Hidden Threat (14 page)

The ring was readily available, and the task of narrowing down the list of suspects seemed impossible until Cali leaned in and asked if there was a way to get a list of people who had purchased the ring.

It was obvious she was trying to flirt in order to get something she knew wasn’t supposed to be given. Mr. Baker had just sat there, unable to move for several minutes before blushing. At that moment, Cali moved forward, placed her hand on the jeweler’s arm very lightly, and said please. He should have been shocked, but he was putty in her hands. What had seemed to be a waste of almost two hours, turned out to be quite productive, and Cali made an admirer out of both Matthew and the jeweler.

As they got into the car, Matthew briefly glanced at the list. There were three pages of customers who had bought that exact ring over the last five years. He’d have plenty of reading to do tonight, and that was a good thing.

Within moments of getting back into the confines of the car, the easy working atmosphere of the last two hours disappeared as the same tension from earlier returned. Matthew wanted to change that, but he wasn’t sure what he should do.

Well that wasn’t entirely true. He knew what he wanted to do, but that wasn’t an option.

Matthew watched as her fingers tangled together in obvious nervousness. The urge to reach out to her and caress her hands with his was raising his body temperature despite his effort to suppress it. Cali shifted in her seat, and his eyes rose to her face. She was biting her lower lip again, another nervous habit he’d noticed about her.

Cali took a deep breath before speaking, “Do you think that will help?” she asked, pointing to the list in the center console.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “It will take some time to go through, but maybe we’ll get lucky.”

She just nodded and bit her lip again. Matthew noticed the time as he started the engine to the car. It was after seven and neither had eaten dinner. The desire to keep her close was warring with his sense of propriety, reminding him she was his boss.

He pulled onto the street and gave up the fight. “Are you hungry? We could stop and get something before I drop you off at your car.” Matthew saw her eyes dart to him briefly before she turned back to the window.

“No,” she said softly. “I’ll just get something at home.” He nodded, but he didn’t think she noticed.

Ten minutes later, they turned into the parking garage located under the Stanton building. There were still a few cars around but not many. Most of the employees were already gone for the night, leaving mostly security and IT people to fill the spaces.

Out of habit, Matthew parked his car in his usual spot. It was late, but he figured since he was here, it wouldn’t hurt to head up to his office for an hour or so and rehash the new information. He’d just stop in at the deli on the ground floor and pick up some dinner.

After he turned off the engine, the two exited the vehicle. Matthew threw his jacket in the back seat and watched Cali as she picked up her things. They came face-to-face at the back of his car and paused. Matthew was the first to speak up,

“Thank you for coming with me. I don’t know if I would have been able to do what you did.” He smirked. “Well, at least not with the same results.” 

A deep blush crossed Cali’s skin, and Matthew almost lost it. This woman was driving him crazy. He wanted to touch her, to crush her to his body, and kiss her to within an inch of her life. Instead of doing any of those things though, he took a step back toward the elevators. Clearing his throat, he waited until her eyes met his. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The side of her mouth turned up in a slight smile, and she nodded.

He watched her turn and walk to her car before he started for his office. Pressing the button, he waited. At night, the elevators sometimes took forever especially if they had to come down from one of the top floors.

An engine started, and he smiled to himself thinking of Cali heading home. Just as the elevator dinged, the squealing of tires caught his attention, and he whirled around. A dark blue sedan he’d never seen before came flying up the exit ramp and caused his heart to pick up speed.

Cali.

Matthew didn’t pause for even a second before breaking into a full run. When he turned the corner, his heart nearly stopped. She was on the ground. From his angle, he could only see her legs, and they weren’t moving.

He ran harder, crossing the short distance in seconds. She was beside her car, unconscious. There was a small trickle of blood on her forehead but no other visible signs of injury. Kneeling down beside her, he wrenched his cell phone from his belt and dialed 911.

“Hello, what’s your emergency?”

