Midnight Exposure (Midnight #1)(49)

Jayne pulled back and studied his face. His red-rimmed eyes looked moist. He blinked hard.

She dropped her head to his chest to revel in the beat of his heart against her face. When she lifted her head, his sooty shirt was wet. She swiped a hand across her cheeks. Her fingers came away streaked with black.

Reed’s gaze dropped to her legs. His jaw clenched. “What happened?”

Jayne looked down. Scott’s borrowed jeans were torn and her knees bloody through the rips in the denim. “Someone grabbed me.”

The vein on Reed’s temple jumped, matching the intensity in his eyes.

“Reed.” The doctor approached, gray hair disheveled, glasses askew, grief etched in the deep lines of a weathered and ruddy face. He scanned Reed from head to foot. “My office. Now.”

They stood, and Reed swayed.

The doctor grabbed his arm and draped it over his shoulders. “Can you make it down the block?”

“I could get the truck.” Jayne backed away.

“I can make it.” Reed grabbed her hand and wheezed, “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”



Jayne huddled in an uncomfortable chair against the wall, watching the doctor examine Reed. From her position she could see the waiting room and the curtained-off triage area.

The exterior door opened and a uniformed man strutted through the waiting room. A shiver rippled up Jayne’s spine as the cold outside air invaded the clinic. From the examination table, a shirtless Reed squinted at the cop over his oxygen mask. Reed’s eyes went flat.

Jayne ripped her gaze off Reed’s lean, hard torso and focused on the cop. It was the same officer who’d announced the chief’s death so abruptly in the street. Black hair, blue eyes, average height, thick-bodied, overflowing with attitude.

A jerk, but a jerk she had to deal with now that Hugh was gone. Her breath caught in her throat. She swallowed the lump.

This guy didn’t give off any kind or concerned vibes. Belligerence pumped from every pore. But since talking to him was unavoidable, she might as well get this done. She rose to her feet and held out a hand. “I’m Jayne Sullivan.”

Standing eye to eye with Jayne, the cop frowned at her. He ignored her hand and fished a notebook and pen from his pocket. “Have a seat, Miss Sullivan. I’m Acting Chief Doug Lang. I’m here to take your statement.”

Reed pulled the mask from his face. It dangled around his neck by the elastic straps. “Acting Chief? Give me a break, Doug. Can’t her statement wait until Doc checks her out?”

“I don’t have all day, Reed. In case you haven’t noticed, the police station burned down, and the chief was killed.” He yanked down his jacket zipper. The fabric parted around a flat abdomen clearly displayed in a uniform shirt one size too small. “I’ll need a statement from you too.”

“No shit, Doug.” Reed coughed. “I’m the one covered in soot. I didn’t see you in there. Were you out directing traffic?”

Doug flushed. Piggish eyes turned small and mean in a face that was just a little too fleshy for Jayne’s comfort. He yanked off his coat and tossed it onto a nearby chair. His forearms were thick and corded, with basketball-sized biceps pumped up enough to make face-washing a challenge.

OK. So Reed and Doug had issues, and Reed was on an emotional edge. But couldn’t Reed wait until after she’d given the cop her statement to tick him off?

Doc returned from the back room with a tray of first-aid supplies. He barely spared the cop a glance as he replaced the mask on Reed’s face. “Do you really have to do this now, Doug?”

The cop went rigid. His face pinched. “Yes, I do.”

Jayne nodded and shrank a little in her skin. Her abraded knees throbbed in rhythm with the pain that spiked though her temple. “Let’s just get it over with. What do you want to hear about first?”

The cop glanced toward a closed door. “I’d prefer to do this in private.”

Reed pulled the mask two inches from his face. “No way.” He coughed. “She’s not leaving my sight.”

Jayne’s throat tightened. Did Reed suspect the cop of being her abductor? Doug had blue eyes. He was a little short, but she could be wrong with her height estimate. Her recall wasn’t 100 percent on either attack. Jayne’s heart quickened. Could it be Doug? Could the man who had kidnapped her really be standing just a few feet away and she didn’t recognize him? A wave of nausea rolled through her as the cop paced toward her.

What had Doug been doing during the fire?

Crimson crept up the cop’s throat. A vein bulged. “You have nothing to say about it.”

“But I do.” Doc set the tray on a wheeled cart and began to clean a small burn on Reed’s jaw. “She’s my patient. You don’t get to ask her questions unless I say it’s OK. So if you want to talk to her, stop being an ass.” The doctor applied a whitish cream to the angry mark and covered it with a bandage.

The cop huffed but didn’t ignore the doctor’s threat. He faced Jayne. “OK. Start at the beginning. You came into town on Thursday.”

Jayne shifted in the hard plastic chair. She pulled the borrowed parka tighter around her shoulders and gave him the CliffsNotes version of the last three days. Had it only been four days since she’d arrived in Huntsville? It felt more like four weeks.