Marine's Mission - Rebecca Deel Page 0,6
his face a moment, then nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
After she left, Gigi nuzzled Owen’s forearm. “Thanks. I wasn’t looking forward to wearing a hospital gown.”
He winked at her. “I’m not a fan of those drafty gowns myself.”
Concern filled her gaze. “You’ve been in a hospital before?”
More times than he wanted to count. Came with the job in Force Recon. “A time or two.”
“You didn’t tell me about Toni’s condition. Is she all right?”
Before he answered, a knock sounded on the exam room door. Caleb peered inside. “The intern is here to take care of Gigi’s stitches.”
Owen motioned for him to send in the intern. A moment later, a middle-aged woman walked into the room. She gave Owen and Gigi a sunny smile. “I’m Adrienne Battle. Dr. Overton said you needed stitches on the left side of your head, Ms. Warren. After I take a look, we’ll get started.”
She washed her hands, gloved up, and bent to examine the side of Gigi’s head. A minute later, the intern said, “Dr. Overton is right on the money. You do need stitches.” She walked to a cabinet on the other side of the room, grabbed a stitch kit, and placed it on a table within easy reach. She pulled out a packet of gel. “This will numb your skin so I can stitch your cut.” She ripped open the package and applied the gel. When the package was empty, she dropped it into the trash. “We’ll let that numbing gel work. I’ll be back in about ten minutes.”
After Adrienne left, Owen caught Gigi’s hand in his and kissed her fingers. “How do you feel?”
“Just peachy.”
He chuckled. “Try again, G. The truth this time.”
“I have a monster headache, the overhead light is killing me, and I’m worried about Toni. No more stalling, Owen. How is she?”
He sighed. “When I arrived at the scene of your accident, Toni wasn’t in the SUV.”
What little color Gigi had in her cheeks drained away. “That’s impossible. She was in the passenger seat.”
“Was she wearing her seatbelt?”
She nodded, wincing at the movement. “I made sure she was when I saw the truck bearing down on us at a high speed. You have to go back and find her, Owen.”
He squeezed her hand. “David and Levi are at the scene. They know Toni was with you. I’m not leaving you, G.”
“They have to find her fast. Toni is pregnant, and the person who ran me off the road might have taken her like they did her boyfriend.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Owen pressed another kiss to Gigi’s fingertips. “Take a deep breath, Gigi.” Once she had, he said, “Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you remember. Any detail, no matter how insignificant, might make a difference in how quickly we find Toni.” And they would find her, no matter how long it took.
“Toni asked me to meet her for dinner at Hawthorne’s in Cherry Hill.”
He frowned. “Why not meet in Archer?”
“She said meeting in Cherry Hill was safer.” Gigi grimaced. “Guess she was wrong.”
Safer? “Go on.”
“She’s been dating a man named Ellis Mathews for the past two months. Toni met him in Las Vegas, but he lives in Knoxville. Although Ellis planned to spend the weekend with Toni in Archer, he didn’t show up. Toni called him several times and left messages, but he never called back.”
“It’s possible he didn’t know how to end things with her and chose to ghost.”
“If he did, he also walked away from his job at Huntington Technologies without warning, too.”
Owen frowned. “The defense contractor?”
She nodded. “Ellis writes computer programs for them. Toni went by Ellis’s apartment, and the place had been ransacked. According to Toni, Ellis is a neat freak. Early modern disaster is not his normal decorating theme.”
He grinned, relieved that Gigi’s characteristic sass and sense of humor were reasserting themselves. “Did Toni call the police to report the break-in and his disappearance?”
“I don’t know. I was more concerned about Toni. Anyway, she drove to Huntington Technologies to see Ellis. One of Ellis’s co-workers, a guy named Chaz, saw Toni in the lobby and told her Ellis didn’t show up for work or answer his phone for them, either.”
“Go on.”
“After dinner, Toni and I walked to our vehicles. Two of Toni’s tires were flat. I didn’t tell her, but I think the tires were slashed.”
“You’re not sure?”
“The rain was heavy, and I only caught a glimpse of the tires during a flash of lightning, but that’s what it looked like to me.”
“So, you