Ultimate Surrender: The Surrender Series, Book 2 (22 page)

Love.

Oh shit.

As he wandered down the hall, it took him a minute to remember where he was heading.

Jay.

He needed to find Jay.

As he approached his office Jay stepped out, and he looked a bit freaked out.

“What?” Campbell asked.

“I caught that patient Wren trying to get into Natalie’s office.”

“When?”

“Just a few minutes ago. I walked over here after I came back inside, and she was walking into that office where she clearly shouldn’t have been. Come here.” He moved into his office and sat in his chair, turning his monitor to the side so they could both see it. Pulling up the video didn’t take him long at all. “See here.” He pointed to camera twelve, which was the camera outside Natalie and Jay’s offices.

He double-clicked, and that camera came up full screen.

Wren appeared on the screen, holding Hazel, and she made a beeline for Natalie’s office with something in her hand. Something small. Blue. She juggled the little girl and opened the office door.

Then Jay appeared, talking to her, and he pulled her out of the office and closed the door again.

“Why did she want in there?”

It looked like they exchanged words, but there was no audio feed because it was a medical facility and Campbell couldn’t get approval for microphone installation so they had video only.

Jay shook his head, totally perplexed. “She wouldn’t tell me. Wouldn’t say a word. She got upset when I asked her what she wanted in there. Seemed angry or scared or some combo of the two. The little girl was crying. I told her to stay where she was ’cause I knew you’d want to talk to her but she took off.”

As if he were narrating the video, Wren bolted right about that time, nearly racing out of the hallway. Jay got all the screens back up and followed her progress.

“There. Did you see that?” Campbell asked. “Back it up and bring up camera three.”

Jay did and they watched it again.

“There.”

Jay paused it. “What did she do?”

“She threw something in the plant by the door.” Campbell was already out of the office. Instead of inciting some kind of panic, he simply walked to the door and looked at the plant.

It was a USB stick of some kind. Blue. The thing she’d had in her hand when she was trying to get into Natalie’s office. He picked it up and then went out front. Looking both ways, he knew it was a long shot that she’d still be in the area for him to catch sight of her.

The sense of foreboding grew stronger as he walked back inside.

“Hey, Greta?” he called out as he walked back through the door and to the back area of the front counter.

The older woman turned around. “Mmhmm.”

“The woman in here earlier who wanted to speak to Natalie.”

“Wren?”

“Yes. Did you say she had an appointment in a couple days?”

“Uhh. I think so. Hold on.” She turned back around and flipped through a couple pages on their big calendar book. “Yes. Friday. Were you able to help her earlier? I saw she left in quite a hurry a little bit ago.”

“No. I ended up having to help Natalie, and she left before I could finish talking to her. Will you let me know when she shows up in a couple days for her appointment? I’d really like to talk to her again.”

“Of course. I’ll make a note in here to remind you.”

“Perfect. Thanks.” He moved back toward the hallway leading to the offices and went straight back into Jay’s office.

“What is it? What was in the plant?”

“A USB stick. What in the world could she have on the stick? I’d hope she didn’t have anything to do with the porn files loaded onto Natalie’s computer. The woman just doesn’t strike me as someone who would do something like that. But I’ve been surprised before.”

“Hand it over and let’s see.”

“Oh hell no. Natalie would kill me if I put something on your system that fried it or compromised it. Lemme take it and put it on my laptop. It has extra programs and protection for this kind of stuff.”

“Good call,” Jay acknowledged. “Lemme know what you find.” He ran a hand over his head. “What a freaking day. Is the full moon out or something?”

“Probably.”

Campbell stepped out of Jay’s office, moved down a few feet, and opened the door to Natalie’s. She wasn’t inside, which he was thankful for.

Booting his laptop, he opened a secure browser and plugged in the stick. The handheld device lit up and then nothing. No files populated. No folders appeared. Nothing.

That’s too easy.

He pulled up another menu and then a password screen appeared.

An encrypted password screen.

Encrypted?

Campbell was stumped and tried a different way.

Same encryption screen.

Definitely more than just a simple password. Trying to crack it in his spare time became a very high priority. He grabbed another empty stick from his laptop bag and cloned the contents onto the secondary media device. Thankfully, no password was needed to clone the data.

Pulling the second one out, he grabbed his cell and called a number he was beginning to think should be on his speed dial.

“Detective Wyatt.”

“I’ve got something for you. Might be nothing. Might be something, but I think you should have all the info.”

He brought him up to speed quickly on what had happened.

“And you’ve never seen this woman trying to get into Natalie’s office before?”

“No, but we’ve only just finished putting the cameras up recently. Who knows what happened before that.”

