“You think this is a message?” Joshua asked, as he fastened his seatbelt.
“I think it’s awarning.” Colin’s face was grim and he leaned toward Joshua, reaching to clasp his shoulder. “Joshua, donotleave that clinic alone! No going out to lunch. No hospital visits. Not without me there. You need to leave? You callme!” He stared hard into his husband’s eyes. “Are we clear, Joshua?”
“We are,” Joshua whispered.
* * *
By the timehe got to his office Colin was seething with rage and helpless anxiety. His mood wasn’t helped by the reports from both campus and city police that were waiting on his computer. They outlined police canvassing efforts and interviews with all three victims and the few witnesses they’d managed to discover. No reliable leads had been uncovered so far. Colin sneered then closed the laptop and looked up to see Norman Clayton storming into his office.
“Campbell, why the hell didn’t you send me those reports!”
Colin forced himself to take a deep breath. “I got here five minutes ago,” he said, his voice low and even. “I just saw them myself.”
“Five minutes ago? I thought you arrived at six!”
“Not today.”
“If you’re not going to keep regular hours...” Clayton began but hesitated when Colin surged to his feet and strode around the desk to face his superior, both hands clenched into fists.
“Back the fuck off, Clayton!” Colin ground out. “And don’t ever come into my office again without knocking.”
Clayton took a half-step back. “Howdare—”
“Be as indignant as you like,” Colin interrupted, closing the distance between them. “But understand this. Your days of thinking you can treat me like shit and get away with it are over! You don’t get to talk to me like I’m some kind of office whipping boy. I’ve treated you with more respect than you deserve, given what I know about your ‘after hours’ activities. In the future, I expect to be treated with that same respect or you and I are going to have problems.”
Clayton backed away from the big Irishman, but Colin continued to move toward him, teeth clenched in anger. “Are weclear?”
Without a word, Clayton turned and stalked down the hall to his office, and after a moment Colin followed him, stopping just outside Esther’s door. Seeing her at her desk, he tapped on the doorframe then walked in. “Just want you to know that Clayton will be in here soon bitching about me. I put him in his place, and I don’t think he liked it.”
Esther gazed at him for a moment, then laid down her pen and smiled. “Well, he’s notusedto it.”
“Unless he starts treating me with the respect I deserve, he’d bettergetused to it!”
“Close the door, Colin, and sit down.”
Colin did as she asked, then stared down at the floor, still hissing in breaths through clenched teeth. “I’m sorry, Esther,” he said finally. “You’ve been good to me. I don’t mean to cause you any problems.”
“Colin, I’m familiar with the sensation of being treated disrespectfully by one’s peers.”
He glanced up at her and nodded. “I bet youare.”
“I don’t expect you to sit there and take it if someone in this office talks down to you or disrespects you in any way.” She leaned toward him. “But next time, come to me first. OK?” She waved him toward the door. “Now go on. I’ll handle Clayton.”
Colin nodded, then rose and moved toward the door.
“Colin, is everything OK?”
“Some upsetting issues at home. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Is Josh all right?”
Colin turned and smiled at her. “Josh is fine, but thank you for asking. He’s got a patient whose jealous, abusive husband has been making some...” He hesitated. “Some threat gestures I guess.” He looked down at the floor and huffed out a breath. “I want to be on top of it.”
“If there’s anything this office can do, you only have to ask.”
“Thanks, boss,” Colin said, then waved and returned to his own office. He forwarded the police reports to Clayton without comment, then leaned back in his chair.
“Goddammit!” he muttered. He shouldn’t have blown up at Clayton, and he was pissed at himself for having done so. Consumed with worry about Joshua and filled with anguished frustration over their lack of success resolving the campus abductions, his temper had been an active volcano ready to erupt. Clayton had provided him with a quick and—if he were honest—welcome release.
