The Pregnant Colton Witness Read online

  “Layla, you know I admire your loyalty to Colton Energy and our father, even though he doesn’t deserve it. And we haven’t talked about it since the fund-raiser, for obvious reasons, but are you sure you still want to marry Hamlin?”

  “Of course I do.” Her prompt reply was too quick, too reactionary. “Look, I’m not the one who went off the Colton straight and narrow. I’m holding up my part of the family business.” Nice dig at Patience, who’d eschewed accepting the family legacy of becoming a financial wizard, like her father and sister. Finances had never appealed to her; serving others had.

  “That doesn’t mean you have to marry a man you don’t love.”

  “Who says I don’t love him?” Didn’t Layla hear the lack of conviction in her own reply?

  “Please. We can agree to disagree about your engagement, but we need to drop the pretense that you care for Hamlin if we’re going to remain sisters.” Patience would never have been so direct even a day ago. Was the baby giving her some kind of relationship superpower? Where she was realizing the preciousness of life and wanted to protect her bond with her sister?

  “I wish I could tell you more, Patience, but you’re going to have to trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

  “I’m here if you need me, Layla. Let’s meet sometime next week, after I get through this weekend.”

  Layla’s sigh sounded over the phone’s speaker, and Patience felt sorry for her sister—almost. It was her decision to become involved with Hamlin, a man their father’s age and just as disagreeable and greedy when it came to business. They weren’t wealthy by accident. Although Fenwick’s recent investment blunders were bleeding the company funds to near bankruptcy. From a pure economic standpoint, Colton Energy was desperate for what Hamlin Harrington offered.

  Gabby’s screech reached through the walls. Layla gasped. “What was that?”

  “Our resident parrot. She’s ready to come out of her cage again and stretch her wings. I’ll give you a call later tomorrow, when I’m off duty, okay?”

  “Maybe we can meet for a meal, then? With a nice bottle of red. My treat.” Layla’s infectious optimism made Patience laugh. It’d be soda water for her from here on out, but Layla didn’t need to know that yet.

  “We’ll see.”

  Chapter 2

  Patience managed to get all the animals taken care of by eleven o’clock that night. Her legs thanked her as she lay down and stretched out on the folding bed assigned specifically to the overnight watch. She rotated the duty with another local veterinarian, who worked for the clinic on a contract basis, and the vet assistants. She’d thought that finding out she wasn’t just bloated or had gained a few pounds, but was in fact pregnant, would keep her up all night. What did she know about being a mother? And what was she going to say to Nash? How was she going to tell him? How could she make sure he completely understood that she wanted nothing from him, needed nothing?

  Snuggling into the rose-printed down comforter she’d brought from home, she promised herself she’d worry about it later. She had a few hours before the next rounds. She fell into a sound slumber that lasted until the alarm on her watch pinged at 2:00 a.m.

  She blinked in the stillness, her mind blank for a brief second until reality seeped back in. Her entire life had changed only hours earlier with the positive sign on the pregnancy test’s pee stick. Stretching her arms and legs, she chuckled in the inky dark. Who was she kidding? Her life had changed almost three months ago after the K9 training seminar with Nash. They’d made this baby while the summer sun was still shining, before autumn was more than a thought. And now the fall was passing quickly, the cold arctic winds beginning to dip down into the mountains.

  Anxiety mounted at the task ahead of her and she sat up. Her job at the moment remained to care for her animals—the clinic’s caseload.

  Patience mentally ran through the patients that needed to be checked and, in particular, walked. Fred was the only canine needing a walk, unless some of the other dogs asked to go. Moving through the familiar steps she’d done countless times when she’d had night duty gave her comfort in the midst of the chaotic change a baby added to her life. But it didn’t erase her exhaustion. No wonder she’d been dragging the last month or so. It wasn’t the change of season or heavy workload—she was pregnant!

