Haunted (State v. Sefore) (8 page)

“Well, I think you’ve struck a good balance between the two. You have more sense than Amelia ever did, and just as much heart.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Thanks. No one else’s ever said that.”

Did no one see her? When it came to the people she loved, compassion ruled. He admired her most for this.

He slid down to sit in front of her and brushed a renegade tear away. “Well, I have better eyesight than most.”

A giggle escaped her. “Noah, I …”

“Hey guys, if you want any apple pie, you’d better get down here. Jakob’s acting shifty. I think he might be planning to carry the whole thing off to Josh’s house,” Taylor yelled up the stairs.

Disappointment, mirroring his own, flashed in Maddison’s eyes. He pulled her to her feet but didn’t release her hand.

Her gaze flitted down to their entwined hands for a moment. The disappointment faded. She tugged him forward. “Come on, she’s probably not kidding about Jakob and the pie.”

Noah laughed and followed her down the stairs.

You’re supposed to be distancing yourself.
But he couldn’t. She had worked her way deep inside him, and he didn’t want to extricate her now.

Chapter Nine

M
addison wove through
the packed cafeteria, picking the route furthest away from Debbie and her cheerleader clones. She’d managed to stay under their radar for ten years—until her parents’ liquidation landed her on their Top Five Social Offenders list. Avoiding Debbie’s group proved easier than engaging. Turned out, some stereotypes existed for a reason.

Olivia and Sophie waved from the corner table they’d adopted, and Maddison nodded back before stepping over a backpack strewn on the floor. When she reached their table, she plopped the tray down and sank into the chair across from Olivia. “Is the year half over yet?”

Sophie quirked an eyebrow. “Aren’t we a little old to be whining?”

“But, Mom.” Maddison drew the syllables out in an exaggerated moan.

Sophie rolled her eyes, but a smile crept onto her face. “Speaking of how slow time’s moving …” Her hand froze halfway between her plate and her mouth.

“Hi guys, can we join you?”

If there was ever someone Maddison wanted to say no to but couldn’t, it was Grace Richards. She stood to Maddison’s left, her heart-shaped face lit with an eager smile. She looked like an animated bunny, all wide eyes and twitchy nose. The new kid standing beside her gave them all a chagrined smile. Maddison stifled a groan.

“Of course.” Olivia pulled out the chair beside her.

“Thanks. You know Brandon, right?” They all nodded. “Great. I spotted him in the corner all by his lonesome and couldn’t let that stand. I knew you guys would be cool.” An exclamation point punctuated every phrase. Way too perky. “So, what are we talking about?”

Sophie shifted back and forth in her chair. “We were talking about how the school year seems to be creeping by.”

Grace’s head bobbed up and down. “I feel the same way, but maybe that’s because I have a whole year left before I’m full-time at the shop. I just can’t believe I get to sell clothes for the rest of my life. It’s a dream. Don’t you feel the same way, Olivia?”

To meet quotas and stand behind a cash register for eight hours a day only to scrape out a living? Maddison fought off an eye roll.

Olivia’s smile faltered for a split second. “I’m glad I’ll be surrounded by colors every day.” Grace didn’t notice her lacking enthusiasm, but Maddison’s gut tightened.

“Exactly. I mean, what teen girl wouldn’t kill for our job?” More exclamation points. “We aren’t stuck in a dreary office or factory all day. We get first crack at the latest fashions, and we can apply to work in a different store or MA if we want, so we’ll never get bored. The GAP could not have placed us better, don’t you think?” Her gaze fell on Sophie and Maddison, and she blushed. “Not that you aren’t totally lucky to be Class Four. You guys are so smart.”

Okay, bunny, let me tell you a thing or two about the GAP and what your life is going to be like in Class Five.

“Thanks, Grace.” Sophie elbowed Maddison before switching her focus to Brandon. “Have you started your apprenticeship yet?”

“Yeah.” His fingers traced the lines in the table. “I have no clue what I’m doing.”

The vulnerability in his tone pricked something inside her. Given his blond hair and baby face, she’d pegged him as the guy most likely to be swarmed by the junior girls. But there was something fragile about him. He’d been sitting alone?

“It always feels overwhelming in the beginning. What’s your position?”

He tensed. “Classification apprentice.”

The girls froze.

“Do you want me to leave?”

Olivia recovered first. “No, it’s okay. Stay.”

Words poured out of him. “This is the first time I’ve eaten lunch with people since my first day. Everyone thinks I’m Mr. High and Mighty, but I didn’t ask for Class Two, you know? My parents are Class Six. My friends in my old MA all were too. I know that life. But I mean, what do I know about classification?”

