Page 64 of Paging Dr. Breakup
“We never made a deal.”
“Seemed like it from where I sat.” He spat and crossed his arms. “Look, if I’m not allowed access despite my reasonable request, then maybe it’s time to send a message.”
The woman moved to Randy’s left and slowly put her hand in her coat.
Cal’s heart thudded fast enough to feel winded.Run, his brain urged him. If they had guns, he was outmanned.
Best to keep the conversation going so he could think a way out of this situation. “What does that have to do with people getting hurt? I don’t follow.” He tensed, ready to bolt or fight, while he kept his eyes on the woman’s movements.
Randy put his hands in his pockets. “You will.”
A light footfall crunched behind him. As Cal turned toward the sound, a blinding pain exploded in his head, and everything went soundless and black.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Deirdre tapped herfingers on the wood veneer of the diner table and sighed. Six thirty and no sign of Calvin.
At first, her nervousness had come from preparing to talk with Calvin about the decision she had made about their relationship. It was time to reach for happiness. Time to push back against doubt. Time to face her fears and see if Calvin was on the same page.
If they weren’t on the same page?
At least she could feel proud to have put her heart on the line and taken a risk, which was more than she had been able to do the past four years.
However, to have the conversation required both parties’ attendance. She sipped water and tried not to meet the waitress’s sympathetic gaze. She ignored the murmurs of other customers. Deirdre checked her phone once more.
No answer to her latest text from five minutes ago. Or ten minutes ago.
Irritation and embarrassment prickled her skin. Her face heated up. Damn it, she had made an effort to look nice this evening. Even pulled out a wine-colored silk blouse and gray slacks combo she rarely wore. She checked the phone again. Nothing.
Was this a subtle hint? She could handle that.
Only, Calvin had always replied, even when he was frustrated with her. This was damned unusual.
Now she knew his usual patterns? He probably had a good reason to be gone. An emergency must have come up at the hospital.
Deirdre called and spoke with Amberlyn who was the nurse on shift right now in the ED. No sign of Calvin. No patients in the department.
Another quick call to Mav. No EMS calls in the past hour.
She bit her lip and glanced at the door for the thousandth time. Where was he? Maybe she was a worrywart, but something was wrong.
Standing, she tugged on her light jacket. The sun was still above the horizon. It was cool outside, but not frigid cold. After leaving a few dollars for the water and the waitress’s time, she left.
Ten minutes later, Deirdre pulled up in front of Bruce and Aggie’s place, heart rattling in time with the Subaru’s wheels on the dirt road. No lights shone in the windows of the house.
She stepped out.
Silence, except for a slight breeze through the spruce trees. No barking dog. Calvin’s car was parked off to the side, but there no sign of the Garretts’s vehicle.
She looked around. Where was Calvin?
Her heart hammered in her chest. Hundreds of scenarios flew by her: an accident, a bear, a heart attack.
“Calvin?” she called as she crept toward the house.
Nothing.
She tried the front door. Unlocked. Knocking loudly as she entered, she called out again and quickly checked all of the rooms. Empty. Everything seemed in order.
