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  “Thank God,” Ryan muttered.

  Before William could respond, the rest of the group chimed in their agreement. His brief fling with Samantha Godfrey during his last semester at school started out well but quickly cooled into friendship.

  “However,” Bernard said. “I say the honey onstage might just be what the doctor ordered.”

  Miffed, Brenda popped him on the back of the head and scowled when he looked at her incredulously.

  “What?” he asked, rubbing his head.

  William just smiled and returned his attention to center stage.

  Weeping willow tree, weep in sympathy. Bend your branches...

  “She’s something else,” he marveled. “Something else.”

  Eddie leaned forward in his chair and spoke in his heavy Caribbean accent. “I didn’t know you had an eye for the sistas.”

  “I have an eye for beauty.”

  A petite blonde approached the table with a wide smile and tray. “Bonsoir. Vous êtes Américains?”

  “Yes, we are,” Brenda answered brightly. “Do you speak English?”

  “Yes, I do. Would you like to place your order now?”

  “Excuse me,” William interrupted. “But may I ask who’s performing?”

  The waitress turned, glanced up at the stage, then turned back to him with a shrug. “I don’t know her name, but I’ve seen her several times.”

  “What’s the name of the band?”

  “Actually, it’s open mike night. Everyone’s welcome to sing.”

  “You mean she’s not a professional?” Bernard jumped into the conversation, only to receive another pop on the head.

  “Why are you so interested?” Brenda sassed.

  Whatever else was said, William didn’t hear it. He was on his feet and moving toward the stage. He didn’t plan what he was going to do next, he just allowed instinct to take over.

  The song ended to a heart round of applause, and William tapped the piano player on the shoulder and politely asked id he could take over.

  Concluding she had a love for Billie Holiday, he knew just the song to play next. “I’m a fool to want you,” he sang slyly.

  The singer turned to him and met his stare as he repeated the opening line.

  She brought the microphone to her lips and picked up where he left off. “To want a love that can’t be true.”

  And just like that, the world melted away.

  While he realized that his voice was no match for hers, their notes still complemented each other as they continued the song of longing.

  He had never seen anyone like her.

  She removed the microphone from the stand and sauntered toward William like a seductress on the prowl. And despite the melancholy tone of their song, a small smile lifted the corners of his lips as he watched her.

  When she reached the piano, the faintest scent of her perfume tickled his nose, and he knew that he would remember the sweet fragrance for the rest of his life.

  His fingers drifted over the final notes of the song just as she sat on the piano bench next to him and smiled. Not only did she look good, she smelled like flowers and sunshine. Was that even possible?

  Their performance played out as if it was a well-rehearsed act, and the resulting round of applause finally dissolved their private world and jarred them back to reality.

  “You’re pretty good, whispered to him before nodding at the audience.

  “Thank you.” Pleasantly surprised by the husky lilt of her voice, he continued to smile. “But you’re very good.”

  Together they stood from the bench and worked their way off the stage before he extended his hand in an awkward introduction. “William Hayes.”

  When she slid her small hand into his, he was more than aware of its softness.

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Josephine Ferrell, but please call me Josie.”

  Chapter 5

  Ming’s leather jacket did little to warm her against the early-morning chill. She uttered no complaint as she supervised the forensic team and the question process outside Keystone.

  Detective Tyrese Simmons made his way over to her, shaking his head and flipping through his small notepad. Partners for five years, Ming and Tyrese had found their own rhythm when working a crime scene, but for the most part he was the brawn and she was the brain.

  “Any ideas?” he asked.

  She frowned and glanced at her own notes. “Nothing inspiring, one dead doctor and a missing patient.”

  “Not just any patient but Thornton’s girlfriend. How do you feel about coincidences?”

  “Never been a believer.” Flipping the notepad closed, she drew in the morning’s cold air while contemplating a connection between this case and the Thornton case. “Maybe Thornton’s murderer believes the girlfriend knows something—or has something.”

  Tyrese shrugged. “Well, they sure went through an awful lot of trouble.”

  “And had a lot of luck on their side: an empty parking lot, a farewell party, and no witnesses inside the hospital.”

  “Luck or calculation. Could be someone on the inside,” Tyrese added.

  Ming looked over at him as he gave her a sheepish smile.

  “What can I say? Even I get an idea every once in a while.”

  Ming shrugged. “I guess stranger things have been known to happen.” From over her partner’s shoulder she spotted a six-foot-six brick house of a man approaching with tears in his eyes.

  Whatever Tyrese was saying he stopped in midsentence and turned to see what had caught her attention.

  “Hi, I’m Detective Delaney,” she said, moving toward the man. “Did you know the victim?”

  The giant nodded as his kind brown eyes continued to swim through shallow films of tears. “I’m Theodore Watts, lead nurse on third shift. I believe I might have been one of the last people to see Dr. Bancroft before she was killed.”

