Trail of Secrets Read online

  The doctor stepped into the room and stopped when he saw them. Tired lines etched his craggy face, and his wrinkled, green scrubs hung on his slender frame. He pulled the surgery cap from his head and sighed.

  Beside him, Seth heard a mewling groan in Callie’s throat, and he grasped her arm to steady her as the doctor walked toward them.

  TWO

  It’s bad news. I know it is.

  The thought wouldn’t quit running through Callie’s mind as the doctor came closer. She wished she could put her fingers in her ears and not hear what he was about to tell her, but that wasn’t practical. She felt Seth grab her arm, but she couldn’t turn her head to look at him.

  “Miss Lattimer?”

  “Yes, I’m Callie Lattimer.”

  The doctor stopped in front of her. The green surgery mask dangled from his hand. “I’m Dr. Singer. I’ve just finished operating on your uncle.”

  Callie hadn’t thought it possible, but her heart rate increased. “H-how is he?”

  Dr. Singer rubbed his hand across the top of his head. “He made it through surgery, but he’s not out of the woods yet. He’s fortunate that the EMTs arrived so quickly, especially since he almost quit breathing on us. But on the way here they were able to stem some of the blood flow, which is very important in wounds of this nature. Another favorable factor in his case is that the tract of the bullet doesn’t seem to be extensive. There is good brainstem function, which gives me hope that if he survives, his rehabilitation may not be too extensive.”

  Seth’s hand tightened on her arm and then released. He exhaled a deep breath, and she knew he was as relieved to hear the news as she. “Oh, Dr. Singer, this is good news.”

  He held up his hand in warning. “Don’t get me wrong. There are still a lot of things that can go wrong. We’re moving him to the Critical Care Unit to monitor him. There is some swelling of the brain, and I’ve removed a portion of the skull to relieve the pressure. We can take care of that later if all goes well. The next few weeks are critical.”

  Callie nodded. “I understand. When can I see him?”

  “Now, if you want to. He’s settled in the unit, and the nurses there will let you in for a few minutes. Then you should go home and get some rest. You’ve been through a lot tonight, and you’ve got some tough days ahead.”

  “I understand, Doctor. And thank you for what you’ve done.”

  He smiled. “I’m glad I could be of service. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Callie turned back to Seth as the doctor left the chapel. “Would you like to go with me to see Uncle Dan?”

  “I would, and then I’ll drive you to Dan’s house.”

  “You don’t have to do that. I can get a cab.”

  He frowned. “I don’t mind.”

  “No, really, Seth. You don’t have to do it.”

  He gritted his teeth and raked his hand through his hair. “I said it’s okay, Callie. After all, I promised Dan I’d take care of you, and I’m not going back on my word to him.”

  His words snaked out toward her, and she reeled as if he’d slapped her. Of course, he wasn’t doing it for her. It was because he’d promised her uncle. She nodded. “I understand. Thank you for offering to take me home.” They turned to walk to the door, but Callie stopped after taking a few steps. “Oh, I forgot. My luggage is still in Uncle Dan’s car. Is it possible to get it tonight?”

  “I’m sure we can. Captain Wilson is on duty. I’ll call him right now and see where they towed the car, then I’ll take you by there to get your bags before I drive you home. Go ahead and check on Dan, and I’ll meet you in the E.R. waiting room.”

  “Thanks, Seth. I appreciate it.”

  They stopped at the elevator, and Seth pushed the button. When the doors opened, he stepped back to let her enter. “I know Dan will be unconscious, but tell him I’ll see him in the morning.”

  “I will.”

  As Callie approached the Critical Care Unit, she noticed a room on the left side of the corridor. People, who she assumed to be family members of patients, lay in lounge chairs in the room. A young woman in a nurse’s uniform rose from behind a desk as she entered.

  “May I help you?”

  Callie nodded. “Dr. Singer told me my uncle has been brought to Critical Care and I could see him. His name is Dan Lattimer.”

