Trailing a Killer Read online

  After Gonzales left, Erin eyed the tray on the table next to her. “Have you eaten?”

  “No. They brought it while I was asleep, and you got here right after I woke up.”

  “Don’t let me keep you from your lunch.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “You need to eat.” She smiled. “Even though it’s hospital food.”

  He wrinkled his nose. “Cold hospital food.”

  “The covers help keep the food warm. This one’s on crooked, though. Did you already check it out?”

  “I haven’t touched it.”

  But maybe he’d take a few bites, just to make her happy. He removed the cover and looked at the grilled cheese sandwich. It was cut in half on a diagonal, the pieces angled with a disposable bowl in the space, likely holding soup.

  He took a bite of the sandwich. Whatever warmth it had held when it was delivered was long gone. At least it was something that didn’t taste bad cold. He finished one of the triangular-shaped halves.

  Maybe the soup had held its heat better. He peeled off the plastic lid and tore open the silverware packet. Alcee rose, sniffing the air. When he put the spoon into the soup, she released a sharp bark.

  Erin ran a hand down the dog’s back. “What’s wrong, girl?”

  “Maybe she’s hungry.” He moved the chunks around with his spoon. “Looks like vegetable beef. I’ll give her some of the meat if it’s okay with you.”

  Erin frowned. “She’s not hungry. I fed her right before coming up here.” Her eyebrows were drawn together, and her face registered equal parts confusion and concern.

  “Hey, I don’t mind. If not for her, I’d probably still be buried in rubble, soaking wet and half-starved. Instead, I’m lying here in a nice dry hospital gown, enjoying a cold cheese sandwich and a lukewarm bowl of soup.”

  He scooped up a spoonful and brought it toward his mouth. Alcee erupted in a frenzy of barking.

  “Wait.” Erin’s hand shot out and gripped his arm.

  “What?”

  “Don’t eat that.” Her eyes were wide with panic. “Something’s wrong with it.”

  He lowered the spoon. “Are you telling me your dog sniffs out trapped people and tainted food?”

  “It’s possible. She started training as a guide dog, then was changed to detection. She was too energetic for both of those careers and finally landed with search and rescue. Whatever she alerts to, I trust her one hundred percent.”

  “Do you really think somebody poisoned my food?” No offense to her dog, but the idea was too far-fetched to take seriously.

  “I don’t know. But Alcee thinks something’s wrong, and she doesn’t act like this without good reason.”

  He put the spoon back into the bowl and lowered his hand to his lap. A sense of uneasiness settled in his stomach, that hollow-gut feeling that came when something bad was lurking right around the corner. “But I don’t have any enemies.”

  “Someone just brought down a building with you inside.”

  “That wasn’t aimed at me.”

  “Look, Alcee is smart. Shortly after I got her, she alerted me to a gas leak. She feels something is wrong with your soup, so we’re taking it seriously.”

  She pressed the call button for the nurse and snagged a pair of latex gloves from a box on the wall. After putting them on, she snapped the plastic lid back onto the soup container.

  A nurse entered the room and approached the bed. “Can I get you something?”

  “Yes.” It was Erin who answered. “We need two sterile, sealable plastic bags.”

  The young woman raised her eyebrows but didn’t question the unusual request. Erin’s commanding tone discouraged any argument. After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded and left the room.

  Erin scanned their surroundings.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “Anything that might reveal your identity.”

  Cody did his own search. A dry-erase board hung on the opposite wall, his doctors’ and nurses’ names written on it. But as far as he could tell, his patient chart wasn’t in the room. That information probably came in and out on the tablets carried by the medical personnel.

  Erin eased back into her chair. “What about your wallet and phone?”

  “Everything’s in a plastic bag in that bottom drawer, along with the clothes I was wearing when they brought me in.”

  Erin pulled her phone from her purse. “We’re getting Detective Gonzales back out since I’m not on tonight.” She tilted her head toward the soup. “This is going in for prints and the soup for a toxicology workup. And you’re having around-the-clock police protection until you get out of here.”

  He lifted his brows. For someone who’d waltzed back into his life just that day, she was being awfully bossy. But he didn’t have the gumption to argue. The events of the past twenty-four hours had him pretty shaken up. “And if the report comes back clean?”

  “Then we were extra cautious for nothing. I’ll choose safe over sorry any day.”

  She placed the call, then put her phone away. “I don’t know what’s going on, who set those charges or why.”

  Her gaze locked on his with an intensity that wouldn’t let him look away. “But I do know this. If that soup is found to be tainted in any way, for you, this threat just got personal.”

  TWO

  Erin pushed a wheelchair toward one of the elevators in Cape Coral Hospital, the rubber soles of her boots making muffled taps against the vinyl tile. She’d gotten permission to pick Cody up from the hospital, take him to retrieve his truck, then escort him home. It was her responsibility to make sure he wasn’t followed.

  “I’m glad to be getting out of here.” He shifted in the chair. “Another day and I’d have been climbing the walls.”

  He’d been scheduled to be released yesterday, but the doctor had held him one more day, wanting to make sure there weren’t any complications. Two and a half days in the hospital had stretched his patience. He obviously didn’t do well with confinement.

