Heal Me

by Grady, D. R.

  Nodding, Owen indicated the bed with his chin. “So there’s no way of determining when she’ll awaken?”

  “There rarely is.” Jenna sighed, wishing she had more answers. Wanting to go home and not face any of this right now.

  “There are other rape advocates here, right?” Owen asked, his eyes raking her. Jenna really wanted to know what he thought.

  “There are,” Jenna answered.

  “How is it that a man is able to assist in the examination of a rape victim?” TJ asked out of the blue, staring at Jerome.

  “I’m a SANE,” Jerome answered with a shrug.

  Jenna finished the explanation. “He’s a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. The women don’t mind Jerome, they’ve mostly responded well to him. The third victim insisted on a female nurse, but most of time they’re so out of it, they don’t care who’s examining them. Also, Jerome is a trained medical professional, and that’s the most important thing. Some of the rape victims who come in are examined by a male doctor, because that’s who is on duty.”

  “Ah,” TJ answered, looking bemused. “Thanks for clarifying.”

  “Sorry it was so long-winded.”

  “No problem,” she answered before jamming into thundercloud mode. Jenna didn’t need to look behind her to know that Fred had found his way into the examination room.

  “We’ve got a suspicious person at three o’clock,” he stated calmly. But his eyes were hard and his body taut in a battle-ready state.

  Jenna swallowed before she turned to acknowledge whoever approached.

  Chapter 10

  She had just enough time to whirl around to the “three o’clock” position before the detectives formed a wall in front of her. She could feel Fred in the room, but that quickly, she couldn’t see him any longer. She caught sight of an unassuming man, in his early forties, with a receding hairline, slender build, and wearing a bright, striped tie, white shirt and trendy pants. His face was pleasant enough, if not spectacular, his eyes an unremarkable shade of brown, much like the ring of hair remaining on his head.

  “William, are you lost?” Jenna asked with a smile, stepping around the detectives as she addressed the man.

  “No, I was looking for Dr. Tibert,” the man answered, and his eyes swept over Fred, who moved closer, in interest. TJ stepped directly into the man’s line of vision, sort of blocking Fred from his view. His gaze then swung to the stretcher. Now ignoring Fred, he seemingly became fascinated and repulsed by the woman on the examining table. His eyes slipped over her before moving quickly in any other direction. But then, as though compelled to look again, his eyes swept over her once more.

  “Dr. Tibert is probably at home, where the rest of us should be,” Jenna said dryly, glancing around the room.

  “No, I spoke with him about thirty minutes ago,” the man corrected, still playing the look-don’t-look game.

  “I see,” Jenna mused, wondering what the head of the hospital was doing at the hospital at this hour on a Sunday evening.

  “I have some test results he wanted to see, but now I’m having difficulty locating him,” William Brandan continued. The weird eye thing was making Jenna uncomfortable. And from her fidgeting, TJ too.

  “Okay, well, thank you,” William muttered as, with one last, darted look at Carrie Snyder, he exited the room.

  “Who is that man?” Owen questioned before the door completely closed behind him.

  “William Brandan,” Jenna supplied, as she began taking their patient’s vital statistics again.

  Jerome added, “He works in one of the research labs here. I forget who he works with, though.”

  “He likes men, apparently,” TJ inserted.

  “I’d say. He thought you were cute,” Jerome told Fred before he frowned. “Should he be in here?”

  “Yes, for now. He’s with the police detectives. Isn’t it Dr. Heteroff who William works for?” Jenna asked absently as she slid the pressure cuff off the unresisting woman.

  “Yeah. Dr. Heteroff, and they’re researching something to do with cardiovascular function, I think,” Jerome said, snapping his fingers.

  “Right. Isn’t their research based on electrical impulses through the body?” Jenna remembered, looking up at her nurse.

  “I can’t remember,” Jerome answered.

  “Does he know our victim?” TJ asked.

  Startled, Jenna glanced at her. “Why do you ask that?”

  “Well, we’ve got three men standing in this room right now, and not one of them are having trouble keeping their eyes off Ms. Snyder, here,” came the abrupt answer. “Of course, he did seem to like Fred.”