  The young woman smiled. “Yes, he’s here. I’ll be glad to take you in.”

  She came around the desk and led Callie through the double doors at the end of the hall. Callie had never been in a unit like this before, and she didn’t know what to expect. She swallowed and stepped into the long room with a hallway that ran in front of glassed-in cubicles. A nurse’s station faced the small rooms. Monitoring machines hummed in the otherwise silent ICU, and shivers ran up Callie’s arm.

  A man in a dark suit sat in a chair outside one of the small cubicles, and he rose when she approached. “Miss Lattimer?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Deputy U.S. Marshal Chris White. I’m here to guard your uncle. Dr. Singer told me you’d be coming up.”

  Callie glanced past him into the small room behind the marshal. She saw someone in the bed, but with all the bandages she couldn’t tell if it was her uncle or not. She swallowed past her nausea and stared at the still form. “Is that my uncle?”

  “Yes,” the marshal said. “You can go in.”

  Callie hesitated a moment before she stepped inside and inched toward the bed. He was covered with a white sheet, but his arm lay motionless at his side. She placed her purse in a chair at the foot of his bed, eased up beside him and covered his hand with hers.

  One of the machines monitoring his vital signs beeped, and she glanced at it. She had no idea what all the numbers displayed stood for, but she did know as long as they were showing up it meant her uncle was alive. Her gaze drifted over the pale face almost covered with bandages and she brushed at the tears that flooded her eyes.

  “I’m here, Uncle Dan, and so is Seth,” she whispered. “The doctor says you came through the surgery fine. If I know you, you’ll be up and about before we know it. I wanted to see you before I went home to get some rest, but I’ll be back in the morning. You have a good night. I love you.”

  She wanted to stay with him, to watch over him as he had done so many times when she was a child and sick, but she knew it wouldn’t be allowed in this unit. She had to trust his well-being to people who’d been trained to care for critical patients. She fought back another rush of tears as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before she stepped outside and stopped next to the marshal. Before she could speak, an alarm sounded, and two nurses who’d been at their station when she entered earlier suddenly ran to a cubicle several doors down from her uncle’s.

  Her eyes grew wide. “What’s happening?”

  The marshal nodded in the direction of the commotion. “It looks like one of the other patients is having some problems.”

  “Then I’d better leave. Thank you for watching over my uncle, Marshal White. Maybe I’ll see you again.”

  “We’ll have a marshal on him until the shooter is caught. Don’t worry about him. Go on home and get some sleep.”

  She smiled, turned and walked out of the unit. As she headed toward the elevator, she thought of Seth waiting downstairs and was glad he said he’d drive her to collect her luggage from Uncle Dan’s car. Getting in his house shouldn’t be a problem because she still carried a key to the front door on her key ring. She punched the button for the elevator and froze in place.

  Her purse. It was still in the chair at the end of Uncle Dan’s bed. She must really be tired if she hadn’t realized she’d left without it.

  With a groan, she retraced her steps to the Critical Care Unit. She glanced in the waiting room as she passed by and came to a sudden
stop. Marshal White stood beside the vending machine, drinking a soft drink. He glanced her way and smiled. “What are you doing back?”

  She frowned. “I forgot my purse. Why are you out here?”

  He swallowed a sip of his drink. “One of the nurses needed to check Judge Lattimer’s vital signs and said it would be okay for me to get something to drink while he was busy in the room.”

  Callie frowned. “I didn’t see a male nurse while I was in there.”

  Marshal White shrugged. “I think he’d just come down to help them since that other patient was having problems.”

  Callie nodded. “Do you think it would be okay for me to step in and get my purse?”

  “I think so. Go ahead.”

  She walked to the entrance into the unit and only hesitated a moment before pulling the door open. Once inside, she looked toward the room where the nurses had been working earlier. Since there was no one at the desk, she assumed they were still busy with the patient, and she eased toward her uncle’s room.

