The Ninth Floor (18 page)

“You better
be,” he said and walked to the window again.

“What’s out
there?” Bee asked.

“Nothing,” I
said too quickly, and she gave me a strange look.

Blair turned. “Just
checking on my car in the parking lot.”

Bee held out
her hand to him. “You look tired. You should go home. Ryan and I are fine here.”

Blair’s eyes
shifted toward the door, but to his credit he shook his head. “No. After we had
so much fun yesterday, do you think I’d miss out on today?”

She laughed
and held each of our hands. “I’m so lucky to have both of you.”

We worked on
crossword puzzles until Bee dozed off. Blair went to the cafeteria to get a
drink, and I wandered to the waiting room to talk to Aiden. He was reading the
newspaper, but I had no doubt he knew every movement that went on in the
hallway.

“Someone else
died this morning, and I got another note,” I said as I sat down.

He folded his
paper with precision. “Not a box?”

“No.”

“Do you have
it with you?”

I nodded and
dropped it into his waiting hand.

When he
unfolded it, I leaned in to read over his shoulder.

Liar, liar.
Better hope no one sets you on fire.

I drew in a
sharp breath. Aiden pulled a driver’s license out of the envelope.

“Who’s
Samantha Cobb?” I asked him.

He frowned but
didn’t answer.

“Why does it
feel like you know more about my life than I do?”

He looked at
me with serious eyes. “Because I do. Talk to your family again. It isn’t my
place to tell you this stuff.”

I cracked my
knuckles, wanting to scream. “Tell me the truth. Am I in danger?”

“Yes. We
should have a security camera installed at the base of your apartment stairs.”

“Okay.”
Another thought came to me. “Why didn’t they ever try that at my parents’
house?”

“They did.
Every time my company installed a camera, the letter was delivered to a new
location. Whoever’s behind this is very smart and aware, which makes him
dangerous.”

“And the woman
who died this morning?”

“I don’t know
yet, but I’ll go find out if you promise not to leave without telling me
exactly where you’re going.”

I agreed.
Aiden left and I called Ashley. After a fair amount of insistence, Ashley’s
secretary transferred me to him. “What can I do for you, Ryan?” he asked.

“To start
with, why don’t you come by and visit Bee?”

“I can’t. My
day’s full with meetings. I promise I’ll get by to see her soon.”

“Ash—”

“Ryan, I
really am busy. Despite what you believe, I do, in fact, work.”

I sighed. “Fine.
I can’t force you to be concerned about her. Someday you might regret not
making time though.”

“Is that all?”

I almost said
yes and hung up, but I needed to know. “Who is Samantha Cobb?”

“Where did you
hear that name?”

“That’s not
important. Who is she? What does she have to do with me?”

“She’s no one.
She has nothing to do with you. Don’t dig up the past, Ryan.”

“Oh, Ashley,
whatever skeletons we have buried in the backyard are digging themselves up.
You might as well tell me.”

“You need to
talk to Dad. I don’t want to be in the middle of you and them anymore.”

His words made
me feel guilty. “I’m sorry, Ashley. If you can find the time, I’d like to hang
out with you. Just for fun. I won’t make you reveal state secrets, I swear.”

“Really?”

“Sure. Why
not?”

“Do you really
want me to answer that?”

I laughed. “No.
Just have your people contact my people.”

He paused. “Who
are your people?”

I laughed
again. “I’ll let you go. Hopefully we’ll see each other soon.”

Now all I had
to do was get my parents to come clean about whatever they were hiding and
figure out who Samantha Cobb was.

After I hung up on Ash, I looked
out Bee’s window, a little frightened about what I would see. But aside from
spare police officers and the crime scene tape, I really couldn’t see anything.
There was a knock on the door, and the deputy I’d met before entered. I walked
to meet him, wanting to let Bee rest.

“Ms. Sterling.”
He nodded.

“You have me
at a disadvantage. I don’t know your name.”

“Aaron Perry.”
He held out his hand to me.

“Nice to meet you.”
I shook his hand. “Now what can I do for you?”

“I need to
speak with the resident of this room.” He looked around me.

“Why?”

“Are you aware
what happened here this morning?”

