First Do No Evil: Blood Secrets, Book 1 (11 page)

A knock on the door, and then Soyla poked her head into Sky’s office. “Dr. Sky?”

Good timing
. Sky was grateful for Soyla’s interruption. She didn’t want to continue the debate with Garth until she had reviewed the files of the women who died. “Come on in. I was just wondering if you’d located those items I asked for.”

Soyla directed an uncharacteristically meek smile at her. In fact, uncharacteristic was putting it mildly. In all their acquaintance, some five years now, she’d never seen her medical assistant with such a downright apologetic twist to her lips. Soyla’s hands were on her hips, and her elbows flapped nervously. Some people talked with their hands. Soyla talked with her elbows. And right now her elbows declared her to be…

“Embarrassed.” Soyla’s downcast eyes traveled to her toes, then to Sky’s toes, then Garth’s, then finally settled on a murky stain on the carpet. “I am embarrassed to say I’ve mislaid the files.”

Garth smiled, peeked playfully at Soyla from beneath cocked brows. “Mislaid, you say? Well I must admit I’m less than flabbergasted. Ordination has never been your strong suit.”

Now Soyla’s elbows stiffened defensively. “Respectfully, Dr. Novak…that was uncalled for. I attend services at the Unitarian Church every Sunday. I’m as ordained as anyone. You’ve got no call to go and cast aspersions on my spiritual being.”

Garth chortled, and Sky shot him a look that she hoped conveyed her displeasure at his uncharacteristically ill manners. It must’ve worked because Garth sucked in his cheeks and sealed his lips in an attempt to silence the peals of laughter racking his body.

In a gentle tone, Sky addressed Soyla, “I believe he means ordination in a secular sense.”

By now Garth had just about composed himself, although he still held his shoulders a little stiffer than usual. “I meant no disrespect. As Sky said, I was not referring to
ordination
as it pertains to the church, nor would I make so bold as to judge your spiritual being.” He reached an arm around Soyla. “I only meant you can’t alphabetize worth a damn. But that doesn’t detract one whit from my deep admiration for you. Now then, my beauty, exactly which files can’t you find?”

“
The
files. Livy Petersen. Amanda Cavanaugh. Henrietta Trueblood. I can’t find
any
of them. Dr. Sky said we’re being sued, and that Dr. Guerretin, God rest his soul…” Despite being a Unitarian, Soyla crossed her chest. “Dr. Guerretin’s reputation is at stake. Dr. Sky asked me to go and get those poor dead women’s files, and I can’t lay a hand on even one of them. And no, in plain English, I never could alphabetize worth a damn, but I’m real good at owning up to my mistakes. So…” Soyla turned to Sky, tears welling up. “If you want to fire me…”

“Take it easy,” Sky said, in a voice she prayed sounded calmer than she felt. Without the files she had little hope of discovering the truth or winning in court or even settling the case. Missing files screamed cover up and spelled disaster for the clinic. “No one wants to fire you. You’re the world’s greatest medical assistant, and you shouldn’t be doing double duty as a file clerk anyway.”

She smiled at Soyla. At least there’d be one piece of good news today. “In fact, I have a little surprise for you. I’m bringing someone else on board to help you out.”

When Nevaeh had confided to Sky that she was afraid to return to her job at Jolene’s, Sky had jumped at the opportunity to hire her on at the clinic. It would give the girl a steady income, and simultaneously give her a leg up on getting into nursing school. “I’m certain you’re going to like the new hire a lot.”

“I’m not so sure I will.” A proprietary flap of Soyla’s elbows ensued.

One of these days, that woman was going to take flight. But not today. Nevaeh had not only been one of Sky’s favorite patients, she’d been Soyla’s pet as well. Sky steepled her fingers and peered innocently over them at Soyla. “Oh darn. Well, I hope you’re going to suck it up and try to get along anyway. Nevaeh Flores starts Monday.”

Soyla bounced on her toes. “Doc, you’re brilliant.”