“My name is Matthew Andersen. I’m in the parking garage at Stanton Enterprises. We need an ambulance.” He paused. “She’s been hit by a car.” His voice trailed off, and the words felt dry on his tongue as the dispatcher proceeded to ask him questions. He answered but it was an automatic response.

Throughout the conversation, his unsteady hands moved roughly over Cali’s body, checking for injuries. Matthew didn’t feel or see anything other than the small gash in her forehead, but that didn’t rule out internal injuries.

Hearing the sirens in the distance, he disconnected the call. Bringing his face close to hers, he brushed his lips along her cheek. “You’ll be okay, Cali. You’ll be okay.” The next thing he knew, the paramedics were pushing him out of the way.

Not even a minute after the paramedics took over, the first officer arrived on the scene. Matthew didn’t want to leave Cali’s side, but the man gave him no choice as he peppered him with questions. The officer seemed skeptical at first with Matthew’s description of events until he explained who he was and that the threats to the company were all documented in police records. Finally, the officer let Matthew go back to her.

They were loading Cali into the ambulance just as an unmarked car pulled up and Martinez got out. Matthew was glad to see his friend, but his focus was on Cali and only Cali; she was still unconscious. The EMT’s hadn’t found any more than he had, but just like Matthew, they were worried about internal injuries.

“Andersen?”

He turned around, and Martinez stopped dead in his tracks at the look on Matthew’s face. It was bad, and as Martinez glanced over at the ambulance, Mathew’s eyes followed. Cali looked so helpless lying there on the gurney. As soon as the paramedics finished hooking her up to an IV, they would be ready to leave.

Martinez’s voice brought Matthew back to reality once again. “She okay, man?” 

Matthew shook his head. “I don’t know. They need to run some tests.” Forcing himself to block Cali’s present circumstance out for just a minute, he took at step toward his friend. “Martinez, you’ve got to help me figure out who did this. I didn’t…I didn’t have time to look around. Can you…” 

Martinez laid a reassuring hand on Matthew’s shoulder. “I’ll do it personally, man. Don’t you worry.”

Matthew nodded and made an effort to give his friend a smile of appreciation. He knew it was lame, but it was the best he could do under the current conditions.

The sound of movement behind him, caused him to look over his shoulder, and he realized the doors to the ambulance were closing. Reaching out his hand, he grabbed hold of the solid metal to pull it back open and began to hoist himself inside. He closed the door behind him with a firm click. The EMT beside Cali looked up at him, startled. “Sir, you can’t—”

Matthew ignored him and took a seat on the bench. Unless they were going to physically remove him, he wasn’t going anywhere.

After a few seconds, the man seemed to relent, and they were on their way to the hospital.

***

Although Matthew knew they were only fifteen minutes away at most, the drive seemed to take forever. With the sirens on, it should have been less. He held Cali’s hand the entire time, providing the only comfort he could.

When the vehicle jerked to a stop, the doors flew opened and four people in scrubs and jackets began a flurry of motion. He released Cali’s hand as the gurney was pulled from the vehicle. The doctor was shooting out questions to the EMT in such a rapid-fire succession that Matthew couldn’t follow.

He walked swiftly behind them until a firm hand pushed on his chest and told him to wait there. A set of double doors closed in his face as Cali’s pale form disappeared down the hall.

It wasn’t until a volunteer came up and asked him to fill out some paperwork that he remembered he needed to call Alvin. Matthew didn’t think his heart could sink any lower than it had, but the thought of having to call Alvin Stanton and tell him his daughter had been hit by a car proved him wrong.

Quickly filling in the blank spaces on the sheet of paper in front of him, Matthew took the papers back to the desk and let the woman know he’d be just outside if he was needed. She gave him a pleasant smile and nodded. Matthew pulled his cell off his belt for the second time that night and made one of the hardest calls of his life.

Three hours later, Cali was finally in her assigned room. She’d regained consciousness, and all the tests showed no sign of internal injury so far. Matthew had called Jason as soon as he’d hung up with Alvin. His brother was at the garage with Martinez, going over everything. He should be there too, Matthew thought, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave Cali.