I looked back
at Bee as she shifted in her bed. “My aunt’s sleeping. Let’s discuss this in
the hallway?” He gave me an impatient look but led the way. Once the door was
securely shut, I continued. “She doesn’t know about what happened this morning.
Per her doctor’s orders, we’re limiting the amount of stress she’s exposed to.
This would upset her.”

“Ms. Sterling—”

“Call me Ryan.”

“Ryan, the
woman who died this morning was a nurse. Now, there’s no note that we can find,
and according to her friends and family, there were no warning signs from her
that she was suicidal. That alone isn’t much, but given the other accident
involving a nurse who worked on this floor, it’s my duty to check with all the
patients. Perhaps one of them saw or heard something that would assist the
investigation. I’ll do everything in my ability not to upset your aunt.”

In the short
amount of time I’d been in Goodson Hollow, four people had died. I didn’t blame
the officer for investigating, but I was certain Bee didn’t need to be part of
his investigation. “Which nurse?”

“A night
nurse, Peggy Carlile. Have you met her?”

I nodded. “Last
night before I went home.”

“And did you
speak to her?”

“Yeah. She
told me about something weird that happened with my aunt the night before, then
swore she’d be more vigilant that night.” I wanted to tell him more about what
I’d been experiencing and the ninth floor, but I was fairly certain it would
discredit me with the deputy if I did, so I kept my mouth shut.

He pulled out
a note pad. “What happened?”

“Bee was
sleepwalking.”

He looked up. “That’s
it?”

“Deputy, my
aunt has acute liver failure. She can’t get to the bathroom by herself, let
alone walk up and down the stairs. Sleepwalking isn’t something that should be
possible.”

“And your
aunt? Has she said anything? Done anything else out of the ordinary?”

“No.” I didn’t
like where his line of questioning was headed. Bee couldn’t have had anything
to do with those women’s deaths. “Do you think these weren’t accidents?”

“It’s my job
to investigate coincidences.”

“My aunt
couldn’t have hurt anyone.” At least I didn’t think she could. She’d certainly
been having her crazy moments lately, but how could she have hurt them? She was
so frail. I pictured Blair’s crushed phone and fought the urge to lean against
the wall.

Deputy Perry
stared at me for a long moment. “I didn’t say she could.” He raised an eyebrow.
“Are you leaving something out, Ryan?”

I shook my
head and crossed my arms over my chest.

He nodded. “I’ll
still have to talk to her.”

“Not right
now, you don’t.” I stepped in front of him. “She needs to rest.” And I needed
to figure out what was happening before he got in there.

“Please step
aside.”

“What’s going
on?” I’d been so caught up in arguing with Deputy Perry that I didn’t even see
Ashley walking up with Aiden.

The deputy
turned and straightened his shoulders, making his posture rigid.

“He wants to
question Bee about some nurse that died this morning.” I cringed inwardly at
how terrible and dismissive “some nurse” sounded. I felt a little bad for
hoping Ashley would throw his weight around and make the deputy leave, but not
bad enough to stop it from happening. Maybe the apple didn’t fall too far from
my mother’s tree after all. “As I said, she’s had a rough morning and is
sleeping. She needs her rest.”

Ashley nodded.
“Deputy Perry, I’m sure the sheriff wouldn’t want you disturbing Aunt Bee.
Perhaps you can stop by another time. This is our family’s private security,
Aiden Parker. He would be happy to help you in any way we can.”

Deputy Perry’s
jaw clenched and he didn’t even look at Aiden. “When would you suggest?”

Ashley looked
over at me.

“Um, tomorrow
morning? She’s always awake after the doctors make their rounds.”

“Fine.” He
nodded and moved on to the next room, and I slumped against the wall.

“Thanks for
that,” I said.

“The nurse’s
name was Peggy Carlile. Did you have any contact with her?” Aiden asked.

I nodded. “She
told me about Bee sleepwalking the night before.”

His eyebrows
pulled together. “No one saw her after her shift started last night. You might
be the last person she spoke with.”

“I don’t
understand. I talk to a lot of people and they don’t all die. Why these two?”

Aiden looked
over at Ashley, who glared at him. “We’ll talk more later,” Aiden said casually
and went back to the waiting room.

Ashley opened
his mouth to say something, but Blair interrupted him.

