You Can't Escape by Nancy Bush Read Free Book Online Page A

of a smile lurking around his mouth.
    “You’re trying not to laugh,” she declared, hitting him with a throw pillow.
    “Only because you Raffertys make it so goddamn hard. What’s wrong with just saying ‘I love you’?”
    “Blasphemy,” she retorted, which elicited a full-scale bark of laughter.
    And then he’d thrown her down on the cushions, wrestling and tickling her, all the while crying, “I love you, I love you, I love you!” over and over again. She’d first tried to escape, then collapsed into gales of laughter and finally succumbed to molten desire as they made love into the wee hours of the morning.
    Now, as September wheeled into the hospital parking lot, she purposely pushed thoughts of Jake and her family aside and concentrated on the matter at hand, interviewing Jay Danziger.
     
     
    Jordanna stood on first one foot and then the other as Danziger looked through mounds of paperwork. “Are you ready yet?” She stepped to the door and risked another glance into the hallway.
    “I’m just lucky I got ’em,” he muttered. “I’ve got prescriptions that need to be filled, too.” He placed several small papers to one side as he glanced over the spread-out pages on the narrow table that reached across his bed.
    “We can fill them on the way.” She tried not to crack her knuckles, a bad habit she reverted to in times of stress. “You said a detective’s coming.”
    “Mmm-hmmm. That’s what Officer McDermott said.”
    “I’d rather not wait for him. Let’s get going, if we’re going.”
    “Her.”
    “What?”
    “The detective’s a ‘her.’”
    “Oh, okay.” She glanced over at him and saw that now he was staring off into space. “You all right?” she asked tensely.
    “Yeah . . . I was just . . .” In lieu of answering, he shuffled the papers into a pile and slid the table aside. Then he picked up the prescription slips and held them out to her. Jordanna grabbed them and tucked them into the purse she had slung over one shoulder.
    “You were just what?”
    “Thinking.”
    “You’re not changing your mind, are you?” she asked, her heart clutching a little. She believed he was in danger, but he seemed to be having second thoughts. Maybe he was relapsing. Maybe he thought the whole thing was crackers. Maybe it was.
    His blue eyes were bloodshot, but nevertheless sharp and clear. He looked over at her. “No. Get me out of here, and I mean out of Laurelton and Portland. All of it.”
    “That’s what I’m here for,” she said.
    Nodding, he flipped back the covers and moved his wrapped leg, straining a little at the effort. Jordanna stepped forward automatically to help him. Were there crutches? A wheelchair nearby?
    He glanced toward the closet. “I’m going to need some pants, other clothes.”
    “Oh.” She hesitated. “You want me to try and get you some?”
    “Excuse me. . . .”
    The female voice arrested them both, and Jordanna threw a tense look in the newcomer’s direction. She was slim, young, and her auburn hair was pulled into a ponytail that was loosening from its tie. Her expression was serious and Jordanna got a distinct shock as she realized this was the detective she’d seen on television. Detective . . . she couldn’t remember her last name, but she’d been on Channel 7 with Pauline Kirby, heading up a murder investigation.
    Holy . . . shit . . .
    “I’m Detective Rafferty with the Laurelton PD. Are you leaving, Mr. Danziger?” she asked, pulling out her identification. “Didn’t Officer McDermott tell you I was coming to see you?”
    Danziger had frozen in place and Jordanna was suddenly very aware of her hands on his torso, helping hold him up. Beneath the thin hospital gown his muscles were hard and his skin felt hot. It had to look pretty intimate and from the detective’s expression, Jordanna realized that she believed she’d interrupted Jay with his wife.
    “Yes, he told me. I just was heading to the . . .” His eyes drifted to the