Glancing at his stiff dick, he said, “Yeah, give me ten minutes.” He clicked off and opened Hailey’s text.
Hailey:That sounds wicked.
If I keep texting with her, I’ll never get rid of my boner.
Goldie:It is. I gotta go. I have a tat to do.
Hailey:K. See u later at Cherry Vale.
Goldie pulled out a technical book from the bookshelf and perused it, concentrating on the sentences and willing himself not to think about the delectable picture Hailey had sent him. After a while, the buzzer sounded again.
“The guy wants to know if you can do this. It’s been over fifteen minutes.
“Sure. I lost track of time. I’m coming out.”
The technical reading did the trick, and Goldie headed to the lobby to meet the client. Once he got to designing and coloring the tattoo, he’d have laser focus. He walked up to a man in his early twenties and led him to one of the rooms.
***
At six o’clock,Goldie went down the hallway to Patty’s room in search of Hailey. When he arrived, the only person he saw was Patty sitting by the window staring. He knocked softly on the door. Patty turned around, and he noticed her eyes were puffy and red, wet trails glistening on her cheeks. Tissue was balled up in her hand, and taking a corner of it, she wiped the corners of her eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asked. Shaking her head, she looked down at her hands in her lap. “Do you want me to call anyone?”
“No. I’m just upset over Nadine. I just heard about it a little while ago. Why would anyone do something like that to such a sweet young woman?” The tears spilled down her face before she covered it with her hands.
Goldie shifted in place. “I don’t know who Nadine is. What happened to her?”
Patty lifted her head and wiped her cheeks with the palm of her hand. “You don’t know her? She’s one of the physical therapists here. I loved working with her. She was such a nice girl.”
“I may have seen her around. My grandma doesn’t do physical therapy. What happened to her?”
“She was brutally raped and murdered in her home last night. Isn’t that awful? How can someone do that? I never thought something like this could ever happen in our town. Now I’ve found out there’ve been several of these rapes. Another victim worked in the laundry here. It’s terrible. Something’s going on around here. There’ve been four deaths of patients and now this. I saw the sheriff and his deputies here last week. Something’s not right.”
Goldie walked in and sat on a straight-backed chair. “You may have something there. I thought something was fucked when the second person died. Now you’re saying it’s been four?”
“Yes. And Hailey thinks I’m being paranoid. I mean, she didn’t say that, but I could tell she was trying to humor me. And now this latest with the rapes. Nadine’s the only one he killed. Why did he have to kill her?”
“Maybe she figured out who he was.”
“Are you guys talking about poor Nadine? I read it in the paper an hour ago. How awful,” Hailey said as she rushed into the room, going over and giving her aunt a quick kiss on the cheek. She looked at Goldie through her lashes and smiled.
“Hey,” he said as his gaze slowly raked over her.
“Hey,” she whispered as she ran her fingers over the back of his neck.
“Garth agrees with me that something funny’s going on around here,” Patty said.
“Like what?”
“Like the patients dying, the rapes, and now Nadine’s murder.” Patty’s voice quivered.
Hailey glanced back at Goldie. “Do you really think they’re connected?”
“I’m always suspicious when there are too many coincidences. That’s just me and my world.”
“Knock, knock,” Dan said from the doorway. “I’m here to give you your pain pills, Patty. Do you think you need them?”
“I could use one for my nerves. I’m so upset about Nadine.”
