Lone Star Christmas Rescue. Margaret Daley

thick dark eyebrows slashed downward. “Amy Grafton?”

      “No,” she said with as much force as she could without shouting. If he came another foot closer, she would call for help.

      He took a step toward her bed. “But this is room 236.”

      She pressed the button, then clutched both arms around Kaleb, who had grown quiet, as though the baby felt all of her tension. “A nurse is coming. I’m not Amy.” What if she was? No, she didn’t think she was, and she didn’t like the man’s body language, as if he was preparing for a fight, his gaze darting about as though he was searching for something.

      Rosa Martinez swung the door open and nearly hit him with it. A tall orderly stood behind the head nurse.

      The stranger pivoted. “Sorry, ma’am. Wrong room.” Then the large man rushed from her room so fast he shoved the nurse against the door and nearly knocked the orderly over.

      Rosa frowned and peered into the hallway before dismissing the orderly and heading toward Kay.

      “Should I call security?” The nurse stopped next to the bed with her eye on the entrance into the room.

      “He was looking for someone called Amy Grafton.”

      “He was? I’m not familiar with a patient by that name on this floor. Maybe she’s still in ER, and they haven’t brought her up to her room yet.”

      A niggling sensation told Kay that wasn’t the case. Chills swathed her from head to toe.

      “What did you need? Did Baby Doe spark any memories?”

      “He responded to me and the name Kaleb.”

      Rosa grinned. “That’s great.”

      “I want to keep him in here for the time being. Is that okay?”

      “It’s not normal protocol, but I’ll talk with the doctor and see if he’ll okay it. In the meantime, enjoy Kaleb. I hope that’s his name. It’s beautiful.”

      Kay hoped so, too. That meant she was beginning to remember her past. “Thanks.”

      When the head nurse left her alone, Kay whipped back the sheets, her attention fixed on the door, her legs dangling off the side of the bed. “I don’t have a good feeling about that man.” The fear she’d tried to tamp down exploded, driving Kay into motion. “Kaleb, we’re leaving.”

      * * *

      The intense sun beat down on Drake as he examined the crime scene at Big Bend National Park. A hiker had found the bodies of Clarence and Susan Moore—what was left of them. Drake had seen his share of dead people, but the sight before him churned his gut. This retired couple had helped him when he’d needed it. If at all possible, he wouldn’t let their deaths go unsolved.

      “As you see, they were tortured,” the park ranger, Don Calhoun, said, “and from the condition of the bodies, not long after they left the visitor’s center yesterday.”

      After bringing him and Kay to it. “Why tortured? Has anything like this happened recently in the area?”

      “No. That and the connection to what happened with the lady made me decide to call you in on this.”

      Was this connected to Kay somehow? “I appreciate being notified. I’d like to help with the investigation.”

      Don combed his fingers through his hair and plopped his hat back on his head. “The investigator appreciates your offer.”

      “Who is it?”

      “Me. I was a police officer for five years before I became a park ranger. We’ll process the crime scene, but something tells me this isn’t over.”

      Drake glanced at the couple’s red sedan parked fifty yards away. He’d checked it earlier. “I agree. This is savage, and it doesn’t look like anything was stolen from their car.”

      Taking pictures of the couple and the surrounding terrain and gathering what little evidence there was, Drake worked with Don and another park ranger. When the bodies were transported from the scene, Drake put his gear back in the rear of his SUV. “I’ll let you know if the lab finds anything. Whoever did this was careful.”

      “A pro?” Don asked.

      “Probably. I don’t think this is a crime of passion. It seems cold and calculated.” Hence the lack of evidence. Drake opened his driver-side door. “I need to get back to Cactus Grove. I’ll dig into Clarence and Susan’s lives and get back to you about the lab report. Let me know what the autopsy reveals.” It wasn’t unusual for different law enforcement agencies to work together to solve a crime.

      “Will do. I’ll keep you informed of anything having to do with the case.”

      As Drake drove out of the park, he pushed his SUV over the speed limit. An urgency gripped him. When his cell reception returned briefly, he noted that Kay had called several times. Something was wrong. He tried calling her hospital room.

      No answer.

      Then he tried the nurses’ station and asked for the head nurse. “I’m sorry. She’s tied up right now. Can I help you?”

      “Yes, where’s the woman in room 236? I called its number, and no one answered.”

      “I don’t know. Maybe having some tests done? Who is this?”

      “Texas Ranger Jackson, the man who found the patient.”

      “Are you coming here?”

      “Yes. I’m about an hour away.”

      “Good. Rosa hopefully should be here, and you can talk to her. She’s been dealing with the patient in 236.”

      “About what?” Frustration tangled with a foreboding feeling.

      “I can’t reveal any information over the phone.”

      Drake gave the woman his cell phone number. “Have Rosa call me as soon as possible.”

      After he hung up, he put his lights and siren on and floored the accelerator. He entered another dead zone that would last most of the way to Cactus Grove.

      When he arrived at the hospital, he quickly parked and hurried into the building. He checked his cell phone. Only a message from the El Paso headquarters was new. Nothing from Kay or the head nurse. The elevator doors swished open on the second floor, and his attention zeroed in on the police officer going into Kay’s room.

      Heart thumping against his rib cage, Drake quickened his pace, and when he entered 236, he came to an abrupt halt. Her bed was empty, with two police officers standing around it talking.

      “Did something happen? Where is Kay?” Drake interrupted.

      Officer Emert, whom he’d worked with before, faced Drake. “She’s gone. And so is the baby.”

       THREE

      After seeing Kay making her escape on the camera footage of the hallways in the hospital, Drake paced the small security office, wondering what had caused her to flee with the baby. The brief expression he’d glimpsed on her face as she’d sneaked out of her room was one of fear. Had someone frightened her? Had she remembered something about what happened to her? “I need the footage of the second-floor hallway for the few hours before she left.”

      “Just a sec,” the security guard said and punched some keys. “Here it is.”

      Drake stopped and faced the monitor. When a large man barged into the room without knocking, Drake leaned closer to the screen, counting down how long he remained inside. Rosa and an orderly hurried toward the room. The head nurse paused at the entrance and then entered, leaving the orderly in the corridor. Not long after that, the man left 236 but didn’t go far. He slipped