Chapter 12

The drive to the hospitalwas less than fifteen minutes. Neither of them spoke much during it. Noah seemed to be in his own head, which was fine because hers was still reeling from what she'd learned about Noah's dating history.

This was Noah. The handsome, funny, kind, and caring man she'd secretly crushed on in high school. Actually, if she was being totally honest with herself, he was the man she'd fallen in love with in high school. The fact that he couldn't seem to make it past the first date with a woman defied all logic.

She couldn't resist stealing a glance at him as he pulled into a parking space. A slash of sunlight illuminated his tanned, muscular legs that were on full display in the khaki shorts he wore. Her gaze traced up his flat abs to his chiseled jawline and the thick, dark curls that brushed the collar of his shirt. She envisioned twining her fingers into those curls, their bodies pressed close, feeling the heat of his breath on her skin. And as their eyes locked in an intense gaze, she could see his gray eyes sparking with desire as they looked deeply into hers.

She instantly snapped out of her daydream when she realized his gray eyes actually were looking deeply into hers.

"You all right?" Noah asked, his features flickering with concern. "You look a little flushed."

She looked quickly away, certain if she maintained eye contact, he'd know exactly what she'd been thinking. "Nope, all good over here."

She gathered her purse from the floor and sat up just as Boon stuck his head between their seats.

"Oh, what should we do with Boon?" she said. "We can't leave him in the car."

"Right," Noah said with a slight frown, then looked around the parking lot.

"We can tie his leash to that bike rack over there," Maggie suggested, pointing to the far left of the hospital entrance. "There's some grass beside it and shade from the tree."

"Good idea!"

They walked over to the bike rack and Noah attached Boon's leash to its frame. "We'll be back in just a minute, bud," Noah said. Boon cocked his head, both of his ears pointing straight up now, as if at attention. "You can lay here if you want."

Maggie watched in amusement as Boon instantly folded himself into a surprisingly small ball on the ground and laid his head on his paws. As he relaxed, both of his ears flopped over at ninety-degree angles, reminding her of paper airplane wings. She'd never seen such expressive ears on a dog before. He looked adorable, his warm brown eyes watching them steadily.

"I swear he knows exactly what you just said!" Maggie marveled.

"He's a smart one, all right," Noah agreed.

They walked together to the hospital entrance. The automatic doors swished open, then closed behind them.

The hospital lobby was clean and bright with white floors and walls. The large semicircular desk in front of them was made of dark wood with a sign on the front that read "INFORMATION" in bold letters. Hallways shot off to the left and right, and behind the desk stood a wide set of double doors leading to another area. A few visitors headed toward the hallways while staff members wearing scrubs walked back and forth, some on their phones or carrying clipboards with papers.

A young woman sat at the information desk, speaking into a telephone as they approached. They waited patiently until she hung up and turned her attention to them.

"Excuse me," Maggie said when Noah didn't speak right away.

"No. Flipping. Way," said the young woman behind the desk. She was staring at Noah.

"Heeeey there, Nora," Noah said in that uncomfortable tone that was starting to become all too familiar to Maggie.

Maggie glanced at him and saw the equally familiar shade of red creeping into his cheeks.

"Seriously, Noah?" she said.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Never Showed Up!" Nora said.

"Nora, I explained what happened," Noah said.

"Yeah, I know you did," she said with a toss of her mahogany curls. "It's just a little hard to believe that you went to the wrong restaurant...twice."

"It's the truth!"

"Uh-huh. Well, some may say that the third time's the charm. But in my book, two strikes and you're out, buddy."

"Excuse me," Maggie said. "Are you saying that he booked two different dates with you and didn't show up to either one because he...because he went to the wrong location both times?"

"You got it!" Nora replied.

Maggie turned to face Noah. "How is that even possible?"

"I'm gifted," Noah said. "Look, I think we're forgetting the real reason why we're here." He turned his attention back to Nora. "Can you please put your feelings about me aside for a moment and just check to see if I was here for treatment Friday night?"

Nora gave him a long look, then, with a huff, turned back to her computer and began tapping on the keyboard.

A moment later, she read from the screen. "Yes, you were in our Emergency Room, and you saw Dr. McCaughan. He was the on-call doc that night."

"Is there any way I can speak with him?"

"I'm not sure," Nora said. She did more tapping on her keyboard and then glanced up at them. "You're in luck. He's in the building right now."

Nora directed them through the double doors behind her. They went through them, then walked along a tangle of hallways, following signs to the Emergency Room on the other side of the building.

"Noah," Maggie said as they walked. "Maybe you should give me a list of all the women in town that you FDF-ed with so that I don't accidentally match you up with one of them. Although that might be a challenge since we seem to be running into them literally everywhere!"