When he walked into her room and saw her awake, he was ecstatic. His heart immediately told him she was okay. Cali smiled at him. It was an unguarded smile that only lasted for moments before it began to fade.

He took a seat beside her bed and asked her how she was, told her he’d called her father, and that Jason was taking care of things at the office. She listened quietly, watching him.

After they exchanged pleasantries, they sat in silence. Cali shifted, trying to get comfortable, and Matthew immediately reacted. Reaching out his hands to help, he brushed her arm, and she jumped. “Sorry,” he said as he retracted his hand.

Cali knew she’d overreacted, but there was a war raging inside her. She wanted him to touch her, but part of her was afraid of getting hurt. He could hurt her if he wanted. Matthew Andersen already meant more to her than he should.

Taking a deep breath, she said, “No, it’s okay. You just…startled me.” Her attempted smile was feeble.

What he did next almost made her heart stop. Wrapping his hand around hers, he began running his thumb lightly across her knuckles. It was supposed to be a comforting gesture, she knew, but his fingers were sending sensations she’d never felt before up the length of her arm.

Meeting her eyes, he sent her a smile that made her breath catch in her throat.

They didn’t speak, just watched each other. Cali forgot about her earlier discomfort, losing herself in Matthew and those crystal blue eyes.

Cali had no idea how long they stayed locked in their trance, but when the nurse came in to check her vitals, Matthew moved away. She instantly felt the emptiness of their separation. He stood on the opposite side of the room and watched her while the nurse worked, and Cali began asking questions. He didn’t understand much of it, and the he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at the look on the nurse’s face. She was obviously trying to have patience with her doctor patient, and it reminded him that Cali was a real practicing doctor, one that had patients of her own a few weeks ago.

As the woman finished up, she placed Cali’s chart at the end of the bed.

Everything looked good. She was to stay overnight for observation, but should be able to go home in the morning if everything went well.

It was almost an hour later when Cali’s stomach started to growl, and she remembered neither one of them had eaten dinner. Matthew stood, told her he would be right back, and disappeared around the corner.

She took the opportunity to call her father. He picked up after just the first ring.

“Cali?”

“Hi, Dad.”

He released the deep breath he’d been holding. “Cali, honey, are you okay?” 

It was so good to hear her dad’s voice on the other end of the line. “Yeah, they say everything’s okay, and I should get to go home tomorrow. They just want to keep me overnight for observation.”

Alvin was quiet for a minute, “I should be there.”

“Dad, I’m fine. Really. Besides…you have your own accident to recover from,” she said, trying to lighten the mood of the conversation.

“An accident? Cali, do you really think this was an accident?” 

She paused and thought about it a minute. “I don’t know. I didn’t see the car coming at all.”

Alvin made a grunting noise into the phone just as Matthew appeared with a Wendy’s sack. “What does Matthew say?”

Cali bit her bottom lip and looked at the man in question. “I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it yet.”

Her father didn’t seem to like that answer. “What do you mean you haven’t talked about it yet? Where is he? Have the police been by to take your statement? Is there a forensic team on the scene?” The volume of his voice increased with every sentence.

He was getting worked, and she calmly reminded him that wasn’t good given his condition. Then she added, “Matthew’s here. No the police haven’t been by to take my statement yet. And I have no idea about a forensic team.”

“Matthew’s there?” he sounded surprised.

“Yes.”

Alvin asked to talk to Matthew who quickly gave her father a run down of what was going on. Before Matthew gave the phone back to Cali, she heard him say, “Don’t worry. I’ll not let her out of my sight.”

Cali got back on the phone with her dad. And after several more reassurances that she was, in fact, okay, they said goodnight and disconnected.

***

Matthew placed a burger and fries on the tray in front of her before setting up a matching array on his own lap. Cali unwrapped her burger and took a bite. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until the greasy goodness of the meat and cheese filled her mouth. It was eleven o’clock, and she hadn’t eaten since lunch.

They each devoured their meals. “Thank you for dinner,” Cali said.