MARKED (Hunter Awakened) (3 page)

I forced my eyes open even though my eyelids
were much heavier than they should have been. It took a moment for
everything to come into focus. First came the lights. Harsh,
institutional lighting. That didn't bode well. Then everything else
started to fall into place. Scratchy sheets. A sharp pain in the
back of my hand. That unmistakable sharp smell of antiseptic
overlaying the sickly sweet scent of illness. And the steady,
annoying beeping sound that confirmed what I'd already figured out.
I was in the hospital. Now I needed to know why I was here.

Before I could really process anything,
movement at the far side of the room caught my eye. I forced myself
to focus. It wasn't easy. Remember, cotton-candy brain. There were
two men in suits, grimly watching me. They were both middle-aged
and stood in nearly identical stances. Cops. Things just got a lot
more interesting.

“Miss Rhines.” Another voice drew my
attention. This one was female. A tall, dark-haired woman in
scrubs. A doctor. “How are you feeling?”

If I was being honest, I would've said
'loopy,' or 'cotton candy-brained,' but I didn't think either
option was a good idea. I wanted to sound lucid, not loony.
Especially not with two cops there and me not knowing what in the
world was going on. “Okay, I guess. I'm not too sure. What
happened?”

The doctor glanced at the cops, then looked
back at me. “You were brought in a few hours ago, unconscious from
a blow to the head. The detectives need to speak to you if you feel
up to it.”

Up? Definitely. Whatever painkillers they
were giving me definitely had me up and floating. For the first
time in my life, I wanted to giggle. I swallowed hard and tried not
to think cotton candy thoughts. “I'll do my best.” I figured it was
best not to start, to let the cops ask the questions and go from
there. I didn't know what this was about, so I didn't want to be
responsible for starting some sort of wild goose chase.

Hm. That's a funny saying. Why would anyone
want to chase wild geese? Seemed kind of silly to me, but then
again, my brain was a little silly at the moment.

“Miss Rhines.”

Right. Cops. Hospital. I needed to stop with
the bunny trails. Bunnies and geese... I shook my head, then
immediately regretted it. That didn't feel so good. Although, the
pain did clear my head a bit, so it wasn't all bad.

“Miss Rhines, I'm Detective Linden. This is
my partner, Detective Thomas.” The taller of the two men spoke
first. His expression was blank, but I could see a hint of
something in his blue eyes. I got the impression Detective Linden
didn't approve of me. “Can you tell us what happened last
night?”

Well that was disappointingly vague. I'd
hoped for something a little more specific. Something to give me
some idea of what I was trying to remember. Oh well, it seemed we'd
be starting at the beginning. That was a very good place to start,
or so I remembered from my childhood.

“I was on set, working. We've been doing
night shoots for a couple weeks now. After I finished all of my
scenes, I headed from my trailer to the parking lot. I heard some
noises.” I paused, frowning. Things were starting to get hazy. I
concentrated, trying to recall as much detail as I could. “There
was a shadow that kept moving weird. And I could feel someone
following me.” I fell silent, everything after that going
blank.

“And then...” Detective Thomas prompted.

“Nothing.” I shook my head. Something was
gnawing at the back of my mind. What was it? It felt like something
else I should be remembering.

“Did you see anyone suspicious when you left
the set, Miss Rhines? Anyone who didn't belong?” Detective Linden
asked. His eyes were shrewd and I didn't really like having them on
me, judging me either because I was a woman or because I was an
actress.

I tried to concentrate, to think back and
find what I'd missed before. The sound of footsteps, crunching on
the gravel as I crossed in front of the food truck. A swish of
fabric. Then, the panic as I kept walking. There was someone
following me. I could feel it.

I gasped as a new memory hit me. A hand in my
hair, tightening and pulling.

“Miss Rhines?” Detective Thomas had kinder
eyes, but I could still see all of the miles in them. “What is
it?”

“Someone grabbed my hair,” I said. My heart
started pounding again. “I hit something hard.” I reached up
towards my head, stopping short when it tugged at my IV. “Ow.” I
put my hand back down.

