New Media & Old Grudges Read online

  I lurked behind her, hiding behind a huge potted plant until she got in the elevator. Thankfully she was alone. Then I watched the numbers light up to see where Fawn got off.

  Floor seven. That was the intensive care unit. No surprise there. Tad had been shot twice in the chest. Hardly a flesh wound. If Fawn was here, that likely meant that he was still alive. That, at least, was something.

  I pressed the button and rode the elevator to the seventh floor. No one questioned me, which was for the best. I was something of a notorious figure in certain circles, and I was almost positive the hospital had me on some sort of watch list because I regularly skirted the rules and tracked down patients. That had always worked well for me, so I saw no reason to stop now.

  The small lobby by the elevators was vacant, which was a relief. I glanced at the reception desk and found the chair behind it empty. That could mean the duty nurse was busy on another part of the floor or perhaps taking a bathroom break. It also could mean it was too early for her to be here. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. It was a break for me and I took advantage of it.

  I carefully slipped down the hallway. Standard operating procedure would mean that Jake had posted deputies outside Tad’s room. While it wasn’t a given that they would recognize me, odds were they would. I was definitely famous — or infamous — among the members of Jake’s department.

  Fawn was another problem. I still wasn’t sure why she’d joined forces with Tad. Okay, I had a fairly good idea why. They thought they could join together to torture me. Heck, Fawn was probably trying to come up with a way to get me out of Eliot’s life so she could swoop in and claim him for herself. Tad would invariably enjoy helping her because he was the world’s biggest tool and it would be a slap at me. That was all they needed to start conspiring to harm me.

  I briefly wondered if Fawn hated me enough to shoot Tad to try to frame me. The dislike was definitely there. The spine to carry out the deed was another story. It seemed unlikely she would be able to do it. She was fine stabbing people in the back metaphorically. Physical assault was something else entirely.

  “Any update?”

  I recognized Fawn’s voice and quickly plastered my back to the wall. I tiptoed to the corner and glanced around to get a look before quickly pulling my head back. Things were set up exactly as I expected. There were two deputies outside Room 708. Fawn was talking to them.

  “We haven’t gotten an update, ma’am,” one of the deputies replied. “We know that he came out of surgery and they seemed hopeful, but they said they couldn’t give a prognosis either way. They’re saying the next twenty-four hours is critical.”

  “I see.” Fawn sounded weary. She was now running an election campaign for a man who might not live to see the ballots tallied. This was also new to her. She likely had no idea what to do. “Did they say anything about what the bullets hit? I mean ... he didn’t get shot in the heart or anything, did he?”

  I rolled my eyes. There were times I was convinced she was slow. Like ... ridiculously slow. This was one of those times.

  “No, ma’am.” The deputy didn’t sound as if he was laughing even though I was convinced he wanted to. “They didn’t mention any organs.”

  “That’s not entirely true,” the other deputy countered. “They said one of his lungs collapsed. They didn’t mention him being shot in the lung, though.”

  “Okay.” Fawn exhaled heavily. “Well, can I go in and see him?”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am.” It was the first deputy again. “That’s not allowed. The sheriff says he’s to have absolutely no visitors.”

  “None? But ... I’m his employee. We’re very close.”

  “Even his wife isn’t allowed without an escort. Only family is allowed.”

  There was a moment of silence and I wished I could peer around the corner and gauge Fawn’s reaction. It was too big of a risk, though. “His wife? He doesn’t have a wife. They’re separated.”

  “Yes, but technically they’re still married. She has all the rights and privileges of any spouse until the divorce is finalized.”

  “But ... .” Fawn sounded frustrated. “That’s ridiculous. Is she allowed in?”

  “No, ma’am. Not unless the sheriff clears it. She’s a suspect.”

  “I thought Avery Shaw was the suspect?”

  “No, ma’am.” The deputy sounded grave. “She’s definitely a suspect. We have a list of them. If we see her we’re supposed to alert the sheriff. But she’s not the only one on the list.”

