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LENGTH: Category Novel
SENSUALITY: Sensual

Cover art (c) Eliza Black 2005
ISBN 1-58608-874-2
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Connor McKendrick has sworn off relationships. So when he finds himself drawn to Emily West he guards his heart with stern professionalism.

Emily is no happier with the intense magnetism she feels toward Connor. He awakens feelings she thought she’d buried with her late husband, emotions she is not prepared to deal with.

A far more disturbing man enters her life, however, an inmate who regularly invents excuses to visit the ER. When that same prisoner escapes from his hospital room in a barrage of gunfire, Emily knows in her heart he’s coming for her.

Rating: Contains violence, sexual content, and graphic language.

CRIMINAL INTENT

By

Laine Morgan

© copyright April 2006, Laine Morgan

Cover art by Dan Skinner, © copyright April 2006

ISBN 1-58608-874-2

New Concepts Publishing

Lake Park, GA 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

Chapter One

Nurses, lab techs, and one frazzled doctor hovered over the woman’s broken body in the cramped trauma room. Monitors beeped.

Emily West, student radiographer, edged closer for a better look. The tangy scent of blood hung in the air, even sharper than the antiseptic. A nurse shifted position and Emily sucked in her breath as she caught a glimpse of bone fragments jutting from the patient’s forehead.

How was this woman still alive?

Emily inched forward. The woman groaned in a murmuring monotone. The sound sent shivers up Emily’s spine.

She wished she hadn’t let Janine drag her here to observe. This was more than she had bargained for.

The woman stopped groaning.

A look of hopelessness passed across the faces of those in the room as they glanced at each other. Emily screamed in her mind for the technicians to keep trying.

There was always hope, wasn’t there? Always a chance for a miracle? She didn’t know why she still believed in miracles. After all, God hadn’t given her one when she needed it most.

Her friend and fellow student, Janine, grabbed the hem of Emily’s scrub top and pulled her back. “Don’t get too close,” she whispered.

Emily stepped backward until she bumped into a young, curly-haired police officer. He examined a driver’s license fastened onto a metal clipboard and seemed oblivious to the life-and-death drama playing out in front of him.

“What happened?” she asked, catching his eye.

“Hit and run accident on Highway 40.” His tone was professional, businesslike. He didn’t look up from his clipboard.

“How old is she?”

He glanced at the crazy wavering lines on the monitor. “Her license states she’s thirty.”

Emily gulped. She was thirty, too.

The doctor pinned Emily with a fierce glare. “Anyone who doesn’t need to be here, get out!” His voice boomed through the tiny room.

She looked at the patient one last time, and prayed the doctor could perform a miracle. She turned and pushed her way out the door.

And into the solid chest of the Director of Radiology, Connor McKendrick.

“I’m sorry,” Emily said, stepping aside. Could she be any clumsier? Heat crept into her cheeks as he glared down at her.

“Observation time’s over.” He turned around and walked away. “Come on, we have a patient.” His long strides took him halfway down the hall before Emily registered his command. She quickened her pace.

“What a jerk,” Janine whispered as they followed Connor back to the radiology department where they trained.

Emily smiled at her young friend. At a youthful twenty, Janine provided endless amusement, reminding her of how naïve and excited about life she had been at her age. “Who’s a jerk? Connor or the doctor?”

Janine tossed a sour glance at the tall figure in front of them. “Connor.”

“He’s probably just busy. You know how serious he is about his work.” Emily sped up even more, uncomfortable with talking behind her clinical instructor’s back. She made an effort to stay on good terms with Connor, and didn’t want to mess anything up.

Connor was a great teacher, and the most skilled x-ray technologist she’d ever met. She didn’t want to jeopardize the chance to learn all she could.

Janine sobered. “That was awful, though. I hope she lives.” She bit her lower lip and glanced sideways at Emily.

“Me too.” Emily blinked to rid herself of the image of the woman’s fractured leg. It was a compound fracture, the bone had broken through the skin. She suppressed a shudder. The leg was the least of her injuries, and their tiny hospital in Beachside, Florida, was ill equipped for such major trauma. There had been no time to transfer her to the trauma hospital in Orlando, an hour away.

Emily folded her arms across her chest. The scene in the ER brought back unhappy memories. Her husband’s unexpected death two years before was still very fresh, and moving on was difficult. Although he had been a successful physician and had left her enough to live comfortably for a long time, she couldn’t sit home and cry. She had to do something to get her mind off the sorrow.

