Had a Great Fall (An Olivia Thompson Mystery) by Jullian Scott Page B

and wires connecting his body to several machines. After getting shot, Mark had lost a significant amount of blood and his organs had begun to fail. He also suffered severe oxygen deprivation to his brain. The doctors said there was almost no chance he would ever wake up again.
    For Nate, that was still too much risk.
    He eyed an extra pillow sitting on a chair and thought about how easy it would be to press it over Mark’s face after pulling out the tube. Nate’s fingers started twitching. He grit his teeth hard and slowly backed out of the room.
    There was no real evidence tying Jenna to the other missing and murdered girls, but Nate wasn’t going to take any chances. He put in a request to have permanent detail placed outside Jenna’s hospital room and waited for them to show. While he waited, he called Olivia.
    “Yeah.” Her voice sounded strained and tense.
    “Liv, you never called me. Did you make it to Mercy?” Nate tried not to sound accusatory, but he had been more than a little worried.
    “I’m at the hospital,” she said. “Dad just went in for surgery.”
    Nate could tell that she was trying to sound calm. “What do the doctors say?”
    “He needs a bypass, maybe two. I guess it’s pretty bad.” Her voice grew faint as she spoke to someone. “Brian is here with me.”
    “That’s good.” Nate was glad that she wasn’t alone. “Do you want me to come?”
    She hesitated. “No. I’ll be fine.”
    “You’re sure?” He noticed that she didn’t sound as confident as she had earlier. “I can be there in a few hours.”
    “You’re needed there, Nate. There’s nothing you can do here anyway.” She sighed.
    “I could hold you,” he said softly.
    Olivia sighed again. “That would be nice. But I’m really okay. You have important work to do.”
    “Nothing is as important as you,” he protested.
    “Are you okay?” she asked suddenly. “Did something happen with the case?”
    Nate hadn’t realized he was being so transparent. Then again, Olivia knew him better than he even knew himself. “There’s another girl, but she escaped. She’s in a coma now.”
    “That’s good, right? Not the coma, but that you’ve got a live victim? Maybe when she wakes up she can tell you how to find the bastard.” Olivia was starting to sound more like herself.
    “ If she wakes up,” Nate clarified. He could hear Olivia talking to her brother again. “Liv, I should let you go. You have other things to worry about.”
    “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s just good to hear your voice.”
    He closed his eyes and smiled. “I miss you.”
    “Get back to work, Tucker.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Love you.”
    “Love you more.” He hung up just as Vince appeared with a uniformed officer. Jenna’s detail had arrived. It was time to get back to the station.
    Barnes had already set up an evidence room with everything from the abductions and murders. He had done a thorough job, and had even laid out a detailed timeline. As much as Nate hated his arrogant attitude, he had to admit that Barnes was a decent detective. When they were still coming up empty hours later, Nate actually extended an invitation to him.
    “Monroe and I were going to hit Lion’s Paw for a beer if you want to join us,” Nate said as he slipped on his suit jacket.
    “Yeah, alright. I guess I could do that.” Barnes looked at him skeptically. “Just one drink.”
    Many drinks later, they were still at the bar discussing the case. They had repeated the same facts at least a dozen times.
    “Let’s take a break from the work talk,” Vince suggested.
    “What else are we going to talk about?” Nate said. He took a giant swig of beer. Against his better judgment, he’d had one drink too many already.
    Barnes smirked. “You really don’t have any male friends do you?”
    “I don’t hang out with coworkers much. So what?” Nate shrugged.
    “We’ll help you out,” Vince said, quick to cut off Barnes surely snarky