The mood in the room lifted palpably. Garth nodded his approval. “I have to agree with Soyla, only you’re more than just brilliant, Sky. That unfortunate girl simply can’t go back to work at Jolene’s diner. Hiring her on is a very kind thing to do; it’s a good thing to do.”

“It’s a win-win. So let’s all take a deep breath and relax. Nevaeh’s first order of business will be to turn the storage room upside down and find those charts. The files are here somewhere. They have to be.”

They have to be
. Tapping her chin with her forefinger, she gnawed her bottom lip. Above her head, a fluorescent light bulb flickered to life.
Of course
. Why didn’t she think of it before? She had a pretty fair idea where those files were, and if she was right, Soyla’s ordination skills were in the clear.

The corridor between her office and Edmond’s was long. So quiet here compared to the public part of the clinic. Sky’s shoes were noiseless on the soft carpet; the heavy door that sealed the doctor’s area off from the rest of the clinic was virtually soundproof. She heard nothing at all but the sound of her thoughts.

The files are in Edmond’s safe
.

She was sure of it. Edmond was so conscientious. Before his death, he would have been poring over those charts, searching them for understanding, and he would have taken great care to preserve the medical records.

The files are in the safe
.

A second before she opened the door to his office, a pungent odor, sweet but inexplicably disagreeable, hit her in the face, and she recognized the scent before she actually saw the person.

Halston Reece.

Again.

Sky’s hands clenched into fists, and she marched into the room. “What the hell do you think you’re doing in here?”

“Oh my God!” Halston slammed shut a drawer in Edmond’s desk and whirled to face her. “Dr. Novak. You scared the crap out of me.”

“Not possible, Halston.” She was out of patience with this woman. She’d taken such care to leave Edmond’s office as undisturbed as possible, treated it with such reverence, and now, here stood this marauder rifling through his things. “Don’t bother explaining yourself. I don’t care why you’re in here. I just want you gone. Now.”

“Forgive me, Dr. Novak. I didn’t mean to intrude. I realize this looks bad. But I assure you, I meant no disrespect to Dr. Guerretin or to you.” The hard-candy layer on top of Halston’s voice was so thick you could crack a tooth on it. “In fact, it’s just the opposite. You see, I-I never got a chance to say goodbye to him.”

Asinine woman. As if anyone had been given that chance.

“I considered Dr. Guerretin… I considered
Edmond
…” Halston’s eyes snapped defiantly. “A friend. And I came in here because… I suppose it seems silly…” She cast her eyes over the chair, the desk, the pictures on the wall. “I came in here because I wanted to say goodbye to Edmond.”

Almost believing Halston’s words, Sky closed her eyes. But when she opened them again her gaze landed on the desk drawer. She’d caught Halston with her manicured hand in the cookie jar two days in a row. Halston followed the trajectory of Sky’s gaze and held up both palms showing them to be empty. “I lost my earring.”

“You think your earring fell into a closed drawer, so you went looking for it there?”

“Yes. I mean no. The drawer was already open. That’s why I thought…”

“When I left this office an hour ago, all the drawers were closed, Halston. Everything was in its place.”

“Maybe someone opened the drawer after you left.”

“Maybe you’re lying.”

A single tear rolled down Halston’s cheek. A crocodile tear no doubt. “Did you say your goodbye?”

“Well, I-I…”

“If you haven’t, do it now. Then get out. And I don’t just mean for the time being. You need to put in a request for a new territory, because if you don’t, I’ll file a complaint against you with your company. I don’t ever want to see you in this clinic again.”

Halston’s face puffed up and turned red, and she stacked her arms across her chest. “And to think people make such a fuss over how kind you are.”

“Get the hell out.” Sky turned her back and waited for the sound of the door closing—make that slamming—behind Halston. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she banished all thoughts of the woman from her mind. She didn’t want to burn precious energy on measly little annoyances like
lying
,
conniving
,
snooping
pharmaceutical reps.

