his phone buzz yet again. A friend, a colleague, a lawyer from New York, no doubt. He silenced the phone.
“So no chart? And now it seems there’s no body, either?” the chief repeated. “No evidence that the man was here at all, except for the testimony from you and the crash team, and the bruising and wounds inflicted on Miss Miller after the alleged injection took place.”
“I did go to the morgue,” Blake continued. “And no...there’s no Nicolas Hancock. The autopsist said he’d never gotten the body. And now if you check in the hospital’s electronic files, you cannot even find the name Nicolas Hancock in the system.”
“But his name was there earlier?”
“Yes, I checked it this afternoon. Before Miss Miller woke up in the E.R. I couldn’t figure out how I was assigned to this patient I’d never seen. I thought I might see another doctor’s name in there.”
“And did you?”
“No.”
“Sorry, I’m late to the meeting.” A small-framed, middle-aged doctor hurried into the room. He moved with sharp gestures as he made his way around the room and shook hands with everyone. “I’m Dr. Dodd. I’m the head administrator of Fairview Hospital and I’m just flabbergasted at the events that have happened here today. Has anyone called the media?”
“No,” said Chief McClendon. “And that better not happen, either.”
“Don’t worry.” Dr. Dodd pressed his dark-framed glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I’ll see to it that it doesn’t. Hancock’s body is in autopsy. I’ll make sure the findings are not released to the public. Dr. Jamison, in the interim, your actions today will be under review. I understand both of you will be taking a few days off. I’ve already made arrangements for that. Now, if you don’t have anything else for me, I have another meeting to attend. Please let my custodial staff know when they can reopen the stairwell. Keeping it shut off is a safety violation, you know.”
“You have the body?” Blake asked.
“Of course. It’s in autopsy. But naturally, you won’t see the report until it gets to me and the authorities.”
“I guess I don’t understand why I’m under review.” Blake frowned. He really wished he’d been able to save that IV tubing and possibly prove that someone had caused Hancock’s death. “Hancock was dead when I arrived to his room. I’d never seen him before that. The nurses can confirm this. Whatever happened to him—” he looked at Abby “—it happened before I saw him.”
“No worries, Dr. Jamison.” Dr. Dodd smiled. “It’s just a formality. All part of the paperwork.”
“You have his chart?”
“Of course we have his chart.” Dodd looked annoyed.
“I’ll need a copy of that,” McClendon said. “Thank you.”
“Is that all?”
McClendon nodded. Dr. Dodd scrambled out of the room as quickly as he’d come in.
“I guess you didn’t look in the right places, Dr. Jamison,” said McClendon. “Then again, you are new here.”
Blake shook his head. He was new—he wasn’t stupid. He knew how to look up files and find a body in a morgue. He’d even spoken to the autopsist. He didn’t like the idea of this review. And he definitely didn’t like Dr. Dodd. Something was fishy about this whole mess, and in situations like this, the administration usually looked for a scapegoat to blame. Blake had a sinking feeling Dodd meant for that scapegoat to be him.
McClendon tapped more notes into his tablet, then looked to his younger colleague. “Langer, head to the morgue. See what you can find out. Get that file. Then question the crash team and every nurse who came in contact with Nicolas Hancock. Even talk to the person who added his data to the hospital patient files. Somebody has to know something. Do not mention the word murder or either the doctor’s or Abigail’s names. I don’t want any of this leaking out.”
“Yes, sir.” Langer, who was built like a pit bull and was probably just as feisty, spun away from the hospital conference room and headed to the elevators.
McClendon stowed his tablet inside his front jacket pocket. “This is a delicate situation. While we want to cover all of our bases, the person we are looking for could very well work in the hospital. This isn’t the kind of person we want to cause to panic. That could make the situation more dangerous.
“Now, we know that Miss Miller was assaulted and drugged. If your Hancock and her Hancock are one and the same, then it sounds like you both could be in a lot of danger.”
“We witnessed a murder, right?”
Abby’s blunt assessment of the day’s events hit Blake like a ton of bricks. Murder? Unbelievable—Abby had witnessed a murder. And to some extent so had he. Blake could hardly wrap his head around it all.
“Right,” McClendon agreed. “From what Dr. Dodd said, it sounds like the two of you will have the next few days off. My advice is for you both to keep your distance from the hospital until we see what kind of information we can pull together.”
He moved toward Blake and placed a card in his hand. “I’ll be in touch. Make sure Miss Miller gets safely home.” The chief tipped his head to Abigail, then left them alone in the conference room.
Blake stared after the chief for a long moment. What a day. He could barely take it all in. He was exhausted. And he could only imagine that Abby must be even more so, considering all the abuse her body had taken. Of course, if she’d just stayed in her bed in the E.R., some of the trouble could have been avoided.
He turned back to Miss Abigail Miller. Looked as if he was to give her a ride home. Frankly, he was glad to have the excuse to keep an eye on her a bit longer. She’d pushed herself too hard today and needed someone to make sure she went straight home and got some rest. Although as tough and stubborn as she was, she probably already had her own ideas about that.
He wouldn’t admit to himself that he found the woman’s ridiculous determination rather intriguing. Or that he found her pretty, too. Naturally pretty, not like many of the women he knew back in New York who spent a lot of money in order to look a certain way. Abby had smooth, creamy skin, huge blue eyes and a healthy glow, despite the lump on her head. And her energy—it was amazing. It drew everyone in—or at least, it drew him in.
Blake made a note to himself to be on his guard with Abby. Not only was she a patient, he had not come to Lancaster for romance. In fact, that was the last thing he needed in his life.
“I’m disappointed,” she said. “I’d hoped there would be more they could do. And it all sounded so crazy as I was retelling what happened, you know?”
“Crazy but real. As real as whoever put those nasty bruises on you. Now that the body is in the morgue, I’m sure the investigation will move right along.” Blake rubbed his hand through his hair. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. He wanted dinner and a long, hot shower. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Am I allowed out of here?” She stood, too, a hopeful and wide-eyed expression on her face.
Blake smiled. “I already signed the release.
