Page 35 of Deathtoll
He called Kate from his pickup to see when she might have a minute to talk. He wanted to tell her about the contusion on Betty’s chest. When he bounced to voicemail, he hung up. She was probably with a patient.
Murph was at the center in minutes and swung by her office, but her door was closed. He didn’t knock, didn’t want to interrupt her session.
He was walking away, halfway down the hall before he heard a man shouting in there.
He backtracked. “Kate?” He tried the door. Locked. “Everything okay?”
“Busy, Murphy! I’ll come and find you when I’m done.”
Her voice was carefully calm, and yet… He knew her, her moods and tones. She wasn’t simply busy. Nor would she lock herself into her office with a patient. “Okay. I got some paperwork, but afterwards, maybe we could grab some coffee in the cafeteria?”
“Sure, Murphy. Looking forward to it.”
Liar.He hadn’t been able to grab a cup of coffee with her in weeks. She’d gotten good at pretending that she was always busy. She’d even brought in her own coffee machine so she could more easily avoid him. And on top of all that, shenevercalled him Murphy. Nobody but strangers did. To all his friends, he’d always been Murph.
He could almost taste the danger. His insides went cold, then colder. His basic instincts pushed him to break down that door to see what was wrong inside. His military and police training kept him calm enough to cobble together an actual strategy instead.
“See you later,” he said. Then he was hurrying down the hallway, calling Bing.
The captain picked up with “I’m not going to involve you any further. You’re not getting updates. You’re not a police officer. You’re not working this case. Dammit, Murph, do I have to—”
“Kate is in trouble. She’s in her office with the door locked. She doesn’t sound right. There’s someone in there with her. She had a violent incident the day before yesterday with a patient.”
“On my way.” To his credit, Bing didn’t waste time on a million questions. “You find out anything else, you call me with an update.”
“I will.” Murph stashed his phone, then ran out to his pickup for the Glock G19 he kept locked in the glove compartment. Weapon securely stashed in the back of his waistband, covered with his shirt, he dashed around the building, until he stood under Kate’s treatment room window—a damn floor above him. He didn’t even pause. He lunged for the rainspout and climbed, using the window ledges for leverage. This was where his daily visits to the gym came in handy.
When he could reach the windowsill, he grabbed on and pulled himself up until he could peer in through the glass.
Nobody in the treatment room. The door to Kate’s office stood half open, angled toward Murph. He couldn’t see past it, couldn’t see her.
He drew a long, even breath to slow the rush of blood in his ears, and listened. He could hear a low murmur. She was talking.
Then a man responded to her, much louder than she’d been, so Murph could make out the words. “I’ll calm down when you help me!”
Murph snapped into combat mode, not so much a conscious decision as training. All emotion shut off. Focus intensified. Every thought in his head locked on her. They would remain locked until she was safe.
He dropped to hanging from one hand, yanked his key ring from his pocket, and used the thinnest key to wedge under the window, wiggling it as quietly as possible, leveraging his strength. When his muscles started to burn, he switched hands.
Come on, come on, come on.The window frame quietly popped, just as the guy inside shouted at Kate about how tired he was of everyone’s excuses. Murph eased the window up.
He needed about a foot of clearance.Slow and silent. A little more.And then he had enough space at last.
He squeezed through and didn’t have to thump onto the floor. He was able to lower himself right onto the massage table—a stroke of sheer luck.
“What if I’m never going to get better?” the man was shouting.
“I can tell you for a fact that’s not true, Ian. Every patient we’ve ever had improved during the course of their treatment.”
Ian?
Two Ians resided at Hope Hill at the moment. This guy didn’t sound like either one of them.
“Listen.” Kate remained commendably calm. “If you want to stay here, we have rules. No shouting matches. People come here to feel safe. I’m sure you understand that.”
“Fuck the rules. You give me some pills.”
“I’m a massage therapist. I don’t prescribe meds. Why don’t we go and see Dr. Maria Gulick?”
