A Promise to Protect (Logan Point Book #2): A Novel Read online

  Leigh’s lips twitched. She knelt down until they were eye level. “No, Jimmy. You’re going to be just fine.”

  His eyes widened. “You sure?”

  The boy made her think of TJ. “I’m sure.” She patted his good hand and stood to address the parents. “The nurse will be in to give you instructions and to remove the IV, and then you can go home.”

  After acknowledging the parents’ thanks, Leigh tucked the chart under her arm. Just before she opened the door, she glanced over her shoulder. Jimmy’s mom rested her head against her husband’s chest as his arms wrapped around her. A Hallmark moment.

  It almost made coming home worth it. Almost made her forget it was only the end of July and she had ten months and twenty-nine days left until she could leave Bradford General and Logan Point. That was when her National Health Service contract would end and her student loan would be paid off. Then she would be free to pursue a position at Johns Hopkins. She’d had to turn down one offer because the position didn’t fit the qualifications of the payback program, and no way was she going into private practice with debt hanging over her head.

  Leigh slipped from the room and pulled her phone from her pocket. Nine-thirty and still nothing from Tony. Back at the nurses’ station, she made a few more notes on the chart and then leaned back in the chair and flexed her shoulders.

  “You look tired,” Cathy said.

  In the month Leigh had been at the hospital, she’d come to regard the competent nurse as a friend. “I meant to go to bed earlier last night, but TJ wanted to watch a movie.” Spending time with her son was worth losing sleep over.

  “I don’t know how you did it—going to med school and raising a child by yourself.”

  “I had help.” Her friend Sarah, who had taken them in. “But it wasn’t easy then, and it still isn’t. It’s like everything a mother does is measured. Either it goes in the Good Mom column or the Bad Mom column.”

  “I know what you mean,” Cathy said with a chuckle. “I heard someone say you saw patients at Helping Hands today.”

  “Four hours.” She loved her time at the free clinic, and the hours spent there counted toward her loan.

  “Why don’t you put your feet up for a second while everything is slow?”

  “I think I will.” Leigh had learned to catch rest whenever she could during her residency. But even as she leaned back in the chair, her mind returned to her son. Lately it seemed everything she did fell in the Bad Mom column. Like uprooting him from everyone and everything he knew by transferring from the UM Medical Center in Jackson to the hospital in Logan Point. She should have refused to come back home even though Tony kept insisting. That would have been the smart thing to do, but Leigh had never been able to say no to her brother. But at least last night scored one for the Good Mom side.

  Now, if she could only rest her eyes for five seconds . . .

  “Dr. Somerall, Sheriff Ben Logan asked to see you in the doctors’ lounge.”

  Her eyes flew open, and she stared up at the ward clerk. “Is anyone with him?”

  The clerk shrugged apologetically. “I don’t know. The night supervisor called. That’s all she said, except that Dr. Blakely will cover for you.”

  Fear, sour and metallic, filled Leigh’s mouth. Tony and Ben were supposed to be together. After giving Blakely a quick report on her patients, she hurried to the doctors’ lounge.

  Tony is with Ben.

  The words kept rhythm with her slapping feet. In the lounge, Ben stood alone at the window. The instant he turned, she knew.

  Tony was hurt.

  “Ben?” Icy prickles stabbed her heart. It wasn’t a question of bad. It was a question of how bad. “Where’s Tony?”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed as he stepped toward her. The light from the overhead fluorescent cast dark shadows under his eyes. She’d expected him to be in uniform, not jeans and a polo shirt.

  “I’m sorry, Leigh. I don’t know any other way to tell you except . . . he’s dead.”

  “Tony’s dead?” Coldness seeped into her cheeks. Her stomach roiled and tried to expel the sandwich she’d eaten less than an hour ago. She grabbed the back of a chair to steady herself. “You were supposed to help him.”

  His shoulders squared. “I know. I’m sorry. I keep thinking . . . if only I could’ve gotten to the Peabody ten minutes earlier, but there was a wreck on the parkway.”

