the drugs and the fever must have caused you to hallucinate.” Her eyes softened. “You were really sick, hon.”
Sarah held onto her patience with effort. “That’s true, I was, but not so sick I was out of my head. I know there was someone in that room.”
The woman blinked. “I see. Well, even if there was—and I’m not saying there was—there are laws protecting the patients here, including you. By law, I couldn’t tell you about this Brianne even if I remembered her.”
Okay, that was a valid argument. However . . . Sarah caught sight of Dr. Kilgore at the end of the hall. Brushing past the nurse with a hurried “Excuse me,” she headed for the man. “Dr. Kilgore.”
He turned. “Rochelle?”
“Sarah.”
“Right, sorry. How are you? I didn’t think we had another appointment until next week.”
“I’m healing and we don’t. I’m here looking for another one of your patients. She was in the room next to mine. Her first name is Brianne and she was terribly upset the last time I saw her. I . . . I guess I just wanted to know that she was okay and got the help she needed.”
“I told her there was no patient here by that name,” Donna snapped from behind her. “Now, it’s time for you two to go.”
“I really don’t think I can leave until I get some answers,” Sarah said, keeping a smile on her face.
The doctor frowned. “Brianne? Wait a minute. Someone called up here looking for a patient by that name, and I told him I didn’t know who he was talking about.”
“That was my brother, Caden.”
“I see. Well, nothing’s changed since I talked to him. I still don’t know who you’re looking for.” He tucked the file in his hand under his left arm and pulled a phone out of his pocket. “Now, I really must get to the next patient. I’ll see you next week, Sarah.” He turned on his heel and headed down the hall.
Sarah barely managed to hold in a frustrated growl. Why were they giving her the big runaround? Why deny the woman existed?
“Dr. Kilgore, wait! Please.”
“Sarah—” Gavin touched her hand.
“I see you found your phone,” she blurted.
The doctor froze. And slowly turned. “What?”
“You’d left it in the room and came back for it. You were talking with another man. Who was he?”
Dr. Kilgore’s smile flattened. “I’m sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I really have to go. I’ll see you next week.” With that, he turned and headed into the next room.
“Now, will you two leave?” Donna asked, shifting the flowers to glance at her watch. “Believe it or not, we have more patients than we can handle and never have enough time to get everything done. I’m falling behind as we speak. Please, go.”
Gavin’s hand gripped Sarah’s upper arm in a gentle, but firm hold. “Of course,” he said. “We understand. Thanks for your help.”
Sarah started to object but caught his look and snapped her lips shut. He wasn’t shutting her down, he was up to something. “Well, anyway, enjoy the flowers,” she said.
“That was very kind of you. I appreciate the thought.” Somehow, the words didn’t hold the gratitude the first thank-you had.
Once they were in the elevator, the doors started to shut and Sarah whipped around to face him, wincing in the process of moving too fast. She pressed a hand to her side. “What was that all about?”
“I have contacts. Let’s do this the easy way—or at least easier way.”
“You mean your way.”
“Since that’s turning out to be the easy way, then yes, that’s probably what I mean.”
CHAPTER
TEN
“I didn’t dream her,” Sarah said.
He helped her into the passenger seat of his truck and shut the door. Once behind the wheel, he turned to her. “I don’t think you did.”
Gavin had already been working on an idea of how they could find Brianne—assuming Caden hadn’t already done so—and now after the weird response they’d gotten from Nurse Donna and Dr. Kilgore, he was even more determined to follow through with it.
“You really believe me?” she asked.
“Yeah, I really do.” Her narrowed eyes, pale cheeks, and lines around her mouth told him this little outing had been too much, too soon, but he also had a feeling she was perfectly aware of that. “Something’s off. They completely deny her existence when all they had to do was say, ‘She went home. Sorry I can’t tell you anything else.’”
“True,” she said, dragging the word out as she considered