  As an extra bribe to herself to get up and get going, she planned to take a look at the trees surrounding Black Hills Lake in hopes of spotting a great horned owl. There was a family of the majestic birds that roosted in the nearby fir trees, but the nocturnal animals were difficult to spot most nights and impossible in daylight hours. Tonight, with the full moon and predicted clear skies, she hoped to see one of the creatures’ unique silhouettes.

  Patience loved the squeaks her sneakered feet made on the floors when the clinic was closed and she had it all to herself. It was just her, the animals she loved so much and the sense of purpose being a K9 veterinarian gave her.

  The motion-detector lights came on as she walked through the corridor that ran along the back of the building. No sounds came out of the kennel. A good sign. This time of night it was usually silent, but if an animal were really ill, this could be the worst time for them, too. She let out a breath of gratitude as she saw that all the animals were quiet and resting peacefully in their respective kennels. The usually feisty Gabby had her head tucked firmly under a wing, one eye peering at Patience as if to say “Don’t bug me.”

  “Hi, sweetie girl,” she whispered to the parrot as she walked by.

  Fred was her main concern. The labradoodle needed to get an easy walk in, not so much to relieve himself as to help with the healing and to prevent his muscles from freezing up. He acknowledged her with half-open eyes, a tiny wag of his fluffy, untrimmed tail. She smiled at his sweet face. “Come on, boy. Let’s go for a little stroll.”

  She braced her core muscles as she gently half lifted the eighty-pound dog onto a portable ramp and onto the clinic floor. How had she not noticed the way her stomach was beginning to bulge out? She’d had strong abs all through vet school, as it was essential to being able to do her job well. And while the strength was still there, she was going to have to start modifying her routine soon. Heat crawled up her neck. Had her coworkers noticed her changing shape and simply remained quiet out of pure professionalism?

  No, her sister would have noticed if she looked heavier or larger in her belly area. Layla was all about keeping up appearances. If it wasn’t such an ungodly hour Patience might be tempted to call Layla and share her situation. But then their father would find out, since Layla worked so closely with him and it’d be almost impossible for her to keep her mouth shut. Patience loved her sister and they shared a close bond, but it was probably best to keep this news to herself for the time being. She’d tell all her siblings—Layla, Bea, Blake and Gemma—when she was ready. She ignored the obvious: Nash Maddox needed to be told first.

  Snapping a collar and leash onto Fred, she waited for him to steady his legs before they walked to the exit. “Here you go.” She wrapped a dog jacket made from space blanket material around him, being careful not to touch his suture area. Normally a large dog like Fred wouldn’t need a coat, but right after surgery it was her clinic’s protocol, and the night temperatures were dropping precipitously as autumn faded and winter hustled in. She’d had what—three, four winters in her clinic so far?

  Her clinic. She’d worked so hard through vet school, hoping to work with K9s, never dreaming she’d land such a plum job. It was a plus to be able to live and work near her family, even when they demonstrated a multitude of reasons she might want to consider a job elsewhere.

  And now she was expanding the Colton family by one.

  Yes, the everyday physicality of her job was going to need some modification as her pregnancy progressed. Lifting heavy dogs was going to have to take a back seat to her baby’s safety. That was what the other staff members
and volunteers were for. She’d get through it.

  She shoved gloves on and zipped up her ski jacket, bracing for the cold mountain air. South Dakota in October was not only desolate but could be bone-chilling. Thank goodness it hadn’t stormed today, and there was bare, dry ground for Fred to relieve himself on. Having to take care of his needs on sticky mud or frozen snow would have been tough on her patient.

  “Here we go, buddy. Get ready for some cold.” She draped the binoculars they kept on a hook near the door around her neck. Still no sign of clouds, so she might see a great horned owl, after all. Ever since she’d been a little girl she’d loved searching trees for birds. Identifying them played second fiddle to enjoying their unselfconscious way of living. And who didn’t want to watch a feathered creature fly?