  “Peabody? What was he doing at the Peabody?” She sank into the chair and rubbed the hard vinyl of the armrest, her finger finding a jagged tear in the material.

  Ben knelt in front of her, sweat beading his face. “He wanted to meet at the hotel. Didn’t you know?”

  Of course she didn’t know. “He said he was having dinner with you.” She closed her eyes as Ben’s voice droned on.

  “He’d left a key at the front desk. When I opened the door, I found him on the floor. The bleeding was bad. I called 911, but I knew it was too late. He . . . he said to tell you he was sorry.” Ben patted her arm. “I’m so sorry.”

  She drew back. Her brother got himself killed, and all he could say was he’s sorry? Tears stung her eyes, and she flicked them away. “How did it happen?”

  “Shot. In the chest. He . . . he died in my arms.”

  “Shot?” Not bigger-than-life Tony. Sure, her brother could be a hotshot, and he had swagger, but it matched his smile . . . and no one would love her son better than his uncle Tony. The gray walls closed in, smothering Leigh. No, this could not be happening. “I want to see him.”

  “That’s not a good idea. They’ve taken his body to the morgue.”

  “You think I haven’t seen a dead body on a slab before?”

  “You haven’t seen your brother on a slab.”

  Leigh flinched. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so sharp. He was right. That wasn’t how she wanted to remember Tony.

  “Did . . . he say anything else?”

  Ben wiped his face on his sleeve. “Yeah. He told me to protect you. It scared me half to death when Wade couldn’t find you.”

  “Is that why he was looking for me?” She furrowed her brow. “Protect me? From what?”

  “I was hoping you’d know.” Ben stood and dragged another chair close to her. “Do you know any reason you’d be in danger?”

  “No.”

  “How much do you know about our meeting tonight?”

  “Nothing. I never even understood why he asked me to call you.” She pressed her fingers to her temple. “I can’t believe you’re grilling me.”

  “I’m not grilling you. I just need a little information. He never mentioned a flash drive? Or that he knew something about who shot my dad?”

  She jerked her head up. “Your dad? So this is about you now? About who shot your dad? My brother is killed, and all you can think of is your dad’s case? I don’t know who shot your dad. Maybe Tony knew, but I don’t. And you know something else? Right now, I don’t care. I want to know why my brother is dead, and if you can’t tell me, then just leave.”

  He held his hand out. “Leigh, I . . . I didn’t . . . I’m sorry.”

  She couldn’t take the pity emanating from his face, his eyes. Dark chocolate eyes. How could she even notice them at a time like this? She stood and escaped to the window that faced a small walking park. Pity was the last thing she wanted from Ben Logan. In fact, she didn’t want anything from him. He let her down once. He wouldn’t get the opportunity to do it again.

  “I want to be here for you, Leigh.”

  You had your chance ten years ago. Leigh clenched her fist. “Just leave.”

  She didn’t think he would, but when she turned around, he was gone. She turned back to stare through the window. Giant oaks stood guard around the small grassy area, their canopy a backdrop for the one flickering security light.

  As usual, it was up to Leigh to help herself. She hugged her stomach and leaned against the wall. Tony was dead. How many times had she delivered news of death to a family? She’d always tried
to be compassionate, caring. Maybe she hadn’t been compassionate enough. Perfect enough. Maybe God wanted to teach her a lesson.

  She licked her parched lips and blinked against the stinging in her eyes. Searching for a tissue in her pocket, her fingers closed around the plastic key ring Tony had given her when she finished her residency, and she pulled it out. How do you keep a doctor busy for hours? Turn over . . . She turned it over and read the same message.

  Leigh’s knees buckled, and she slid down the wall.

  Her wacky brother would never make her laugh again.

  2

  Voices from the waiting room blended in the background as Ben found two Styrofoam cups at the refreshment center. His hand hesitated at the decaf carafe. No, he needed real coffee, and Leigh probably did as well. As he filled the cups, he spotted a hazelnut creamer. She liked hazelnut. He peeled the top back, dumped the liquid in, and marked the cup with an H.

  “Ben!”