Their conversation had drawn the attention of those sitting at the tables near them. A chill swept through Maddison.
Fix it. Change the subject. Do something.
She braved a sideways glance at the other students. The cafeteria was eerily quiet. She forced a smile. “Well, since you’re Class Two, you’re definitely smart. It’ll get easier, Brandon, I promise.”

Beside her, Sophie let out a slow sigh. Olivia agreed and launched into telling them about the collection of dresses she and Grace had unpacked yesterday, but the story, and Grace’s interjections, sounded faint and tinny. Brandon caught her gaze, relief shining in his blue eyes.

They’d come too close. They both knew it. She gave him a nod then made herself lean forward and engage with her friends. There’d been too many narrow escapes in the last month, and she could only thank her lucky stars that none of them had been around a liquidator. Rubbing her hands over her arms, she tried to get her blood moving again. Taylor was right; if she was going to talk to Ritchie about joining the resistance, she had to be more careful. For everyone’s sake.

*

Noah stuffed his arms into his leather jacket, jerked the collar up, and slammed the locker door. He’d built rapport with everyone he met, frequented places troublemakers gathered, and looked for signs. What did he have to show for his effort? Nothing. Not a single lead.

With three months until his deadline, he should’ve initiated damage control already, but coming up empty allowed Noah Seforé more time to exist, more time with Maddison.

He straightened, his tense muscles unfurling. He’d been weighed down for so long he almost didn’t recognize the feeling. A smile filled his face at the thought of her. He started for the door, powering up his vidcom.

“Noah.” A whisper from behind him. He turned to see Nurse Walker waving him back. Were her pupils dilated? She waited until the doors swung shut behind him. “Since you’re new, I thought I should warn you.”

He stilled. “About what?”

Her gaze locked on his face before returning to the doors. One hand clutched the strap of her purse, elbow locked close to her body. A slight musk drifted away from her, and her heart rate was much faster than normal. What was going on? As head nurse on their floor, she had always appeared in control. The frightened woman standing across from him looked smaller than her 5’6” frame.

“About what?” he repeated.

She took a deep breath and lowered her voice even more. “It’s the fifteenth.”

“What has you so spooked?”

She stepped closer. “Inspection day. There’ll be liquidators waiting at every entrance and exit, to screen employees and visitors.” She shuddered. “The floor sweeps will happen during night shift.”

His short CNA training hadn’t included anything about an inspection day. The procedure must be specific to CSE or to MA-4 in particular. He’d have to ask ARL Kelly at his next check-in. “This happens every month?”

She nodded and forced a smile. She ran a hand through her strawberry blonde hair. “It’s not that bad. I mean, it’s not like you or I have anything to hide. It’s standard identification and activity questioning, but the … well, there’s this one liquidator.” Her voice tripped over the words and stalled for a moment. Her face paled. If fear had a color, it was definitely the color of her skin right now. “He’s especially … demanding.”

Noah fought the tightening of his jaw. He could imagine the type of man who would gain too much enjoyment from scaring the female employees. “And you think we should avoid him?”

She gave a quick, tight nod, looking very much like a small mouse terrified to encounter the house cat. “He likes to wait at the entrance of the main elevators, so I thought I’d take the back stairs today. I didn’t want you to be unprepared. You know, since you were off duty during the last inspection.”

She didn’t have to speak the request. “Why don’t we go down together? That door’s closer to the employee parking lot anyway.”

The air whooshed out of her, and a tremulous smile appeared. He opened the door for her, letting her take the lead toward the stairwell. He’d get her to her car and then go around to the front. To see a confident woman like Nurse Walker hiding in fear stoked a fire in him to do a little intimidating of his own. He couldn’t confront the sadist without blowing his cover, but he would get his name and lodge a complaint with Kelly, making sure the ARL kept the man far away from him, Nurse Walker, and the hospital.

As they pushed into the stairwell, Noah nodded to several other nurses scurrying down from higher floors. He sucked in a deep breath. The shadow of a man stood outlined in the exit.

They stopped at the bottom of the stairs, pooling in the entrance, waiting their turn. He stayed close to Nurse Walker, sizing up the liquidator standing eight feet away. The man’s voice rumbled out in short, gruff barks, but the slouch in his stature screamed boredom. His hair glinted with strands of silver in the sunlight. He waved each woman and the occasional man through with a half-hearted motion.

He gave no one problems, and Noah positioned himself in line behind Nurse Walker as she shuffled forward.

