Fatal Desire, Teen Edition (10 page)

When her cell phone rang, she almost cried
with relief. She was so thankful for the interview.

Derek again drove her to the hospital. For
the past two weeks he had not let her out of his sight except when
he and his brother wanted to talk about her without her knowing.
They thought they were so clever but she knew what they were
whispering about. She was beginning to feel like a burden to the
men even though she continued to cook and would often straighten up
the house and do laundry.

If she got this job he would have to let her
have time to herself. He couldn’t very well go to work with her.
Although at this point she wouldn’t put it past him to try.

Amber went inside for her interview while
Derek waited outside. He had been carefully watching and so far
there had been no sign of anyone following or trying to locate
Amber. Both men had checked with local and state authorities in the
states Amber had been in and no inquiries were made there either.
Derek was still trying to figure out how her stalker always found
her.

Matt was at a loss also. They could find no
one in her life that came into it around the time of the letters
and accidents to her coworkers. All of the people she had worked
with and even her patients had been checked out thoroughly and none
of them stood out as a maniacal stalker.

Both men continued to comb through every inch
of Amber’s personal life. They checked high school records, college
records, and work history. The stalker wasn’t changing towns with
her either as far as the men could tell. They checked DMV records,
tax records, and employment records and could find no common
threads to Amber.

Derek was getting frustrated. He was no
closer to finding out who was stalking Amber than the day he met
her. He kept in touch with his boss who was happy to have Matt’s
input into the case. The men had worked cases together in the past
and Tom highly respected Matt’s ability.

Derek smiled as Amber strolled out of the
hospital. He admired the way she carried herself as she walked
across the parking lot. He got out of the car and walked around to
open the door for her.

“How did the interview go,” he asked.

“I think it went well,” Amber replied. “They
said they would let me know something by the end of the week.”

“That’s great,” Derek said.

He may not want her to go back to work but he
knew it would give him time to do more research also. He would be
able to use Matt’s resources to continue to dig. He knew she would
be safe at the hospital while he worked at Matt’s office.

♥
Chapter
8
♥

Amber did get the call from the hospital
before the week was up and settled into her new job quickly. Before
long, the three developed a routine that allowed all of them to
dress and get ready for work without getting in each other’s way or
using all the hot water. Amber would take her shower in the
evenings while the men cleaned the kitchen from the meal she
cooked. The men took their showers in the mornings and all left for
work around the same time. Amber always came home about an hour
before the men and would almost have supper ready for them by the
time they came home. During supper they would discuss their day and
update Amber on any progress made with her stalker.

Amber also relaxed enough to be her usual
friendly self with the staff and patients at the hospital. She had
enough confidence in Matt and Derek that she didn’t feel she had to
be cautious about who she talked to. Before long she had made
friends and was going on lunch dates with some of the other
nurses.

One day Derek came strutting into the
hospital to take her to lunch.

“Oooohh, girl, don’t look now. Hunk at twelve
o’clock,” whispered Tanesha.

“Ummmm hmmm, he is mighty fine,” answered
Sally.

Amber looked up to see Derek walking down the
hallway toward her station with a bouquet of roses in his
hands.

“Thought I’d take a pretty lady to lunch if
she’s available,” Derek said as he reached her desk.

“Oh, you know I’m available,” Tanesha
replied.

Amber smiled. Derek handed her the roses and
she went to find a vase to put them in. “Don’t eat him while I’m
gone, Tanesha,” Amber teased.

“Girl, you know I want to,” said Tanesha.
“Eat him like candy.”

Derek waggled his eyebrows at Tanesha and she
giggled like a school girl. Sally just shook her head at the
foolishness.

“Have fun at lunch, Amber,” she called as the
two walked off down the hallway.

“That girl has her one fine looking man,”
Tanesha said watching them walk down the hallway together.

“That she does,” Sally agreed.

Aware her coworkers were staring at them,
Amber turned and waved before getting onto the elevator. Tanesha
and Sally waved back.