  The air didn’t disappoint—it was freezing—as she and Fred stepped into the fenced yard area where the dogs could run free, whether they were boarders or healing from treatment. It was atop a hill, on the way to the mountains, and overlooked Black Hills Lake. The yard sloped down to where the RRPD had installed a small concrete pier for training purposes. The insides of Patience’s nose stung from the harsh temperature, but the beauty of the view was worth it.

  “How are you doing, Fred?”

  Fred didn’t respond to her verbal inquiry, but sniffed the ground and in short order lifted his leg against a small bush. A burst of relief filled her, warming her from the inside out. Nothing was more satisfying than to see a patient recover quickly and return to normal. As Fred resumed sniffing the frosty ground, she looked up at the stars that speckled the dark sky, the full moon their only competition. She and her canine companion could stay out a few minutes more before the cold became a concern for Fred’s healing body.

  A creaking sound floated through the air and she turned her attention to the lake. It was beginning to freeze over with a thin crust of sparkling ice, but was too deep to solidify in just one cold night. A movement caught her eye and she noticed a small boat in the middle of the lake, approximately two hundred yards from shore, dead center from where she and Fred stood. Patience blinked, hoping she was imagining the warning signals from her tightening gut. It was too early for ice fishing and too late, as well as too cold, for anything else recreational.

  Something very wrong was happening on Black Hills Lake.

  She raised the binoculars with shaky hands and focused on the boat. What she saw seemed out of a nightmare. A tall figure, masculine in stature, was holding the limp body of a woman in his arms, her slim limbs hanging lifeless. At least Patience believed it to be a woman, as the figure had long hair. The pale gold strands hung over the man’s arms and reflected the moonlight. Her gut tightened painfully and Patience held her breath, waiting for the woman to wake up. Wake up!

  Before she could yell to let them know they were being watched and should cease whatever they were doing, the man dropped the woman over the side of the boat. There was no struggle, nothing but the soft splash as the body disappeared from sight. As if it’d never been there.

  Patience couldn’t stop the gasping cry that escaped her lips. Her exclamation, while not at top volume, carried across the eerie stillness. Frozen in place, she kept the binoculars focused, noting whatever details she could.

  Icy shock crept over her as the man turned toward the clinic, searching for the source of the sound. She saw the moment he spotted her on the shore, his ice-blue eyes clear and sinister in the moonlight, through the binocular lenses. She didn’t recognize him, but knew that he saw her, and his frown was the only warning she had before he leaned over and started a high-power motor she hadn’t noticed before. Patience dropped the binoculars to her chest and scooped up Fred, adrenaline lending her strength. She’d lifted heavier dogs before, but she never had to move this quickly with them.

  “Hang in there with me, Fred.” She ran back into the clinic and quickly put him in his kennel. Her phone was on her desk where she’d left it, but she had to lock the back door before running for it. When she turned the standard lock, she looked through the window and noted that the boat had carved through the thin layer of lake ice and the hulking man was close to the shore behind the clinic. He was clearly aiming for the small pier that the RRPD used for its launches and when training the K9 divers.

  Patience went into alert mode, following the protocol practiced in drills with the RRPD. She locked herself in her office, grabbed her phone and went to the gun safe as she called the dispatcher.

  “Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?” Frank Lanelli’s familiar, confident voice eased her nerves as she rattled off her circumstances. All the while she unlocked her gun safe, took possession of her weapon, ensured it was loaded and then climbed under her desk, her designated safe spot.

  A shot rang out and she couldn’t keep from flinching. She knew the killer must have gotten through the outside security fence by now, which she told Frank.

  “The shot I heard had to be him breaking through the outer gate.”

  “Good action, Patience. You locked the back door up tight. That will slow him down, too.” Frank had known her since she was a kid and had five children of his own, whom she’d gone to school with. He was an anchor for the Red Ridge County emergency dispatch system. “Where are you now?”

