When the cop returned, Calli decided she’d rather ask questions than answer them. She needed time to clear her mind. “Where’s the nurse?”
“It’ll be a few minutes before anyone can come down. Emergency room’s a busy place tonight. You okay?”
“Do I look okay?”
He stammered a minute, then apologized. “I meant, you’re not going to be sick or anything, are you?”
“I’ll live. Were you the officer at my accident?”
“No. That would be Jake Williams. He asked me to take your statement while I’m here. I came in with an unrelated ambulance call.”
Hysteria threatened to return to her voice. She swallowed, trying to soothe the scratchiness. Absently she ran her dry tongue over her lips.
“Need a drink?” Without delay she felt the officer lean against the bed. “Here.” She lifted her hand, ready for him to place a paper cup in her hand. Instead she felt a strong hand wrapped around a huge insulated-type mug. Pursing her lips to drink, she jumped when she felt the brush of his fingertip against her lower lip as he placed a straw in her mouth.
He chuckled. “Sorry, I forgot to tell you what to expect.”
Embarrassed that all of her assumptions were wrong, making her feel even more helpless, Calli resented the warmth of the personal contact between them. She jerked her hand away. “Thanks. That’s enough.” The sooner she got rid of him, the better. The last thing she needed was a cop to keep her company. “So what do you need from me?”
“Just need to ask a few routine questions. No hurry. I’m here waiting to talk to another patient. My partner’s still on the streets. Sheesh, they’re a mess tonight. You’d think these drivers had never seen ice before.”
Calli tried to sit up, and failed. She heard him bump into something, then felt a strong hand on her arm.
“Can I help?”
“I want the nurse. Where’s the call button?”
His warm hand fumbled with hers and gently guided her fingers toward the side of her bed. His baritone voice was edged with control. “Here’s the call button.”
A calm confidence echoed his voice, and the scent of his aftershave sent a shiver of awareness through her.
Memories from her past tainted the image of this knight in shining armor. Calli realized that not only did she not have a clue as to what Officer Northrup looked like, but she had no idea if this man was really a cop. I’ve been watching too much television. He couldn’t be the one I saw earlier.
“I’m sure it’s frightening not to be able to see anything. You may not even believe I’m a police officer. Who could blame you, after the night you’ve had?”
The fact that he’d read her mind made her more suspicious. “Sorry, I’m not used to…” trusting people.
“You’re cautious, just as you should be under the circumstances.”
“Cautious.” Now that is an understatement.
Calli struggled to pull herself out of the fuzziness and remember more about the accident.
Shuffling noises followed by a nearby clank dragged her back to the present image of a cop sitting next to her bed, as if he planned to stay a while.
I’ve managed to avoid the officials for three years, and now, over a simple car accident, I’m trapped. “So, what did you want to ask me?”
“Can you tell me what you remember?”
Luke finished Miss Giovanni’s statement just as his partner radioed from the car that he was ready to call it a night. With all the reports they had to fill out, Luke didn’t argue, but silently confessed he wouldn’t have minded spending a little more time with Calandre Giovanni.
Back at the station, Luke opened the locker room door; a strange mixture of aftershave and gun metal slapped him in the face. After the night he’d had, a room full of his fellow officers should have been a relief. It wasn’t.
He shrugged the blue shirt off and straightened his uniform on the hanger, trading it for his street clothes. The young officer next to him was doing just the opposite. “What a night,” Luke said.
“What’s wrong, lucky Luke? Tired of leaping tall buildings in a single bound?” Vic Taylor drawled with distinct mockery.
Luke felt the muscles in his jaw tighten when he saw the smirk on the rookie’s face. In no mood to confront the kid, Luke attempted to be civil. “Nah, piece of cake, Taylor. One kid in a coma, a woman who narrowly escaped losing her eyesight, and a city full of drivers who act like they’ve never seen icy roads before. Not to mention the two punks in the slammer for breaking into a dozen cars and nearly beating the life out of a friend. All in a night’s work.”
“You are so lucky. You always get the excitement.” Taylor spat a four-letter word as he poked a finger in Luke’s face. “All week I’ve been called off before I saw any action. You’d think my wife worked in dispatch or something.”
Luke laughed before he lost what little self-control he had left. “Don’t be so eager, kid. The action’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”
The rookie adjusted his belt and puffed his chest out, as if ignoring Luke’s advice.
“And by the way, it has nothing to do with luck.” Luke tugged the gray T-shirt over his shoulders and rubbed the ache buried deep in his muscle. He noticed his partner, Tom, coming into the locker room.
When Luke turned around, the rookie was strutting into the briefing room.
Luke flung the leather jacket over his shoulder then slammed the metal locker door closed. “What’s Taylor’s problem? If he thinks two hours of paperwork and tagging thirty items into the evidence room is fun, he’s got a lot to learn.”
His partner chuckled and slapped Luke’s shoulder sympathetically. “Let it go, Luke.” Tom continued. “I’ve learned the best way to deal with people like Taylor is to let their ignorant comments roll off your back.”
The reality of his best friend’s comment sobered him. Luke glanced at Tom and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Tom. After all these years, it just isn’t right that a person’s race still brings such discrimination.”
“Nothing for you to apologize for.”
An icy draft followed the command sergeant through the door from the parking lot, his shotgun slung from one shoulder and bag in the other hand. “Good work tonight,” he said, nodding toward Luke and Tom. “One by one, we’re putting those gangs out of business. Did the kid come out of the coma?”
Luke shook his head. “I’m going to check in on him throughout the day. If he doesn’t, we really need that witness. The two suspects won’t talk.” Luke chugged the last of his cold coffee, watching as Tom moved his duty weapon from his belt to a waist-pack “holster.”
After securing his handgun, Tom looked at Luke. “I still think we had a break tonight I’ll lay you odds that our anonymous caller is that blonde you nearly wiped out in the parking lot.”
“Just what we need. A woman determined to eliminate Palmer’s worst gang single-handedly. Why doesn’t A.C. volunteer at one of the after-school programs or something safe?”
“Maybe she already has gang connections.”
Luke didn’t like that possibility at all.
“We should check out gang members’ ex-girlfriends.