“Someone grabbed your hair,” Detective Thomas
repeated what I said. “Do you know who it was?”

“No, I don't think so.” I used my untethered
hand to gingerly touch the back of my head. It was sore, but not as
bad as I'd feared. “I never saw the person's face. I think it was a
guy because it felt like he was taller than me.”

“How do you figure that?” Detective Linden
asked.

“I do a lot of my own stunts.” I closed my
eyes, remembering. “It feels different if you're grabbed by someone
taller than you than it does if they're shorter than you.”

“Anything else you can tell us about your
attacker?” Detective Thomas asked the question this time.

I thought for a minute, trying to find every
possible detail in the blurry memory. “I think he threw me against
a car and then he was gone.” I opened my eyes.

“Gone?” Detective Linden's eyes narrowed.

That caught my attention. The detective's
reaction didn't seem like the interest that someone would have when
trying to gather information to capture a suspect. Something else
was going on here.

“What do you mean gone?” Detective Thomas
asked.

“Gone, as in, not there anymore.” I wasn't
sure how else to say it. “One minute, he was holding me up by my
hair and the next he wasn't. I ended up on the ground and that was
it.”

“You didn't see anyone else?” Linden took a
step towards me. “Maybe a boyfriend or bodyguard who could've seen
what happened?”

In the words of one of my favorite literary
characters, this was getting 'curiouser and curiouser.'

I watched Linden's face when I answered. “I
don't have a boyfriend and my bodyguard had gone home for the day.
He'd left me the car and took a taxi once I was on set.”

“We'll need his name and contact
information,” Thomas said.

“It's Paul Stevens.” I looked around the room
as I suddenly realized that I was in a hospital gown. My clothes
were nowhere to be found. “If someone can find my phone, his
number's in there.”

“Miss Rhines, did you fight back at all?”
Linden's voice was completely flat.

I stared at him for a moment. “I'm not really
sure why that's relevant,” I said. “But, no. I didn't really get
much of a chance. He grabbed me, I screamed and struggled, but then
he threw me against the car and I couldn't even stand on my
own.”

“So you'd consent to us examining your
clothes?” Thomas asked.

“My clothes?” I was really confused now. “Do
you think some trace evidence was transferred to me during the
struggle?” When they both gave me strange looks, I added, “I've
picked up a thing or two playing in crime shows over the
years.”

“We'll also want a doctor to examine your
hands and take scrapings under your nails,” Linden said.

A thought struck me. I had done a lot of
crime shows and I just realized that there was one question that
they hadn't asked me, a question that was always asked if the
attacker hadn't been caught. “Why haven't you asked me if I have
any idea of who could've attacked me? Or if there's anyone I can
think of who'd want to hurt me? All you asked was if I knew the
person.”

The detectives exchanged looks.

“You have the guy in custody, don't you?” I
asked. The pain medication was starting to wear off. It was good
because it was giving me more clarity, but I was starting to feel a
deep ache in my head and neither of my cheeks were feeling too
great either. “If you have him in custody, why are you asking me
all of these questions about having to test my clothes when you
could just test his?”

“Miss Rhines,” Thomas began.

“No,” I cut him off. “What the hell is going
on here?”

“What's going on?” Linden echoed, his eyes
flashing. “What's going on is that someone on your set called the
cops because they heard screaming coming from the parking lot, but
when we got there, it wasn't you who'd been screaming. You were out
cold. The man who you claim attacked you, however, didn't pass out
until they got him in the ambulance.”

Screaming. The detective's words triggered
something. “I remember screaming,” I said slowly. “The hand in my
hair was gone and then someone was screaming. It was the last thing
I heard before I passed out.” I looked at Thomas. He seemed more
likely to answer my question. “What happened?”

Thomas shifted his weight from one foot to
the other, as if uncomfortable, but he gave me a reply. “He's in
critical condition. Someone beat him nearly to death. Broken bones,
internal bleeding. It's a miracle he's alive.”

“No.” Linden shook his head. “It's like
someone knew exactly how much damage he could do without killing
him.” He scowled down at me. “Who do you know that could do
something like that?”