  He looked up as his burly chief deputy approached the snack area. There was no way to miss Wade in his boxy colorful Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. How had he missed that getup earlier when he arrived at the hospital and Wade updated him on Leigh’s whereabouts? “If you find a louder shirt, I’ll have to buy new sun shades.”

  “Ha-ha. Ruth likes the way I dress.”

  Ruth from the library. His deputy’s hot date.

  Wade poured himself a cup of coffee. “How did Leigh take the news?”

  Ben shrugged. “She’s mad. She thinks I let her brother down.” And he had. He should’ve set the place and time, not Tony. He should’ve been there. Period.

  “What was this secret meeting you two were having, anyway?”

  Ben fastened a lid on Leigh’s coffee. “It was Tony who insisted that no one know we were meeting. He claimed he knew something about my dad.”

  “You’re kidding.” Wade slipped a tiny Rubik’s Cube from his pocket. “What was it?”

  “Finding out is going to be your job. Interview all of Tony’s friends, acquaintances, even enemies, if he had any. The information had to come from someone he knew, probably one of his gambling associates.”

  “That’ll be a lot of people.”

  “I know. But Tony is the only lead we have.” Ben cocked his head. “You were the last person to see Dad before he went on patrol that day. Have you—”

  “I’ve gone over it in my head a thousand times,” Wade snapped. He ran his fingers over the cube. “Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it, trying to figure out what he was doing on the back side of the county.”

  Ben lived the same nightmare his chief deputy did. Wade believed he should have gone with the sheriff. Ben believed he should have at least answered his dad’s phone call that day, but he’d been in the middle of the U.S. Marshals interview. Before he could return the call, he’d received the one telling him about his dad’s shooting.

  “I offered to go with him.” Red crept up Wade’s neck. “Wish now I’d insisted.”

  “I know you did all you could that day.”

  Wade grunted and leaned his back against the counter. His fingers arranged and rearranged the cube, and in less than a minute, all six sides lined up.

  “How do you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Work that stupid cube without looking at it.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I just do it.” Wade glanced down the hall. “Where’s Leigh?”

  “In the doctors’ lounge. She told me to leave.”

  “What’d you say to her?”

  “Doesn’t matter what I said, I pushed her too hard.” Her outburst had reminded Ben of the smart-mouthed teen with an attitude he’d first met in junior high. Purple hair one day, streaked the next. She’d come a long way, and it was hard to reconcile the old Leigh with Doctor Somerall now. Until she went off on him. He glanced down at the coffee, which was no longer hot. “This was supposed to be a peace offering.” He put the two cups in the microwave and nuked them.

  “You need me to stick around?”

  “If you don’t mind. If she’ll let me, I’m going to drive her home, and you can drop her car off. Then I’ll bring you back for yours.”

  “Why not just let her drive herself home?”

  “I told you, she may be in danger. Tony knew he was dying. He used his last breath to make me promise to protect her.”

  “Maybe she knows—”

  “She only knew we were meeting.”

  “Then I don’t see the problem. Why would anyone want to hurt her?”

  “Because there was more to our meeting . . . Tony was bringing information he said the feds would be interested in. It was on a flash drive, and the killer must’ve taken it, because Tony didn’t have it on him.”

  “And you’re sure Leigh doesn’t know anything about it?”

  Ben shook his head.

  “Then I’m telling you, you’re worrying for nothing.”

  “The killer may not know that. I just have this gut feeling.”

  “If Tony knew he was dying, maybe he wanted you to be there for her in the days after his death.”

  “Maybe.” He took the hot coffee from the microwave. “I’ll call you in a few minutes and let you know about the car.”

  Ben walked back down the hall to the doctors’ lounge and pushed the door open with his elbow. “I know you told me you wanted to be alone, but I figured—”

  Leigh was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, turning something on her key ring over and over in her hand. He set the coffees on the table and knelt beside her, inhaling the rose petal scent she’d always worn. Even after ten years, she made his heart do funny things. “Are you okay?”

  She glanced up at him with red-rimmed eyes and took a shuddering breath. “Tony’s really gone, isn’t he?”