  “So where is Alcee?” Cody angled a glance over one shoulder, but couldn’t twist enough to make eye contact. He winced, then released a pent-up breath, gaze straight ahead again.

  He’d be sore for a while. Besides the cracked ribs, nasty bruises marked both arms. With the bedsheets pulled up past his waist and the hospital gown above that, those were the only ones she’d been able to see, but she was sure there were others. Considering what he’d been through, he was blessed to have fared as well as he had.

  “Alcee’s with my neighbor. She keeps her while I’m working.”

  “You’re on duty now?”

  “Yep. My job is to make sure you get home safely.” A marked unit would respond to secure the area, then follow them to Cody’s.

  The crime scene techs hadn’t lifted any viable prints from the soup container, which didn’t come as a surprise since the guy had worn latex gloves. The food service people likely had, too. And the toxicology report wouldn’t be back for several weeks.

  Hospital surveillance tapes weren’t any help, either. The cameras had captured the supposed maintenance person, but he’d managed to keep his head down in all the footage. Though his face wasn’t identifiable, hospital personnel were able to verify he wasn’t one of their employees, which made his presence suspicious.

  She stopped in front of the bank of elevators and pressed the down button. If it was up to her, Cody wouldn’t even go home. “What if he knows where you live?”

  “Then he’d have waited to attack me when I’m there alone rather than in a hospital ward with people all around. He doesn’t know who I am or where I live.”

  “Unless he looked at your wallet.”

  “He didn’t get that far. He was still standing at my food tray when I woke up. I think I startled him, and that’s why he didn’t
get the cover back over my food properly.” He attempted another backward glance. “That’s assuming he tried to poison me. I’m still not convinced.”

  The elevator dinged, and she shook her head. He was either way too trusting or liked to live in denial. Or maybe it was just plain stubbornness. He’d accused his grandfather of having a healthy dose of the trait, but he’d inherited some of it himself.

  The elevator doors opened. An elderly couple and a woman with a teenager stood inside. They stepped to the edge to make room for the wheelchair, and Erin rolled it forward.

  A short time later she wheeled him through the automatic glass entry doors. A midafternoon thunderstorm had passed through earlier, and walking out of the air-conditioned comfort of the hospital was like stepping into a sauna. Florida wouldn’t offer any relief from the heat and humidity for at least another month or two.

  She turned to follow the wide walkway to her right. The main entrance was tucked into the V where two wings joined, a large circular drive in front. Inside the circle several palms rose above a floor of neatly trimmed shrubs. Her county-assigned Ford Explorer waited up ahead. She’d pulled it through a short time earlier and parked at the curb.

  After Cody was situated in the vehicle, she returned the wheelchair. He turned to her as soon as she slid into the driver’s seat.

  “When we get to Pops’s place, I need a few minutes. I want to retrieve some of his things. I also need to stop at the bank on the way home. I finished a remodel job the day before the storm, and the customer made his last payment in cash. I have an envelope with almost two thousand dollars locked in my glove box.”

  She frowned at him. “I don’t know about the bank, but hanging out at your grandfather’s place is out of the question.”

  The Bureau had finished collecting its evidence yesterday. The construction workers had even made a somewhat clear path to what had been Cody’s grandfather’s apartment. It had been the only way to get them both safely out. But the fact remained that there was a killer out there somewhere. And whether Cody was willing to admit it or not, he was a target.

  “You said they’re clearing the area before we arrive, making sure no one’s waiting for me.”

  “That’s beside the point. We’re not going to let you dally there.”

  “All I need is ten minutes. There are keepsakes I don’t want to lose, memorabilia from Pops’s years in the military, letters, photos.”

  She cranked the car, then wound her way past the series of medical buildings and doctors’ offices to come out on Thirteenth Court. “Whatever is there, it’s not worth your life.” She sighed. Judging from the stubbornness on his face, she was wasting her breath. But she continued anyway. “Somebody brought a building down with you inside.”

  “And no one believes that was aimed at me.”

  “Someone just tried to poison you.”

  “We don’t know that. Not until the toxicology report comes back. You trust your dog one hundred percent. I’m more of a show-me kind of guy.”

  She shook her head as she eased to a stop at a traffic light. Soon they’d be headed toward Pine Island, where his grandfather had lost his life and where Cody could well have joined him. And Cody was going to remain in denial until he had irrefutable proof.

  “What about the man in your room? Law enforcement thinks you’re in danger, or they wouldn’t have posted a Cape Coral police officer in the hall.” She heaved a sigh. He was a lot more exasperating than he’d been when she’d known him earlier. “If the man didn’t intend you any harm, what was he doing there?”

  Some of the stubbornness fled his features. She didn’t give him a chance to regroup.

  “We’ve made contact with the apartment owner and two of the tenants. The others haven’t returned yet. But based on preliminary interviews, out of the six apartments, your grandfather lived in one, and one was vacant. The other four were occupied by a single mom with two kids, two middle-aged sisters, a retired couple and two guys. The man you saw isn’t a resident there.”

  “What about the two guys?”