“Vidcom.” McGruff demanded, hand outstretched for the device. Nurse Walker’s hand trembled as she dropped it into his palm. He scrolled through several pages before glancing up to match her face with the information on the screen. “Med/surg, Nurse Walker?”

“Yes, sir.”

He checked this information against his own compad, making a note. “And where are you headed?”

“Home.” It sounded more like a question than a statement.

The liquidator didn’t even blink, releasing her vidcom into her hands. “On your way, then. Next.”

Noah handed his vidcom over, eyes fixed on Nurse Walker’s trembling form. She moved a step closer to him although her car sat yards away.

“Seforé, is it?” Interest filled the old man’s voice. “You’re new to the area.”

Noah pulled his eyes over to meet the other man’s. “Yes, I am.”

McGruff’s face held recognition as he read Noah’s cover information. Noah tensed. McCray and Kelly had passed his cover ID through the channels, allowing Noah a measure of safety and, of course, additional accountability. This old man could blow it all with one wrong remark.

His gaze held Noah’s for a moment longer than necessary before the disinterested look fell back over his face. “You’re on med/surg as well?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very well.” He dropped the encoded vidcom back into Noah’s hand and waved him on with the slightest of nods.

Noah’s vidcom buzzed a message alert as he slipped it into his back pocket. He ignored it and rejoined Nurse Walker, her eyes even larger now. He couldn’t leave her alone. Taking her arm, he led her away from the door and toward the corner. “Why don’t we grab a cup of coffee?”

“Okay.” The word stuttered out, and again his mind concocted reasons for her behavior. None of them relieved him. He didn’t push conversation as they rounded the corner and headed for the twenty-four hour restaurant that catered to the sleep-deprived hospital staff.

Once they sat in a booth under the too bright lights, her shoulders slumped. She sank into the cushion. He pushed a mug of hot coffee closer to her limp hands. She grasped it, lifted the steaming cup to her lips, and took a huge gulp. The scalding liquid unleashed a torrent of words. “I’m sorry. I was pitiful back there. I don’t know why I let them get to me. You must think I’m such a baby. Worse, I’ve undermined every ounce of authority I might’ve had with you, haven’t I?”

“Impossible. You deserve a medal for the way you handled last Wednesday.” He leaned back against the seat and rested one arm on the top of the booth.

A faint smile crept onto her face, and she sat up a little straighter. “Give me more patients than I have beds for, interns fresh out of med school, and staph any day. I know how to deal with those problems. I can handle them with my arms tied behind my back.” She smirked. “Even without the help of a practiced secondary school apprentice and an enamored CNA.”

Heat crept up his neck and toward his face. “Nurse Walker, I …”

She waved his apology away. “I’m teasing. You’re so serious all the time. And please, call me Lynn. We’re not on duty, and you’ve earned it, putting up with me today.”

He studied her again now that the panic had drained from her face. Dressed in a light blue sweater complimenting her strawberry blond curls, she looked like a Lynn and not the stern, early-forties Nurse Walker he was familiar with.

“Lynn, I’ve worked with you long enough to know you’re hard to ruffle. You obviously had reason to be afraid.”

Her eyes dropped to the table. “I’m a grown woman. But just a glimpse of them, and I become a quivering, powerless—”

He laid a hand over her fist, stopping her mid-sentence before she garnered more attention from their fellow diners. He couldn’t protect her if she misspoke.

When she spotted the glances in their direction, she dropped her head into her arms on the table. He stared down the other patrons, one by one, until no one dared look in their direction.

“It’s okay.”

Her eyes darted out of their hiding place to assess the room before catching his gaze.

He nodded. “It’s all right.”

“I’m so sorry. I … I’m an idiot. Such an idiot.”

He leaned closer, set his coffee to the side, and steepled his hands in front of him. “Lynn, stop. I’m on your side. I understand. Okay?”

A tear spilled down her face, and she dashed it away with her hand. “Okay. Thank you. I knew I could trust you.” She sighed in relief.

He schooled his expression. Trust him? No one should do that. Unable to make eye contact, he glanced around for the waitress and noticed the lingering attention of two patrons in the back.

He stood and motioned to the register. “Let me walk you to your car.”

She startled at his abrupt change of topic but complied, keeping silent as he tracked down the waitress and signaled toward the door. It took eighty-five seconds for the woman to make her way to them and enter the total in the machine, and the men’s eyes stayed on them during each one. Pulling the vidcom from his back pocket and swiping it across the scanner, he listened in on their conversation. It seemed innocent despite their frequent glances in his direction. Once the scanner confirmed the withdrawal of funds from his account, he ushered Nurse Walker out the door and back across the parking lot.