prompted.
66
Maggie’s face was pale and collected. A tiny pulse beat beneath her
jaw. “Three weeks ago.”
Three weeks . . .
His chest was tight. “What about tonight?”
“I don’t understand.”
“What were you doing on the beach tonight?”
Maggie’s gaze collided with his, her eyes dark and unfathomable.
“Looking for you.”
67
Six
DONNA
GLANCED
FROM
MAGGIE
TO
CALEB,
SPECULATION sparkling in her eyes. “You two know each other?”
Maggie was silent.
Caleb didn’t blame her. Their relationship was none of the doctor’s
damn business. Or wouldn’t be under most circumstances. Too bad these
weren’t ordinary circumstances. Maggie was Donna’s patient. And Caleb
. . . Well, he was willing to tell the doctor whatever she needed to hear to
provide Maggie with the best possible care.
So, okay, he didn’t know Maggie’s last name or her favorite color,
her permanent address or her childhood pets. But they’d had sex on a
picnic table. Twice. That counted for something.
Know her?
“Yes,” he said.
“So . . .” Donna pursed her lips. “Any idea who I should list as the
responsible party?”
Victims Compensation would cover only part of the bill.
"Put my name,” Caleb said. “At least until we locate some family.”
As simply as that, he claimed her.
There would be winks, he knew, and nudges and teasing comments
when he patrolled the dock or dropped by Antonia’s for his morning cup
of coffee.
But as long as Maggie was tagged as the police chief’s girl, she
would be accepted and protected by the tight-knit island community. The
news might even give the son of a bitch who attacked her a few anxious
moments.
68
Caleb hoped so.
“Well, then.” Donna set down her clipboard and smiled at Maggie.
“Let’s have a look at you.”
Maggie stiffened, but she allowed the doctor to palpate her skull and
shine a tiny penlight into her eyes.
Caleb caught himself leaning forward and settled back deliberately
in his corner. For months now, he’d been trying to feel a part of things.
Connected. Now he had to struggle for his professional detachment.
“Hmm,” Donna said.
Fuck detached.
“What’s wrong?” Caleb asked.
“Her pupils are enlarged.”
“Is that bad?”
Donna made another noncommittal noise. “They are responsive to
light. And the reaction is symmetric.” She flashed, peered, flashed again.
“It’s just . . . odd.”
Maggie blinked. “There is nothing wrong with my eyes.” “No
blurring?” Caleb asked. “No double vision?”
“No,” Maggie said.
Donna shot him an annoyed look.
He shut up, jamming his hands in his pockets, as the doctor
continued her examination. Mouth. Throat. Wrists. Arms. Breasts.
Thighs. Every part he had touched and taken and caressed . . . He looked
up at the stained acoustic tile on the ceiling. Forced himself to look back
at Maggie on the table.
The doctor had reached her feet. She spread her toes, as if checking
for needle marks, and paused.
Maggie pulled her foot away.
69
Donna allowed that, making another note on the chart. “Good motor
responses. Now I want you to scoot to the end of the table and lie down.”
Caleb pulled in his lower abdomen, instinctively protecting his
crotch. He knew what was coming. Hell, he’d provided the rape kit from
his trunk.
Maggie looked at Caleb. “Why?”
He would rather have faced an alley full of blind windows than that
dark, wary gaze.
“I need to do a vaginal exam,” Donna explained.
“To assess your injuries,” Caleb said.
Like that made the violation of her body and her privacy all right.
“This is to help me?”
He wanted to believe that. Had to believe it.
“To help you,” he said evenly, “and to help me catch whoever did
this to you.”
Maggie tilted her head, keeping her gaze on his face. “You want
this?”
No, he didn’t. He didn’t want anybody touching her. Nobody
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