Noah sighed. "Look, I know it seems like there have been a lot of women, but..." He ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up in that absolutely adorable way of his. "Oh, whatever! Maybe it has been a lot. But please, Mags, can we just focus on Valentina right now?"

"Okay, okay," she said with a small smile, feeling warmth flood through her upon hearing him use the nickname he'd had for her in high school.

Eventually they walked through another set of double doors to enter the Emergency Room lobby.

Where the main entrance had exuded a somewhat calm, quiet ambiance, this area was bustling with activity. Many of the chairs that ran around the perimeter of the room were filled with people, some reading books, some staring into space, some talking, while a few others were clearly in need of help and were waiting their turn.

Noah and Maggie stepped up to the small desk area. A sliding glass window allowed for communication between staff and visitors.

"Driver's license and insurance card, please," said the woman behind the glass, barely glancing up from the paperwork in front of her.

"I'm not here for an emergency," Noah said. "I was here Friday night, and I'd like to speak with the doctor I saw, Dr. McCaughan?"

The woman looked up then. She was middle-aged and plump with a slightly frazzled air. Dark-rimmed reading glasses were perched at the end of her nose.

"He's with a patient right now," she said. "I can let him know that you're here, but you'll have to wait a bit." She indicated the full waiting room with a wave of her arm.

"We understand," Noah said. "Whenever he's available. I promise not to take up much of his time."

Together, he and Maggie claimed two seats away from the other waiting patients.

"I'm sorry I harassed you about your FDFs," Maggie said, nudging one shoulder against Noah's. "And you know, despite all the teasing you endured at breakfast, it's clear that Jake, Alex, Rita, and your grandparents care a lot about you."

Noah leaned back in the hard plastic seat, his long legs extended straight out in front of him. "I know they do, and I love them. But that doesn't mean I don't owe Jake a few good punches for messing with me like that in front of you."

Maggie smiled. "Isn't that what brothers do? Not that I have any brothers, but I feel like that's what most guys always do. They find some way to tease or insult one other, instead of coming right out and admitting they love each other."

Noah tipped his head, thoughtful. "Yeah, I guess that's kind of true."

Maggie turned serious. "Noah, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why didn't you come right out and tell me about your real dating history when I did my intake interview with you?"

Noah looked down at his hands that were folded in front of him. He slowly rubbed his thumbs together. He was quiet for so long that Maggie wondered if he'd heard her. But then he spoke. "I guess, I was just embarrassed."

"But why? Back in high school, we used to be comfortable talking about anything with each other," Maggie said.

He looked up at her and something unreadable glittered in the depths of his eyes. "We did. But high school was a long time ago."

Maggie thought she heard a hint of sadness in his voice. She dragged her eyes away from his and brushed some imaginary lint off her white shorts. "Let me ask you a different question then. Why do you think you keep choosing the wrong women and having FDFs?"

"Because the universe doesn't want me to be happy?" Noah said with a smirk.

"Be serious, Noah!"

He let out a deep sigh. "I don't know, Maggie. I'm just bad at it. I've always been bad at it. Like I said, even back in high school."

"I always thought you were this hot guy who just liked playing the field."

"You thought I was hot?" His smirk returned.

"Gimme a break, Noah. You know you are!" Maggie said, hoping the heat flooding her cheeks wasn't too obvious. "But that's not the point. Was I wrong about you being a bit of a player back in the day?"

"Dead wrong," Noah said. "That was more my brother Jake, not me. I actually just wanted..." He hesitated.

"Wanted what?"

His gaze was fixated on his hands once more. "I just wanted to find one special girl who I could truly care for," he admitted softly, then added, "But for some reason, I can't seem to find her."

"Noah Riley?" a woman in dark pink scrubs stood in the open doorway beside the reception desk. "Dr. McCaughan can see you now."

The woman led Noah and Maggie down a hallway lined with hospital beds separated into makeshift rooms by curtains. Some rooms were completely enclosed by the curtains, others were empty and open, and she led them into one of them. Maggie sat in the chair beside the bed while Noah paced anxiously in the small space.

A middle-aged man with short salt-and-pepper hair rolled a small cart into their room. He wore blue scrubs under a white coat.

"Hang on just a second," he said as he stood and typed quickly into the small laptop computer perched on top of the cart. Then he looked up at Noah and Maggie and smiled. "Sorry about that. Just trying to keep up with the paperwork. I'm Dr. McCaughan."

Noah nodded and introduced himself. "And this is my friend Maggie," he said, turning to look at her.

"Nice to meet you, Maggie," Dr. McCaughan said. "And nice to see you looking so much better than you did on Friday night, Noah. How's your cheekbone feeling?"

"Better, thanks."

"I understand you have some questions for me?" Dr. McCaughan said.

"Yes, uh..." Noah cleared his throat. "Dr. McCaughan, for some reason I have no memory of what happened to me on Friday night."

