Deadly Obsession (9 page)

“I can't blame her,” Tom said, his fists bunching at his sides. “I don't know what I would have done if that had been my daughter.”

Nora glanced toward the kitchen. “I bet your dinner is ready. Enough talk of the past. Don't let that old story dampen your enthusiasm for your house. I always hoped someone would show it some tender loving care. It's not the house's fault those things happened. And there's no reason for a ghost to haunt it. No one died.” Nora left for the kitchen.

“Gabe told me what happened this morning,” Tom said. “I was on another call, or I would have come myself. After we ruled out your prints and the construction crew's, we ran the remaining fingerprints through the AFIS database and didn't come up with a match. Gabe checked at the hardware store. No one has purchased red spray paint since the beginning of summer, and his records indicate that was someone from Seattle, probably here on vacation. I'm sorry we don't have more information for you. We'll keep our eyes open, but we don't have much to go on.”

Jillian touched the chief's arm. “Thank you.”

Tom turned away, stepped behind the counter and helped himself to a cup of coffee.

Nora came out with two plates laden with blackened walleye, asparagus and baked potatoes.

Jillian dug in, having worked up a healthy appetite working in the house. Chance ate everything on his plate as well, finishing a little before Jillian.

She was so intent on her food, she didn't look up until she ate the last bite of potato on her fork. When she noticed Chance staring at her, she frowned. “What?”

Chance leaned back. “I'm used to women picking at their food and wasting half of it.”

“I only ask for what I can eat. I hate to waste, as well. But I worked hard today.” She lifted her chin. “I earned every calorie.”

Chance raised his hands. “I didn't say you didn't earn them. It's refreshing to see a woman enjoying her meal.”

She tapped her lips with her napkin and tipped her head toward his plate. “You can't go wrong with anything on the menu here.”

“I believe it.” He took another sip from his coffee mug and set it on the table. “If you're ready to go, I am, too.”

She nodded. “I need to get the kittens back to the B and B and feed them. I'm sure the little bit of cheese I gave them at noon has long since worn off.”

“Let's get the little guys home.” He stood and held her chair while she rose.

Jillian could get used to a guy who opened doors and held chairs for his woman. Shaking the thought out of her mind, she shifted to neutral ground. “One of them is a girl and the other is a boy.” She pushed to her feet. “And they need names.”

“Don't look at me.” Chance smiled.

Jillian's heart flipped and butterflies erupted in her tummy. Chance's face changed with the smile, making him even more handsome. She swallowed hard to tamp down the desire rising rapidly in the presence of this man. “How about Tweedledee and Tweedledum?”

“Dee and Dum for short?” Chance shook his head. “Dee is all right, but do you think Dum might get a complex?”

“Try again?” She liked this playful Chance. He was making it really hard not to like him. Too bad he would be leaving in a week. “How about Jack and Jill?”

“That works.” He pulled out of the parking lot, driving slowly through Cape Churn. Darkness blanketed the town, and fog had crept in. If anything, the fog was more ghostly than what Jillian had seen at the house, blurring the streetlights and making it hard to see more than ten feet in front of them.

The kittens had settled in Jillian's lap, quickly falling to sleep. She kept a hand on each to keep them from rolling out of her lap. While Chance had his attention on the murky road ahead, Jillian studied him.

“You were in the army with Nova?”

“Yes.” His fingers gripped the wheel, his knuckles turning white with the effort.

“Deployed?”

In the light from the dash, Jillian could see his jaw tighten. “Yes.” His answer was abrupt, discouraging further questioning.

She continued to stare at him, wondering what he'd gone through that just the mention of the army and deployment made him tense. Rather than dig deeper, she said softly, “Thank you for your service. It must have been hard.”

He sat rigid for a long moment and finally his hands loosened on the steering wheel. “It's past.” He shot her a glance and then he returned his attention to the road ahead.

Jillian wanted to ask so many more questions, but she'd obviously hit a sore spot for him. She'd just turned to face the road as well when movement in the corner of her right eye caught her attention.

Her hands tightened on the kittens, but before she could open her mouth to scream, something plowed into her side of the vehicle, crushing it inward.