  “Who else is on the list?”

  “Well, there’s Avery Shaw.”

  “Yes, we’ve already established she’s a suspect,” Fawn said dryly.

  “There’s Maria Ludington, the victim’s soon-to-be-ex-wife.”

  “If I wasn’t convinced it was Avery she might make an enticing suspect.”

  “There’s also half the members of the county board. Oh, and Eliot Kane.”

  Anger coursed through me at mention of Eliot’s name but I managed to hold it together ... just barely. And when did Jake’s deputies become so gabby?

  “Eliot?” Fawn sounded shocked. “Why is he a suspect?”

  “I believe it’s because he had his hand wrapped around the victim’s throat on television last night,” the second deputy volunteered. “People say he’s violent.”

  “That’s not true. I worked for him for years. He’s not violent.”

  Part of me was thankful Fawn was standing up for him. The other part was annoyed that she sounded like a schoolgirl in love.

  “He’s a wonderful man, strong and resilient. His only fault is that he insists on sticking with that insipid Avery. She’s going to bring him down, ruin his life. She’s already halfway there. I mean ... look what she did to Tad.”

  I wanted to throttle her ... or at least give her hair a good tug while borrowing someone else’s shoe to shove up her ... well, you know. I couldn’t make my presence known so I had to eat my feelings, and it wasn’t appetizing.

  “You know her better than us.” The first deputy shrugged. “Do you really think she’s capable of killing him? I mean ... I’ve seen her on television before. She seems like a real pain in the ass but she doesn’t look violent. She’s more the type to want to irritate people with words.”

  “Oh, no. That’s what she wants people to believe. See, I’ve spent time around her for a year. She’s one of those people who purposely try to pretend another person isn’t in the room to bully them.”

  That was a lie. I was not that sort of person. In fact, I much preferred singling out those I hated and publicly ridiculing them.

  “She’s on a power trip,” Fawn continued. “She thinks she’s in charge of the entire world. She thinks what she does is important and what everybody else does is lame. She thinks every man in the world is in love with her.”

  The second deputy lowered his voice, but I could still make out the words. “I heard she used to have a thing with the sheriff. They still spend a lot of time together. I’ve often wondered if they were ... um ... doing stuff.”

  “I happen to know for a fact they’re definitely doing stuff,” Fawn replied.

  A growl grew in my throat as the conversation continued. They had no idea I was eavesdropping.

  “How?”

  “I told you. I used to work for Eliot ... well, until she got insecure and insisted that he fire me because she knew there was a chance he might finally break free of her and fall for me. I’m so much prettier than her that she developed an inferiority complex.”

  Right about now I envisioned myself leaping from behind the wall and chasing her through the hospital with my inferiority complex. In my head it resembled Freddy Krueger’s razor finger glove. Somehow, though, I held it together.

  “And you saw her with the sheriff?”

  “Sometimes. Eliot always acted as if it didn’t bother him that they were hanging out. I asked him about it and he put on a good show, but I could tell. She was breaking his heart, which is
ridiculous, because he’s so much better than her.”

  I ran my tongue over my teeth, frustration washing over me. Eliot was many things, but insecure wasn’t one of them. He’d been more than magnanimous when it came to Jake. There was a time when he gave voice to his worries, but he was completely over it. He and Jake were friends and he never once questioned my relationship with my former boyfriend. It was a relief to be with a man who didn’t feel the need to trash others.

  “Well, the sheriff has officially handed over the investigation to the detective bureau and says while he wants to be kept updated he can’t be involved in any decisions regarding Avery Shaw. Supposedly they’re going to go after her hard.”

  “Well, she deserves it.” Fawn sounded haughty. “I called the newspaper to make sure she wasn’t involved in covering the shooting. I mean ... how weird would that be? She’s a suspect, for crying out loud. They said she won’t be covering that or the election, which is a relief.

