“We can’t let you in without her authorization.”
“Go in and get her. Tell her I’m here. She’ll want to see me.” He hoped that didn’t turn out to be a lie.
“She’s not to be disturbed tonight.”
The hospital had released her earlier today. The dean had given up that much, but Cody knew nothing of her condition or the severity of her injuries. Or what her injuries were to begin with. She’d presumably given birth prematurely, and the baby hadn’t made it.
He imagined that alone was horrific enough for her to deal with on her own.
That she’d been attacked by the campus stalker with a knife made matters worse.
Had he raped her like he had the last student?
The rage that had been smoldering inside him since he found out what happened flared to life yet again, but he held it together so the security guards didn’t send him away for good.
Cody had no idea what to expect when he saw her, but he couldn’t let his mind go down that road or he’d do something rash and upset her more. She needed him calm. She needed him to take care of her.
He kept his cool. Barely. “Brooke is family. She needs me.”And I need her.“So, please, let me in.”
“Listen, Mr. Jansen, we have strict orders from campus security and her lawyer that no one gets in to see her. Why don’t you talk to her lawyer and have him put you on the list of people allowed in? They’ll give you a visitor’s pass.”
He held up a hand. “Wait a second. She has a lawyer.” That shocked him.
Who the hell did she hire? And why?
The guard nodded, then looked past him toward the parking lot. “Yes. You just missed him.”
“Who is he?”
“Mr. Doug Wagner. He just left with his daughter. She’ll be back shortly.”
Doug Wagner, the top defense attorney in San Antonio and Mindy Sue’s father. No wonder everyone had sealed their lips. No one would go against Wagner. If he wanted the case handled discreetly, he’d get his way. Even the police chief was afraid of being sued by Wagner. Cody wanted to know just what the hell had happened to get him to shut everyone up.
Cody took out his cell phone and called the dean. “Dean Fitzpatrick. This is Cody Jansen again. I can’t get into Brooke’s dorm because two guards are stopping me. Take care of it.” Cody hung up and paced in front of the two security guards while he waited. It didn’t take long for one of their radios to beep. The security office had called to allow him entrance to the building. The guard verified Cody’s ID, then swiped his card down the lock. Cody ran in and rushed up the three flights of stairs to Brooke’s floor.
He walked the long hall. Unusually quiet. No one on this floor played their music too loud or ran up and down the halls between friends’ rooms. A few students eyed him suspiciously as he passed open doors. He stood outside Brooke’s door at the end of the hall and stared at the many get-well messages on her white board. Below it, several photos of Brooke, Mindy Sue, and lots of other girls covered a bulletin board. Brooke had a lot of friends.
He raised his hand to knock, but stopped at the last second when someone pounded up the stairs and yelled, “Stop.” He turned and found Mindy Sue jogging toward him with Brooke’smessenger bag over her shoulder, hair disheveled. Blue smudges darkened the underside of her eyes, and even the weary way she moved told him how bad things had been over the last few days.
“Don’t knock. You’ll wake her up. It took me forty-five minutes and a sedative to get her to go to sleep.”
Cody put his palm to the door with his fingers splayed. He leaned forward and rested his head on the back of his hand.
She was right behind this door. It had been months since he’d seen her. He didn’t want to wait a second longer.
Mindy Sue’s hand pressed on his shoulder. “Let her sleep. I’ll let you in to see her after we talk. Okay?”
What choice did he have? Two brand-new deadbolts on the door were a cold, grim reminder of the reason he was here. He wasn’t getting in unless he woke up Brooke, or Mindy Sue opened the door.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed Mindy Sue down the hallway. She took him to a small room that served as a kitchenette with cupboards, microwaves, and two refrigerators that all the students shared. They both took a seat at the small, round table by the only window. Mindy Sue set the bag on the table between them, running her hands over the material. He’d given the bag to Brooke right before she’d left home for her freshman year.
“She has a term paper due in one of her classes, but the police had her bag. My father got it back along with her laptop.”
He looked up at her then. He didn’t really care about the bag. “Start with when she came back from Christmas break and work your way up to what happened five days ago, and why no one called her mother, or me.” Controlled rage laced his voice, but it didn’t deter Mindy Sue’s cold stare.
“I understand that kind of fury. I’ve felt it for the last five days. The last six months that asshole stalked and terrorized her.”
Those words fell on Cody like a ton of bricks. “Are you serious?”
