Dangerous Waters (12 page)

“Anita. Dr. Fielding. I need your help.” He jumped out of the cab and went around and opened Holly’s door. Her eyes were open but she looked green. “Pulled the sergeant here out of a car wreck.” He took her in his arms and she hung on tight around his neck. Which felt good. Which was a damn shame because she was only here to catch Milbank’s killer. “You need to check her out.”

Holly fiddled in her pocket as Finn strode through the doors. He laid her gently on a bed in the infirmary and she handed him her cell. “Call Jeff Winslow. Tell him to get a crew out to the site of the wreck. Some bastard tried to kill me and I’m not about to curl up and let him get away with it. And tell him
not
to call my father.”

He wanted to ask questions, but the doctor forced her to lie back and started shining a light in her eyes. Then they started undressing her, and Finn knew it was time to leave. But he didn’t want to go. He had some crazy-assed notion he was taking care of her now. He gave her fingers a squeeze and wanted to kiss her again. Instead, he went outside and found the number for her colleague the way she’d asked him to, the way she’d trusted him to. Even as he pressed “dial” he knew his life was about to get a hell of a lot more complicated. Somehow Holly had added herself to the list of people he needed to keep safe, and the way things were going it wouldn’t be easy.

The village he’d grown up in had always been full of secrets and lies, darkness hidden beneath the quiet, picturesque exterior. Even though he’d known most of these people all his life he didn’t trust any of them, except Thom. And Thom was the one person in this place who would never hurt Holly. Because Thom thought this woman was his long lost daughter, which also made the only person he could trust bug-ass crazy.

Two hours later, Finn was exhausted and starving. He’d been interviewed three times, and they still wouldn’t let him back in to see Holly. But now all the other cops had left, and he couldn’t take sitting around like a piece of meat for a moment longer. Thom had come down and had a local engineer replace the parts for the compressor. Rob Fitzgerald, Finn’s assistant, was filling all the bottles they needed for tomorrow’s dives.

Finally he’d had enough. He pushed through the door and found Dr. Fielding, who’d already run every possible test imaginable.

“Does she have to stay in overnight?”

“
She
has a name.” Holly stared at him with big dark eyes, fragile against the pillow.

The doctor rubbed the lines over his brow. “She seems to have come off remarkably well, considering. No sign of broken bones, internal bleeding, or even concussion.” He almost sounded disappointed. “She’s going to be stiff and sore and black and blue tomorrow, but”—he met Finn’s gaze—“as long as she has supervision, I don’t see why she can’t be discharged.”

Her lips thinned in an unhappy line. “The other officers are going to be working through the night. We don’t have time or resources to waste playing nursemaid—”

“I’ll watch her,” Finn said.

“No.” Holly looked appalled.

The doctor looked from one to the other. “It’s up to you, Officer. But if you don’t have someone on hand to call if necessary, then you’re staying here, and I will call your commanding officer to make it official.” The doctor slumped. “Which means I’m staying here too. Which means if I’m too tired to treat an emergency patient tomorrow we get to blame you.” He beamed, but there was stubbornness to his smile that even Holly recognized.

“I need to get back to work.” She tossed back the covers with a wince. “But fine, I’ll go with Carver.”

Dr. Fielding looked relieved. He headed into his office. “You have my home phone number and my cell. Call if you need me.”

She grunted as she moved. “Damn, I don’t think I can even get in a boat without a shot of morphine.”

“You don’t need to. There’s a spare room in my cabin. You’ll have privacy, but you’ll also have me in case you need anything.”

She looked uncertain.

“You can call your team. They can stage a rescue anytime you feel scared.”

“What am I, eight?” She laughed, recognizing the same tactics she’d tried on him yesterday when she’d been trying to talk him into taking her diving. Christ, was that only yesterday? “I really need to get back to work—”

“Tomorrow,” the doctor shouted through the open door, “
if
I approve you.” He hurried back and handed her a bottle of meds. “Promise me you’ll get some sleep tonight, and you can be back on the job first thing tomorrow.” He waited her out with raised brows.

“Fine, but tomorrow starts at midnight.” Her eyes took on a spark of fire that had been missing since the wreck. She looked at Finn. “Can you help me with my stuff, please?”

The nurse had found her a hospital gown, which billowed about her like a puffy cloud. She eased her feet carefully to the floor. Finn could barely take his eyes off flashes of naked skin. The doctor walked away, leaving the two of them staring at each other.

“Finn?” She raised a confused brow.

Snapping out of his trance, he strode into the nurse’s office and snagged a new set of scrubs off a shelf. “Order some new ones on me,” he told Anita as she busied herself shutting down the computer.

He shook out the scrubs—they smelled like warm cotton—and stood beside Holly, bending down so she could slip first one foot, then the other into the pant legs. He held her gaze as he pulled them up over her hips, his fingers brushing the velvet soft skin beneath her gown. Her cheeks got a little pink and her breathing hitched. “Thanks.”

The top half was going to be trickier for both of them. “Turn around and face the wall.” The curtains were drawn, but there was no way she’d be able to get this over her head without help. If he’d been wearing a button-up shirt he’d have given it to her. Instead, he pulled the string of the hospital gown and held his breath as it drifted slowly to the floor. Perfectly toned shoulders and a delicate spine greeted him. Red grazes covered the tops of her arms and all down one side. It reminded him of how close she’d come to serious injury and how much pain she was probably in.

