Submerged

The detective’s lips thinned. “You can’t interfere.”

“He won’t,” Rebecca said. “Right, Marcus? You’re going to stay at a safe distance and let them do their jobs.”

“Fine.”

“You can sit in the room with the recording crew,” Detective Zur said. “You’ll be able to see and hear everything in this room.”

“There. Everything’s settled.” Rebecca attempted a smile.

“It will be,” Marcus said. “Once we catch this bastard.”

She glanced at the detective. “Can I have a word with Marcus alone, please?”

“Of course. No more than five minutes. Marcus, when you’re done, meet me in the exam room across from the nurses’ station?”

“Okay.”

When she was alone with Marcus, her hands began to shake and her lips trembled in fear. “I’m not sure if I can do this.”

“You can.”

“But some guy might come in here and try to kill me.”

“Might. We don’t even know for sure that anyone will show. And even if he does, he won’t get far. Zur will catch him.” He stroked her hand, his fingers warm against her skin. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise. And you trusted me once before, remember?”

“Kind of hard to forget.”

“June sixteenth, 2013,” he said.

“Pardon?”

“Today’s date. It’s a ‘one’ day. New beginnings, remember?”

She smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

“Be brave. You’re a strong woman, Rebecca Kingston. And when this all over, you and I will go out and celebrate.”

She gaped at him in surprise. “Are you asking me out? On a date?”

“Time’s up! I have to go now.”

He was gone before she could argue.

A second later, she realized he hadn’t answered her question.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Hinton, AB – Sunday, June 16, 2013 – 2:19 PM

Geraldo and Simms, two plainclothes officers, sat at a makeshift desk—the exam table—monitoring a live computer feed and scarcely acknowledging Marcus’s presence as he wandered around the room. Every now and then they’d send a status report to Zur.

“Jesus,” he muttered. “How long’s this going to take?”

He didn’t expect an answer. And he didn’t get one.

The entire floor had been cleared of nonessential personnel. Patients had been covertly diverted to other areas of the floor, while hospital security restricted all visitors. Yet there had been no action near Rebecca’s room.

Come on, asshole. Take the bait!

Marcus had spent the past few hours watching the video from Rebecca’s room. Only the nurse, who had been cleared by the police, and John Zur had entered the room. The latter made an imposing figure dressed in doctor’s gear, a stethoscope draped around his neck and a bogus ID tag clipped to his jacket pocket.

Marcus hovered over one of the techs and listened in.

“Need anything, Mrs. Kingston?” the nurse asked, flicking a look over her shoulder and staring into the camera. She gave the thumbs-up.

“Maybe a glass of water,” Rebecca said.

The nurse disappeared into the washroom and returned a few seconds later.

After Rebecca had taken a few sips, the nurse said, “I have to empty the glass. An unconscious patient wouldn’t be drinking water.”

“I understand.”

Marcus admired Rebecca’s courage. She’d been through so much. She’d survived abuse at the hands of her husband and a murder attempt that had almost been fatal. And now she was luring in a killer.

His cell phone rang. “Hey, John. Any word?”

“Nothing yet. Security is tight, but there haven’t been any reports of anyone suspicious entering the hospital. ’Course it would help if we knew who the hell we were looking for.”

“I keep going over everything Rebecca told me. No one else seems to benefit from her death except—”

“Wesley Kingston. I know. We showed his picture around the hotel where Delaney was staying. No one recognizes him. We did get one interesting tidbit from Delaney though.”

“What’s that?”

“When we checked his bank records, we found a large cash deposit.”

“How large?”

“Twenty-five thousand.”

“Shit. There’s no way Kingston had that kind of money lying around.”

“Nope. And he didn’t win it gambling. We called in a few favors, asked the casino some questions—under threat of temporary shutdown.”

“Let me guess. Kingston didn’t borrow twenty-five thousand either.”

“By all accounts, Wesley Kingston was barely scraping by. Motive? Definitely. But he didn’t hire Delaney.”

“Then who the hell did?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Marcus. We’re still digging around, checking his debts. Seems he owes a few thousand, but unless the casinos are lying, that’s it.”

“Casinos aren’t known for their honesty.”

“Yeah, so we’re back to the old theory. That someone’s trying to send Kingston a message. We’re going to bring him back in for questioning if nothing pans out here tonight.”

The feed on the monitor wavered.

“What’s going on?” Marcus asked Geraldo.

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you see the camera move?”

“Probably a power surge. Cameras are both working. Nothing to worry about, sir.”

Marcus watched the screen. The more he stared, the more he was certain there was someone in the room with Rebecca. Someone standing near her bed.