Jillian was flung to the left and then jerked back to the right, hitting her head on the passenger window. Pain shot through her skull, blinding her for a split second. Then she fought the fog curling around her vision. Her fingers gripped the two kittens even as she slipped into darkness, the fuzzy streetlights and the illuminated dash blinking out as if someone had turned them off.

Chapter 9

C
hance held onto the steering wheel as the Jeep skidded sideways. He hadn't seen the truck coming out of the side street until it hit the passenger side of the Jeep. It all happened so fast, but he could swear the truck's headlights had not been on when it plowed into them.

When the Jeep stopped turning sideways, Chance pulled to a halt and shifted into Park with the intent of getting out, a string of curses at the ready on his lips. Who the hell would drive like an idiot when the streets were shrouded in fog? One glance at Jillian made him change his mind. He took one hand off the steering wheel. “Jillian.” Movement beyond Jillian's slumped body made him glance past her.

The truck backed up.

Before Chance could react, the truck spun tires and raced toward them, slamming into the side of the Jeep again.

Chance pushed the gearshift into Drive and hit the accelerator. He had to get away from the maniac using the truck as a battering ram. The Jeep's tires spun for a second on the damp road, found traction and jettisoned them out of range of the attacking truck.

Chance shifted his gaze between the foggy road ahead and the rearview mirror. When the truck didn't appear to be following, he turned onto a side road and circled back. He used a different route to head toward Cape Churn Hospital. Since they'd been hit the first time, Jillian hadn't spoken a word, and the way she was bent over, Chance suspected she was out cold.

He thought about digging out his cell phone and calling 911, but he was afraid to take his hands off the wheel long enough to make the connection. His best bet was to get Jillian to the hospital and then notify the police of the attack. What had just happened had been no accident. One hit might have been unintended, but when the driver had backed up and hit them again, the game changed.

Turning to connect with the main street running through Cape Churn, Chance sped through town.

The lights of a patrol car lit up behind him and its siren wailed. Chance hit the hazard lights, refusing to stop for anyone until he got to the hospital with Jillian.

The building suddenly loomed ahead and to the right of him. With the fog so thick, he almost missed the turn into the emergency entrance. Jamming his foot on the brake, he skidded sideways into the drive-through drop-off area and brought the vehicle to a more sedate halt.

He jumped out of the Jeep and rounded to the passenger door. It was so mangled he couldn't get it open.

“McCall? Is that you?” Tom Taggart stepped out of his patrol SUV. “What happened?”

“Someone broadsided us. Hit-and-run.” Chance yanked at the door handle. “Jillian's hurt. She's unconscious and I need to get her out.”

“I'll be right back.” The chief ran for the entrance of the ER, talking into the mic on his shoulder. “I'm at the hospital with a victim of a hit-and-run. Call the fire department. We might need help getting her out of the vehicle.” As he cleared the inner doors, he shouted. “We need some help out here! Bring a gurney!”

Chance rounded the Jeep to the driver's side and knelt in the seat, reaching across to Jillian, afraid to move her in case she'd suffered a spinal injury with the force of the collision.

Another siren wailed nearby and a fire truck appeared at the same time as Chief Taggart emerged from the hospital.

“Let the emergency medical technicians handle this. They'll know best how to get her out.”

Chance stood back as the firefighters and the EMTs took over. Within minutes, they had the Jeep door open and Jillian out on the gurney. She opened her eyes and blinked at the lights overhead. “Chance?”

He stepped up beside her and took her hand. “I'm here.”

“Where are the kittens?”

He chuckled, appalled at the hint of hysteria in the sound. He'd never been anything but calm and cool in a battle. But seeing Jillian lying on a gurney, her face pale and bloody, he couldn't help it. And then for her to ask about the kittens seemed over-the-top ridiculous.

“Looking for these?” A firefighter raised the two kittens in his hand. “Were there only two?”

“Only two.” Jillian looked up at Chance. “They haven't had anything to eat.”

“Darlin', they'll be all right until after we take care of you.” Chance walked alongside her as they entered the hospital.

She squeezed his hand. “Please.”