Medicine had always intrigued her, so she’d enrolled in the x-ray technologist program at her local college. She figured the best way of getting her mind off her own pain was by helping someone else through theirs. And she was right. By the second semester, she was able to smile again.

“Well, let’s see what the grouch has for us,” Janine said in her soothing Oklahoma twang. Her accent stuck out like Opie Taylor’s ears in the small Florida beach town, but Emily loved it.

They hurried into the radiology department, where Connor examined an x-ray of someone’s chest. His unruly more-blond-than-brown hair curled at the nape of his neck and Emily’s gaze lingered on it as they approached. His broad neck was smooth, unlike the persistent shadow of stubble framing his mouth.

Emily shivered as frigid air blasted her from an overhead vent. The radiology department seemed about fifty degrees cooler than the rest of the hospital.

“So nice of you two to show up,” Connor said in his usual gruff manner, leaning in toward the lightbox and examining the x-ray.

“You mean you already did the x-ray? I don’t have to do it?” Janine asked, looking over his shoulder. She smiled gleefully.

Emily cringed, knowing Connor would snatch the opportunity for a reprimand. Sometimes Janine had no common sense.

“Yeah, I did it. One day you’ll stop goofing off in the ER and get serious about your future career.” Connor turned and faced Janine. His look could have brought a snow shower to the Sahara.

“We weren’t goofing off in the ER, we were observing,” Janine said.

Connor ignored her remark. “What would you do in a larger hospital, where they x-ray fifty patients a day? You’re going to have to learn to do this, Janine.” He folded his arms across his chest.

Janine looked at the floor and stuck out her lower lip. “I can do the exams. It’s just that I have a hard time dealing with people.”

Connor snorted. “That’s something you’ve got to overcome.” He rubbed his eyes. “Why some of you even come into this field, I don’t know.” He regarded Janine with a cool stare. Without even the slightest hint of a grin he said, “You know, you could go to school to be a mortuary assistant. They don’t have to deal with people. Well, not live people, anyway.”

Emily watched the exchange, feeling sorry for Janine. The girl had endured a rough life, growing up in poverty with an alcoholic father and a mother who just didn’t care. It was no wonder she had a hard time getting along with others. She put her arm around Janine and pulled her close. “She’ll be okay. She can do the exams.”

Janine smiled at her. “Yeah. You’ll see.” She nodded and her luxurious brunette ponytail bobbed.

Conner sighed, and his expression changed from sour to tired. “Okay, no more hiding from exams, though, all right?”

Janine flashed him a broad smile. “Yes sir.”

Emily stepped forward and peered at the x-ray. “He’s got a bad case of pneumonia,” she said, tracing a faint line on the film. The black areas of the film reflected her image and that of Conner’s, standing right behind her.

Connor stared at her in the reflection of the x-ray. “Oh yeah? How do you know?” He hinted at a grin and Emily thought her heart fluttered. She couldn’t be sure; the sensation was gone as quick as it had come.

Dismissing the feeling, Emily tapped a cloudy-looking area on the x-ray. “All this is fluid, here at the bottom of the lung.” She turned and glanced at Connor for confirmation.

Janine stepped next to her. “I don’t know how you can see that.” She squinted at the x-ray.

“Well, this time, you’re right,” Connor said, snapping the x-ray off the lightbox and sticking it in a film folder. “This is what I wanted you to see. You don’t see a case of pneumonia this severe very often.” He handed Emily the big green folder. “Go put this in the reading room for Doctor McKendrick.”

Dr. McKendrick, Connor’s father, was the resident radiologist, a plump, cheerful man who always had a joke to tell. Usually the same joke, over and over.

Emily squinted as she entered the darkened reading room, where the radiologist examined the x-rays and formulated diagnoses. The eerie glow of the fluorescent lighting behind the black and white x-rays drew her gaze to the doctor as he dictated his findings into a microphone. Emily placed the folder under a large stack of similar folders. Doctor McKendrick shifted in his squeaky chair and winked at her. Before she could leave, he held up a finger.

“Quick test, Emily.”

Oh no. These “quick tests” the doctor gave her always threw her into a cold sweat. She squared her shoulders and looked at the film he examined.

“What’s this?” Doctor McKendrick asked in his gravelly Winnie-the-Pooh-like voice. He circled a large area on the left side of the film with one pudgy finger.

Easy. But he always started his tests off with a simple question. It was the next question that worried her. “That’s a lung.” She took a deep breath, waiting for the stumper.

“Right. And what’s this?” He pointed to an area on the opposite side of the film.

“A kidney ... hey, that’s a horseshoe kidney!” She leaned in closer, examining the rare phenomenon.

