Carolline heard the soft shuffle of feet coming down the hall long before Ben popped his head into her office.

“Hey there, Caro.” A warm smile lit up his face. She’d missed the big lug the past few days.

She eased back in her chair and waved him in. “Ben, come in. What brings you to the hospital today?”

“Work,” he smirked. “What else would I be doing?”

“Bringing me tea from Claire’s. Devon wouldn’t hear of stopping there this morning. Or the day before. Or the day before that. I don’t think he understands my need of routine and tea.”

Ben chuckled. With years of friendship under their belts, he knew how she ticked. Routine and familiarity soothed her. “Apparently not. I guess you’ll need to educate your mate in the fine art of keeping you happy.”

Carolline couldn’t help the snort or roll of her eyes at his use of the word mate. They were clicking, that was for sure, but it was still a bit hard to believe. It would take longer than a couple days of being in each other’s pockets and heated encounters for her disbelief to completely vanish. Even with more time, she had a feeling doubt would continue to tug at the back of her mind. Maybe indefinitely.

“How is it going between you two? You settled in at the house and with the family? Things going smoothly?”

She arched a brow at him at his questioning. It wasn’t out of order or anything, but it wasn’t what she expected them to be talking about either. Plus, she didn’t have a good gauge on how things were going. She was mostly comfortable there, but not completely. It was a lot to take in and not only on her part. Her feelings must have played out on her face.

Ben sighed quietly. “I know you, Caro. You aren’t a fan of change, and this is a pretty big one,” he said softly.

“One you were pushing on me, if I remember correctly.”

Ben shrugged. “I only want to see you happy, and I think Devon and his family will do that for you. You deserve the best, and he may have stumbled a lot at first, but I have faith in him being the best for you.”

“A man you barely know.”

Ben’s mouth dropped open, but she charged on.

“A man I barely know.”

“You and I know him better than you’re letting on. One of us a bit more than the other,” he grinned.

Carolline flushed at the innuendo. She would not get into it with him. They were not school girls sharing their first sexual adventures. She took a steadying breath and changed the subject completely. “So, what work are you doing here?”

Ben snorted and held his hands up in surrender. Thankfully, the man knew when to drop it. “Interviewing the staff assigned to you while you were being treated.”

“Because…” she drew out when he didn’t elaborate.

“Just part of the investigation. Narrowing down suspects.”

Carolline nodded. “And how does that bring you up to my floor? I wouldn’t think the staff here had anything to do with the kids and what happened to them.”

The shuffling of feet could be heard again in the quiet hallway. One of Ben’s deputies popped his head in the doorway. “We’re ready, Sheriff. I got the room set up like you asked. We were able to schedule the majority of the people from the list for today and early tomorrow. We only had a few holdouts. Nurses who couldn’t find anyone to cover for them or plain refused; stating they didn’t have time for this nonsense. Figured you could deal with them personally.”

Ben nodded at the man and rose from his seat. “Time to get to work. I’ll check in with you later, Caro. Maybe grab some lunch afterwards?”

Carolline rose and walked around her desk. She embraced Ben, who hugged her back, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“That sounds good. I hope you find the answers we need. It would be nice to know who tried to take the kids.”

Ben looked at her with confusion in his eyes. “And to find out who broke into your office and leaked information to the papers.”

Carolline waved the thought away. “I’m not as concerned about that. The newspaper thing could have been anyone, and I doubt it was malicious. As for the break-in,” she shrugged, “nothing was taken and nothing has happened since. I’m chalking it up to a teenage vandal who got bored. My office just happened to be the one he broke in to. Probably scared himself to death before doing it to anyone else’s office. This corridor is deserted at night.”

“It’s a nice theory, but my gut says you’re wrong. I’m concerned and so is Devon. All of it could be related,” he said with a pause, “or not. We’re running down leads about the men who attacked the kids and you; and, while we wait, I’m going to work on finding out about the break-in and the newspaper leak.”

Carolline sighed. She knew he wouldn’t agree with her idea. He was her friend after all. Had been concerned about her happiness and safety for years. “I think the most important thing is to find the people behind the attempted kidnapping.”

“And we will. Along with figuring out if the other two incidents are related.”

Behind them, the deputy cleared his throat.

“Listen, I’ll keep you posted. It isn’t like Andersen is going to sit back and wait for me to come to him with updates, in the first place. He’s pretty persistent about knowing what’s going on.”

“I’m sure he is. I’ve never known the man to take a backseat to anything. Letting someone else do all of the work and take the lead, well, that wasn’t how he became one of the top doctors here.”

“See ya later.” Ben saluted and walked away.

Carolline heaved a sigh before sitting behind her desk again. It bothered her that they weren’t focusing solely on the attempted kidnapping. It wasn’t her call to make though.