Chapter Six
Savannah felt like she was going to combust. Beau had been staying at her house for the last week. Sleeping on her couch, eating at her kitchen table, showering in her bathroom.
Just thinking of that massive man naked in the same bathroom she used left her panting.
He’d been nothing but protective and hospitable, and she wanted none of it. What she wanted was for him to magically remove her clothes and have his way with her. She just knew that he had some moves and tricks up his sleeves. There was no way a man that looked like him wasn’t prepared for games in the bedroom.
They’d gone to the Connelly’s picnic the Saturday after he gave her no choice about rooming together and the looks from some of the single women in the crowd would have made a less strong woman quiver in her sandals, but Savannah knew that she had no hold on the gorgeous man that escorted her around Joseph Connelly’s incredible backyard. It seemed the entire town had shown up with a dish in hand, she’d brought her grandmother’s famous corn pudding, and everyone knew why she was in Carson and what had happened the day before.
Gossip traveled fast.
But it worked out in her favor because it kept Beau glued to her side except for the moments she slipped away to use the restroom or speak with one of the Connelly kids. Tate had been in attendance and announced that she and Noah had set a wedding date a month away. Savannah may have fangirled a bit in his presence. She wasn’t a racing fan, but she was a GQ and ESPN watcher and knew that Noah Langley was one gorgeous specimen. Thankfully, Tate had taken her ogling in stride.
Beau had been nothing but a gentleman the entire week, even cooking her dinner a few nights when she’d been stuck working late. He’d messaged her earlier in the day and said he was stuck on a project and would be back late. She was instructed to get Mr. Connelly to bring her to the shop when she finished her day. There was no taxi or ride share in Carson, but once Joseph Connelly cut his hours back at the fire department, he filled in that service. He was everyone’s surrogate father figure.
As Savannah wrote some notes in the file of her last patient of the day, she reached blindly for the phone in her bag which was hanging from the back of her desk chair. She quickly texted Mr. Connelly to see if he could pick her up in twenty minutes. He gladly agreed and said he’d text when he was in the parking lot. She’d been given a list of the town residence phone numbers when she was at his picnic – like an old-school version of a Carson phone book. Savannah may have smiled when she saw her own name and number listed.
“Dr. Monroe, we have a problem,” Courtney, one of the other overnight technicians, said as she stepped into Savannah’s office.
“Oh, no. Is it the kittens? They were ready to go to the shelter and be put up for adoption tomorrow.”
“No, no. The animals are fine. It’s the meds,” she explained as Savannah followed the younger woman to the locked cabinet where they kept the medications.
Savannah noted that the lock was broken, but based on Conner’s sign-off sheet, everything had been accounted for. “When did you notice this?” she asked Courtney.
“Just now, as I was getting ready to start my nightly tasks. I always check over meds after the day shift has signed off. I don’t see anything missing, but I could tell that the lock had been tampered with.”
“Ok. I have spares in my desk drawer; I’ll bring one out. Let’s do your inventory and see if anything is missing. Count the liquids down to the millimeter and give Conner a call in the morning. I don’t think there is anything to be worried about. These locks get stuck all of the time and sometimes we have to rig them open.” Glancing to the counter beside the large containment unit Savannah locked on the screwdriver that was likely used.
“See?” she said, holding it up, then tossing it in the drawer beneath the counter. “It was probably jammed.”
“Sorry. I’m still a bit freaked after that package delivery and the weird calls at all hours of the night.”
Suddenly, Savannah was on alert. “Calls?”
“Yeah. I mean, we normally get late-night calls by mistake all the time. Our number is only one digit different than Horizon’s, but recently there hasn’t been anyone on the other end.”
“Oh, Courtney. I wish you had said something.”
The young woman held her hands in front of her body and twisted them together nervously. “Well, I didn’t want to worry you with everything that’s been going on. I didn’t know if I was just being silly and thinking something that wasn’t there, you know? Please don’t fire me. Wyatt and I are buying our first house.”
“Oh, Courtney,” Savannah lamented, gently reaching out and grasping the young woman’s shoulder. “I’m not going to fire you. I just want to make sure that you’re safe. I know being alone here at night isn’t always the most. . .comforting. Even with me staying next door. But my granddad has security cameras all over the place. I’m sure if we looked right now, we would see Conner struggling with the lock.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just a little stressed. Why didn’t anyone tell me that moving and buying a house was this stressful?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never bought one, so I wouldn’t be the person to ask. Anyway, I’m next door, so you can reach me at any time. Also, the sheriff has his team patrolling all hours of the day and night. We’re completely safe.”
Savannah wanted to believe the lie, but after her conversation with her grandfather earlier, she wasn’t so sure she could believe the words she was sprouting. Had he installed a top-of-the-line security system – yes, he did? Did he continue paying the monthly installment fee to make sure it was tapped into the video surveillance and the police department? No, of course not. The man was a medical genius when it came to animals, but he could barely remember to eat his meals. To expect him to pay anything on time was ludicrous. That was why her grandmother had Myrtle, the town’s librarian, do his bookkeeping, even before she passed. Unfortunately, the surveillance was installed after Savannah’s grandmother’s passing and Myrtle hadn’t known it needed to be kept up with.
Savannah hadn’t received any word that things had been sorted and the system was up and running, but the town’s sheriff was going to check on the company and throw out some extra patrols. Everyone seemed convinced that the people trying to scare her had fallen by the wayside. In the week since the package, nothing had happened. And it had been tame compared to the note and severed head she received at the clinic in Baltimore the day she was let go.
All of this for protecting animals. . .
Reaching for her phone in her scrub pants pocket, Savannah sent a message to the sheriff just to be on the safe side. While typing out the message, the phone vibrated in her hand. Mr. Connelly told her he was in the clinic’s parking lot.
She had considered changing her attire but thought better of it. Tonight she was staying with Beau. They both had the entire weekend off and though he hadn’t given her much choice, he needed to switch out some of his things. Savannah allowed him to use her washer and dryer, but he still insisted.
She was excited anyway and barely pushed back. With the way everyone was watching out for her, she felt suffocated. Though she understood, it didn’t change the fact that the only alone time Savannah seemed to find was when she went to the bathroom.