“Exactly.” The doctor leaned back, his chair creaking. He folded his hands across his ample belly. “I thought you might find it interesting.”

“I do,” Emily said. She’d always found medical anomalies fascinating.

Doctor McKendrick swiveled in his seat and gazed at her. “You’ll do well, Emily. We can use you here when you graduate this spring.”

Emily’s jaw dropped. Was he offering her a job? She loved this small hospital, but she’d always thought the staff was more than sufficient for the few patients they saw each day. She couldn’t think of anything to say other than, “I’d like that.”

Emily came out of the reading room as Connor jogged past, leaving behind a breeze tinged with laundry starch. She watched his tall, athletic frame disappear around the corner, his navy blue scrubs swishing. She leaned against the receptionist counter. “What’s going on?”

Nina, the receptionist, blew out a breath. In her sultry, whiskey-soaked voice, she said, “Doctor Rollins wants him in surgery. I guess they’re still trying to save the woman.”

Emily glanced around the waiting area. “So it’s just me and Janine here?” This was the first time they’d been left alone, and although she was familiar with taking x-rays, the thought of performing a complex procedure daunted her.

Nina smiled. “Yep. You guys can handle it. I doubt we’ll have any more patients until Doctor Stewart comes in at two, anyway.” Nina opened her desk drawer, rummaged around, and pulled out a nail file. She went after her nails with an aggressiveness that was sort of scary. Her heavy, mascara-coated lashes fluttered as she worked on her pinky nail.

“How long do you think Connor will be gone?” Emily stared down the deserted hallway.

“With Doctor Rollins, who knows?” Nina stopped filing long enough to smile up at her. “You’ll be fine.”

“I know.” Emily glanced down the department hallway. Empty, as usual. Maybe it would be okay. For once, she was glad Beachside Memorial wasn’t as busy as the larger hospitals in neighboring cities.

The phone rang. After a few moments of “uh huh’s” and “okay’s,” Nina hung up and typed the patient’s information into the computer. “Well girls, it’s your time to shine. The police are bringing in some guy who tried to outrun them in his car. The chase ended with the guy wrecking in a ditch.” She shifted her curvaceous frame in her seat. Emily wondered, quite inexplicably, if Connor found Nina attractive.

From behind Emily, Janine groaned. “But it’s our first day of the semester.”

“Sorry, I can’t help you. I don’t know how to take x-rays.” Nina went after her nails again, a slight smile tipping her glossy pink lips.

Emily paced the hallway until they brought the prisoner in. Janine had slipped away and was probably hiding in a bathroom at the other end of the hospital.

Well, I’ve just got to do this. I’ve got to be calm and professional and act like this is just a regular patient.

Two huge policemen entered with the prisoner. Each officer looked as though he could have been a professional wrestler. One was a friend she had grown up with. John Jameson shared her birthday and was exactly two years younger than she was. As kids, she had nicknamed him “Little John.” There wasn’t anything small about him now. The other officer, a bald behemoth, looked like Jesse Ventura did before he became governor of Minnesota.

Dwarfed by the officers, the prisoner stood with his hands shackled in front of him. He stared at the floor in a sullen stupor. Bits of green grass stuck out from his scraggly, shoulder-length blond hair.

He didn’t look so tough. The police officers looked scarier than he did. He was short, and skinny as a cattail. A thin trail of blood seeped from his flaring right nostril.

Straightening her spine, Emily looked at John and smiled. Seeing a familiar face helped. “Hi John. How are you?”

John gave her his boyish grin. “I’m good. How are you doing?”

Emily paused, then said, “I’m doing great. Come this way.”

Where was Janine? That rat! She was a good enough friend, but man, when things got sticky, she disappeared like a ghost. Connor’s warnings and threats would never sink in. Emily should have known this would happen. She kicked herself for not tying Janine down the moment they got news the prisoner was coming in.

“Here’s the requisition.” Nina handed her the slip of paper. Emily glanced at it and frowned. The doctor had ordered a multitude of x-rays.

She led the officers and the prisoner into the exam room. Pointing to the leaded window, she motioned the two officers behind it. In their lazy, confident stride, they obliged.

She turned to the prisoner. “Okay, you’ll need to stand with your back against the board.” She pointed to the bucky, a rectangular piece of equipment on the far wall.

For the first time, the prisoner raised his eyes and looked at her.

Emily froze. His intense blue eyes were one-hundred-percent crazy. As she stared, his pupils fluttered, a quick, almost imperceptible back and forth movement. She tore her gaze from him and suppressed a shudder.