“We'll take her from here,” a nurse said and tried to nudge Chance out of the way.

“I'll take care of Jack and Jill.” He bent and pressed a kiss to her cheek, noting the knot on her right temple and a drying track of blood leading from it down the side of her face. His gut clenched. Reluctantly, he released her hand.

The hospital staff wheeled her into the back. The door marked Authorized Personnel Only closed behind them.

His gut twisting, Chance marched back outside. The Jeep had been moved to the parking lot. The chief stood beside it, taking photographs of the damage. Gabe McGregor, dressed in jeans and a black leather jacket, had joined him. The firefighters were just finishing stowing their equipment.

“Will you be taking these?” One of the first responders held out Jack and Jill.

Chance took the kittens. He would have reached to shake the man's hand, but he had a tough enough time holding onto the two squirming felines. “Thank you for rescuing Jillian. She'll be really happy the kittens are okay.”

“Just doing our job.” The man grinned and then left with his crew.

The chief and Gabe stood beside the Jeep.

“What happened?” Gabe asked as Chance approached.

“We were on the way back to the B and B when a truck barreled out of a side street and hit us broadside.” Chance's throat tightened. “I was driving. Jillian took the brunt of the collision. She must have hit her head on the window.”

“Can you describe the truck?” the chief asked.

Chance shook his head. “It didn't have the headlights on, and it was so foggy I didn't see what was coming until it hit. When it backed up, I caught a vague glimpse of the front. The grille looked like an older model. That's about all I could see. It hit us twice. Otherwise I would have assumed it was an accident. I didn't wait around to see if the driver would go for three.”

The chief stepped away from Gabe and Chance and spoke into his radio mic. “Tell the units to be on the lookout for an older truck with a smashed front end. I'll be at the hospital until further notice.”

Chance glanced toward the ER door. “If you're done with me, I'd like to check on Jillian.”

Gabe waved a hand toward the door. “We want to check on her, too.”

“Any idea who would want to hurt Jillian?” Chance asked as he walked toward the hospital entrance. “An attack as blatant as that had to be deliberate.”

Gabe shook his head. “It doesn't make sense. Everyone in town loves Jillian. She may be new to Cape Churn, but she fit right into the community.” Gabe led the way to the reception desk. “Let us know when we can go back to see Miss Taylor.”

The woman behind the counter smiled up at Gabe and promised she would.

Chief Taggart entered as Gabe rejoined Chance.

“Bailey found the truck a couple blocks from where the attack occurred.”

Chance's pulse quickened. “Whose is it? Did they find the driver?”

The chief scratched his head. “Belongs to Olie Olander, the owner of the marina. I called him and he didn't even know his truck had been taken. He and his wife were just sitting down to a late dinner at the marina. Knowing Olie, he probably left the truck unlocked with the keys in it. I mean, it's old and beat-up. Who'd want to steal it?”

“Someone who wanted to crash into Jillian's Jeep.” Chance paced a few steps away and turned back to the two police officers. “First the locked basement door, then the vandalism at the house and now this. Makes me think the rock that dropped down in front of us on the highway last night might not have been so accidental either.”

“What rock?” Gabe and Chief Taggart said as one.

“On the way to the B and B from Jillian's house last night, a boulder the size of a medicine ball fell from a cliff onto the highway and nearly hit us. If Jillian hadn't swerved and hit the brakes, it would have. We almost went over the side of the road.”

“The curve in the road with the bluff on one side?” Gabe asked.

Chance nodded.

Gabe exchanged a glance with Taggart. “There's a pullout drive up to a scenic overlook at that point. Anyone could have driven up there and dislodged one of the many boulders hanging by a thread.”

“Excuse me, Chief Taggart,” the woman at the reception desk called out. “You can see Miss Taylor, now.” She hit a button behind the counter and the door beside her desk opened. As Chance walked by, she held out her hands. “I'll take those while you're back there.”

Chance handed over the kittens.

Chief Taggart led the way, and Gabe and Chance followed. The on-call doctor met them outside the exam room. “Miss Taylor is doing fine. She hit the window pretty hard, but so far she's not showing any signs of concussion and can leave the hospital. Someone will need to keep an eye on her and wake her every four hours to check on her. If she has a headache, dizziness, vomiting or confusion, call 911 and have them bring her back to the hospital.”