“Agreed. I’m out in the field and I’ll stop by on my way to another crime scene in just a few minutes. Can you put the video footage off onto the stick as well? That way I can have it all in one place.”

“You got it. I’ll have it ready in twenty minutes.”

They both hung up and Campbell pulled up the camera playback screen to make a backup. Natalie walked in and eyed him.

“You’re looking very intense over there.”

“I’m an intense guy.”

“Clearly.”

“Wyatt’s going to stop by in just a few minutes to pick something up.”

“Pamphlets on breastfeeding?”

Despite his worry, Campbell smiled. “I doubt that kind of literature would do a lot for him.”

She sat at her desk and rifled through paperwork. “Are you gonna willingly tell me what’s going on, or am I going to have to strong-arm you?”

Campbell raised his eyebrows. “I’m almost willing to risk it just to see you try.”

Natalie smiled but then got serious. “I’m assuming this is something that revolves around me.”

He held her gaze, trying to decide how to handle it. She was almost back to some semblance of normal, and he understood how fleeting that could be. Hiding things from her did nothing for him either so he decided to approach it head-on. “What if I told you I honestly didn’t know if it had anything to do with you or the attacks? What if I told you I didn’t want to burden you with something that could be nothing when I know how much you already have on your plate?”

She nibbled her bottom lip. “I’d say I believe you, but I don’t like the idea of you keeping me in the dark.”

“The last thing I want to do is make you doubt my honesty or my faith in your ability to handle your shit and kick its ass. But I’d like your permission to handle this on my end and if it gets to the point you need to know what is going on then you will be the first to know and I’ll bring you up to speed on everything.”

It took a long time for her to answer. “You know how hard it is for me to be okay with that?”

“I do.”

She thought a bit more and then nodded. “Then I trust your judgment. When I need to know, I’d like you to tell me immediately and don’t leave things out because you think it’s hard for me to handle. I want all the info. Nothing less will do.”

“Agreed. One hundred ten percent.”

“Then okay.” She took a deep breath and went back to work.

Campbell smiled and continued pulling up camera feeds for his backup.

It was odd.

He’d always thought he’d croak before he witnessed a woman bringing him to his knees with a single word. Trust. Good thing he’d been sitting down.

Chapter Twenty

Natalie

“Is this Natalie? Natalie Grant?”

It actually took Natalie a second to answer because it was close to two in the morning and the shrill ringing of her home phone had woken her and Campbell both out of a deep sleep.

“Yes, this is Natalie.”

“Who is it?” Campbell asked, sounding more awake then he should since he had been dead asleep beside her not seven seconds ago.

“I don’t know yet. Who is this?”

“My name is Becky Moreno and I work at Lenox Hill Hospital. God, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m trying to reach you because you’re listed as the next of kin to two people who were just brought in DOA.”

Natalie sat up in bed, holding the covers to her naked breasts. Campbell moved back against the headboard and wrapped an arm around her. Her heart lodged in her throat, and she had to swallow a few times to get her vocal cords to work again. “It’s someone from the hospital trying to get an ID on someone.”

“No, ma’am. We already have the ID. A last will and testament was found in the system naming you as the next of kin and guardian of her children if anything ever happened to her.”

“What?” she blurted out.

“Huh?” Campbell added.

Her mother and father were her only close living relatives that she knew of.

“Who?” she finally asked. “Who died?”

“A young woman and her daughter with the last name of Grouse.”

“Grouse?”

“Yes. Do you know someone by that name?”

Natalie rubbed her eyes and tried to focus past the two faceless dead bodies she now couldn’t stop picturing. “No. I don’t. Not that I know of.”

“Ugh. I was hoping this one was going to be easy. Is there any way you can come to the hospital and we could sit down and do this? I hate to ask, especially with it being earlier than the ass crack of dawn, but I have detectives from the good ole NYPD staring at me and they have a few questions for you as well.”

Natalie stared at Campbell, who immediately picked up his phone, pushed buttons, and dialed someone.

He spoke rapidly to whomever he’d called and she just couldn’t follow his conversation and process the panic she still had rolling through her.

“What was the woman’s first name who died? I don’t know any Grouse that I know of.”

“Wren. Her first name is Wren.”

Natalie sucked in a huge breath, and goosebumps broke out all over her body. “Oh my God.”

“You do know who it is.”

“Yes, but we’re not related. Oh God. And Hazel? The little girl. Oh God. And she was pregnant. Is the baby—”

“Please come to the hospital. To the ER entrance. The detectives will meet you there and escort you in.”

“How did she die?”

She hesitated and Natalie could hear someone speaking on the other end, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“I can’t give out any more information. Will you come?”

Natalie glanced at the clock. “We’ll be there in less than thirty minutes.”

The other woman exhaled loudly. “Thank you.”