  “Speaking of that, though,” she continued, pausing briefly. “Wow. It’s later than I thought. I was hoping to get in and see Tad but I guess that’s not going to happen. Just as well. I’m giving a news conference in the parking lot in ten minutes. I have to get down there.”

  I realized she was about to return to the bank of elevators, so I scurried from my hiding spot and slipped past the door that led to the stairs. Once safely on the other side, I drew in a series of calming breaths as I tried to regulate my temper.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised. Fawn was the worst of the worst. Still ... I was angry. The worst part? They were having a news conference without me. She was gleeful because I couldn’t go.

  Something occurred to me as I started trudging down the stairs. I couldn’t cover the conference, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t go. It simply meant I would have to be stealthy. I idled at stealthy ... at least in my head.

  7 Seven

  It took me a full ten minutes to find the locker room. Once inside, it was easy enough to steal a pair of scrubs. Sure, I should’ve felt bad about being a thief, but I figured I would return the outfit when I was done. I was borrowing the scrubs ... and one of the skullcaps ... and one of the little masks. Either way, it would be perfectly fine — probably.

  When I looked at my reflection in the mirror over the sink I felt like a bit of an idiot. Still, with the cap covering my hair and mask closing off the bottom half of my face, I figured it would be impossible to recognize me.

  When I crossed to the front of the hospital, I found Fawn had taken up position in front of a large throng of media representatives. There were faces I hadn’t seen before, and when I searched the parking lot my heart gave a little jolt. There were trucks from other states and even national representatives like Fox News, CNN, and The Daily Show. This was no longer a local incident. It was big news.

  But why? I honestly didn’t have an answer. I would have to think about it later. For now, all I could do was focus on what Fawn had to say and shut out the rest. I couldn’t draw attention to myself or things would take a turn for the worse — and that was putting it mildly.

  “I want to thank you all for coming.” Fawn put on a brave face as she stood in front of the reporters. I had to hand it to her, she’d learned the media game ... and fast. I had to wonder how much of that was because of me. If I had to guess, it was quite a bit. She’d watched me work a crowd, listened to me complain to Eliot, and understood how to handle the media. She’d become my Frankenstein monster, and now I wanted to join the torch-and-pitchfork crowd.

  “I don’t really have a medical update,” she said. “Um ... I’m not family, so they won’t let me in to see him. I’m hoping to get an update from his family in the next few hours. This entire situation has been ... jarring ... to say the least. His family is dealing with what’s happened, and I don’t want to intrude on what should be a private moment as they sit vigil upstairs.”

  Intrude? Maria wasn’t on the seventh floor when I was up there. In fact, they mentioned she might not come. I hadn’t seen her father either. If they were present, they were keeping a low profile. It was far more likely that they weren’t at the hospital at all, so why would Fawn lie about that little tidbit? Especially when she’d told the truth about being cut out of the information loop?

  It was interesting, and I filed it away for later consideration.

  “Right now we need to focus on the issues that are important,” Fawn continued. “The first is that the election isn’t over. Mr. Ludington cared about one thing more than anything else, and that was serving the public. His dedication to the community is what got him shot. We can’t let the terrorists win.”

  I rolled my eyes. That was the most ludicrous thing I’d ever heard. Terrorists? What freaking terrorists? Wait ... if she really thought I was responsible for his attack, was I somehow a terrorist? How did that even happen without me realizing it?

  “Are you suggesting that voters must cast their ballots for Tad Ludington if they don’t want to support terrorists?” Devon challenged from the middle of the crowd. I hadn’t even seen her before she spoke. I’d been too focused on Fawn. And, well, myself. “That seems a little disingenuous.”

  Pride swelled at her words. That was something I would say. Okay, I probably wouldn’t use the word “disingenuous” as much as “batshit crazy,” but still it was a nice effort.

  Fawn obviously didn’t think so. She shot Devon a withering look. “What happened to Mr. Ludington was a tragedy. I mean ... do you even understand what’s going on here? He was shot in the middle of the night. Someone came into his home, pulled the trigger twice, and left him for dead. He spent hours lying in his own blood waiting to die. How is that not tragic?”