  “I’m in my office—the room closest to the kennel, farthest from the clinic’s back entrance. I’m under my desk with my .45.” She heard a crash and instinctively tightened her hold on her weapon. “I think he just broke a window.” She couldn’t help gasping for breath.

  “Where are you, you bitch?” The man’s roar reverberated through the walls.

  “Oh, no. He’s coming for me, Frank.” Frantic, she tried to focus, figure out what to do next.

  “Hang on, Patience. Was that the intruder yelling?”

  She clung to Frank’s voice. “Yes. That was him. He’s angry and calling me a b-b-bitch.” She could barely breathe as fear’s noose tightened the muscles around her chest, where her heart raced. She felt its beats on her thighs, pressed up against her as she was folded under the desk. And against her baby bump. Her baby. Please, please let her make it through this. For the baby if nothing else.

  “You’re good, Patience. You locked your office door?”

  “Yes.”

  “And turned off the lights?”

  “Yes, but he has a weapon—”

  “Tell me what you hear, Patience.” Frank’s voice remained steady and clear.

  “He’s calling for me. He’s going to kill me, Frank.” And the baby. The baby no one but she knew about.

  “No one’s going to hurt you, Patience. You’re doing great. You have your weapon ready to go. Keep me on the line. Keep talking if you can. If you have to put your phone down, keep it on, okay? Two units are en route. You’re certain you saw a body go into the lake?”

  “Yes, positive.” She repeated the details of what she’d seen. “Even if she was alive, there’s little chance she still is. She looked unconscious, or dead, and the water is too cold.”

  “Okay, we’re dispatching one K9 team now. That will be Sergeant Maddox with Greta. They’ll go straight to the lake. You stay put until the other RRPD units arrive.”

  All she heard was Nash’s name. Nash would make it okay. He was an accomplished, practiced, proficient K9 officer.

  Frank continued with the running commentary, but even his professional expertise, his years of calming traumatized citizens, couldn’t soothe her. There was an intruder in her clinic, most likely a murderer. The doom that shrouded Red Ridge over the Groom Killer had nothing on the dread that choked her. Had she found out she was going to have a baby today only to lose everything at the hands of some evil stranger?

  A loud crash, followed by the sound of splintering glass hitting the clinic’s floor, sharpened her senses. He was breaking the kennel windows that lined the corridor. The dogs started barking and Gabby shrieked
in outrage. Please don’t let him hurt the patients.

  “Where are you? Come out now or I’ll take out your precious animals!” And he had a weapon to make good on his promise.

  He was closer, too close. Patience tightly hugged her knees, weapon ready in her right hand. She’d do whatever she had to do to stay alive and protect her baby.

  * * *

  “One minute out, Frank.” Nash spoke to dispatch, his siren blaring as he raced through town in his RRPD K9 SUV, Greta secured on the back seat. His entire shift had been routine until Patience’s call came in from the clinic. He had to help her, to reach her before the suspect did. He kicked himself for not calling her, asking her out again. And then immediately shoved that thought aside. There’d be time for self-reflection later, after Patience and the clinic were secure.

  “Go ahead to the lake, Nash. We’ve got two units approaching the clinic.”

  “How far out?”

  “Three and four minutes.” Frank’s concern was audible. “Repeat, K9 officer is to go to the lake. Victim in the water.”

  “I hear you. But I’m going into the clinic first if no other unit is there yet.” Nash was only a minute out, and seconds could mean the difference between life and death. He’d be damned if he let anyone harm Patience. He strained to see up the road, willing the clinic to appear.

  “You’re right, Nash—we need you to go to the clinic first. We’ve now got a crazy man in the kennels, threatening Dr. Colton. She’s armed.”

  “Copy that. Clinic first.” Like it was going to be anything else. A victim in the cold depths of the lake, even with his and Greta’s expert abilities, stood a slim chance of making it, if any. There was still hope for Patience.

  Damn it. Why hadn’t he called her, reached out to her after their night together? If he got them through this, he’d make it up to her.

  Greta whined in the back seat.