Shadow Dance (Buchanan-Renard #6)

Shadow Dance (Buchanan-Renard #6) Page 31

The lucky bastard.

By the end of the second day Noah could barely be civil to the other attendees. Sitting at a table with the doctor at the end of a long corridor, he waited for the next seminar to begin. Morganstern, Noah noticed, looked completely relaxed, but then Noah had learned that nothing ever got to him.

The venerable Dr. Peter Morganstern encouraged Nick and Noah to call him by his first name, but they would do so only when alone with him.

Noah whispered, “Hey, Pete, I want to ask you something. You think you’ll still get your bigger budget when I start shooting people? Because if I have to listen to one more long-winded lecture from another boring speaker, honest to God, I’m gonna shoot somebody…and then myself. And I just might take you with me for making me wear a suit and tie.”

“As a psychiatrist, I’ve been trained to pick up on subtle hints, and I should probably be alarmed—”

“Subtle hints?” Noah began to laugh.

Pete smiled. “However, since I feel the same way about the speakers, I won’t be too concerned, even though some of your comments during our last chat did make me wonder.”

Noah knew that “chat” was Morganstern’s code word for their private conferences. As a psychiatrist, Pete’s goal was to get inside Noah’s head and make sure he wasn’t about to go postal. The good doctor always found a way to accomplish it.

“Are you worried about me?” Noah asked him.

“Not in the least. How was your trip to Texas?”

Noah shrugged. “I kept her alive. That’s about it. I trust you heard what went on?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Agents Chaddick and Street took over the investigation.”

“Which is as it should be,” Pete said. “That’s their area.”

“I hated giving it up,” he admitted.

“What about Jordan?”

“What about her?” he asked sharply.

Pete raised an eyebrow. “I was wondering how she handled the stress.”

“Okay. She did okay.” There was a note of pride in his answer.

“Jordan has always had a special spot in my heart. My wife and I don’t ever play favorites, but if we did…” He added, “She has a wonderful heart, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, she does,” Noah said softly.

“Have you spoken to her since you’ve been back?”

“No.”

The abrupt response didn’t go unnoticed. Pete didn’t say a word. He picked up a pencil and twirled it between his fingers while he waited for his subordinate agent to talk to him. It didn’t take long.

“What do you want from me?” Noah demanded.

And still Pete didn’t speak. Frustrated, Noah asked, “What are you fishing for?”

“I’ve noticed you’ve been on edge since you’ve been back,” Pete said. “I’m curious to know why.”

“I thought I made that perfectly clear. I hate seminars.”

“But that isn’t the reason for your anxiety, is it?”

“Ah hell, Pete. Anxiety? Are you kidding me?”

Pete smiled again. “When you’re ready to discuss whatever is going on with you, Noah, let’s talk.”

He was letting him off the hook. Noah could have gotten up and walked away, but he didn’t. He leaned back in the cushioned chair and, blankly staring as Pete sketched on his notepad, thought about how edgy he’d been lately.

“What are you drawing?” Noah asked after a minute.

Pete’s mind was somewhere else too. He looked at his sketch for a few seconds. “I’m not sure. It might be a calendar.” He nodded. “My subconscious must be trying to help me remember a date.”

“You guys believe those chicken scratches mean something, don’t you?”

“I don’t,” he said. “But a persistent, recurring sketch or doodle…yes, I’d look at that closely.” He checked his watch. “I don’t believe we need to attend this last meeting.”

Noah felt as though he’d just been given a last-minute reprieve from the governor. He walked with Pete to the parking garage.

When they reached the third level, Pete headed in one direction and Noah in the other.

Pete had his keys in his hand and was opening his car door when he heard Noah call to him.

Pete looked over the top of the car. “Yes?”

“What made you decide to leave me in Serenity and bring Nick back? Was there a meeting or a review Nick needed to attend? Or was it something else?”

“What do you think?” Pete grinned as he slid into the driver’s seat and pulled the car door closed.

Noah stood in the corner of the garage and watched Pete drive away. The truth almost knocked him off his feet. He’d been played…and he was supposed to be a highly trained, astute, pickup-on-all-the-signals agent. So much for his razor-sharp skills.