  The curtains had been pulled around the cubicle, blocking sight into the room. Her first thought was that it was probably standard procedure when they were working with a patient, but she frowned when she noticed that the curtains hadn’t been pulled in the room where the nurses still worked. She tiptoed to her uncle’s space, pulled back the curtain and slipped into the room.

  A nurse was bent over his bed and didn’t seem to hear when she entered. She spotted her purse and was about to reach for it when she froze in place. Fear shot through her body like a bolt of lightning. The nurse wasn’t administering any kind of aid. Instead, he was holding a pillow over her uncle’s face.

  With a loud scream, she sprang on the man’s back and grabbed him around the neck. His body jerked in surprise, and he twisted to free himself. “What...?” he yelled as he reached up and grasped her hands.

  Callie screamed again and clawed at the surgical mask covering the man’s face. It slipped from his mouth, and Callie glimpsed a jagged scar down the right side of his face. The mask slipped farther, and she caught sight of a star tattoo on his neck.

  The attacker hunched his shoulders and heaved with enough force to knock Callie from his back. She sailed backward and hit the wall with a loud thud. The man whirled, pulled a gun from his waistband and aimed it at her. Before he could pull the trigger, Marshal White appeared in the doorway, his gun drawn.

  “Hold it right there!” he yelled.

  The attacker whirled and pulled the trigger. The sound echoed off the walls, and Marshal White slumped to the floor. The shooter lunged for the door, jumped over the marshal’s body and sprinted down the hallway. Callie rushed to the door and caught sight of him as he ran through the exit at the far end of the hallway. Realizing she wouldn’t be able to catch him, she turned back in time to see the two nurses who’d been cowered against the wall outside the other patient’s room straighten up.

  One of them pushed to her feet and glanced at her coworker. “I’ll check the marshal and the judge. You call security and get us some help.”

  The other one ran to the nurses’ station and picked up the phone while the one who’d spoken knelt next to Marshal White. She looked up at Callie. “What happened?”

  “There was a man in scrubs trying to suffocate my uncle. If I hadn’t come back for my purse, he’d be dead now.”

  The nurse nodded and called out to the other one. “The marshal needs to get to surgery right away. I’ll check Judge Lattimer.”

  Callie stood in the cubicle, unsure what to do as nurses and security guards poured into the unit. She glanced from her uncle to the marshal on the floor before she picked up her purse and sat down in the chair where it had lain.

  Around her it seemed as if some kind of ordered chaos erupted. Nurses bent over her uncle, checking his vitals. A gurney appeared beside the marshal, and within minutes he was whisked away to surgery. A security guard stood behind the nurses’ station, barking orders into a mike attached to the lapel of his shirt.

  She rubbed her hands over her eyes and shuddered. When was this nightmare going to end? One of the responders glanced up from checking her uncle and jerked her head toward the door. “You need to wait outside until we finish here.”

  Callie took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and shook her head. “I’m not moving from here until there’s someone else from the U.S. Marshal’s office at that door. If it wasn’t for me, my uncle would be dead right now.”

  The nurse started to respond, but then she just smiled. “I guess you’re right. I wouldn’t want to leave, either. Is there anyone we need to call for you?”

  “Detective Seth Dawtry is waiting for me in the E.R. I’d appreciate it if someone would ask him to come up here.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” the nurse said.

  Callie watched her walk to the nurses’ station before returning her attention to her uncle. The picture of a man with a pillow over her uncle’s face flashed in her mind, and she began to tremble. For the second time since her plane had touched down in Memphis, someone had tried to kill her uncle. After what Seth had told her about Uncle Dan’s cold case, she knew it had to be the reason behind the attempts.

  She rose, walked over to the bed and grasped her uncle’s hand. “Uncle Dan, what have you gotten yourself into?”

