A cart rattled in the hallway and Kara jumped.
Soon, very soon, the missing cop would be discovered, or he’d return and Kara would be trapped in Jonas’s room. Time was running out.
“Did Merritt say anyone was after him?”
Jonas just stared. “What do you mean?”
“Who would kill him?”
“I don’t know. He had other clients. Maybe one of them or—” He lifted a hand, then let it fall. “Someone he pissed off. I don’t know.”
“But it has to be connected, right? To what happened at the house that night. That’s why he wanted to see you.”
“Maybe.”
“It’s too much of a coincidence that the day you’re released someone kills Merritt. Why? Did he know something? What did he tell you? Why did he want to meet?”
“He didn’t say. He didn’t get the chance.”
“But you had your own reasons for going,” she said, remembering how Jonas had said he thought Merritt, along with Aunt Faiza, had drained the estate. “You wanted a reconciliation, right? You wanted to see if there was any money in the estate.”
“Yeah.”
“How . . . how did you know there might not be?”
“Just little things Margrove said. Nothing explicit, but just remarks he made about how expensive it was to keep the case alive, how much it costs for you and your education, how some investments had gone south. I wanted to see for myself. I expected a complete list of every dime he’d spent over the last twenty years.”
“Did he know that?”
“Yeah and he backpedaled, you know, talking about how ‘grateful’ I should be to be getting out, that kind of thing.” He was seething again, and she heard noises outside his door. Voices. She looked around the room, searching for a spot to hide. Found none. She was about to bolt when the voices receded, but her nerves were strung tight.
“Okay, I’ve got to go,” she said quickly, easing toward the door when one last thought struck her and she paused, turned back for a second. “Have you heard from Marlie?”
“What?” he whispered, and slowly shook his head against the pillow. “Marlie? No . . . Why?”
“I got a text and a phone call. Weird one. Just the other night. It sounded like . . . I mean I thought it might be her.”
“A prank.”
“Maybe.”
“What did she say?”
“She’s alive.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“She’s alive,” he repeated. “Then it wasn’t Marlie, because she would have IDed herself, right? And said something like, I’m alive. Not she’s alive.”
“I thought about that.”
“Maybe they—whoever called—they weren’t talking about Marlie.”
“Who, then?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, moving on the bed and grimacing in pain. “You tell me.”
“I can’t,” she said. “I thought maybe you knew something about it.”
“Me?” His gaze sharpened as he understood. “Why? Oh, wait. Now I get it! You think I left you the message? Because I was released? Out of prison? You thought I would play some sick mind game with you, is that it? Give me a fuckin’ break.”
Again, Kara heard a noise outside the door, footsteps coming closer. She froze. What if the cop was back? How would she explain herself and get out? Or what if a nurse or doctor came in to check on Jonas? She couldn’t be discovered here in his room. Didn’t want to be found out. Not yet. At any second her empty bed could be discovered and if so, Jonas’s room would be one of the first places the staff would search for her. She’d made her need to see him well known to the nursing staff. That had been a mistake.
And what about the police? The nurse had told her the cops were going to return to ask her questions. She was out of time. “I’ll be back,” she promised, but he didn’t seem to be listening, was sleeping again. Carefully, she cracked the door, peered into the hallway and slid out, past the empty chair. She passed a man in a wheelchair rolling down the hallway and the semicircular nurse’s desk where the same nurse sat, back turned to her.
Kara moved noiselessly to the elevators just as the nurse clicked off her phone and glanced over her shoulder. Her gaze met Kara’s and she stood up quickly. “Can I help you?” she asked, her eyebrows knitting.
Kara froze.
Silently prayed the elevator doors would open. Shoving back her chair, she stood and ripped off her headset as she rounded the desk, phone still in hand. “This floor is off-limits to visitors at this time.”