“Yep, one fine looking man,” Tanesha said
again.

“So, what’s the occasion,” asked Amber.

Derek gave her a puzzled look.

“Lunch, roses,” she said with a question in
her voice.

Derek smiled. “Just because. No
occasion.”

“Oh. Where are you taking me,” Amber
asked.

“To this little out of the way Chinese
restaurant. I hope you like it,” he replied.

“I love Chinese food,” said Amber.

Derek drove out of the parking lot and they
talked about their day as he made his way to the restaurant. Once
there, the hostess sat them and a waitress took their drink order.
Both ordered the buffet.

After filling their plates and sitting back
down in their booth, they began to talk about other cases Derek had
worked.

“Your job sounds very interesting,” Amber
stated.

“Yeah, but it can get lonely sometimes. At
the end of the day, or week, or case, I come home to an empty house
and a lonely bed. I wish I had the right to ask a woman to share
that life and understand when I had to be away for long periods of
time.”

“I understand. It would be hard for a woman
to have to share her husband with the job. Knowing in her heart he
might not come back. But there are thousands of women who do
exactly that every day. Wives of soldiers, firefighters, and
policemen. Do any of your FBI buddies have wives,” asked Amber

“A few do. The ones lucky enough to have
found the right woman I guess,” Derek replied.

Amber looked down at her plate. Was this
Derek’s way of telling her she was not the right woman to be able
to fill his heart and life? She wasn’t sure where he was going with
this conversation so she steered it to another topic and began
telling him about one of her patients. She was taking care of an
elderly man who seemed to have no family interested in visiting him
in the hospital but the man was so full of life and energy. He made
all the nurses laugh with his teasing and joking.

Derek watched as Amber described her patient.
He smiled at her animated eyes and the way she used her hands as
she talked. He was falling hard for this woman and he wasn’t sure
that was wise. He had made sure not to touch her again since the
day they made love but it had been torture not to sneak into her
room and hold her. He wanted to kiss her and beg her to stay with
him. Be that person in his life that understood the demands of his
job and would be there for him. But he just couldn’t do it. He
couldn’t be that selfish after all she had been through. When he
found her stalker, he would have to walk away from her.

Derek and Amber finished their meal and Derek
drove Amber back to the hospital. The drive was quiet as each was
lost in their own thoughts and Amber wondered again about the
conversation Derek had started.

Amber walked back to her station amid the
calls and laughter of her new coworkers. She smiled, picked up her
clip board and got back to work. Her next patient was the elderly
man she had told Derek about.

A month after starting her job, Amber decided
to call Olivia. It had been more than two months since she had
talked with her best friend and she wanted to know how her delivery
went.

Waiting for Olivia to pick up, Amber grabbed
some fingernail polish and got ready to paint her toes. She was
just putting cotton balls between her toes when a man’s voice
answered the phone.

“Hello,” he said.

“Patrick,” Amber asked.

“Yes,” Patrick answered.

“It’s Amber. Is Olivia available,” she
asked.

“Oh, thank God you’ve called,” he said.

A chill went down Amber’s spine. “Is
everything alright,” she asked.

“Olivia lost the baby and she is beside
herself. She won’t talk to anyone. Let me see if I can get her to
talk to you. Hold on.” Amber heard Patrick put the phone down and
she waited. No longer in the mood to paint her toes, she began
removing the cotton.

“Amber,” Olivia’s sad, shaky voice came over
the line.

“Oh, Olivia! I am so sorry. Tell me what
happened,” Amber asked.

“I don’t know. Everything was going so well.
I only had a month left to go and the doctor was happy with my
progress.” Amber could hear the agony in her friend’s voice and
wanted with all of her heart to be there for her.

Olivia continued. “One night I was laying in
bed when I started cramping severely. Patrick rushed me to the
hospital but it was too late. They had to make the decision to take
the baby’s life or let me die. Patrick chose my life.” By this time
Olivia was sobbing so hard Amber could barely understand her.