“Son of a bitch,” he whispered.

Pete had blindsided him. Noah had never considered the possibility that the psychiatrist might have had an ulterior motive. Unbelievable. When he’d been apprised of Jordan’s situation in Serenity, Pete had decided then and there to be clever. He’d leave Noah and bring Nick home.

“Son of a bitch,” Noah whispered again. Pete had been matchmaking.

Noah called Nick from the car. When his partner answered, Noah could hear Nick’s two-year-old, Samantha, laughing in the background.

“I’m heading over to the hospital to hit on your wife,” he told Nick.

“Pick me up on your way,” Nick said. “Sam, put that down.” Noah heard a crash, then Nick’s sigh. “I swear to God, I don’t know how Laurant does it. Hostage negotiations are a piece of cake compared to bargaining with a two-year-old.”

Traffic was a bear, but that was the norm for Boston. Noah thought about Serenity. No traffic there. Just murder and mayhem.

Nick waited on his front porch holding pretty little Sam. A stunning brunette took the baby when Noah pulled into the drive.

“Is that a new babysitter?” Noah asked. “I haven’t seen her before.”

“She’s our backup sitter,” Nick explained.

“Sam like her?”

“Yeah, she does.” Nick waited a minute and then, puzzled, asked, “Aren’t you going to ask if she’s married? She’s not. Want her phone number?”

Noah shook his head. “Not my type.”

Nick, though happily married and faithful to the love of his life, had certainly noticed how attractive the babysitter was. “How can she not be your type?”

“She just isn’t,” Noah said. “Nick, you look like you haven’t gotten any sleep in a month. Is Sam keeping you up?”

“No, I read her a story and she’s out for the night. I’m the one having the trouble. It’s odd. When I’m out of town on a case, I sleep just fine, but when I’m home, I need Laurant to be next to me. But she isn’t now, and I’m not sleeping.”

Noah understood. He hadn’t been sleeping much either since he’d been home.

“Got any suggestions?” Nick asked.

“Yeah. Stop acting like a girl.”

Nothing Noah said ever bothered Nick, probably because their senses of humor and personalities were so much alike.

“How was the conference?” Nick asked with a straight face. He knew how much Noah detested anything that remotely hinted of bureaucracy. “I was really sorry I had to miss it.”

“Very funny.”

Nick had a good laugh. Then he asked, “How come you haven’t commented on the verdict in my father’s court case?”

“What? The verdict’s in?”

“It’s been all over the news channels. Guilty on all counts.”

“I’ve been locked up in meetings and didn’t hear. Your father must be relieved. How long was the deliberation?”

“Just a couple of hours. That’s not the only good news. One of the detectives called to tell me they were looking at the guy’s cousin for the break-in on Nathan’s Bay.”

“How sure are they?”

“Sure enough to pick him up.”

They were still talking about the case when Nick parked the car in the underground garage at the hospital.

“Your father will be happy to get rid of those bodyguards. I know they were driving him crazy by following him everywhere he went,” Noah said.

“I’ll bet he’s already dismissed them.”

Noah removed his suit jacket and tie and left them in the car. He rolled up his sleeves as he walked.

A tall, leggy blonde strolled toward them. She slowed down, as if waiting for a reaction, smiled at Noah, glanced at the gun at his side, and kept going.

Nick noticed that Noah hadn’t noticed. He didn’t even break his stride.

“Is something wrong with you?” Nick asked.

“I saw her.” Noah shrugged. “Again, she’s not my type.”

The elevator was directly across from the emergency room station. Nick pushed the button.

Noah’s phone rang. He saw the caller ID. “That’s Chaddick,” he said as he flipped the phone open. A nurse and a security guard frowned at him. The nurse pointed to the wall and shook her head. The sign on the tile next to the elevator buttons said no cell phones were allowed. There was also an outline of a phone with a red X through it.

“Yes?” Noah said into his phone.

The federal agent got right to the point. “Noah? Chaddick here. J. D. Dickey’s death has been ruled a homicide.”

Noah cursed loudly. The security guard started toward him, so he pulled out his FBI badge and held it up as he listened to Chaddick’s explanation. The guard backed away.

