Garden of Secrets by Barbara Freethy Read Free Book Online

home, Charlotte dropped Cynthia’s chart off at the nurses’ station, which was still cheerfully decorated with holiday wreaths and garlands. A plate of gingerbread sat on the counter. “Did you make this?” Charlotte asked the nurse.
    Peggy Ramsdell, one of their most experienced OB nurses, looked up from her computer. “My mother-in-law did. Try some. It’s fabulous.” Peggy quickly skimmed through the chart Charlotte had set down. “Another false alarm, I see. Third time this month.”
    “She’s a little anxious.”
    “I’ll say.” Peggy filed the chart. “So, you were at the mayor’s party last night, right?”
    “I was,” Charlotte was dismayed at the eager light in Peggy’s eyes. Like most of the hospital staff, Peggy liked to gossip. The last thing she wanted to talk about was the night before.
    “Is it true that someone stole thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry, including Mrs. Monroe’s wedding ring?”
    “I don’t know the details.”
    “They’ve posted a guard outside intensive care,” Peggy added.
    “I’m sure that’s just a precaution.” It made her uneasy to think that Theresa might still be in danger. The thief had to be long gone.
    “I hope so,” Peggy said. “Is there anything else you need?”
    “No. Have a good day.” Charlotte headed down the hall to the bank of elevators. After a momentary debate, she pushed the up button. She wanted an update on Theresa’s condition.
    The hospital security guard standing outside the fourth-floor ICU was Bart Hodgkins, an older man whose wife was one of her patients. He gave her a smile and waved her inside.
    The unit housed a large nurses’ station with a panel of glass that fronted three smaller rooms where patients in acute distress were watched twenty-four hours a day. An elderly man was in one of the rooms. Theresa was in another.
    “Hello, Dr. Adams,” the nurse on duty said.
    “How is Mrs. Monroe?” she asked.
    “She hasn’t regained consciousness.”
    “Her husband’s not here?”
    “The mayor went to get some coffee. He’s been by her side all night. The poor man is just distraught.”
    She was relieved to learn that the mayor was gone for the moment. As the nurse went in to check on the other patient, Charlotte took a quick look at Theresa’s chart. The tests showed brain swelling but no bleeds. That was a good sign.
    “What are you doing here?” a man asked sharply, his voice cold.
    She turned in surprise. The mayor stared back at her with dark, angry eyes. A big man with a squareface and a strong jaw, he was a little soft around the middle, and his hairline had receded, but he was still a force to be reckoned with. “I was just checking on your wife.”
    “I don’t want you anywhere near Theresa. That’s why there’s a guard outside the door. How did you get past him?”
    She was taken aback by the intensity of his animosity. She’d thought his reaction the night before had been in the heat of the moment, that he would have calmed down by now.
    “I didn’t have anything to do with your wife’s attack,” she said. “I don’t have any grudge against Theresa. And my problems with Pamela were a long time ago, when we were kids. I would never try to hurt either one of them.”
    “Save your explanations for the police. I want you to leave now, and I don’t want to see you here again. Is that understood?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good, then get out.”
    She walked out of the room, mentally kicking herself for coming into the ICU in the first place.
    As she reached the end of the hall, the elevator doors opened, and Joe stepped out. He had on gray slacks and a black sweater. His dark eyes and sexy mouth made her heart beat a little faster. Her breath caught as their eyes met. They’d taken a step past friendship last night, but where they were now, she had no real idea. It was impossible to go back, but the way forward was complicated.
    “You’re working today?” he asked.
    “One of my patients had a