Free Covert M.D. by Jessica Andersen Page A

French.” Sturgeon’s tired eyes were kind. “And, yeah, it’s important. Maybe he saw something he shouldn’t have. Maybe the killer wanted a souvenir.” He pushed away from the wall. “Leave that investigating to us. And watch each other’s backs. The guy who jumped Dr. French yesterday isn’t talking—and he has himself a very expensive lawyer.”
    A junkie with a hotshot attorney. A dead man with a hospital master key. Rathe didn’t like the connections his gut was drawing.
    “I’m confused,” Logan said, glancing between Nia and Rathe. “I thought the guy yesterday wanted money.”
    Peters inclined his head. “Dr. French’s attacker is in custody, but he’s not talking. It was probably just a mugging.”
    But when Peters glanced over, Rathe could see that neither of them believed that. He relaxed slightly, sensing an ally in the young detective. The young married detective.
    “What if the attack was staged to keep me from seeing something?” Nia glanced from Talbot to Hart and back. “I was supposed to observe a rare-tissue-type transplant. What if the attack was meant to keep me away from the operating theater?”
    Talbot half rose from behind his enormous desk. His eyes hardened. “Dr. French, I performed that surgery, and I resent the implication.” The director of transplant medicine shot a fulminating glance at Rathe and the detectives.
    Nia waited a beat, then quietly replied, “I meant no disrespect. But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask the questions.”
    Talbot harrumphed and sat back. “Yes, well. I know how much this investigation must mean to you, Dr. French, after what your father went through.” He glanced at his watch. “Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I’m presenting early rounds.”
    And just that quickly the meeting was over. When the others filed out, Rathe paused in the office, his mind locked on Talbot’s comment about Nia’s father. Tony had died of a heart attack.
    Hadn’t he?
    Rathe caught the transplant director as he tried to slip out the back door of his office. “What does Nia’s father have to do with this investigation?”
    Brief irritation flashed in the older man’s eyes, a strange-seeming response from an administrator whose department was linked to a murder. But just as quickly Talbot’s expression shifted to harried worry. “There isn’t a direct connection.” He glanced at his watch again, making it clear he was late. “And my knowledge of her history is bound by doctor-patient confidentiality.” He opened the door but paused before escaping through it. “However, you might want to ask yourself why Dr. French is on this case. And why she won’t give it up.”
    Then he was gone, leaving Rathe wondering that very thing. He had assumed it was her innate drive, or perhaps her desire to show him up. But what if it was more? What if it was personal?
    Then she’d be even more likely to endanger herself in pursuit of the truth.
    On a curse, he spun and headed down the hallway after her. Damn it, he wasn’t going to stand by and watch another partner die on a personal crusade.
    He found her deep in conversation with Logan Hart. The doctor’s tawny elegance countered her petite darkness nicely. He was young, steady and had a job that would bring him home for dinner safely every night.
    He was everything Tony had once wanted for his daughter.
    Rathe clenched his jaw when Nia nodded, smiled and parted from Hart with a half wave. Her voice carried when she said, “See you tonight, then.”
    Edgy irritation spiked through Rathe when she joined him, and they walked down the hall shoulder to shoulder. “Great. That’s just what I need.” They stopped outside her new office, and he cursed, not caring that they were attracting attention. “Did it occur to you that the middle of your first official investigation is not the time to start a romance?”
    She shot daggers at him and lowered her voice. “And did it occur to you that we don’t