They had seen these things before. Usually in
order to save the mother, the baby would be sacrificed. Olivia knew
this but knowing did not make living it any easier.

“Olivia, listen to me, honey,” Amber said.
“I’m coming home. I have a couple of days off, and I am coming to
see you. Do you hear me Olivia?”

She could hear Olivia hiccupping into the
phone but was unsure if she understood her. Patrick came back on
the line.

“I think she needs to rest now, Amber,” he
said.

“Okay, Patrick. Tell her for me I am coming
to see her,” Amber said.

“I will. Thanks Amber. That may help.” Amber
heard the phone click and looked up to see Derek standing in her
doorway.

Derek could see the anguish in Amber’s eyes.
“What’s the matter, Honey,” he asked.

“Olivia, my best friend, lost her baby,” she
said sadly. “She is barely coping. I have to go see her.”

“I don’t think that is a good idea, Amber,”
Derek argued.

“I have to, Derek,” Amber insisted. “Olivia
was there for me when my parents died, she has been there for me
through this whole nightmare, I have to go to her. She needs me,”
Amber sobbed. Her best friend was hurting and she hurt with
her.

The back of Derek’s neck began to tingle.
“Amber, how did Olivia know how to reach you,” he asked calmly.

“She doesn’t. I change cell phones often. I
call her,” Amber answered sniffing and blowing her nose.

Derek said nothing else as he came closer to
Amber and hugged her. He wanted to comfort her because he knew she
was hurting for her friend. He wanted to yell at her for not
telling him she had been keeping in contact with that friend. He
now knew how her stalker was tracking her. The bastard probably had
a listening device attached to Olivia’s phone. He must know how
close the girls are.

Derek stroked Amber’s back until she stopped
sobbing. He helped her to bed, assured her he would take her to
visit her friend, then went in search of his brother. He had new
information Matt needed to hear.

Then next day Matt and Derek were both
waiting at the kitchen table for Amber to come down the stairs.
Both were staring into their coffee contemplating the new piece of
the puzzle they had been given. Both looked up as Amber strolled
into the room.

Noting the looks on the men’s faces, Amber
poured a cup of coffee and walked to the table. She sat down and
faced them both.

“All right, spill it,” she said.

Both men began at the same time. Matt was
calm, while Derek was not.

“How could you forget to tell me you kept in
contact with someone from your hometown,” Derek yelled.

“Amber, telling us about Olivia sooner may
have helped us catch the person responsible for chasing you,” Matt
said.

Amber held up her hand. Both men stopped in
mid sentence. “I can only answer one of you at a time and Matt
since you are calmer than your brother, you can speak,” she said
avoiding Derek’s smoldering eyes.

Matt shot Derek a look that said shut it,
very clearly and continued his speech. “Amber, you should have told
us you still call Olivia.”

“Why, Olivia is my best friend. She would
never hurt me or tell anyone where I am. I would not have survived
the last few years if not for Olivia,” Amber answered.

“I understand you believe Olivia wouldn’t
tell anyone where you are…” Matt never finished his sentence.

“You understand I believe???” Amber asked
incredulously. “Olivia and I have been through a lot together. She
would never betray my trust just as I would never betray hers.”

“Amber, I wasn’t implying Olivia would betray
you. Let me finish,” Matt replied calmly.

Amber sat back, crossed her arms over her
breasts, and fixed Matt with an I’m listening but this had better
be good stare that had Matt flinching slightly and Derek looking a
little uneasy.

“Your stalker, understanding the bond between
you and Olivia, could have bugged her phone. He could have been
listening in on your conversations all of these years,” Matt
explained.

“Amber, you might have unknowingly been
leading your stalker to where you were hiding,” Derek
interjected.

Amber’s face went pale. She had never thought
about the possibility of her stalker tapping Olivia’s phone. She
had led him to her all of these years. And now she had told Olivia
she was coming home.