Free In a Heartbeat by Rita Herron Page B

you do that to her, Booker.”
    “I don’t like upsetting her either, sir, but we have to do everything possible to stop this maniac.”
    “But how could Lisa possibly help you? She told you everything at that blasted trial.”
    “We think this man might have known White. Maybe he was a cell mate or buddy, someone who White confided in. He might know where White took his victims—”
    “My daughter has a name, goddamn you,” Langley snarled. “Use it.”
    Brad cleared his throat, his own patience teetering on a thin line. “You don’t need to remind me,” he said in a warning voice. “But if this copycat is taking his victims to the same place White used, it would help if we could find that building, and Lisa might know where it is.”
    “Like I said, my daughter has been through enough, Booker. If she’s buried that memory, it’s for a good reason. Now I don’t want her involved in this at all.” He heaved a breath. “In fact, I tried to talk her into coming here to stay. If not, I’ll hire a bodyguard for her.”
    “Dr. Langley, I don’t know if that’s necessary now—”
    “If he’s a copycat, following White, why wouldn’t he come after Lisa? As you pointed out when you forced her to testify, she’s White’s only surviving victim. For all we know she may be the reason this psycho started up again.”
    Brad clenched his jaw, unable to argue the point. It was, perhaps in reality, the very reason he had driven here himself. “I swear, Dr. Langley, I will protect her this time.”
    “You expect me to trust you with Lisa’s safety?” Langley shouted. “You sure as hell didn’t protect her the first time.”
    “I know that.” Anger mounted within Brad. Every day he wrestled with the guilt that ate at him. It was like a sore that wouldn’t heal. But he angled his head away from Lisa, refusing to upset her any more than necessary. “If this lunatic comes after Lisa, he won’t get her. I’ll give my life before I’ll let that happen.”
    “Your life won’t be worth anything if he succeeds,” Langley said. “Because if one hair on my daughter’s head is harmed again, I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”
    LIAM LANGLEY STARED at his perfectly manicured hands. The hands of a surgeon. A man who saved lives.
    A man who had failed to protect his daughter.
    Gripping his desk with a shaky sigh, he forced the rage that had eaten at him for four long years at bay, rage that had only slightly dissipated with White’s death.
    Anxious now that the police might make some connection between him and Mindy and the night White had died, he accessed the only file that could condemn him and deleted the information, then fed the printout on his desk into the shredder.
    He should have destroyed the papers a long time ago, but no one had asked any questions at the time.
    Now, with Mindy missing and this copycat killer dredging up the past, he couldn’t be too cautious.
    He had carefully constructed his career, had built his reputation on a genius IQ and refined surgical techniques, always acutely attuned to the latest cutting edge procedures.
    Nothing would destroy the name he had built.
    But he’d had to take action against White.
    Lisa’s bruised body and anguished voice floated back in the dark recesses of his mind. That trial…no, the abduction had changed things for him. Had given him a different perspective on human life.
    People claimed that doctors shouldn’t play God. He usually agreed. But the opportunity had presented itself for revenge, and he’d craved it.
    White had deserved the fate that had been bestowed on him.
    Liam refused to feel an ounce of guilt for it whatsoever.
    “I CAN’T BELIEVE my father’s reacting this way, Brad,” Lisa said. “I haven’t spoken to him in months, and now he wants to call and boss me around like I’m a child.”
    Brad adopted a smile, although it was tight. “Your father is just worried about you, Lisa. I can’t blame him for that. If I were in