“Can you lift your arms?” His tone was gruff. Perhaps he should have waited for the nurse to do this, but he could tell Anita was in a hurry to get home. And was he really going to miss out on his one opportunity to see Holly naked?

“I think so.” She lifted them slowly.

He could hear the catch in her breathing as she attempted to stir battered flesh. He stood behind her and leaned forward, keeping his eyes firmly on her hands. His chest brushed her back as he whipped the top over her fingers and let the material slide down her arms before drawing it carefully over her head and torso. An electric sizzle snapped through the air between them. He’d never been so aware of another human being in his life.

“Any idea who did this?” He had to rescue his mind from inappropriate thoughts. Like what it would feel like to slip his hands under her shirt and lift those breasts in his palms.
Not
helping.

“The guy I busted for murdering his wife last month? Some local drunk driver with a grudge?” She tried to laugh, but it came out as a gasp. “I’d just paid Remy Dryzek a visit, so officers from Port Alberni are going to question him first. Oh, and you need to know, he recognized me from the bar and thinks you’ve been working with the cops. You need to watch your back.”

“Dryzek doesn’t have the balls to come after me. Why’d you visit a lowlife like that anyway?” Was Dryzek involved? Finn could see him stabbing someone, but no way could he see him diving that wreck. It took gumption and nerves of steel. Dryzek had neither.

“Most of the people I deal with are lowlifes.” She snorted, then grabbed her ribs. “I need to stop doing that. We just identified the body you found. The name is due to be released any moment.” Her feet searched blindly for her boots while her eyes tracked his response. Still doing her job, even here. “Len Milbank. You know him?”

Finn forced himself not to react. “I’ve heard of him.” He dropped to his knees and took her foot in his hands. She’d painted her toenails with little frog decals that seemed at odds with the serious police officer she displayed to the world.

She saw him looking. “I was on vacation.”

He said nothing but smiled as he pulled her socks over her toes, then slipped her foot into her boot, then repeated the process with the other foot.

Len Milbank. He should have left the scumbag inside that wreck to rot. “He was a friend of Remy Dryzek’s. Nasty piece of work by all accounts.” Definitely not a friend of Thom’s or his brother’s.
Dammit
. Things just kept getting more complicated.

“Any ideas what he might have been doing at the shipwreck?”

He rose to his full height. “Well, I didn’t know yesterday and didn’t experience any psychic visions overnight, so I still don’t know today.”

“Funny.” She gathered her bloody uniform and equipment belt. Finn held his hand out in an offer to carry them for her. He didn’t want her to freak by grabbing her weapons. She let him take them, and he held out his other arm for her to lean on. Strong fingers gripped his elbow. “Well, someone else besides you and Thom knew about that shipwreck because someone told Len Milbank. And that someone probably stuck a knife in his chest. I’m figuring the same someone just ran me off the road and tried to kill me.” Her fingernails dug into his muscles as she tried to balance her weight.

He slowed his pace and nodded to Anita, who began stripping down the bed before she left for the night.

“Take care of her, else you’ll answer to me in the morning.” The nurse smiled with easy familiarity.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Thank you for your help,” Holly called to the nurse and doctor, who both shouted responses. She hobbled unsteadily to the door. “Whoever the killer is, I’m going to find that person, and I’m going to put him in jail for a very long time.”

Holly woke up to find Thom Edgefield leaning over her, staring intently at her face.

She screamed, sucked in an agonizing breath, and shoved her hand against his chest.

He jumped back in surprise.

“What the hell?” Finn ran into the room, dripping wet with a towel almost draped around a pair of very fine hips. “I told you to keep an eye on her, not scare her half to death.”

“I didn’t
do
anything.” A blush darkened Edgefield’s cheeks. He wrung his hands in a clear sign of distress. “I was just looking at her face for identifying marks.”

“Jesus, Thom!” Finn slicked back short, sopping wet hair. “Sorry. Thom came by and said he’d listen out in case you needed anything while I was in the shower.” His expression was thunderous. “He didn’t mean any harm.”

“You make me sound like a complete imbecile.” Thom threw his hands up in the air.

“Well, sometimes you act like a frickin’ moron,” Finn almost shouted. Holly was with him all the way.

Thom pressed his lips together as his eyes drifted to the carpet and then away. “I better head home. Good night.”

Holly frowned after the man, or she would have, if she could get her face to move. Everything was swollen and sore.

“How are you feeling?” Finn moved to her side. The soap he used drifted on the air, and she was hyperaware there was nothing but a flimsy towel between him and nakedness. She was female enough to be curious. And that was not a good thing.

Her heart drummed uncomfortably against her ribs. When was the last time she’d felt even the smallest hint of attraction? Unfortunately, she knew exactly when it was and that was enough to put her off men for life. But something about this guy—

“Holly?” he snapped. Blue eyes drilled into hers.

“I’m fine.” Her voice came out all husky, and he passed her a cup of water from the bedside table. He wasn’t just sexy, he was kind and compassionate too. Definitely a heartbreaker, and she liked hers intact. She grabbed the cup with relief and glanced around the room, avoiding looking at him as he just stood there, nearly naked except for the water droplets that glistened against his tanned skin.

“You look like shit,” he told her.

She almost choked on the water. That should banish any fantasies of naked mud wrestling from her head. He took the glass from her hand and placed it back on the table.