Graham closed the laptop.“What does he look like?”
“Six-one, six-two.Solid build, not fat.Short dark hair, no facial hair.Wears his badge on a lanyard instead of clipped.He spent forty-five minutes in the admin hallway this afternoon and another twenty in the staff parking lot.Didn’t appear to do any actual work.”
“Who hired him?”
“That’s what caught my attention.I asked Donna at the front desk.She said the request came from the board liaison’s office.Not HR.Not the facilities department.The board.”
Graham stood and walked to the window.The cottage sat back from Lake Road, screened by a stand of slash pines and a palmetto thicket that ran along the eastern property line.The last of the daylight was fading through the trees.He could see the narrow dirt path that led down to the water, and beyond it, the dark shape of the inlet.
“When you say the board, you mean Montgomery’s office.”
“I mean the board liaison’s office.That’s all I said.”Thompson paused.“But yes.That’s what I mean.”
“Did Pruitt interact with any of the night staff?”
“He asked Donna for a list of department heads and shift supervisors.She gave it to him.It’s not restricted information.”
“Was Maren’s name on the list?”
Another pause.Longer.“She’s a charge nurse.Her name would be on any supervisory roster.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Yes.Her name was on the list.”
Graham pressed his thumb against the edge of the windowsill.The wood was soft from years of humidity, giving slightly under the pressure.
“I need you to do something for me,” he said.“Don’t approach Pruitt.Don’t ask about him.Don’t change your routine.But if you see him on the floor near the ICU or in any area he doesn’t have a clear reason to be in, I need to know about it.”
“I was planning to do that anyway.”
“I know you were.That’s why I’m asking instead of telling.”
Thompson was quiet for a beat.“You’re worried about her.”
“I’m worried about the operation.”
“Right.”Thompson let that land without pushing it.“I’ll be in touch.”
The line went dead.
Graham set the phone down and stood at the window a moment longer.Victor Pruitt.Facilities liaison.Hired through the board’s office, not HR.Spending his first day cataloging staff names and walking the parking lot.
That wasn’t a facilities liaison.That was a watcher.
* * *
He called Caleb at 7:40.
“We have a new problem.”He relayed Thompson’s information, keeping to the facts.Name, title, hiring authority, behavior.He left out the part where Thompson had said he was worried about her.That was a conversation he wasn’t ready to have.
Caleb absorbed it the way he always did.Silence, processing, then the question that cut to the center.
“Is Maren safe tonight?”
“She’s off shift.Doesn’t go back until tomorrow night.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
