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“You don’t have to stay. You should head back and get some sleep.” She doubted she’d get much rest, but that was her problem. Not his.
“I’m staying.” He glanced at his watch, then added, “I’ll head down to get something to eat though.”
“Please do. My food will be here shortly.” Her nurse, Marie, had ordered her chicken soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.
After she finished eating, Fiona closed her eyes again. When Doc returned from the cafeteria, he doused the lights, then retreated to the vinyl recliner in the corner. She wanted him to hold her hand again but told herself to stop being needy.
He wasn’t her boyfriend. The poor guy had been dragged into this mess because of her. And the only reason he was sticking close was to keep her safe.
Once her memory returned, and they knew the truth about why someone wanted to kill her, they’d go their separate ways. Doc would retreat to his cabin, and she would go back to wherever she lived.
Doing whatever job she performed to put food on her table.
To her surprise, she fell asleep. Maybe because she was reassured to know Doc was there, watching over her. She woke briefly when the door creaked open. But it was just the nurse who was there to hang another dose of the IV antibiotic. She took her vital signs again, then left.
Fiona glanced over to where Doc was resting in the recliner. His eyes were closed, and she hoped he was getting some badly needed rest too. Turning onto her side, being careful not to compress her IV, she slipped back to sleep.
It seemed only a short while later that she heard the creaking noise of the door opening. Turning over, she expected to see the nurse standing there, but the person standing there didn’t look familiar, not that she could see much with a paper mask covering his nose and mouth.
Yet he wasn’t wearing scrubs.
A quick glance at the recliner indicated it was empty. Where was Doc? She didn’t know, but when she caught a glimpse of the syringe in the stranger’s hand, she screamed and yanked on the call light, pulling it right out of the wall. Pulling the call light sent off some sort of triple beep emergency alarm.
The stranger cursed loudly and immediately turned to leave. She clasped a hand to her chest, dimly realizing that if she hadn’t woken up in time, the stranger might have injected her with whatever he had in that syringe.
Doc emerged from the hallway bathroom to hear a loud emergency alarm echoing down the hallway. Then he saw a man bolting down the hallway away from him.
Had he tried to hurt Fiona? Doc instinctively gave chase. The guy pushed through a doorway leading to a stairwell. He wanted to follow but brought himself up short.
Was Fiona hurt? Or worse?
Spinning away from the doorway, he ran back to Fiona’s room. Somehow, he beat the nurses, coming to a stop near Fiona’s bedside when he saw her sitting there, looking panicked.
“Did you see him? He wore a mask and had a syringe.” She grabbed his arm. “He was going to inject me with something.”
“I saw him, but he got away.” Kicking himself, he turned to see two nurses enter the room. They both frowned when they realized Fiona appeared unhurt.
He stepped back to give them room to reconnect the call light to the wall. “A man was in here with a syringe, and I have reason to believe he intended to harm Fiona.”
“A stranger?” The older nurse looked horrified. “Can you describe him?”
“I didn’t see his face because he wore one of those blue paper masks.” Fiona’s tone was shaky. “But he wasn’t wearing hospital scrubs, so when I saw the syringe, I screamed and yanked the call light.”
“That was quick thinking,” he said reassuringly. Then he added his own two cents. “Unfortunately, I only saw him from behind. Black jeans, black long-sleeved shirt, and he had dark hair. He headed down the stairwell at the end of the hallway.”
“We’ll call hospital security right away.” The younger nurse stepped away to make the call using some sort of device looped around her neck.
Since his own pulse had yet to return to normal, he hovered over Fiona. “You have one more dose of antibiotic before we can get you out of here.”
“Okay.” She clasped his hand between hers. “Thank you for being here.”
He wanted to point out that he’d blown it again, but then something occurred to him. “I’ve been sitting in your room almost the entire time, only leaving to use the restroom. That guy must have been hanging around nearby.”
“You think so?” Fiona’s blue eyes widened with shock. “Wouldn’t someone on staff here have noticed him?”
“We have restricted visiting hours over night,” the older nurse said. “But he may have stayed hidden once visiting hours were over.” She gestured to the visitor sticker on Doc’s shirt. “Did he have one of these?”
“I don’t think so,” Fiona said with a frown. “I’d have noticed the white sticker on his black shirt.”