  Ming’s brows stretched upward while simultaneously flipping her notepad open again. “When was the last time you saw her?”

  “Early this morning. I-I think it as sometime around 2: 00 a.m.” He wiped at a stray tear.

  Surprised at the large man’s waterworks, Ming cast a quick glance back at her partner, only to be rewarded with another shrug.

  “And your relationship with Dr. Bancroft was strictly...professional?”

  Sniffing, he nodded but continued to scrutinize the man while he relayed the events of his last encounter with Dr. Bancroft.

  “Did you notice anything odd about her behavior? Was she nervous or jumpy?”

  Theo thought the question over before he responded. “No. She seemed normal.”

  He seemed genuine, but in murder cases, Ming had discovered that there was a world of great actors outside of Hollywood. “If we have any further question is there an address and phone number where we can contact you?”

  Theo, as he liked to be called, gave them his contact information and, before he left the two officers, he stole a glance to the yellow crime tape around Bancroft’s BMW. “It’s a real shame. I hope you catch whoever did this.”

  Ming studied him again. “We’ll do what we can.”

  Theo nodded as his eyes glazed over, but he spared the partners more tears as he turned and walked away.

  “That was interesting,” Tyrese said. “Do you think that he was lying?”

  “About what part?”

  “The strictly professional colleagues part. He seemed awfully torn up about this.”

  Ming’s gaze remained locked on the departing giant as she mulled over her answer. “I’m not quite sure what I think. Right now I’m focused on finding Michelle Andrews, preferably alive.”

  Josephine Ferrell held her temper in check as she was escorted into Marcus Hines’s office, but as her eyes met the practice administrator’s, she actually felt her skin crawl with irritation.

  “Ms. Ferrell,” he began with an unsure smile. “What a surprise. I was just about to call…”

  “Spare me,” she s
aid, sliding open her mid-length, coffee and cream chinchilla to settle her gloved hands against her hips. “The first thing I want to know is how your reputable that was the word you used last week, wasn’t it?”

  Mr. Hines cleared his throat and gave her a slow nod.

  “Good. I didn’t want to get it wrong. How is it that your reputable institution failed, not only to provide the possible care for my sister, but also manage to lose her in the process?”

  Once again, Hines cleared his throat and squirmed beneath her hard gaze. “Ms. Ferrell, I know that you’re upset.”

  “Pissed.”

  “Very well. I know you’re pissed. But I want to assure you that we’re doing everything we can to get to the bottom of what happened here last night.”

  Josephine’s lips curled as utter loathing for the short balding man hit her like a whip. “And what about finding my sister?”

  Hines paled to the point of looking ghostly. “Of course, we’re working closely with the authorities in locating Michelle.”

  Josephine’s sneer turned into a wicked smile. “Are you now?” She glided over to a vacant chair in front of his desk and took her time settling into its soft cushions. “May I ask when exactly were you going to tell me about all of this?”

  He hesitated a second too long.

  “After discussing your position with your attorneys?” she guessed, and waited to scrutinize his reaction. “Maybe you’re worried that I’ll sue the hell out of this two-bit organization?”

  “Now, Josephine—“

  “Ms. Ferrell.”

  Hines plopped into his own chair, seemingly unprepared to handle this sort of dilemma. “Ms. Ferrell, the practice was first trying to ascertain the full scope of the situation. We wanted to first make sure that Michelle wasn’t somewhere else on the fifteenth floor before we informed you that she was indeed missing.”

  “So you thought that you simply misplaced her?”

  A flash of annoyance flickered across his features. “We didn’t misplace her.”

  “As far as you know,” she countered, without missing a beat.

  He paused as if needing to do a mental count to ten before continuing. “Ms. Ferrell, I understand that you’re angry...” He caught her daggered stare. “Pissed,” he corrected. “But there is a certain protocol that we must adhere to—”

  “Meaning that this has happened before?”

  He hesitated again, and Josephine waited patiently for his answer.

  “Years ago, we had a patient who wandered from the facility.”

  One delicate eyebrow arched as she measured the nervous man before her. “Wandered off?” She suffered through another bout of his clearing his throat before he got around to clarifying his statement.

  “It was a good ten years ago. Since then we’ve implemented security measures to prevent something like that from ever happening again.”

  “And yet my sister is missing.”

  “But she didn’t wander off,” he countered.

  “And how did you come to that conclusion?”

  “You need an ID badge to scan in and out of the fifteenth floor. Period. So, whoever took your sister knew exactly what they were doing.”

  “Took her?” Josephine blinked, then leaned forward in her chair. “Why would anyone want to take my sister?”

  Hines patiently braided his fingers on his desk. “I don’t have an answer to that.”

  Fire lit her eyes. “It doesn’t seem like you know much of anything, if you asked me.”

