He smelled good. She felt good with his arms around her.
“You’re getting inside,” he whispered.
Then she heard footsteps rushing down the hallway.
“Detective Black?” a female voice called out.
She’d never been so glad to have an interruption. She’d laid bare enough of her soul.
Dane just stared at her. So she was the one to move back, push that chair away, and yank the door open. “He’s here,” Katherine answered.
“He’s got a phone call,” the uniformed officer told her. “It’s Mac. Ronnie’s awake.” Then the brunette’s gaze darted to Katherine. “And she’s asking to see you, ma’am.”
– 18 –
Katherine’s shoes tapped over the white tile in the hospital. There was a uniform blocking Ronnie’s door. He was standing at attention, but he relaxed when he saw Dane.
Katherine glanced toward the closed hospital door. She’d been told that Ronnie wouldn’t talk to anyone else, that she just kept asking for Katherine again and again.
Dane opened the door. “Stay out here,” he said.
She glanced over her shoulder. Dane wasn’t talking to her. Marcus had come along too. The profiler nodded slowly, but the guy didn’t exactly look happy to be left behind.
Hesitant, she stepped into the room. Heard the fast beep of machines. The soft rumble of a voice. Dane grabbed the thin curtain that blocked the bed and pushed it aside.
Mac was there. Leaning over the bed. Smoothing his fingers over the ME’s pale cheek.
At the sound of the sliding curtain, Ronnie glanced over at Dane and Katherine. She had on a pair of wire-framed glasses, and when her gaze found Katherine’s, Ronnie’s lower lip began to tremble.
“Ronnie,” Mac said, sounding as if he were being torn apart. “There’s nothing for you to be scared of, love. I’m right here. I’ll keep you safe, I swear.”
Still looking right at Katherine, Ronnie said, “You can’t.” Absolute certainty.
Dane stepped forward. Katherine didn’t move.
“Tell us who hurt you,” Dane said, voice soft and gentle. “Hell, Ronnie, we’ve already pieced it all together anyway, we just need you to confirm—”
Ronnie shook her head.
“It wasn’t Valentine, was it?” Dane asked.
“It was that bitch Evelyn Knight!” Mac surged to his feet. The machines beeped louder. Faster. “We know it was her! Screw dancing around, it’s just us in this room, and protocol can be f**ked!”
His rage and fear had obviously taken over. Katherine watched his desperate gaze slide back to the Ronnie. He loves her.
“We’re gonna find her,” Mac promised the pale woman in the bed. “She’s never gonna hurt you again.”
Ronnie was still looking just at Katherine. “I want…” Her voice was hoarse. Dane had said that he heard her scream on the phone. “I want to talk to her.” She lifted a hand, one attached to an IV, and pointed to Katherine. “Alone.”
“I don’t want to leave you,” Mac said immediately in a gruff voice.
Ronnie’s heart rate spiked. The machines were going crazy. “Please.”
Katherine could tell by the expression on Mac’s face that the guy would deny her nothing. He nodded and said, “I’ll be right outside the door.” Mac pressed a gentle kiss to Ronnie’s cheek.
Dane glanced at Katherine, brows up.
“Go,” she told him.
Dane and Mac shuffled out to join Marcus. Katherine came closer to the bed.
“I’m scared,” Ronnie whispered.
Katherine found herself taking Ronnie’s hand. She noticed that Ronnie’s other wrist had been set in a cast. So much pain. “It’s all right. After what you’ve been through, I think you’re entitled to be scared.”
But Ronnie shook her head. “Not scared because of what happened. Scared of what will happen.”
Katherine leaned toward her. “Nothing else is going to happen to you. You’re safe. You’ve got a guard at your door, and you have one very devoted detective who won’t—”
“Mac can’t protect me. No one can.”
“You’ve been through a nightmare.” One Katherine sure as hell understood.
“Only you.”
Katherine leaned even closer because she’d almost missed Ronnie’s soft words.
“You can stop him,” Ronnie continued.
The machine was still beeping too fast, a beep that now matched the frantic rhythm of Katherine’s heart too. “How did you get away?” she asked.
Ronnie’s lips trembled. “I can’t.”
“Did Evelyn let you go?”
Ronnie shook her head.
As she stared into Ronnie’s terrified eyes, Katherine felt her own cheeks ice. “Someone else was there.”
A slow nod.
“You saw him.”
“I couldn’t see much of anything without my glasses.”
Katherine just stared at her.
“If I tell, I’ll die.” Ronnie’s hand turned and clasped Katherine’s wrist. “Please, help me. I don’t want to die.” Tears leaked down her cheeks.
“You’re not going to die!” Katherine told her at once, voice sharp. “You’re safe here. There are two detectives and an FBI agent right outside that door.”
“They can’t protect me. No one can. Not from—”
Ronnie broke off, not saying any more, but Katherine knew what she’d meant.
Not from him.
“Valentine.”
A shudder shook Ronnie’s body.
“He was there?”
Ronnie didn’t confirm or deny it.
If I tell, I’ll die.
“Is he working with Evelyn?” She was very afraid that he might be. A perfect, deadly team.
Ronnie’s lips trembled, then she whispered, “I think Dr. Knight isn’t…a threat anymore.”
“Did he take her?” Katherine asked.
Tears were in Ronnie’s eyes. Her hold on Katherine tightened.
“Ronnie, you have to tell Mac and Dane. Tell them what you saw. They can help you.”
“I didn’t see anything!” Anger gave her words power. “I couldn’t see! Everything more than a foot away from me was a blur.”
“You might not have seen his face, but you smelled him. You talked to him. You know he’s out there.”
Ronnie’s chin dropped. “I heard her scream.”