  “Tall and lanky, not the build of the guy you saw leaving.”

  The light changed, and she stepped on the gas. When she glanced over at Cody, a muscle worked in the side of his jaw as if he was clenching and unclenching his teeth.

  Finally, he shook his head. “How did he find me? Let’s assume the guy I saw leaving set the charges. He wouldn’t have known Pops and I were inside when the building collapsed. I told him we were both leaving.”

  “The story hit the news. Your names were withheld, pending notification of your grandfather’s next of kin, but everyone in Lee County knows there was one rescue and one fatality.”

  She made a left onto Pine Island Road. “Or maybe he came back to survey his work and witnessed the rescue.”

  It was possible, especially if he’d used binoculars and stayed hidden by foliage. She hadn’t been looking for suspicious observers, because there’d been no reason to assume anything sinister. Her focus had been on her dog, then on the men working to free victims. After that, Cody had occupied every thought. He was still unwittingly injecting himself into far too many of them.

  “He’d assume you’d be taken to Cape Coral since it’s the closest hospital. Dressed in his fake maintenance uniform, he was able to move about freely. The hospital isn’t filled to capacity right now, either.” Not like during the December to April snowbird season, when Florida’s elderly population grew exponentially.

  She sighed. The conversation had gotten sidetracked, and he hadn’t agreed to get in his truck and go straight home. Now she had less than thirty minutes to tunnel her way through his stubbornness.

  “Why don’t you specify what you’re looking for, and we’ll get whoever’s in charge of cleanup to keep an eye out for it.”

  He shook his head, jaw set and eyes hard. “If I don’t get the stuff today, it’ll be gone. I’m not taking that chance.”

  “You’re putting yourself in unnecessary danger.” She clenched the wheel and reined in her emotions. She usually prided herself on keeping her cool. But this wasn’t a random witness she was dealing with. It was Cody. And she still cared for him. Always would.

  He was silent for several moments. Maybe her arguments were getting through to him. When he finally spoke, his tone was low.

  “How are your grandparents?” He looked at her hard, gaze boring into her.

  “They’ve settled here in Florida. Mimi had a stroke, but she’s doing well, finishing her rehab.”

  In fact, they were the reason she was in Florida. After almost three decades of traveling, they’d bought a place in a senior mobile home park and put down roots. Two months later her grandfather had had a heart attack. Rather than her parents bringing them back to California, Erin had left her position as a K-9 officer with Sunnyvale Police, paid the penalty to terminate her apartment lease and took off, pulling a small U-Haul trailer behind her RAV4.

  The move wasn’t quite the sacrifice it appeared to be. She’d wanted to put some distance between herself and her past mistakes and at the same time escape the fallout from her latest relationship fiasco. The fresh start had accomplished the latter. Unfortunately, the nightmares had made the cross-country move with her.

  Cody nodded. “I’m glad you still have your grandparents.”

  His words were sincere, but she could read the meaning behind them. She didn’t have just her grandparents. She had her parents, too—loving, supportive ones. Based on what Cody had told her, he’d never had a father, and his mother had abandoned him more times than he could count. Now that his gram and pops were gone, whatever he pulled from that wreckage might be all he had left of his family.

  He’d lost enough. She wouldn’t make him give that up, too.

  She heaved a sigh. “Ten minutes. And I’ll be timing you.”

  “Not a problem. I’m in no
shape to be doing anything too major. I know where the boxes are, because I helped him move. With all the clearing those guys did getting to Pops, it won’t take me long to find what I’m looking for.”

  The other unit would wait, and although her supervisor wouldn’t be any happier with the situation than she was, he’d expect her to do exactly what she was doing. If she forced Cody to go right home, she wouldn’t put it past him to head back over as soon as she left.

  When she reached Pine Island, there wasn’t much more activity than there’d been two days ago. Her electricity in Fort Myers had come back on that morning, but power hadn’t been restored here yet. Some of the residents were likely staying away rather than enduring the heat and humidity without air-conditioning. She couldn’t blame them. Last night had been pretty miserable.

  Eventually, the road curved. To her right, three boats bobbed in a light chop, their occupants fishing. Docks extended out over the water, signs on their ends declaring them private. To her left, a vehicle sat in one driveway, but the other homes were still abandoned. A marked unit waited at the edge of Main, the same place Joe had occupied when she’d spoken to him Sunday. Another one sat in front of the demolished apartment building. No one had followed them. Erin had been checking her mirrors from the time they left the hospital.

  After stopping next to the white Ram, she stepped from the vehicle, eyeing the caution tape cordoning off what remained of the structure. It was there for safety’s sake, with the newly added no-trespassing signs to discourage snooping and reduce liability. Two uniformed deputies approached from the properties on either side.

  “All clear. We’re just going to look at his truck since it sat here unattended for some time.”

  Erin nodded toward Cody. “He’s going to grab a couple of things while you do that.”

  Cody ducked beneath the tape, then maneuvered his way across the pile of debris. For the next several minutes she shifted her gaze between him and the deputies at his truck. While Cody searched, one man worked on hands and knees, looking behind each wheel, and the other checked beneath the hood.