  “The likely answer might have something to do with Michelle’s personal life,” he boldly added. “The unfortunate thing is that it may have cost the life of one of our doctors as well.”

  “That’s crazy,” she retorted indignantly. “Maybe Michelle stole a badge and left on her own. Did you ever think of that?”

  “Given her condition, I doubt that.”

  “But you don’t know for sure, do you?” she asked evenly.

  “No.” Hines held her heated gaze as he continued. “But I suspect otherwise. The police have here several times and wanted to question Michelle about an ex-boyfriend. A drug dealer, if I remember correctly. Given her current medical condition, we were able to decline the request until a court order of some kind was obtained.

  “When in the hell did all of this happen?”

  The room sweltered from the woman’s intensity and Hines adjusted his tie in a vain attempt to get comfortable. “The early part of last week.”

  She straightened her shoulders. “And why wasn’t I informed?”

  “With all due respect, Ms. Ferrell, but until you present a power of attorney naming you executor of medical decision for Michelle, this facility has no legal obligation to inform you of anything. Given her propensity to violence whenever you visit, it’s clear to me that there is some bad blood between the two of you.”

  “How dare you,” Josephine snapped, smashing her hand on his desk.

  Hines jumped in his seat. “Ms. Ferrell, I’m going to have to ask you to contain yourself.”

  She stood. “Go screw yourself.”

  Her venom struck him hard, but he maintained his professionalism. “Please sit down, Ms. Ferrell. While I understand your position—”

  “I highly doubt that.” Josephine headed toward the door. “I’ll be back with my lawyers and your damn power of attorney.” She jerked opened the office door and promptly collided with a tall Asian woman.

  “Excuse you,” Josephine snapped.

  “Ms. Andrews?” Ming asked astounded, and then cut a questioning look across the room at Marcus Hines.

  “What?” Josephine stepped back and rubbed her hand along her temple.

  “Detective Delaney.” Hines cleared his throat as he came around his desk. “This is Ms. Josephine Ferrell. She’s Michelle Andrew’s sister.”

  Ming’s gaze returned to the woman before her. Remembering the photograph taken from Thornton’s wallet, she asked, “Are you and Michelle twins?”

  Josephine smiled tightly. “As a matter-of-fact, we are.”

  Chapter 6

  “Josephine is a beautiful name.” The twenty-one-year old William said, accepting Josie’s hand and lifting it to his lips to place a kiss against her knuckles.

  Her cheeks darkened prettily as she smiled. “Something tells me you’re a dangerous man, Mr. Hayes.”

  “William or Will, if you prefer.”

  She said her hand from his. “Not Billy or Bill?” She turned and maneuvered through the tight space between the cable’s table and patrons.

  “My father is Bill,” he answered, and followed close behind her.

  “So you’re a junior?”

  “Actually, I’m the fourth. William Charles Hayes IV.”

  She stopped and turned back toward him with a glowing smile. “My father’s name is Charles.”

  “Really?” Pleased that he’d said something to capture her attention, he relaxed and smiled. “I hope that’s a good thing.”

  “It’s not bad.” She gave him a quick wink. “Would you like to join me and my friends?”

  He followed the wave of her hand to a crowded table of women.

  “Well, actually, no,” he said, mustering a straight face.

  Disappointment crept into her features. “Oh? Are you here with someone?”

  Until that moment, William had forgotten about his table of friends and turned to see them watching him from across the room. “Yes and no,” he answered, returning his gaze to hers. “What I would like to do is either grab our own table or go somewhere where we can be alone.”

  Josie lifted a quizzical brow. “I hardly know you.”

  “That’s the whole point,” he said. “It is a chance for us to get to know each other.”

  She held his serious gaze while the band struck up a smooth instrumental number. “I’m curious, William. Is this charm or cockiness?”

  “It’s definitely not cockiness. I’m terrified you’re going to say no.”

 
; “You should be.” Her smile was slow to return as she made a casual glance around. “Where would you like to sit?”

  Relief and excitement swelled in his chest. “How about we grab something toward the back? I want to make sure we’re not disturbed.” When her eyes sparkled up at him, his heart muscles tightened.

  “All right,” she said.

  A few minutes later, William and Josie sat opposite one another at a small round table and grinned like a couple of teenagers.

  “Okay, you’ve got my attention.” She crossed her legs and settled her hand in her laps.

  “Now I don’t know where to begin,” he admitted. “I’m not usually tongue-tied around women.”

  Again her right brow lifted quizzically, and he concluded the act was a habit. “Picking up women in smoky jazz clubs is something you done this before.”

  “So where do you usually meet woman?”

  Cornered, a rush of heat crept up William’s face and enflamed his ears. “Is there any possible way I can rewind the clock so I can take my foot out of my mouth?”

  “Afraid not.”