The hair rose on the back of his neck.
“I heard the patient was catatonic. Any change?” he asked.
“No, I’m afraid not,” the nurse said and started toward him on her way out of the room.
“Please don’t let me stop you from what you were doing.”
“I’m finished.” She had to walk right past him to get out the door. As she approached, he looked at her more closely. If he was right and had heard Natalie speak, then the nurse had lied about there being no change. But why would she lie?
Looking past her, he noticed a pillow on the floor where she’d been standing. It had apparently fallen off the bed. It seemed strange that she hadn’t taken the time to pick it up and put it back on the patient’s bed. But that wasn’t half as odd as her apparent need to get out of this room as quickly as possible.
His gaze shot to her uniform. No name tag.
Even as he raised his arm to stop her, he still couldn’t be sure of what he’d thought he’d seen—and heard. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong here. That he’d walked into something... “Hold up just a minute.”
The moment he reached for the woman, she jerked back her arm and spun to face him. Before he could react, she jammed her forearm into his throat. As he gasped for air, she kicked him in the groin.
Even as the pain doubled him over, he grabbed for her, but she slipped through his fingers. He tried to call to the deputy stationed outside the door, but he had no breath, no air, no voice. All he could do for a few moments was watch her push out of the hospital room door.
Limping to the door after her, he found the deputy out in the hall talking to the doctor. The hallway was empty. He tried to speak but nothing came out as he bent over, hands on his knees, and sucked in painful breaths.
The woman in the nurse’s uniform was long gone.
Chapter Three
The marshal sat back in his chair and listened as his son told him again what had happened at the hospital. Brick had called it in on his way to his psychiatrist’s office. Hud had been glad to see that his son hadn’t used what happened to him at the hospital as an excuse to get out of his doctor’s appointment.
Hud had been having trouble believing this story. The doctor had insisted that Natalie Berkshire was still catatonic and questioned if the deputy had actually heard her speak. But the description of the nurse Brick had seen didn’t match that of any woman who worked at the hospital. Five-foot-five, blonde, big blue eyes, a knockout.
“So you didn’t actually witness her doing anything to the patient,” Hud said now. He could see how upset his son was. Finding the woman last night had clearly shaken him and now this. As Brick had said, he felt responsible for her, something he admired in his son. But Brick couldn’t take on this kind of responsibility every time he helped someone as a deputy marshal. He wondered again if this job was right for him. Or if his son was ready for any of this after what had happened to him.
“No, I didn’t actually see her threaten the patient, but there was a pillow on the floor and she was acting...suspicious. Also, I swear, I heard the patient say something to her. If you’d seen the nurse’s reaction to whatever Natalie was saying...”
“But you didn’t hear the actual words?” Hud asked.
Brick shook his head. “She was whispering and the nurse was leaning over her. My attention was on the nurse and her expression. I’m telling you, the nurse was looking down at the patient as if she wanted to kill her. But whatever Natalie was saying appeared to have...shocked her.”
“You got all of this in an instant when you walked into the room?”
His son shrugged. “It was just a feeling I got when I walked in that something was wrong. So maybe I was paying more attention. I know what I saw and what I heard. If I hadn’t gone in when I did, who knows what the woman would have done.”
Hud groaned inwardly. If they arrested every person who acted suspicious there would be no room in the jails for the true criminals. He said as much to his son.
“She was pretending to be a nurse. Not to mention the fact that she attacked me, an officer of the law. Isn’t that enough?”
“You said you grabbed her arm as she was starting to leave. Did you announce yourself as a deputy marshal?”
Brick sighed. “No, but I was wearing my uniform, and if you’d seen the way she was looking down at the patient...”
Hud admitted it sounded more than a little suspicious. “Okay, the hospital staff will be watching for her should she try to get into the woman’s hospital room again. She could just be a reporter looking for a story. Brick?” He could see how rattled his son was. All the talk in the marshal’s department would be about this case. “I want you to take the rest of the week off. I’ll talk to your doctor at the beginning of next week. If he gives the all clear...”
His son chuckled and shook his head. “By then, Natalie Berkshire will either be arrested and hauled off for questioning, or gone.”
“It’s for the best.”
BRICK SWORE UNDER his breath. “I know what I saw and what I heard. That woman posing as a nurse was in that room to kill Natalie. But whatever Natalie said to her made her hesitate. Then I walked in... What if this nurse is the one who’s been holding Natalie captive?”
“I’ll find out the truth,” his father said. “I wasn’t just suggesting that you take the rest of the week off. It’s an order. Go camping. You’re too involved in this case. Take