After the doctor left, a nurse came out of the room and nodded. “Gabe, Chief Taggart, she's ready for questioning.” The woman turned to Chance with a grin. “You must be Chance. Jillian told me about you.” She stuck out her hand. “I'm Emma Jenkins, her nurse and friend. You can talk to her for a few minutes, but she's getting cranky.”

“I heard that,” Jillian called out from inside the room.

Emma winked. “She wants to go home.”

Letting the chief and Gabe go in first, Chance followed and stood near the door, reluctant to crowd Jillian. He was fortunate the doctor and nurses let him come in at all when he really had no right to be in the room. He wasn't part of the police force, and he wasn't her fiancé or husband.

For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to be married or engaged to Jillian. Would his nightmares stop? Would he feel confident that in sleeping with her, he wouldn't wake up with his hands around her throat, caught in a terrible dream?

Jillian lay on the bed wearing a faded hospital gown, her pretty blond hair tangled and matted where blood had congealed. She had dark shadows beneath her eyes and her face was pale.

Chance wanted to kick everyone else out of the room so that he could hold her and tell her everything would be all right. But the police needed to know if she'd seen anything different, something that could lead them to the driver of the truck.

The chief asked her the same questions he and Gabe had asked Chance. Jillian didn't have any more definitive answers.

“It was foggy. I didn't see it coming.” She touched a finger to her sore temple and winced. “I just want to go home to bed. I'm tired and need a shower.”

“I can give you a ride there, since your Jeep is out of commission,” Gabe offered.

“Thanks.” She glanced past the chief and Gabe, her gaze on Chance. “Are you all right?”

“I'm fine. Just worried about you.” He walked up to the side of the bed and took her hand. “I should have seen it coming.”

“You couldn't have. I was there, I didn't see it until it hit. I'm glad you're okay.” She bit down on her lip. “What about Jack and Jill?”

“Jack and Jill?” Emma laughed in the doorway.

Jillian gave the nurse a slight smile and winced. “Kittens.”

Chance squeezed her hand lightly. “They're fine. The receptionist is holding on to them for now.”

“Oh, good.” She dragged in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Can we go now? I need to get back and feed them. They have to be starving.”

“All right. Everyone out,” Emma said, shooing the men toward the door. “The sooner she's in her clothes, the sooner I can discharge her.”

The three men left the exam room and Emma closed the door.

“I'll bring my vehicle around to the door,” Gabe offered and left.

“I'm worried about Jillian.” The chief rocked back on his heels, staring at the closed door to the exam room.

“Me, too,” Chance agreed.

“Based on all you've said, she could be in a lot more danger than she knows.”

“You know her better than I do, but I'd venture to guess she wouldn't let any of this curtail her activities. She's a beautiful but stubborn woman.”

The chief chuckled. “I don't know too many women who aren't stubborn, my wife included. I don't have enough staff to assign an officer to watch out for her. Since you're here for the wedding, could you keep an eye on Jillian?”

Chance nodded. “I'll stay with her as much as she'll let me.”

“Thank you,” the chief said. “I like the girl, and I don't want anything bad to happen to her.”

The door opened and Nurse Emma wheeled Jillian out in a wheelchair.

Jillian wore a frown, her arms crossed over her chest. “I could have walked on my own,” she grumbled.

“You'll have your opportunity to prove it when we get you outside the door,” Emma said with a smile.

The two sets of automatic doors opened as the nurse wheeled Jillian through.

Once outside, the chief touched Jillian on the arm. “Keep someone with you at all times. Until we figure out who's doing this, you might not be safe.”

“Oh, for heaven's sake,” Jillian exclaimed. “I don't want to be afraid of my own shadow.”

“And we don't want to lose you.” Chief Taggart bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. The uninjured part. “Nora would never forgive me if something were to happen to you.”

Jillian huffed but followed with a soft, teasing snort. “I'm fine. Everyone is making far too much out of a little bump on the head.”