Shades of Passion. Virna DePaul

Simon thought, replaying how rudely he’d just walked out of the man’s office. “Wish I’d known we needed his help before I talked to him.”

      “Made that good of an impression, huh?”

      “I cooperated,” he mumbled. “Sort of.”

      “Just snag the doc and meet Officer Dan Rieger in the E.R.”

      “On my way.”

      He backtracked to Dr. Shepard’s office. He was able to get into the waiting room, but the door leading to the back offices was locked. The receptionist was gone, but she’d left the Plexiglas divider open. He stuck his head in and called out, “Dr. Shepard?” Nothing. “Is anyone here?”

      He heard a noise in one of the back offices followed by footsteps. A woman stepped into view.

      It was the doctor he’d rudely dismissed earlier. Nina Whitaker. The one that, despite himself, he’d imagined naked and lying in his arms.

      Hell, he was imagining her naked right now.

      “Can I help you?” she asked.

      “I need a doc to come into the E.R. with me. There’s a 5150 about to arrive who might know where a kidnapped young girl is.”

      She hesitated. “Let me find out who the on-call doc is.” A minute later, she was back. “It might take a while, but someone will meet you down there.”

      Damn it, they didn’t have time to wait. That was obvious by Mac’s call. By the fact he’d wanted Simon to drag Dr. Shepard to the E.R. “This is a critical situation. You can do it, can’t you?”

      She hesitated. “Yes, but—”

      Despite his misgivings, despite the fact he wanted to stay as far away from her as possible, it couldn’t be helped. Clenching his jaw, he motioned for her to join him. “Let’s go.”

      CHAPTER SIX

      SIMON GRANGER GUIDED her toward the E.R. with a big hand cupped under her elbow. Even as she managed to keep up with his long strides, Nina tried to get through to him. “Wait a second. You’re saying you want me to get information from someone exhibiting a psychotic break?”

      “If that’s the same thing as someone acting crazy, then yes.”

      She glared at him. “And you think that’s easy to do?”

      “Doesn’t matter if it’s easy or not. He supposedly kidnapped a little girl who might need medical help. We have to find out where she is. If you don’t get the information out of him, then I will.”

      She managed to pull away and skid to a stop. The detective faced her with his hands on his hips.

      “And just what does that mean?” she asked. “That you’ll beat the information out of him?”

      “I didn’t say that. But I’ve been trained in interrogation techniques. If your questions don’t give us the answers we need—”

      “Your ‘techniques’ will likely escalate the situation even more.”

      His expression remained impassive. “Then let’s hope I don’t have to use them.”

      He turned and strode away, leaving her to follow.

      As they entered the E.R., he went up to the receptionist and showed her his badge. “There should be a patrol officer here with a 5150. Officer Dan Rieger.”

      “Yes,” the woman said, her gaze finding Nina’s, who nodded. “They’ve already been put in a room. I’ll show you to him.”

      She escorted them past several exam rooms to where a uniformed patrol officer was pacing in front of an open door.

      “Officer Rieger? Special Agent Simon Granger. Is your perp inside?”

      The man nodded. “They’re taking some blood tests. He’s in restraints and they gave him a shot to calm him down. We picked him up for shoplifting, but he got all agitated. Started saying we were part of the alien invasion. That he wouldn’t tell us where the little girl he was protecting is.”

      “Are you certain he has a young girl and isn’t simply delusional?” Nina asked.

      “He had a young girl’s jacket. And an inhaler. One of those over-the-counter kinds, so it doesn’t have a prescription on it. But he said the girl was having trouble breathing and had run out of her medicine. That’s what he was stealing. I gotta go with my gut on this one and say he’s got some girl hidden somewhere. And if she’s out of her asthma medication, we’re running out of time.”

      Simon turned to Nina.

      She nodded. “Let me see what I can do.” She stepped inside the room and nodded to the nurse who was labeling a vial of blood. On a gurney lay a young man, legs and wrists restrained by leather straps, a dazed expression on his face. Possible catatonia or maybe too heavy a dose of the antipsychotic. She just hoped he was lucid enough to discuss the girl he’d taken and where they’d find her. She stepped inside and tried shutting the door.

      She gasped when Granger held it open.

      “I’m coming with you.”

      She glared at him. “No. You are not. I’ll evaluate the patient and report back in a minute.”

      “But—”

      “Let go of the door right now, Detective, or I’ll have no choice but to call security and have you thrown out.”

      Their gazes held and clashed for several seconds and she had to force herself not to look away from the pure fury in his. Slowly, however, he released his grip on the door and stepped back. With an imperceptible sigh of relief, Nina shut the door, blocking out his scowling face.

      * * *

      “SHE A PSYCHIATRIST?” Officer Rieger asked Simon.

      “Yeah.” Simon stared at the door through which she’d disappeared.

      “I hope she’s a good one.”

      Despite the way she’d managed to get under his skin, Simon had a feeling she was better than good. The problem was, she could be the very best and he still wouldn’t like it. If she could help them get the information they needed, great, but he knew what would happen either way. She’d already referred to their perp as a “patient.” As soon as she came back out, she’d start talking about helping the guy. Trying to help the man who’d kidnapped a little girl and probably had done God knows what to her already. And when that happened, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to—

      The door opened and Nina stepped out.

      “Can we go in and see him now?” Simon asked.

      She shook her head. “That’s not a good idea.”

      “Why?”

      “Because he’s indeed having a psychotic break. He doesn’t know where he is but he feels threatened. The doctor gave him Haloperidol, a quick-acting antipsychotic, but he’s still having delusional thoughts. Right now, he needs to get his brain activity settled. He’s operating in a vastly different reality than we are.”

      “So what are you going to do?” Simon growled. “Light incense and sing Kumbaya?”

      She narrowed her eyes in warning. To Simon, sass and intelligence had always been an alluring addition to physical beauty. This woman had all three in spades. Too bad they had a life-or-death situation at hand. If the situation was different, and despite what she did for a living, he might be up for exploring what made Nina tick.

      “If that’s what it takes,” she said. “You want the information, don’t you? The only chance I have of getting it is to establish trust with him and make him feel safe. And the only way I’m going to be able to do that is if I know he’s actually going to be safe.”

      “Meaning