Matt was by far my favorite. He always focused on her, never on me. Around him, I could relax and be myself.

We soon fell into a comfortable silence. Well, as comfortable as we could be, considering where we were and why we were there. I’d just recapped my drink when Matt suddenly planted his elbow into my side.

“Hey, Jess!”

Pain radiated from the point of impact. “What?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“See the cop walking toward the registration desk?”

I glanced across the room at the man in uniform approaching Blondie, then shot Matt a dirty look as I rubbed my sore ribcage. “Yeah. So?”

“I think he’s the one I talked to when they were loading Grace into the ambulance.”

“Oh, yeah?”

Matt and I stared at each other for half a second, then launched from our seats, hungry for answers.

The officer stood with his back to us, absorbed in conversation with a young, busty nurse who’d just emerged from the back hallway. Even from behind, I could tell he wasn’t the middle-aged, ex-marine with a spare tire around the middle and salt-and-pepper buzz cut that I’d expected to see after hearing Matt speak of him earlier. He couldn’t have been much older than me. And no evidence of midriff excess…or excess anywhere else, for that matter. His broad shoulders tapered down to a slender but solid waist, giving his upper body a nice, well-defined V-shape. The back of his neck still held a trace of summer tan, and not a single gray hair could be seen throughout his thick mane of dark, wavy locks.

Shame on me for having such a lackluster imagination.

It was a view I might have enjoyed, had our circumstances been different. Eye candy or not, his failure to turn around after thirty seconds or so began to piss me off. I faked a cough, which garnered a nasty look from the nurse.

The officer turned toward the sound and his gaze fell upon Matt. Recognition soon washed over his face, and he extended out his hand. “Mr. Harris.”

The front view of Mr. Officer was even better than the one from behind. I scanned his face, and couldn’t help but admire his smooth jaw line, perfect nose and brilliant blue eyes. Blue eyes?

Oh, no.

“Officer Steele,” Matt said, extending his own hand out.

Chapter 2

I clenched my eyes shut.
Please tell me I heard wrong, please tell me I heard wrong…
Unfortunately, I hadn’t. When I opened them again, the jerk who’d delayed my arrival at Glenview was still standing there in front of me. Only this time, instead of his perpetual scowl, an amused smirk played at his lips.

“And I see you made it here okay.”

“Um, yeah.” I felt my cheeks warm. “Thank you. Again.”

“Wait,” Matt’s brow furrowed. “You two know each other?”

“I’ll explain later,” I muttered under my breath.
Would have explained it to you earlier if you hadn’t blanked on his damned name until now.

“Okay.” He turned his attention back to Officer Steele. “So, did you figure out what happened?”

“No, not yet. I’d hoped to ask Miss Sullivan a few questions so I could close out my report, but she’s still out cold.”

Out cold
implied she was still breathing, which gave me hope. I put my irritation with the patrolman aside and refocused my energies on Grace. “But surely you’ve come up with something.”

Officer Steele glanced around the crowded waiting area, then tipped his head in the direction of a nearby door. “Why don’t we continue this conversation somewhere a little more private.”

The room he directed us to was barely larger than a broom closet. Yet some brilliant administrator had decided to try and wedge a small, round oak veneer table and four matching chairs inside. We had no choice but to sit. Being the smallest of the group—five foot two on a good day—I took a seat in the back corner.

My fingers drummed a will-you-hurry-it-up-already rhythm while I waited for the men to get situated. Officer Steele took the seat to my left, and a cologne I hadn’t noticed before began to tickle at my nose. Something cool and clean, with a hint of spice. Definitely not something Matt would wear—Grace preferred him in more of an evergreen aroma. The whole pine needles scent wasn’t really my thing, but
this
…

“You need to find a new nail tech.”

“What?” I glanced up at Officer Steele, then followed his gaze down to my hands on the table. One set of fingers was without polish, the other now an apricot nightmare. “Oh, that.” I withdrew my hands to my lap. “Let’s just say today’s appointment got cut a bit short.” By a certain phone call, about a certain best friend of mine.

Matt dropped into the chair across from us, and I took it as my cue to begin our interrogation. “So, Officer, what happened to my roommate?”

The teasing look in his eyes vanished. “I’m not entirely sure. We got a call from the resident at 7101 North River Road at approximately five fifteen this evening. She’d been in the bathroom and heard a loud noise outside. When she…” He cleared this throat. “Finished her business, she looked outside and spotted Miss Sullivan’s car in the ditch to the east. The woman called 911, who then dispatched the call to me.

“When I arrived at the scene, the paramedics were also just pulling up. We made our way to the car, and found Miss Sullivan unconscious. While they worked to extract her from the car, I surveyed the accident site. Deep ruts just off the road indicate her vehicle made a hard right, which caused the car to roll once it met the embankment. The car eventually came to rest upright against a utility pole, the impact pinning the driver’s door shut.”

“Oh, God,” I breathed.

Matt shifted in his seat. “How did you get her out?”

“Through the passenger-side door.”

An image suddenly came to my mind. One of Grace, just a few months back, prancing around her new car like a small child around the tree on Christmas morning. I groaned at the thought of how it must look now. Officer Steele’s gaze shifted to me, one eyebrow raised.

“Sorry,” I said, and wrung my hands together under the table. “I’m just picturing you guys having to break a window to get her out. Grace loved that car.”

“We didn’t break any windows—the doors were unlocked. Not that it really matters.” He looked over at Matt. “I’d be willing to bet my next paycheck the car’s totaled.”

I blinked a few times. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Matt nodded. “Her car was in pretty bad shape.”

I rubbed my temples, trying to stave off the headache threatening to erupt. “No, I mean, really? The doors were unlocked?”