Yuletide Threat by Margaret Daley

Author:Margaret Daley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-09-10T15:51:17+00:00

TWO

Keeping watch behind and to the sides, Rachel let Kyle request admittance to the sealed-off ward via the intercom. Automatic doors swished open and her senses were assailed by pungent medicinal smells, beeping machines and an atmosphere so hushed, so heavy, it seemed tangible. If she had not yearned so strongly to be reunited with Angela, she would have turned and fled.

Up ahead, a woman wearing a mask, gloves and a long-sleeved disposable smock gestured to them and pointed. “Ms. Fielding is in the last bed in this row. Behind that curtain. We don’t usually allow more than one visitor at a time and a neighbor brought her daughter to see her, but under these circumstances you can go ahead, too.”

The extra strength Rachel needed came from the man beside her. She took a deep breath, steeled herself for what she might see and started forward. Off on her left and right, other patients were clearly struggling to survive. Most were elderly, but not all. Angela was barely thirty. This was so unfair.

As they drew closer, Rachel could hear a woman speaking to a child behind the partially drawn curtain next to Angela’s bed. When Rachel reached out and pulled it aside with a trembling hand, the sight of her sister’s swollen, bruised face and emaciated arms made her gasp. Tears immediately blurred her vision. She rushed forward as an older woman carrying a little girl backed away to make room.

“You came,” Angela whispered.

“Of course I did.”

“I was afraid you might not.”

Previously unshed tears began to slide silently down Rachel’s cheeks and she noted that her sister was also weeping. What could she do or say to help? Fond memories made her revert to a long-unused quip. “I had to see my favorite sister.”

To Rachel’s delight, the comment brought a slight smile to the badly beaten face. “I’m your only sister.”

“Picky, picky.” Rachel’s hands were clasping Angela’s on the side of the bed opposite the IV, and she could feel bones inside the painfully thin fingers. Beeping from a nearby machine increased in frequency, and she realized she was hearing her sister’s racing pulse.

Slowly, tenderly, Rachel reached to smooth Angela’s damp hair off her forehead. “Take it easy, sis. You need to rest so you can get better and take care of your daughter. This pretty little girl must be Natalie.”

“Yes. Natalie, this is your aunt Rachel. Maria Alvarez is my neighbor. She’s the one who called the police when I couldn’t.”

Not only did Angela’s weeping continue, she looked past Rachel and the others to focus on Kyle. “You’re her friend?”

“Kyle Roark. We work together,” he said.

“But you are friends, too?” She kept struggling to control her emotions enough to speak.

Rachel answered for him. “Yes. Kyle and I are friends. He drove me here.”

“He’ll stay?”

That question made Rachel stiffen and peer behind her. “I thought I saw Peter downstairs. Is he...?”

Attempting to shake her head, Angela winced in pain. “He’s in jail. The police arrested him for doing this to me.

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