The Pain Nurse (Will Borders: Cincinnati Casebook 1)

He pulled his hand slightly, to the back of the sofa, still resting on her shoulder. “Ex-wife,” he said. His face fell into a boyish sulk.

“I’m surprised you’re not down there,” Cheryl Beth said.

“The police want to talk to me. They left messages.” He took a deep pull on the scotch. “You know how they always suspect the husband. The ex-husband is even worse. You know how the police think. I’m considering getting my lawyer.”

Cheryl Beth regarded him silently. She had several rules concerning Dr. Gary Nagle. They were designed to keep her clear-headed about him. One was already broken: he was sitting too close. Another was getting emotional. She resisted blurting out the obvious: man, your wife, okay ex-wife, somebody you loved enough to marry, was killed tonight, murdered, horribly murdered, what the hell’s the matter with you?… After a breath, she said, “I don’t know why you came here. It’s three a.m.”

“I wanted to know what you told the police.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You might have been the last person to see her alive,” he said. After an impossible pause he added, “Other than the murderer.”

She turned toward him, felt her face redden. “What do you mean?” But she knew exactly what he meant. “You were on Main Street tonight?” She realized it was last night now, but made no effort to clarify. She shook her head. “You were spying? Following me? That’s very bizarre.”

“If an ex-husband sees his ex-wife and ex-lover having a drink together, he’s going to take notice.”

“Especially if he’s stalking.”

“You two were together around nine last night. Why in the world were you both back at the hospital later? Christine was working on a computer system, for God’s sake, not doing patient rounds any more.”

“We did have a drink. I left. Then I got paged. I do have patients. She didn’t tell me she was going back to the hospital.” Oh, she hated his neurosurgeon’s arrogance. She couldn’t imagine the time when she had mistaken it for an edgy confidence and had been attracted to him. “I was on one of the floors when they gave me a message from her at the nurses’ station. She said she was in her office and asked me to come down. Then I went down and she was, she was…. Why…?” She felt herself getting angry. “Why am I explaining myself to you? I don’t owe you anything.”

He ignored her mood and finished off the scotch. After a few minute’s silence, he said, “I warned her about that office. That hospital’s not safe. They ought to shut it down, and they would without the neurosurgery unit carrying everything else.”

“Gary, you need to go see the police. Now.”

“Chris was going through the postdivorce wilds. Having a great time being away from me. Playing with residents. They’re young and idealistic and horny. And playing with nurses, I hear.”

“As I remember, you left her.”

“It was over a long time ago, way before any judge ruled. As I remember, you once wanted me to leave her to be with you.”

A wave of nausea swept over Cheryl Beth. “That’s not true.” She spoke quietly but heard her words echo off the walls and mantle. “What we had was a…fling. My bad judgment.”

“Oh, the pain nurse, always making nice.” He stroked her hair again, ran one of his high-priced hands down the side of her face, down her neck. He smelled good. Damn it.

“Stop, Gary.” She moved to a chair facing him and took a gulp of the whiskey. His face was strangely blank, the handsome planes of his cheeks, strong chin and sensual lips. He would look thirty-five forever. Then he leered at her, his dusky blue eyes morose and appraising. She knew her face was red and her eyes puffy, her makeup a mess, but he looked as if he hadn’t parted with one tear. Some days she hated blue eyes, swore she would never trust them again.

“Well.” He set down the glass and stood. “I’m going to have to tell the police that you two were together before she was killed. But I assume you already did.”

“I did.” Her mouth filled with cotton.

“Did you tell them about us?”

“No,” she said softly.

“Cheryl Beth, always discreet. Always the good girl, even when she wasn’t.”

“Why are you being such a jerk?”

“Because I’m not going to let Chris get me from the grave.” He pointed adamantly down, as if she were buried beneath the house. “Like I said, the ex-husband is always the prime suspect.” The leering smile returned. “But so is Chris’ romantic rival. Who knows what she might have said to you tonight. But, you told the police everything, right? Well, almost everything.”

He paused, then, “What else happened at the hospital tonight? Did Bryant come down there?”

She said the chief executive had come down. He had been very solicitous and gentle with her, and had told her to take two days off.

“Come here, babe, I’ll give us both an alibi.” His body language was all too clear.