Free The Baby's Guardian by Delores Fossen Page A

assistance. And she could hear others, guests probably and maybe hotel employees, who were scurrying around in the hall. No doubt trying to get out of there and away in case there were more gunshots.
    Shaw slid his arm around her waist and moved her even farther away until they were against the wall near the windows. But not directly in front of them. He closedthe tiny gap in the curtains and then angled Sabrina so she wouldn’t be facing the dead man.
    “It’s not a scratch,” she said, touching her fingertips to the bruise and cut on his forehead. God knew how many other bruises he had after the multiple attempts to bash his way through the door.
    “I’m fine. But I’m worried about you. About the baby,” he quickly added. “Did he touch you?”
    Sabrina shook her head. “It’s the gunman from the hospital,” she managed to say.
    “You’re sure?”
    “Positive. I recognized his voice. He’s the one who killed the hospital employee right in front of me.” Her breath caught just remembering what he’d put the other women and her through. “How did he find us?”
    Shaw’s jaw tightened, and maybe because she was starting to shake, he eased her closer to him. Not quite a hug but close. “I don’t know. But I’ll figure it out.” Shaw looked at Newell, who was still just outside the door and obviously standing guard. “Check and see if he has any ID on him.”
    Sabrina wanted to know the name of her attacker, and she only hoped the name would lead them to a motive.
    “He could have just shot me,” she said more to herself than Shaw. “I wasn’t armed when he broke through the door.”
    “He didn’t want you dead. Or me.”
    “But he shot at you,” she pointed out.
    “If he’d wanted me dead, he would have aimed higher. That bullet went into the floor. Yes, it still could have been deadly, but I don’t think he had killing on hismind. It’s my guess he intended to kidnap you again, and then use you and the baby to get me to cooperate with something.”
    Yes, because that’s exactly what they’d wanted when they were holding her before at the abandoned building. Some kind of leverage over Shaw. But that led her to her next question.
    “Where’s his partner?” she asked. Sabrina suddenly felt on the verge of panicking. “He could be in the hall, ready to strike.”
    Shaw used his left hand to gently take hold of her arm, and he forced her to look him in the eye. “If his partner had been here, he would have taken out Officer Newell. And he would have come in to assist with the kidnapping.”
    “According to his driver’s license, his name is Burney Monroe,” Officer Newell informed them.
    “You recognize the name?” Shaw asked her.
    “No.”
    “How about his face?” Newell continued.
    She glanced past Shaw and saw that Newell had peeled back the ski mask. There was no blood on the dead man’s face so she could clearly see the features. The thin nose, the square jaw, the light brown hair. In death, he certainly didn’t seem menacing. He looked average.
    Again she shook her head. “I don’t know him.”
    “Probably a hired gun,” Shaw provided.
    That was even more chilling because the person who hired him was still out there. Or maybe his partner was the boss. She hadn’t had much contact with him during the hostage situation or the kidnapping. She wasn’t evensure she would recognize his voice as she had Burney Monroe’s.
    There was a flurry of footsteps in the hall, and Sabrina saw the second uniformed officer. “The medical examiner is on the way. CSI, too,” he told Newell, and then looked at Shaw. “Sir, a squad car should be here any minute to take you and Ms. Carr to headquarters.”
    Good. Because it was the only place where she’d finally feel semi-safe. Of course, they had to get there first, and she certainly wouldn’t breathe easy while they were out in the open.
    Shaw thanked the officer, but he aimed his question at Newell. “Who made the arrangements for