They hung up and Campbell followed a few words later. They were both out of bed and pulling on clothes.

“It’s Wren. What could have happened? And her precious little girl.” Natalie choked on the last word and shoved the emotion into a folder marked
deal with later
so she could keep focused on getting out the door instead of deteriorating into a puddle of tears.

“I don’t know. I don’t fucking know. But I bet it has something to do with her husband, boyfriend, baby daddy, dude.”

Natalie shoved her feet into tennis shoes and went into the bathroom to grab a clip to put her hair up. “Why do you say that?”

“I’ll tell you on the way.”

When she walked over, the dogs yawned and rolled over back to sleep.

Campbell walked out of the room and she followed. They grabbed what they needed to leave, locked up, and made it outside.

Finding a cab wasn’t going to be easy at two in the morning so Natalie tugged on a coat she’d grabbed out of her closet.

A cab turned the corner and she stepped closer to the road.

Campbell pulled her toward him and put her at his back. He stared down at her and didn’t say a word as he held up his arm.

As the cab pulled to a stop, its light shutting off, she momentarily leaned against Campbell’s arm. Instead of being annoyed like she would have mere days ago, she felt protected. No. She felt safe and as if she were more than just a job.

It was a feeling of a man protecting someone he cared about.

Love?

No. Not that.

But there were feelings behind it. From her end too. A gust of wind kicked up as she was climbing into the back of the cab, and she used it to help her shake the feelings. She needed to concentrate on the problems at hand.

And Lordy did they have a pile of them to sift through.

Campbell closed the door and told the cabbie where to take them.

As they started moving she asked, “What makes you think Wren was hurt by her significant other?”

He didn’t hesitate, didn’t pause or hem and haw. Within thirty seconds he told her about Wren asking for her and him talking to her, the interruptions and the woman trying to get into her office and then leaving. Ending with the encrypted stick he’d given to the cops.

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me any of this?” Okay, yeah, she was a bit pissed.

“All of this happened when the other woman collapsed and then had to be taken to the hospital. It all happened so fast I forgot about her until after I’d gotten the other woman in the ambulance. Then at that point she was already gone. Or close to it.”

“But why didn’t you tell me? Wait. Holy shit, is this what you didn’t want to tell me last week because you weren’t sure if it did or did not have anything to do with me?”

“If I’d told you then, what could you have done? Wren fled and never returned. I told Greta to let me know when she showed for her next appointment.”

“Which was when?”

“It should have been last Friday. Days ago.”

“And?”

“And unfortunately nothing. She never showed for her appointment. Greta had it flagged in the system to tell me when she arrived and thankfully she told me when she didn’t show up. I’ve had Clay trying to help me find her, but we’d come up empty since all the info she gave you guys was wrong. That’s who I was on the phone with.”

“Who?” Natalie rubbed her temples and hoped beyond hope the looming headache would stay away.

“Clay. I told him what was happening and he’s going to do some checking on his end.”

“Ugh, you woke him at two? Angela’s gonna love me for that one. They don’t get any sleep at all anyways.”

“They were actually both up. Wyatt was crying in the background. Teething, Clay told me.”

Natalie shook her head, trying to clear it. What in the world went so wrong with Wren? “She was close.”

“Close to what?”

“Her due date.”

Campbell tucked his hand beneath her hair and squeezed her neck, rubbing it several times. “Hey.” He faced the cabbie. “Pull into a space at the hospital instead of up to the ER entrance.”

“You got it,” the cab driver responded with a thick Russian accent. They turned into the parking lot less than a minute later and the cabbie parked.

“Why not go up to the front?” Natalie wanted to know.

Campbell hauled out his phone, looked up something, and dialed a number.

“Who are you calling?”

“The hospital.”

“Why?”

“To make sure it was actually the hospital calling before. I take your safety very seriously.”

The phone connected and Campbell put it on speaker. “Yes, I’m trying to verify you had a DOA brought in earlier. Two females. Twenties on the mother and three or four on the little girl. Names of Wren and Hazel Grouse.”

“I can’t give that information out to anyone but immediate family.”

Natalie piped up. “My name is Natalie Grant. I’m listed as her next of kin.”

“Please hold.” Hold music filled the cab.

Natalie held her breath, hoping maybe the other woman had been wrong before. It was a Hail Mary but she grabbed on to it with everything she had.

They didn’t have to wait long. “Yes. Unfortunately both females were brought in and officially pronounced dead.”

Emotion clogged Natalie’s windpipe and she couldn’t say anything else. They were dead. They were really…gone.

“Thank you. We’ll be there in a few minutes to start dealing with details.”

“Drive safe,” the operator told them and disconnected.

After hanging up, Campbell placed a hand on her thigh and just gave her a minute.