“Seriously?” I couldn't believe he was asking
me that.

Before I could answer—not that I had much of
one—the door to my room opened again and the doctor came back in.
She was followed by a familiar and welcome face.

“Harrison.”

“I'm Miss Rhines's manager,” he said, giving
the cops his best tough-guy face. Thirty plus years working in
Hollywood had given him a pretty good one. “And that's enough
questions for now. Teal needs to get her rest. If you have any more
questions, give me a call and I'll set up a time for you to meet.”
He handed his card to Detective Thomas.

Detective Linden looked like he was going to
protest, but a sharp look from the doctor stopped him. “We'll be in
touch, Miss Rhines.”

I didn't respond as the detectives left my
room.

The doctor spoke to Harrison. “You have five
minutes before you have to go. Miss Rhines does need to get her
rest.”

Harrison nodded as the doctor left the two of
us alone. He looked down at me with a serious expression on his
face. “No more arguments, Teal. Either you chose a new bodyguard,
or I do.”

I sighed, but I knew he was right. Besides, I
didn't really have the strength to argue. I was very tired. “Make a
short list. I'll pick someone.” If it'd appease Harrison, I'd hire
someone new. If I didn't like him, I could always fire him. Who
knew, maybe this bodyguard wouldn't be too bad. If nothing else it
would give me something to think about that wasn't the screaming I
now had echoing in my head.

Chapter Four

I was getting a headache and it had less to
do with my head's collision with a car the night before and more to
do with how I'd spent my last four hours. I'd been kept at the
hospital overnight for observation, so sleep wouldn't have really
been a possibility, even if they hadn't kept coming in every hour
or so to check on me. I'd gotten home at nine and managed to get a
few hours sleep before Harrison called to say that the agency would
be sending over their best guys at one.

He'd already talked with the studio about me
taking the night off so whoever I hired wouldn't need to start
until the next night. I hadn't been very happy about him doing
that, but I hadn't complained too much. I was completely wrung out.
Not only had I not gotten much sleep last night, but before I'd
checked out, I'd gotten another visit from my favorite detectives.
This time they'd had a name for me: Rufus Dietz.

I hadn't really been shocked at who it was,
but I had to admit that I had been a bit surprised that the cops
had bothered to ask me if I'd known him. Either they hadn't done
their homework or they'd wanted to know if I'd admit to the
connection before Rufus and myself. I didn't have any problem
sharing. I'd done nothing wrong. I'd told them everything,
including the incident at the club. Detective Thomas had seemed
amused by that, but Linden hadn't even cracked a smile.

Instead, he'd just kept after me asking
question after question until, finally, I'd snapped at him and
asked if he was more concerned about prosecuting the pedophile
who'd attacked me or the person who'd saved me from said attacker.
I'd seen Linden's eyes flashing at that, but Thomas had stepped in
and told his partner that it had been time to go. I'd been so
pissed after the pair had left that I'd buzzed for a nurse and told
her to get me the paperwork so I could go home whether the doctor
cleared me or not.

Now, I was sitting in my living room, trying
to ignore the shocked reactions each time a new applicant walked
into the room. Not only was my cheek still a little swollen from
Paul hitting me, but I had a lump on my left temple from where I'd
hit the car, and my other cheek was scraped from when I'd fallen in
the parking lot. The palms of my hands were also a little scraped
up, but they were at least as easy to hide as the bruises on the
back of my head from where my hair had been pulled.

It was five o'clock and I'd reached the last
of the potential candidates. While I'd given each of the six
previous ones a smile and told them I'd be in touch, I knew that
none of them were going to work, just as I knew that this new one
wasn't going to be the one either.

The first man had looked good on paper.
College graduate, three previous clients who'd provided glowing
recommendations. Then I'd seen the names of the people he'd guarded
before. All three were middle-aged former stars known for trying to
recapture their youth. The moment he'd looked at me, I'd known
exactly why those women had given him such high praise, and it
definitely had more to do with his physique than it did with his
ability to be a bodyguard.