  The statement was meant to tug at the heartstrings. Fawn had obviously been paying attention through the years, because she delivered it masterfully. It looked as if half the crowd was falling for her act. Oddly enough, Devon wasn’t among them.

  “That’s all well and good,” Devon fired back. “I don’t think anyone here wants Mr. Ludington to have suffered.”

  Inexorably, my hand shot in the air. I realized within a split second my mistake and lowered it. Thankfully, no one bothered looking in my direction.

  “The thing is, Mr. Ludington has a history of acting ... what’s the word I’m looking for?” Devon turned to the other reports.

  “Like an ass,” Jared Jackson, The Monitor’s photographer, supplied as he snapped photos of Fawn’s murderous face. “That’s the best word.”

  “Don’t get involved in this,” Duncan snapped at Jared. “I’m covering this story, not you.”

  Jared wasn’t the type to back down. In fact, there were times I thought he resembled a big baby because he melted down in fantastic fashion over the tiniest of things. Today, he was pretty much my favorite person in the world ... other than myself, of course. “I’m allowed to have an opinion ... and she asked a question,” Jared shot back. “Ludington has a reputation as a tool. He gave himself that reputation.”

  “That’s not entirely true,” Fawn argued, taking control of the conversation. “Mr. Ludington might’ve had a reputation as something of a spirited believer, but most of the negative coverage he received was at the hands of one person.”

  I scowled behind the mask. She was obviously talking about me.

  “If you mean Avery Shaw, then I don’t think that’s fair,” Devon pressed, causing my eyebrows to hop in surprise. Was she actually taking my side? “I was present on more than one occasion when Mr. Ludington went after Ms. Shaw. She did not go after him.”

  “Maybe not with fists, but what about with words?” Fawn folded her arms over her chest and stared Devon down as if she were a gnat on a piece of fruit. “Avery Shaw is known as a media menace. Nobody in this town respects her. There’s a reason for that.”

  “Hold up.” Jared lowered his camera and glared at Fawn. He clearly didn’t like her, which only made me like him more. “You can say what you want about Avery — and, trust
me, I’ve said my fair share — but the legitimate politicians in this county appreciate her. She covers the news ... and hard. She also covers it fairly.”

  “Is what happened to Mr. Ludington yesterday fair?” Fawn persisted.

  “I guess it depends on what you’re talking about.” Jared’s gaze never wavered. “What happened at the news conference was on him. That ludicrous legislation he was trying to ram through was insulting and would’ve hurt us all. Why do you think the other reporters were so gleeful about broadcasting the story? Nobody likes him.”

  “Oh, so you’re saying that everybody likes Avery Shaw?” Fawn challenged, incredulous.

  “Not everybody,” Duncan called out.

  “I don’t know if ‘like’ is the correct word,” Jared clarified, “but I think more people respect her than dislike her. Let’s not pretend she’s easy to deal with. In fact, she’s a complete and total pain in the ass ... and then some. That doesn’t mean she’s not good at her job.”

  “And when has she ever been good at her job with Mr. Ludington?”

  “I was a big fan of when she pointed out that he was using illegal funds for his anti-drug group,” Devon called out.

  “I liked it when she made him unveil his racist leanings,” the Channel 2 reporter offered. He looked amused at the memory. “I thought he was going to chuck her out of a window. Then the sheriff got involved and it was even funnier.”

  “Yes, let’s talk about the sheriff,” Fawn snapped. It was obvious the conference wasn’t going as she expected. She wanted to exert control — again. “Jake Farrell has a long and sullied relationship with Avery Shaw. They used to date and there are rumors — not fact, mind you, but rumors — they still maintain a physical relationship.”

  My heart dropped. It was one thing for a handful of people on the county level to whisper things like that. It was quite another for her to broadcast it. When Eliot and Jake’s girlfriend Lauren heard about it ... well, it wouldn’t be good.