  * * *

  Seth ended the call to Captain Wilson and slipped his cell phone back in his pocket. It hadn’t taken long to find out that Dan’s SUV had been transported to an all-night tow service in midtown. Captain Wilson said Callie’s bags had been taken out of the car and were waiting in the business’s office to be picked up. Now if she would just come on, he might be able to get her settled at her uncle’s and get himself home in time for a little sleep before going back to work in the morning.

  He glanced at his watch and frowned. He hadn’t expected Callie to be gone so long, but he could understand her reluctance to leave her uncle. Perhaps he should have gone back upstairs with her. Dan might have taken a turn for the worse.

  He yawned and had just dropped down in a chair when a voice blared over the intercom system. “Security stat! Security stat!”

  Seth bolted to his feet and let his gaze sweep the room. He knew what that alert meant. Security was shutting down the hospital because of a threat somewhere. Could it have something to do with Dan?

  At that moment, a hospital security guard ran into the waiting room and stopped at the receptionist’s desk. “Have you seen a man in scrubs run through here in the past few minutes?” he demanded. Before she could answer, Seth pulled out his badge and ran over to the man.

  “What’s happened?”

  His eyes scanned the badge before he responded. “Someone tried to kill a patient in the Critical Care Unit.”

  A groan rumbled in Seth’s throat. He ran from the room and raced to the stairs. He didn’t have time to wait for an elevator. When he burst into the fourth-floor hallway, his knees grew weak at the activity outside the unit. Bleary-eyed people huddled in small groups in the waiting room. He’d been here enough on the job to know they were family members who spent long nights as close to injured loved ones as they could get. Nurses scurried around, and two security officers guarded the entrance to the Critical Care Unit.

  He ran toward the guards with his badge held high. “Detective Seth Dawtry, MPD. Has something happened to Judge Lattimer?”

  One of the men held up his hand, and Seth skidded to a stop next to him. “There’s been an attempt on his life. His niece interrupted it and called for help, but when the marshal who was guarding him intervened, he was shot and has been taken to surgery.”

  Seth’s heart constricted. He glanced into the waiting room in hopes of seeing Callie, but she wasn’t there. “Where’s Judge Lattimer’s niece?”

  The security guard inclined his head toward the uni
t. “She’s in with her uncle. Do you want to see her?”

  “Yes.”

  The man opened the door, and Seth rushed in. Callie, her purse clutched in a death grip, sat in a chair at the foot of her uncle’s bed. She turned a tear-stained face toward him as he entered. “What happened?”

  He listened in disbelief as Callie related the events of the past few minutes. When she finished, she shook her head and groaned. “They almost succeeded this time, Seth. Uncle Dan was just seconds away from death.”

  Her body trembled, and he reached for her hand. “Then we have to be thankful you left your purse. Have you heard anything from the marshals yet?”

  As if in answer to his question, the door to the unit swung open, and Rob Grant rushed into the room. He stopped next to Seth. “I was on my way here when I received a call that the judge had been attacked and our marshal had been shot.”

  Seth nodded. “They’ve taken your marshal to surgery, but Dan is okay.” He glanced at Callie. “This is Rob Grant. He’s the U.S. Marshal for our district. Rob, this is Callie Lattimer, Dan’s niece.”

  Rob reached for Callie’s hand. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this, Miss Lattimer. Hospital security tells me you saved your uncle’s life. You never should have been put in that position. Can you tell me more about what occurred?”

  She quickly related what had happened. “I’m sorry about Marshal White, though. I hope he’s going to be all right.”

  Rob exhaled a long breath. “I hope so, too. He’s new to our office, and he made an error in judgment. I’m so sorry it almost ended in tragedy. That won’t happen again. I’m going to stay until another marshal comes to take over, and you can be assured we won’t let your uncle out of our sight again.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate your help.”

  Rob glanced at Seth. “I’m sure Miss Lattimer is tired. There’s nothing else she can do here tonight. Why don’t you take her on home?”