the stairs, but he was getting stronger every day. Physically, he was recovering nicely, his doctor had said. If it wasn’t for the nightmares...
Walking down the hall, he was glad to see the deputy stationed outside her door. He’d been relieved last night when his father had assigned a deputy to guard her after the lab techs had taken what evidence they could gather—including her fingerprints, which ID’d her.
Brick had feared she was still in danger from whoever had held her captive. At the time, he hadn’t known just how much danger this woman was in—or what she was running from.
After being raised in a house with his marshal father, he believed in innocence until proven guilty. If this woman was guilty, she deserved a trial. But even as Brick thought it, he wondered if she could get one anywhere in this country after all the publicity.
As he approached her room, he hoped his father hadn’t told the guard not to let him in.
“Hey, Jason,” Brick said as he approached the deputy sitting outside her door. The marshal department in Big Sky was small, so he knew most everyone by name even though he was new. And everyone knew him. Being the marshal’s son was good and bad. He wouldn’t get any special treatment—not from his father. If anything, Hud Savage would be tougher on him. But he couldn’t have anyone thinking he was special because of his last name.
“That must have been something, finding her like you did,” Jason said.
Brick nodded as he looked toward her closed door. “Any trouble?”
“Not a peep out of her.”
“No one’s come by looking for her?” Brick knew how news traveled in this small canyon town. He feared that whoever had held the woman captive would hear that she’d been taken to the hospital. The hospital was small and busy during the summer season. If someone were determined to get in, they would find a way.
“Nope.”
Brick heard a sound inside the room and looked quizzically to the guard.
“Nurse.” The deputy grinned. “Good-looking one too. I’d let her take my vitals.”
Brick smiled, shaking his head at the man, and pushed open the door. As he did, the nurse beside the bed who’d been leaning over the patient now looked up in alarm.
He took in the scene in that split second as the door closed behind him. The guard was right. The nurse was a stunner, blonde with big blue eyes.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said as he stepped deeper into the room, sensing that something was wrong.
“You didn’t.” The nurse began to nervously straighten the patient’s sheet before she turned toward him to leave. He realized with a start that the patient had been saying something as he walked in. He’d seen Natalie’s lips moving. Her eyes had been open, but were now closed. Had he only imagined that she’d spoken? How was that possible if the woman was catatonic and nonresponsive?
Also, when he’d come in and the nurse had been leaning over the patient, she’d clearly been intent on what Natalie was saying. She’d straightened so quickly as he’d come in. But before that, he’d seen something in the nurse’s face...
The hair rose on the back of his neck.
“I heard the patient was catatonic. Any change?” he asked.
“No, I’m afraid not,” the nurse said and started toward him on her way out of the room.
“Please don’t let me stop you from what you were doing.”
“I’m finished.” She had to walk right past him to get out the door. As she approached, he looked at her more closely. If he was right and had heard Natalie speak, then the nurse had lied about there being no change. But why would she lie?
Looking past her, he noticed a pillow on the floor where she’d been standing. It had apparently fallen off the bed. It seemed strange that she hadn’t taken the time to pick it up and put it back on the patient’s bed. But that wasn’t half as odd as her apparent need to get out of this room as quickly as possible.
His gaze shot to her uniform. No name tag.
Even as he raised his arm to stop her, he still couldn’t be sure of what he’d thought he’d seen—and heard. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong here. That he’d walked into something... “Hold up just a minute.”
The moment he reached for the woman, she jerked back her arm and spun to face him. Before he could react,