Page 60 of Midnight Creed

“Not on the foreign affairs side of things,” Hannah sipped her coffee as she gave it more thought. Then she shook her head. “Believe me, I’ve already been racking my brain since Dr. Avelyn told us about this.”

“Then I guess we have to wait and see.”

“And you know waiting is not my strong suit.”

“Mine either.”

39

Washington, D.C.

Maggie had spent most of her Sunday chasing down leads and digging for details. Alonzo had been in his data center office at Quantico since early morning and Kuszak at her lab. Both worked without Maggie’s prompting. All of them were running on adrenaline to find something about this killer.

Maggie returned to the hospital, hoping to catch Detective Sheldon. The doctors would update Racine’s law enforcement partner. They’d made it clear that Maggie was too far on the fringes of friends or families to be included. If she wanted to find out what condition Racine and Nessie were in, she’d need to get the information from the detective who was now in charge of the case.

She bought a can of Diet Pepsi for herself and a tall, designer coffee from a kiosk in the lobby. With lid and stopper secured in place, she made her way to the ICU lounge.

Sheldon was nowhere to be seen, but she recognized a woman sitting in the far corner, tapping on her phone.

“Rachel?”

The woman looked up, eyes swollen, skin pale. She barely resembled the photo that accompanied her weekly newspaper column.

“We’ve never met,” Maggie explained, her hands full so she couldn’t even offer one. “I was working on this case with Julia. I’m Maggie O’Dell.”

“Oh, of course. She’s mentioned you.”

“Would you like a coffee?”

“Starbucks! You’re a lifesaver.”

Maggie ignored the irony. She was the one who’d almost caused Racine to lose her life.

“You mind if I sit with you for a while?”

“No, please do. They’re changing out some things in her room. I figured it was a good time to get out of there for a few minutes.”

“How is she doing?”

“Heavily medicated right now. The knife punctured her spleen. The doctor said surgery went well.”

“She’s a fighter.”

“She is. And she’ll be mad as hell when the doctor tells her she needs to rest and heal for three to four months.”

“I’m so sorry this happened.”

“Julia warned me it comes with the territory. But there’s really no way to prepare yourself for it.” Rachel shook her head. Took a sip of the coffee. “Sometimes I think she believes she’s made of steel.”

Maggie wanted to say, we all do in the beginning. She’d lost track of the scars on her own body until Ryder Creed came along and wanted to know the story behind each. She didn’t mind under his gentle, exploring touch. He had enough of his own scars that it made for an interesting trade of war stories. But for people who didn’t put their bodies at such risk, people like Rachel and her daughter, this would be a nightmare they hoped to never experience.

She wanted to tell Rachel that it was her fault Racine was even on the street last night. Confession might be good for the soul, but it sucked at solving anything. And it would bring no comfort to Rachel.

“The woman she was trying to save. Will she be okay?” Rachel asked. “I heard she got hit in the head.”

“I’m not sure. I know she’s still unconscious.” Maggie had been trying to check in for updates on Nessie, but again, doctors weren’t releasing much information. “What I can tell you is Julia saved her life. We’ll get this guy. I promise you.”

Rachel gave her a half smile. “Now you sound like Julia.”