Dr. McCaughan frowned. "That's strange; let me pull up your chart." He began typing into his laptop, and his frown deepened. "That doesn't make any sense. My examination didn't reveal any damage to your head." He looked up at Noah. "Can you get on the bed here, please?"

Noah did as instructed and Maggie watched as the doctor performed an examination, flicking a small light between each of Noah's eyes and gently probing his head and neck area. "Any tenderness?"

"No," Noah responded.

Dr. McCaughan stood back looking puzzled. "Hmmm...let me check one more thing."

He moved back to his computer and began typing. Then his frown cleared. "Ah, I see what the problem might be."

"What is it?"

"We drew some blood for testing when you were here, and I have the results. We found a large amount of alprazolam in your system."

"Alpra-what?" Noah said.

The doctor looked up from the computer screen. "Alprazolam, it belongs to the class of medications called benzodiazepines, otherwise known as Xanax."

"Xanax!" Noah looked shocked. "But I've never taken Xanax in my life!"

"Apparently, you did on Friday night," Dr. McCaughan said. "And at the level you were at, I'm not surprised that you don't remember anything. But don't worry. Alprazolam is a short-acting medication, and overall, it's generally safe. However, overdose side effects can include drowsiness, poor coordination, confusion, slurred speech, and temporary amnesia."

"Noah!" Maggie cried. "This makes total sense! Remember how some of the people we spoke with thought you seemed drunk?

"But how could I have that drug in my system when I don't even own any?"

Dr. McCaughan rubbed this chin thoughtfully. "There's actually a liquid form of alprazolam. It's difficult to get, but it does exist. Is it possible you drank something on Friday that contained it?"

"I don't really see how," Noah said. "The only drinks I had were in my own home and then in public dining venues."

"Hmmm, well, the good news is that the effects are not lasting. You may not get your memory of Friday night back. But the level you had in your system won't do any permanent damage."

"At least there's that," Noah mumbled.

"Is that all? I have other patients I need to get to." Dr. McCaughan prepared to roll his mobile desk cart out of their room.

"Wait, Dr. McCaughan," Maggie said. "There's one more thing. Do you recall a young woman accompanying Noah?"

The doctor's brows shot up. "Oh, yes, I almost forgot about that! Just before we released you, there was an altercation going on in the waiting room. Two men were placed under arrest by the police. I heard that the young woman who accompanied you here was addressing them with some very colorful language as they were being escorted out of the building. She accused them of stalking her. They all put on quite a show for our staff and everyone else in the waiting room."

"Did you see the two men?" Maggie asked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't," he said. Just then, an older woman in blue scrubs walked passed their room and he called out to her. "Lara, you were here Friday night, weren't you?"

Lara turned and gave a nod. "I was."

"Did you see all the drama and the arrest in the waiting room?"

"I sure did," she said with a shake of her head.

"Noah," Maggie said. "Show her the picture of those two guys from the cruise that you have on your phone."

Noah pulled out his phone and quickly scrolled through the images. Then he held up one for Lara to see. "Was this them?"

She peered at the screen for a few seconds and then nodded. "I believe so."

Maggie and Noah exchanged a look. Then Noah turned back to the doctor. "I'm sorry, I just have one final question. Did I give you any indication where I was planning to go after I left here Friday night?"

The doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't recall."

"That's all right," Noah said. "Thanks for everything you did for me, and for this information. You've both been really helpful."

Back outside, Noah unhooked Boone's leash from the bike rack and he trotted beside them as they all walked back to the Porsche.

The day had grown warm, the sun shining bright in the cloudless blue sky. Noah grabbed a collapsible dog dish from the floor of the back seat and placed it on the ground in front of Boon. He took a water bottle out and poured the contents into the dish for the dog.

"Wow," Maggie said. "You're really prepared."

Noah acknowledged her comment with a small nod, but his expression remained serious.

"What's wrong?" Maggie asked.

"I'm just frustrated. We've hit a dead end and we're still no closer to finding Valentina."

"Maybe you should call your friend Hugo, and let him know that those two guys, Nick and Johnny, were arrested here Friday night," Maggie suggested. "Maybe he can find out some information about them that will help us."

"Good idea!"

Noah dialed Hugo's number and put him on speaker so that Maggie could hear. He updated him about the two men, the attack last night, and about the drug found in his system. Hugo promised to look into the arrest for him. Then he said, "I was actually about to call you, Noah. First of all, they rushed the preliminary toxicology report on that bottle of wine we found in Valentina's condo."

"What were the results?"

"They found arsenic in it."

"What?"

"Calm down, Noah. I admit it doesn't look good, but right now there's still no body and no hard evidence specifically linking you to her disappearance."

Maggie saw Noah go pale.

"One more thing," Hugo said. "The police found Valentina's cell phone."