She marched over to the safe, fished the key out of the pocket of the lab coat hanging nearby, and opened the door. This was what she’d come in here for after all. Her shoulders relaxed. She had complete confidence the files would be among the papers locked inside Edmond’s safe.

But…they weren’t. That fat manila envelope locked inside contained nothing but a few receipts and an expired office credit card. Disappointment turned her stomach sour once again. She carried the big envelope, which was taking up far too much space in the safe, over to Edmond’s desk and placed it in the drawer. Then her thoughts turned back to Halston Reece.

What had that woman been looking for inside this drawer? The files? Something else?

Now you’re being paranoid
.

That’s what Garth had said to her earlier, and he might be right. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. Maybe Halston really did lose an earring. Maybe Sky had turned into an unkind, rabid lunatic. She dropped to her knees and ran her fingers over the carpet, suddenly as certain she would find the lost earring there as she had been she’d find the lost files in the safe.

Raking her nails into the yarn, she crawled under the desk and felt around. Carelessly, she raised her head and bumped it on the bottom side of the desktop. Craning her neck backwards, she looked up at the piece of wood that had recently made the acquaintance of her occipital bone, and that’s when she saw it: Not an earring…at least, not Halston’s lost earring.

Something else.

And whatever it was, it’d been wrapped in a gauze bandage and duct-taped to the underside of Edmond’s desk.

Chapter Seven

“That’s great news. Thank you so much for your help with Destinee.” Sky clicked off her cell, then walked into her kitchen to hang her car keys on the wall hook. An ICU nurse had just confirmed that a child Sky had admitted to the intensive care unit yesterday was now stable enough to transfer to the main pediatric floor. Sky blew out a breath and tiptoed up to stretch her back. After today’s disasters—Halston, the missing files, the strange item she’d found taped beneath Edmond’s desk—she was due for a piece of good news.

As she came back down on the balls of her feet, she stuck her hand in her pocket and located the strange little item Edmond had wrapped in gauze and concealed beneath his desk—a brass key. Maybe Danny would know how to find out more about it. Then she remembered her brother’s admonition:
Don’t talk to Benson again.

Cell in hand, Sky walked from her kitchen back to the living room, pulled Danny’s card from her tooled-leather wallet and dialed his number. Garth had put in his request, but she hadn’t promised him anything. She’d trusted Danny from the beginning, from before she had a reason to do so. She didn’t see a reason not to trust him now.

The phone was ringing. In anticipation she cleared her throat.

Danny picked up. “Hullo.”

The sound of his voice started her heart hammering with disturbing intensity. “I hope I’m not interrupting your dinner.”

“Nope.” The sound of dishes clattering in the background ceased.

Garth didn’t want her near Danny, but that was only because he thought Danny was planting fears. Truth was those fears had been with her since the day of the robbery. “Because you did say call anytime if I thought of something and well…I thought of something.”

“Hold up. I’m coming over.”

“Right now?” Somehow she’d thought she’d have a chance to mentally prepare herself before seeing Danny again. Despite her attempts to put any untoward thoughts of the seductive detective out of her mind, flashes of memory from the morning they’d first met continued to taunt her: Danny leaning in, arm stretched out possessively against the door. The sensual scent of his skin. The warmth of his breath humid against her ear. Deep in her solar plexus she’d ached for him then, and that’s where she ached for him now.

A troubling sensation for a woman in mourning, a woman for whom loyalty and fidelity braided together to form the very core of her identity. Or at least she’d thought that’s who she was up until now. But Danny’s undeniable impact on her called most of what she thought she knew about herself into question. He’d unearthed some primal part of herself that no one else, not even Edmond, had ever gotten near. “Don’t come. I mean…what about Katie? Tomorrow is soon enough. We can go somewhere and talk.”

“Katie’s staying at my mom’s. I’m on my way.”

“Really, that’s not necessary. It’s starting to snow, and I live all the way out in Doney Park.”

“I know where you live. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

She opened her mouth and closed it again. There was no winning an argument with a dial tone.