Read Online Catch a Shadow by Patricia; Potter - Free Book Online Page B

busy trying to stanch that. It looked as if he had internal injuries as well.”
    â€œDid he say anything?”
    â€œNothing about family or wishes … I don’t think anyone really thinks they are going to die. He didn’t even tell me his name. It was in the wallet he dropped in the ambulance.”
    â€œHe was in pain?”
    â€œSome. But shock is the best painkiller there is. I don’t think he suffered much.”
    â€œThe witnesses said it seemed as if the driver meant to hit him. He didn’t say anything about that?”
    She shook her head. “He was weak. Could barely breathe.”
    Tell him . But something stopped her just as it had stopped her earlier from telling the detective. What did she really know about him? Maybe he killed his brother for an inheritance, and the proof was in the letter.
    She mentally admonished herself. She read way too many murder mysteries.
    â€œHe didn’t have any other possessions with him? Anything that would help me?” The question was asked quietly, but there was an intensity about it that startled her.
    His dark gaze pierced her. He was too close, much too close. He radiated masculinity and, yes, something else that sent tingles of awareness through her. They weren’t the kind she’d felt moments before when she thought someone might be in her apartment. It was pure feminine reaction to an attractive male. Inexplicable. Undesired. And new. She couldn’t remember when she’d reacted so quickly to a man.
    Empathy for someone who’d just lost a brother? Or touched by the hint of quiet intensity that he tried to cover?
    Didn’t he deserve the letter? It was by rights his. Everything Mark Cable owned probably belonged to him.
    Or did it?
    She couldn’t forget the way he’d disappeared from the hospital. But that was not her call to make. Still, she felt a disappointment in him and an odd feeling that not everything was right with his reactions.
    She would check him out before conveying the letter. Now she had a name and address. Then if he was who he said he was, she would give it to him.
    â€œWhere are you staying?” she asked.
    He hesitated. “I have to return to New York tonight.”
    â€œYou’re not going to stay to … I mean …”
    It was none of her business, she knew. But she knew from her grandfather’s death the number of details that needed tending, not to mention, in Mark Cable’s case, his suspicious circumstance. Would he not want to know what happened?
    â€œI have business I can’t postpone,” he said. “But I’ll be back.”
    She nodded, but disappointment cascaded through her. Even if he wasn’t close to his brother, shouldn’t he be more concerned? Shouldn’t he have spent a few more hours with him?
    She stood. “I have to go inside.”
    â€œGo inside,” approved Merlin from the other side of the door.
    She’d almost forgotten about Merlin and Spade.
    â€œYou don’t approve,” he said as he rose as well.
    â€œIt’s not up to me to approve or not approve. I don’t know you. I didn’t know Mark Cable.”
    â€œBut you have a connection to him.”
    She stared at him. “Why do you say that?”
    â€œYour disapproval just then because I have to leave.”
    She shrugged. “I care about all my patients.”
    â€œThank you. For caring. I didn’t think many people did.”
    â€œDid that include you?” she asked softly.
    He looked startled, as if he hadn’t meant to say what he did.
    â€œWe had differences. But yes, I care that he … is dying.”
    She did hear some emotion then, and it made her feel better. But she was exhausted, Merlin and Sam were hungry, and it was time to go in. She had some research to do.
    â€œI have to go inside,” she said. “I’m sorry, but I really can’t tell you any more than I have.”
    He nodded,