Part 52 (2/2)
”All for greed.” Too angry to pack the few things Boyd had brought her, she paced. Her body still felt weak, but there was too much energy boiling within to allow her to keep still. ”Draining a little here, a little there, losing it on speculative stocks. Then draining more and more, until he was so desperate he risked burning down entire buildings just to destroy records and delay the audit records.”
She whirled back. ”How frustrated he must have been when I told him I had duplicates of everything that was lost in the warehouse fire.”
”And he wasn't sure where you kept them. Fire destroys everything,” Boyd pointed out. ”So, he'd take one of the buildings, and hope. If he didn't hit, the confusion in the aftermath would keep everyone so busy, you wouldn't get around to the audit until, he hoped, he'd managed to replace the siphoned funds.”
”So he thought.”
”He doesn't know you like I do. You always get things done on time. The office was his last shot, and the most desperate, since he had to do it himself. When we picked him up and he found out you and Ry had been in there and that he was facing attempted murder charges, he gave us everything.”
”I trusted him,” Natalie murmured. ”I can't stand knowing I could be so wrong about anyone I thought I knew.” She glanced up as the door opened.
”Good to see you, Ry,” Boyd said, and rose. This looked like his cue to make a quick and discreet exit.
Ry nodded at Boyd, then focused on Natalie. ”Why aren't you in bed?”
”I've been discharged.”
”You're not ready to leave the hospital.”'
”Excuse me.” Boyd slipped toward the door. ”I have a sudden urge for a cup of bad coffee.”
Neither Natalie nor Ry bothered to say goodbye. They only continued to argue in raspy croaks.
”Do you have a medical degree now, Inspector?”
”I know what shape you were in when you got here.”
”Well, if you'd bothered to check in since, you'd have seen that I'm recovered.”
”I had a lot of details to tie up,” he told her. ”And you needed to rest.”
”I'd rather have had you.”
He held out the flowers. ”I'm here now.”
She sighed. Should she let him off the hook so easily when she'd been pining for him for so long? And why shouldn't she make him pay a bit for dumping her for the most ridiculous reason?
”Why don't you go take those daffodils to someone who needs them.”
He tossed them on the bed. ”I'm going to go talk to the doctor.”
”You certainly will not talk tomy doctor. I don't need your permission to leave the hospital. You didn't ask me for mine. And I did not need rest. I needed to see you. I was worried about you.”
”Were you?” Encouraged, he lifted a hand to her face.
”I wanted you here, Ry. Dozens of other people came, but obviously you didn't see the need-”
”I had work,” he shot back. ”I wanted to get the evidence on that sonofab.i.t.c.h as soon as possible. It's all I can do. I'd kill him if I could get to him.”
She started to snap back, then felt an icy chill at the look on his face. ”Stop that.” Unnerved, she turned her back on him, away from the murder in his eyes, and tossed a robe in her case. ”I don't want to hear you talk that way.”
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