“Holy crap,
Ashley. Has hell frozen over? What are you doing here?” He clapped his hand
down on Ashley’s shoulder.

“Ryan asked me
to come and I had some time free up. What are you doing here?”

Blair stood
between the two of us, grinning like a fool. “Hanging with Bee and Ryan while I
can. Let’s go see if she’s awake—” He looked back at me. “And feeling like
herself. You better go first, Ryan.”

A
bloodcurdling scream came from Bee’s room. I ran to her without hesitation. Bee’s
heart monitor was racing, and she had her knees pulled up to her chest. “No,
no, no,” she said, her eyes squeezed shut.

I grabbed her
shoulders. “Shhh, it’s okay. It’s okay. What happened?”

“Ryan?” Bee
opened one eye and looked at me. “You—” She looked at the window and back at
me. Then she looked at the window again. “I don’t understand.”

She cried into
my shoulder. What the hell was happening here? “It’s okay, Bee. We’re going to
move you. I’m going to take you out of this place. It will be better somewhere
else. Shhh, it’s okay.”

“Ryan?” Jack’s
voice came from behind me. When I looked back at him, he held up a syringe. I
nodded and tried to ease away from Bee, but she clung to me.

“It’s okay. I’m
here.”

“You were
dead.”

“No. I’m fine.
I’m right here.”

Jack unhooked
Bee’s arms from around me and I stepped back, my hands shaking.

“I’m going to
give you a shot that will help you rest. Ryan’s fine. You just gave her a
fright.”

Blair put his
arm around my shoulder and Ashley stood beside us as we watched Bee’s eyes
flutter closed and Jack and a couple nurses get her settled back in bed. Jack
nodded toward the door, and we followed him to the waiting room.

“What exactly
happened?” Jack asked, looking at me. “I explained the importance of keeping
her stress level low. She’s fighting for her life.”

“Nothing
happened. We were in the hallway and then she screamed. She’d been sleeping,”
Blair answered before I could.

Jack looked at
me for confirmation and I nodded, though I didn’t appreciate him suggesting I
wasn’t doing everything within my ability to keep Bee calm and happy.

“Can I speak
with you for a moment, Ryan?”

I followed
him, my arms wrapped around myself as if I could be physically held together. We
went to the stairwell.

“I thought we
discussed why you shouldn’t move her.”

“She can’t
stay here any longer, Jack. I’m sorry. This place is driving her crazy. Hell,
it’s driving me a little crazy too.”

“I can’t
recommend it.”

I took a deep
breath. “Don’t fight me on this. I’m going to do what I think is best for her.
Whether or not the haunting is real, it’s terrorizing her. You want me to keep
her stress down? This is how I’m going to do it.”

“If you do
something that further damages her health, you’ll never forgive yourself. I am
not sure Bee can survive a transfer. If you don’t believe me, get a second
opinion. Here.” Jack pulled out a notepad and scribbled something on it. “Here
are other doctors who can consult if you want.”

I took the
sheet of paper and headed to the door.

“Ryan?” I
looked back. “Whatever you decide, you have my full support.”

“Thank you.”
My voice sounded cracked and worn, almost unrecognizable.

“She’ll be out
for the afternoon. You should go home and rest.”

I nodded and
he started to go in the other direction. “Jack.” I waited for him to look at
me. “I’m sorry.”

I left before
he could reply. I didn’t know what exactly I apologized for. It could’ve been
for starting and stopping our relationship, it could’ve been for letting Briggs
back into my life, or it could’ve been for moving Bee, because I was certain that’s
what I was going to do, regardless of the second opinion. Ashley and Blair were
waiting for me.

“What was that
all about?” Blair asked the same time Ashley said, “I didn’t know she was that
bad.”

I nodded to
Ashley then answered Blair. “Jack doesn’t think I should move Bee.”

“Then why
would you?”

I shook my
head. “You may not believe this place is haunted, but she does. I think the
nightmares have more to do with where we are than her illness. I don’t want to
leave her here. Jack told me to get a second opinion before I move her.” I
waved the sheet of paper at them. “He gave me some names.”

“I think
moving her is a good idea,” Ashley said and took the names from me. “You don’t
need these. I have a friend who can consult. I’ll call him tonight.”