  “I’m afraid so.” He sat on the floor beside her, the stained concrete cold and hard.

  “Thanks for coming back.”

  “I didn’t leave. Just went after coffee. Hazelnut, the kind you always liked.” He reached for the coffees and handed her the cup with the creamer in it.

  “You remembered?”

  That and so much more. He shrugged away the memories from the summer before their junior year in college and sipped his coffee. For a minute, he said nothing. A wall clock ticked minutes away as they both sat on the floor and drank their coffee. A hundred different apologies ran through his mind, all lame. He sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry.”

  She leaned her head against the wall. “I know.”

  “I didn’t mean to sound more interested in finding my dad’s shooter than about Tony. But I want to find out who killed him, and that seemed a logical place to start.” He shifted on the hard floor. “You reminded me of the Leigh I knew back in high school. The one with an attitude and temper to match.”

  “I wasn’t very nice back then.”

  “You were nice enough. Can we start over?”

  “From tonight? Yeah.”

  So, Leigh wanted to pretend their summer romance so many years ago never happened. He wished he could. Or could understand why she never returned his phone calls.

  But if that was the way she wanted it, he could play by her rules. Which was probably better anyway. She had her brother’s death to deal with, and he had a case to solve, one where she could end up being a victim. He certainly didn’t need to carry any baggage into the case.

  He stood and offered her a hand up. “How about we sit somewhere more comfortable?”

  Leigh hesitated only for the briefest moment, then allowed him to pull her up. In spite of his resolve, her touch sent a shiver to his heart. She settled in a brown leather recliner, and he took the chair facing her. “I’d like to drive you home.”

  “Home.” She sighed the word then lowered her gaze and stared at a spot on the floor. “Tony took us in when we moved back, you know. He didn’t want us to get another place.” Her voice rang hollow in the room. “So he gave us his room until the
beds we ordered arrived. He even bought my son a cot.” She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes. “The beds are supposed to come this week.”

  He figured there’d be more than a few times when reality would jolt her. “Is there anyone you can call to come stay with you? Your in-laws, maybe?”

  She bit her lip. “Matthew’s parents are dead.”

  “No other family?”

  “I never met any of them. We were only married for eight months before he was killed in a car accident. I have a friend in Jackson I’ll call tomorrow.” Leigh rubbed her temples. “I keep thinking it’s all a bad dream. I’ll wake up, and Tony will be on the couch, or just coming in. My son will be on the cot across from me, all curled up with the bear Tony won for him at the fair in Jackson a couple of years ago.” Leigh winced. “Forget what I said about the bear. He thinks he’s too old to sleep with a stuffed animal.”

  Ben glanced at his watch. Wade was waiting. “Will you let me—”

  She grabbed his arm. “The news. Tony’s death will be on television. I’ve got to tell—”

  “Leigh, slow down. It’s late, and Tony’s name won’t be released tonight. You can wait until morning to tell your son. Right now what you need is rest. Let me drive you home.”

  “No . . . I’ll drive myself. I might need my car.”

  “Wade will bring it. You’re in no shape to drive.”

  Words formed on her lips as she seemed to struggle with his offer, but in the end, she nodded. “Let me get my things.”

  “Good. How about your son? Do we need to pick him up?”

  “No, he’s asleep by now. I’ll get him in the morning.”

  The sticky July night wrapped around them in sauna-like heat. Ben guided Leigh to his pickup, the overhead security lights casting gloomy shadows over the first few rows of cars. Beyond that, total darkness. The skin on Ben’s neck prickled, and he glanced around. A tiny light flared in the darkness near the street, then a red glow. Only a smoker. But if Tony’s killer wanted to get Leigh, this would be a perfect place.

  At least she didn’t have on her white coat, and the green scrubs blended into the night. “Right over here.” Ben shielded her as a car entered the parking lot. Somewhere to the left, a motorcycle roared to life, and he tensed. Once he had her in the truck, he relaxed a little. But only a little, as Leigh’s fragrance filled the cab, bringing back memories of another truck and another summer evening.