Fatal Exposure - By Gail Barrett Page 0,82
He gauged the distance to the door, then eyed the IV connected to a pole. He’d have to haul it along.
He pushed aside the railing. The nurse call button’s cord got in the way, and he looped it over the side. Then he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and waited for another bout of light-headedness to subside. Air hit his naked back, and chills prickled his skin. Great. Not only was he unarmed, but he was bare-assed, wearing one of those ridiculous hospital gowns.
Suddenly the door flew open and crashed against the wall, making him start. Brynn. He took in her flushed face and panicked eyes, her red hair wild around her face. A dark bruise stood out on her cheek.
But his surge of relief instantly faltered. Brynn wasn’t prone to panic. Something was terribly wrong. His stomach took a precipitous dive. “What is it?”
“Delgado. He’s here. We need to leave.”
“What?”
She raced to his side, her bum arm wrapped in a sling. “He just murdered Hoffman. And the guards. I don’t know how. It just happened, down the hall. Now he’s on the loose. He’s going to come after you next. We need to go somewhere safe.”
Parker gave his head a swift shake, trying to make sense of her disjointed words. But Hoffman’s claim of innocence winged into his mind. So he was telling the truth. He really didn’t kill Tommy. But Delgado had—and now he was after them.
His thoughts raced as he struggled to rise. “Lieutenant Lewis. We need to tell her what’s going on.”
“She already knows. I told her about him last night. She’s got people looking for him.”
“But then...” Parker paused, suddenly confused. Delgado wasn’t dumb. He would be monitoring police communications, and he’d know they were after him. “Why would he come here? Why would he risk getting caught?” He should be miles away, trying to stay incognito, not waltzing into the hospital where his coworkers could recognize him. “And why would he kill Hoffman? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Brynn shook her head, her frantic eyes pleading with his. “I don’t know. Does it matter? Hurry. We need to hide somewhere fast.”
The panic in her voice convinced him. He grabbed the IV pole and pushed himself upright, the floor tiles cold against his bare feet. But his head began to swim. His vision hazed, and he swayed, his knees threatening to collapse. Brynn lunged over and caught him, her soft, slight body propping him up. He leaned against her, black spots dancing before his eyes. “Damn.”
“Sit down,” she said.
“But—”
“I can’t hold you. Not with one arm. Just sit down for a second, and we’ll try again.”
He perched on the edge of his bed, disgusted at how wobbly he felt. He must have lost a lot of blood. “Sorry. Just give me a minute.”
But more shouts rose in the hall. The door abruptly slammed open, and his heart sprinted into overdrive. He reached for his gun out of habit—but it wasn’t there. A spasm of fear put on a lock on his lungs.
But Lieutenant Lewis appeared in the doorway. She strode into the room, accompanied by another cop, and Parker released his breath in a rush. Thank God it’s her. If that had been Delgado, they’d both be dead.
She took a quick look around, then turned to the other cop, a detective Parker didn’t recognize. “Everything’s fine in here. I’ll stay inside. You stand guard in the hall.” He left with a nod, and she closed the door. Then she strode to the bed and stopped.
He’d never seen her look worse. Her short, gray hair was disheveled. Her usually crisp uniform was wrinkled, as if she’d been sleeping in it for days. She carried a leather satchel, her white-knuckled grip revealing her nerves. The harsh overhead light emphasized the lines in her narrow face, aging her several years.
He didn’t blame her for feeling stressed, considering the public relations nightmare she faced. Parker had been shot by a fellow officer. Colonel Hoffman—a prominent member of the community and the protégé of Senator Riggs—had turned out to be a child molester who’d used his camp to torture girls. Sergeant Delgado was a former gang member, a murderer who’d killed Tommy and Allen Chambers in that warehouse years ago. And now Delgado had brazenly murdered Hoffman, along with the police guards protecting him. No wonder she looked ready to explode.
“What’s going on?” he asked her.
“Colonel Hoffman’s dead.”
So he’d heard. “What happened?”
She opened her mouth to answer,