Fractured Memory by Jordyn Redwood Read Free Book Online Page A

I’ll step—”
    “It’s fine, Eli. Stay.”
    “Very well, then. I know the nurse relayed to you that your last carbon monoxide level was negligible. The good news about CO poisoning is that if it’s caught early enough, patients turn around very quickly and don’t suffer any long-term effects.” He motioned to Eli. “I understand from the EMS team that this gentleman here found you. His quick action likely saved you from having a serious medical fiasco.”
    Did she just see Eli blush?
    “You’re medically clear to go home when you’re ready.”
    “Thanks, James,” Julia said as he backed out of the room. “It was good seeing you again.”
    Eli returned to the seat next to her and shook his head. Was it relief at the doctor’s words? The closer she examined Eli, the more she noticed his state of distress. His hair was disheveled. The blue irises tinged red. Had Eli not slept well? His face was one of worry.
    “I want to go back to the question you were asking me before the doctor came in. They found a crack in the furnace at the safe house and the FBI is looking into the possibility that someone may have tampered with it.”
    Blood roared in her ears. Could this assassin have found her that quickly?
    “Julia...” His voice trailed, and he looked away. There was something he wanted to tell her but he seemed to question if whatever truth he held could be too much for her to take. Eli lifted his eyes. “Do you trust me?”
    Unexpectedly, his question felt like a punch in her gut. In every relationship, there was an inherent amount of trust. Just based on her position as a nurse, she expected her patients and their families to trust her on some level in order for her to do her job. If a family didn’t have that basis of understanding, it made her care more difficult because the doubt they possessed clouded every action she took at the bedside. Did that nurse clean my child’s skin enough before she put the IV in? Is that why my child now has a blood infection three days later?
    Eli locked her eyes with his. “I can’t do my job unless you trust me on some level.”
    “Why do you think that I don’t?”
    “I’m just putting myself in your shoes. I uprooted you from your life, and the first thing that happens is you almost—”
    “Eli, I don’t blame you for the furnace. How could I?”
    His body relaxed. “I’m relieved, but I also would understand if you’d want another agent to take my place.”
    Julia found herself shaking her head before her mind registered a thought. If she was truthful, she would have to confess that she wondered if Eli could keep her safe, but there was also a feeling that she didn’t want to be separated from him. “I don’t want that. I don’t want to have to get to know another team. I want to stick with you and Ben.”
    For now.

FIVE
    T he next morning, Eli was hopeful for an uneventful day. Will and Jace reported there had been no overnight incidents at the hospital. Ben was well rested and relieved the two of them so they could sleep.
    Eli was parking his car in the hospital lot when a call from Quentin redirected him to this location—the house of a murder victim. Quentin insisted Eli drive to the crime scene without seeing Julia first. Aurora police provided backup for Ben until Eli could get there.
    No. This isn’t possible. This can’t be happening again.
    The fact of the matter belied what Eli hoped. The woman was dressed in a sharp-looking turquoise and black pantsuit, her longer auburn hair covering the bulky rope around her neck that had claimed her life. Suicide? Homicide? One black, high-heeled shoe was on the floor below her. The other dangled from the tips of her toes.
    Quentin Archer, Eli’s supervisor, waved him over. A tall black man, he stood nearly six foot five—a good three inches over Eli. His voice was James Earl Jones deep and he always presented a stabilizing force in any situation he was involved in—even when bullets were flying.