Noah snapped the phone shut as the elevator doors opened. His mind was racing. There were dozens of suspects on J. D.’s blackmail list, and Serenity was a thousand miles away. Still, Noah had learned to pay attention to his instincts, and he suddenly felt very uneasy.

With a killer on the loose, where was Jordan?

Chapter Thirty-seven

JORDAN BROKE DOWN AND PURCHASED ANOTHER CELL PHONE identical to the one J. D. Dickey had smashed before he’d decked her. She could have gotten a newer model, she supposed, but she already had an extra battery in a charger sitting on her desk and a cord for her car that was specifically designed for her old phone.

She told herself she wasn’t slipping back into her old tech ways. She was just being smart. A cell phone was a safety tool, especially when Jordan was jogging by herself or driving on the highway. If anything happened, help was just a phone call away—providing, of course, she could get a signal.

She kept the same phone number, and when she returned home after making her purchase, she immediately plugged the unit into her computer to program it. By the time she’d changed her clothes, brushed her hair, and applied a little makeup, the new phone was ready to go.

Visiting hours at the hospital would be over in an hour and a half. To avoid the rush-hour traffic on her way there, Jordan took as many side streets as possible. Unfortunately, a lot of other drivers did the same thing.

She pulled her car into a spot in an underground parking garage adjacent to the emergency room entrance. It was well lit, and there were people coming and going. The ambulance bay was next to the automatic doors.

Just outside the entrance, eating a chocolate bar, a nurse sat on a bench. Chocolate reminded Jordan of Jaffee’s chocolate cake. She still hadn’t called him. How long had he been waiting to hear from her? She pulled out her phone and saw that she had a signal. She could call him now. But maybe later was better. If Jaffee had a lot of computer questions for her she’d be on the phone for a good, long while, and visiting hours would soon be over. Jordan couldn’t miss visiting Laurant. No matter what, she vowed, as soon as she came out of the hospital, she’d call Jaffee.

Entering Laurant’s private room on the fifth floor, Jordan was surprised to find herself walking into a small crowd. Her father had just arrived and the judge was kissing his daughter-in-law Laurant on the cheek. Nick was there, too, sprawled in a chair half-asleep.

And there was Noah, leaning against the window ledge, waiting to talk to Judge Buchanan, who had just turned in his direction. Noah’s arms were crossed and he looked perfectly relaxed. Jordan had wondered how she would feel when she saw him again, and it was exactly as she had thought: A stabbing pain shot through her heart.

So relieved to see her, Noah got angry. Where the hell had she been? Nick had told Noah that Jordan was on her way to the hospital, but she’d sure taken her own sweet time getting there. Did she come by way of New Hampshire?

The wait had been agonizing. He’d called her home phone and only reached her answering machine. If she had a damned cell phone, he could have been able to get hold of her while she was en route and would have known she was safe. It was the not knowing that had been tearing Noah up inside.

Jordan hugged her father and squeezed Laurant’s hand. Since Nick looked like he was asleep, she didn’t bother with him. Not sure of what she was going to say to Noah, Jordan finally looked over at him and managed a smile.

“Hi.” Not so very imaginative, but it was all she could come up with. It’s nice to see you again had been her second choice. Thank God she hadn’t said that.

He straightened. “We need to talk.”

His greeting wasn’t so hot either. He sounded like a drill sergeant. Grabbing her hand, Noah headed for the door.

“Be right back,” she called over her shoulder.

He pulled her halfway down the hall before stopping and facing her.

“Listen…”

“Yes?” Jordan kept her voice as low as his.

“Are you okay?”

She didn’t know how to answer. The truth was out of the question. She wondered how he would react if she told him, no, she wasn’t okay, she was miserable—thanks to him.

“Oh, you know…” she stalled.

He frowned, waited.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” Jordan asked.

“I talked to Chaddick.”

Suddenly Jordan was past her awkwardness with Noah. “I did too. Can you believe it? Were you as stunned as I was?”

“Well, I was surprised,” he said.

“The gall,” Jordan huffed.

“The what?”

“The sheer gall of that Haden woman. On eBay no less! How could she possibly think she wouldn’t be caught?”

“Jordan, what are you talking about?”