Eye of the Storm

She stopped and turned so quickly he almost stumbled over her. “What job?”

“I have to be able to trust the people I work with. I may not be a cop any longer, but I’m still responsible for the safety of a lot of people who don’t have anyplace else to go. Unlike you, I can’t just quit my job and leave.”

Her grimace told him his words had plunged deeply enough to draw blood. Maybe she’d take the bait.

“You’re right.” Her gold-bronze eyes flashed a few sparks of lightning. “I’m nothing like you. Get used to it. I failed, okay?”

He held up a finger. “First of all, I checked Alec Thompson because it’s helpful for me to know that there’s been a layoff at the casket factory owned by the Thompson family, thus the need for new jobs in the area. Knowing that his father apparently abandoned the family and disappeared from the face of the earth when Alec was in high school tells me more about Alec and the Thompson businesses.”

“Why do you need to know that?”

“I need to know who handles the businesses and has the goodwill of the people.” Gerard held up a second finger. “It’s also nice to get to know the kind of people I might be working with, even hiring, if it comes to that, and knowing the kind of employees hired by the company will help with that.” Three fingers. “Medical care and supportive services, and room for expansion, are vital. I have my work cut out for me if this is where I plan to set up shop.”

Some of the fire left her eyes. Megan was always one to see reason, and though she could get cranky and had a sharp tongue when her patients were in danger, she wasn’t one to hold a grudge over the small things. “The casket factory did have a big layoff,” she mused. “I heard it around town.”

“But not from Alec? He didn’t tell you how hard the economy was hitting his pocketbook?” Gerard found it difficult to keep a thread of satisfaction from his voice. Jealousy didn’t become him. Not that he cared.

Alec Thompson had a clean record, had served four years total in the navy and was legally married, but since his wife had lived in California for at least the past year, he was likely living alone. Amazing how public a person’s life became online these days. The man was a handsome devil too, according to Gerard’s sister. Tess had discerning tastes, but the term devil had appealed more to Gerard.

“I read that he also runs the grocery in town,” Gerard said.

“His family owns it but he doesn’t manage it,” Megan said. “So I guess you can’t believe everything you find online, can you?” she taunted. “He took over the family businesses his parents established twenty-five years ago.” Megan opened her car door then turned to look up at Gerard. “His mother is an astute businesswoman, and the clinic was her idea. They’re nice people, Gerard.”

“I have no doubt of that.”

“They aren’t overworking me and I’m being well-reimbursed. Nora’s letting me stay at the cottage for free. Thanks to their generosity, I may be able to pay off my school loans, after all. You’ll like her. You’ll also like Alec, whether you want to or not.”

Tess might. Gerard definitely did not. “I will meet him, I’m sure.”

Megan slid behind the steering wheel of her Neo, but when she reached to close the door, he caught it.

“You’re out here in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “You wanted to be as far from the city as you could get—even as far from Jolly Mill as you could get.”

“I like the country. I always have.” She started the car. The engine still had that slight rattle Gerard had intended to fix for her.

He didn’t release the door. “What you’re doing isn’t healthy, Megan.”

“What I’m doing is helping a friend.” She gave him a pointed look then jerked her head toward the hand that held the door. “Do you mind?”

He didn’t move. “One of the reasons I kept trying to reach you was because tuberculosis has been making a recurrence on the street, and you worked closely with many patients.”

“Yet you didn’t tell Kirstie about that, or call my new boss?”

“I didn’t want another person to do my job for me.”

“I’m not your job.”

The tip of Gerard’s tongue scrubbed at his teeth. “It’s my job to see to the welfare of my employees, and you were my employee when you worked with the patients at the clinic.”

“I get my yearly TB test, I don’t have night sweats, unexplained weight loss or a dry cough—”

“You do need more time off.”

“Make up your mind. A few minutes ago you wanted me to be Kirstie’s physician.”

“One patient. That’s nothing like going back to work at a busy clinic.”

Megan put her hands on the steering wheel. “This isn’t helping.”

“I’m sorry.”

Megan’s cell phone rang, and she stiffened. Gerard could tell she hadn’t calmed down as well as she wanted to pretend she had. She took a breath and reached for the cell.

Gerard watched her expression as she took the call. Instant relief.

“They found Kirstie?” he asked.

Megan irritably motioned for him to shut up. He knew that gesture. She’d used it enough times at the mission.

“We’ll have to check to see if she inhaled any creek water,” Megan said. “Just get her to the clinic and I’ll meet you there.” She flipped the cell shut and reached for the door. “I have to go to Kirstie.”

“I’ll follow you there.”

“Gerard, they’ve found her, and you don’t need to be at the clinic.”

“It’s time I started meeting some of the people, checking out the town. You’re a big girl, you can handle a few rumors, can’t you?”

With a sigh, Megan started the engine and gunned it. “Fine, if you can keep up, but I warn you, I drive the way I always have.”

Gerard chuckled as he watched her burn a doughnut in the leaves and grass and miss his car by half a foot. Had it not occurred to her that he’d already studied the layout of Jolly Mill? He would take his time and enjoy the drive now that he knew Kirstie had been found.

FOUR

Kirstie Marshal no longer held out hope of regaining her dignity anytime soon, especially not in Jolly Mill. She had mud up her nose, silt between her teeth and fish eggs in her hair. When she caught a reflection of herself in the glass entryway to the clinic, a leaf appeared to be sticking out of her right ear—or was that part of her hair? If Lynley’s hands weren’t already trembling so badly she’d barely been able to steer the car to the clinic, Kirstie would have goosed her.

“I can’t believe you’d allow me to appear in public like this,” she muttered, fighting Lynley’s attempts to hold on to her arm from the car to the clinic.

“I want to make sure you’re okay.”

Kirstie pulled away long enough to tug the leaf from her hair. “I’m fine except for the public humiliation.”

“And bloody feet.” Lynley’s serious coal-brown eyes, lustrous from recent tears, narrowed slightly. She blinked as if seeing her mother’s face for the first time. Her hair, dark as twilight, the way Kirstie’s once was, stood out in odd directions, proving she’d plunged from bedclothes to search clothes without a glance in the mirror. No toothbrush had touched those pretty white teeth this morning, that was for sure.

“How did you discover I was gone?” Kirstie didn’t want her kid doing bed checks at thirty-minute intervals.

“Your bedroom door was open and the light was still on. The light woke me up.”

“You fell asleep studying again?”