“Nothing at all,” Sam confirmed. “She tried insisting she leave the hospital, but as soon as she tried to walk, she threw up and collapsed. The doctor convinced her to stay a couple more hours. Hopefully he can convince her to stay as long as she needs to be there.”
That wasn't going to happen. He knew his almost sister-in-law well enough to know that she was stubborn. Add to that her self-imposed need to be on the move, and the chances of her remaining in a hospital bed were non-existent. “What are you doing here?” He was surprised that given the circumstances, Sam had left her side. Worry for Naomi, both for her medical condition and her safety, was all but tattooed on his face.
“She wants coffee. This is her favorite café, she insisted on coffee from here. I thought it might help to calm her down, she’s freaked out about having no memory of the attack. I have Nate sitting with her. Until we figure out what happened this morning, I will continue to make sure someone is on her at all times. When I got here and saw that something was up and that you and Allina were here, I thought I may as well update you on Naomi’s condition.”
“I found something.”
Kane’s announcement had them all turning their attention to him.
“What?” Jonathon asked.
Setting down the rock used to kill Nicole Carmichael, now bagged ready to be examined at the lab, he picked up a small piece of paper. “This was under the rock,” the crime scene tech replied.
“Is that a photo?”
Concerned brown eyes looked back at him. “Yes.”
“Is it Nicole?” Jonathon had a feeling of foreboding brewing in his belly.
“No.”
“Then who is it?” he demanded.
“A little girl.”
“What little girl?”
“It’s one of the sisters. Clara, Naomi, or Aggie,” Kane informed him.
His forehead crinkled in concerned confusion. “What?”
Kane held out the photo, and Jonathon took it with a gloved hand. A little girl of about eight, dressed as a ballerina in a pale pink tutu, beamed back at him. He immediately let out a sigh of relief. Okay, of partial relief because any way this went it wasn't going to be good. “It’s Naomi.”
“Naomi?” Sam moved to snatch the photo but froze at the last minute, apparently remembering he wasn't wearing gloves.
“How can you tell?” Kane asked. “They look similar enough now as adults, but as kids they were clones of each other.”
“I just know.” Clara and her sisters were identical, despite the fact that they were only half-sisters, sharing a father but not their mothers. They also shared a birthday, making them kind of triplets and yet not. Jonathon had known Clara and Naomi for a year now, Aggie for six months. He’d learned to notice the small physical differences, and he knew for a fact that the little girl in the photo was Naomi.
Anger, fear, and fury were rolling off Sam in waves. “Why is a photo of Naomi as a child at the scene of a murder?”
“You said this is Naomi’s favorite café. Perhaps the waitress is a friend of hers. Maybe Naomi gave her the photo for some reason,” Jonathon suggested.
“Then why was it sitting under the weapon the killer used?” Sam roared.
“Calm down,” he soothed, knowing that if their positions were reversed and it was a photo of Clara found at a crime scene he would be equally as terrified.
“Calm down?” Sam’s voice had turned icy. “Naomi is shot and left for dead, and then a few hours later a waitress at her favorite café is found murdered beside a picture of her. That is not a coincidence.”
Unfortunately, Jonathon agreed with that.
“There’s something on the back of the photo,” Allina said.
The picture was folded in half, but Jonathon flipped it over and unfolded it at his partner’s words. His heart plummeted as he read the note the killer had left them. This day suddenly got a whole lot worse, and it already hadn’t been going so well.
“What does it say?” Sam demanded.
Jonathon didn’t want to tell Sam what the note said, but he didn’t really have a choice. They were going to need Naomi to solve this case, and the only way he would get to Naomi was if Sam okayed it. Because once Sam knew what the killer had planned, he would go into full-on bodyguard mode.