How could she have been so wrong about someone? She wiped her eyes and faced him. “What made you think of that?”

“Just needed to make sure we weren’t walking into something other than what we’ve been told.”

Natalie stared at him. “You’re really good at what you do.”

He leaned over and gave her a kiss. “It’s why you hired me.”

“You’re absolutely right.”

Campbell’s phone went off, drawing their attention. “It’s Wyatt. Hey, Wyatt, what’s going— Yeah, we’re in the parking lot.” Campbell looked up and around the headrest in front of him. “I see you. We’ll meet you at the entrance.” He disconnected and pointed toward the ER entrance while digging for his wallet. “Drop us off right up there.”

The cabbie moved toward the hospital.

“What did Wyatt say?”

“He got word a little bit ago what was going on because your name is flagged in some interdepartmental list.”

“Lucky me.”

“So he’s here and is going to help get to the bottom of everything since he’s the lead on your case.” Campbell swiped his card as soon as they pulled to a stop and Wyatt approached their cab.

Natalie’s heart sank. “I was hoping it was all some kind of mistake, you know. That we’d get inside and it was someone else. Somebody else’s nightmare, that sounds horrible.”

“What? Someone else? Not Wren?”

“Exactly.”

He squeezed her hand and opened the door. “We’ll get to the bottom of everything. You have my word.” Campbell drew her out as Wyatt held the door.

And she took a deep breath.

She’d never thought she’d be comforted by Campbell in anything like this, but she realized she didn’t want to face it with anyone else.

He gave her a hug and then took her hand, letting Wyatt take the lead as they walked into the emergency room entrance.

The other detectives approached and her heart sank again.

A feeling of dread settled on her shoulders and she wondered if it would ever go away.

* * * * *

A couple hours later Natalie stood outside the nursery room window, staring down at a gorgeous infant with the name of Starling.

A beautiful little girl with the saddest blue eyes she’d ever seen.

She was alone in the world. A place surrounded by people. Yet still…alone.

Natalie knew how that felt.

Numb.

Every cell in her body was numb.

Campbell rubbed her arm but she couldn’t really feel it. She only knew he touched her because their reflections in the glass told her so.

She held still, barely breathing because at any moment one more emotional blow was going to come her way and she was going to shatter like the pane of glass her palms rested on.

Her walls were shaking, brittle.

But she couldn’t let them come down. She couldn’t let them fall. She had to be strong. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold it together. But she couldn’t fall apart now.

“Tell me again what happened. Tell me one more time and maybe I’ll believe it.”
Or not
, she added in her own head as she stared at the tiny girl wrapped up tight in a little pink blanket.

Campbell cleared his throat. “Starling was born a couple days ago. Wren was fine after the delivery, healthy just like the baby. Her husband had been out of town and missed the entire delivery. When he got back in town he brought Hazel to come see her last night and to take all of them home supposedly. The staff said things were tense between the couple, but they seemed to settle down and Wren appeared to be happy. Then all of a sudden they were gone. The husband took Wren and Hazel and left Starling here.”

“Just left her here,” Natalie whispered.

“Good thing or she’d be dead, too.”

Natalie shook her head but didn’t say anything else.

What could she say?

What kind of parent just leaves their child in the hospital? Abandons them. Natalie shook her head again and wrapped her arms around her middle. With the things she’d seen at the clinic, it happened more often than she wanted to admit. But Wren?

Wren knew her. And she could have given the baby up for adoption. So many options.

“Then they had a car accident. Drunk driver. Hit them head-on. Everyone in both vehicles died.”

“Instantly.”

Campbell nodded. “Wren and Hazel and the other driver died before anyone else could even get to the vehicles. At least they didn’t suffer. Didn’t hurt.”

“And what of the husband?”

“Died after he got to the hospital. Kept trying to tell the staff something but he bled out. Nothing could be done for him either.”

“How sad.”

Campbell squeezed her again and then turned her a bit to the side. Her gaze lingered on the baby for a couple more seconds and then she looked up. The nurse who’d called her earlier from the hospital approached. She looked tired. Natalie could completely empathize.

“Here’s a copy of the will I told you about earlier.” She handed over a small sheaf of papers.

Wren’s name was at the top, all of her info, Hazel’s full name was listed under children and her date of birth.

Becky flipped to the third page and there in black and white sat her name listed as next of kin and guardian to Wren’s children. It specifically listed Hazel and then named any other children she were to have after the date of the will being drawn.

Natalie flipped to the last page.

The date.

Two weeks ago.

“I don’t understand,” Natalie whispered. “I’m not related to her. She was coming to a clinic I run for pregnant mothers. She missed her last appointment, we couldn’t find her, and now this. I honestly don’t know what to say.” She flipped the papers back around and Campbell took them from her.