  Fred rolled his eyes.

  Jenna met Owen’s eyes. She wasn’t certain what to make of TJ’s statement, but the first triggers of alarm began sliding up her spine. Shivering, she looked at Jerome, who stared at TJ in astonishment, and then at Fred. Fred’s eyes remained locked on TJ, but he appeared quizzical.

  “At least I’m classified as a man now,” he muttered under his breath as he wheeled around to reenter the doorway to where he had left his computer.

  Apparently TJ overheard his remark because she cautioned his fleeting back, “Don’t push your luck.”

  Fred either didn’t hear her, or ignored her. When he emerged in the doorway again, his computer looked more like a small tablet than a laptop in his huge hand. He set the computer down and began punching keys with large fingers that should have stumbled over the keyboard but instead gracefully sent commands.

  “What have you got?” Owen asked, pacing across the room to peer over Fred’s shoulder. Fred grunted.

  TJ glanced at Jenna, who raised an eyebrow in inquiry, not certain what they were doing, either.

  “Yo, geekboys, wanna share with the rest of us?” TJ demanded. Jenna quickly quelled a growing smile. She couldn’t stop the humorous glance she sent to the female detective, however. TJ rolled her eyes.

  Owen answered her over his shoulder, briefly. “Looking up info on this William Brandan.”

  “Why?” Jenna asked, confused. “I think he’s gay.”

  “Because McCully’s right. Not one of us went googly eyed at the sight of your patient. Never seen that type of reaction before, either. Why?” Owen answered quietly, his eyes scanning the information Fred pulled up at a rapid rate.

  “If he’s gay, why would he be so fascinated in a female rape victim?” Fred asked, his fingers still tapping out commands.

  “Better look up this doctor he works for, too. Heteroff. What’s his first name?” Owen asked.

  “Brian,” Jenna answered quietly, her attention torn between their research, her patient, and Owen. His face, etched so boldly in the computer’s technological glow, made her heart kick up a beat. Desperately trying to maintain proper breathing, let alone keep her mind on her work, not this very distracting man, Jenna fought to keep her respiratory rate even.

  “Today is Sunday,” Fred added, and Jenna waited for him to continue his train of thought, but he remained silent.

  Eyes narrowed, TJ glared at his massive back. Jenna was amazed anew at how a computer nerd could have such a large, well muscled body.

  “So what?” TJ demanded, sounding nearly as exasperated as Jenna felt. Probably for completely different reasons, however.

  “How many men do you know who come into work on a Sunday, dressed in a shirt and tie?” Fred asked absently, his fingers tapping faster than the images emerged on the screen.

  “Maybe he came from church,” TJ supplied, aggravation still quite evident in her voice.

  Shaking his head, Fred removed a hand from the keyboard long enough to stab briefly at the monitor before resuming his typing. “Nope, no religious affiliation listed.”

  “He could have had a dinner appointment,” Jerome said quietly behind them.

  “Yes, he could have,” Owen agreed, but didn’t sound convinced.

  “Actually, I’ve encountered William here many times on Sunday and I’ve never seen him in anythin
g other than a shirt and tie,” Jenna mentioned, liking the intent look on Owen’s face. There was a little muscle in his jaw that ticked when he tightened his lips.

  “I don’t know many men who wear a shirt and tie to the office on a Sunday,” Owen grumbled as he leaned forward to squint at something on the screen.

  “Neither do I. Seems awfully suspicious,” Fred agreed, his fingers tapping like a demented woodpecker across the keys.

  TJ leaned over his other shoulder, and shook her head. “How that can make you two dweebs nervous is beyond me. There’s no doubt he’s suspicious because of that weird eye-thingy bit. Who cares about how the man dresses to go to work?”

  “So we all agree he’s suspicious, anyway,” Fred said.

  “Yeah,” Owen added his assent.

  “No, I don’t agree. William Brandan isn’t in the least bit scary. I can’t imagine him being this serial rapist. He’s gay, for goodness sake,” Jenna argued, shuddering to think someone she knew, not very well, granted, but someone she said hi to from time to time could be the same monster putting women through her emergency room.

  “He could be connected to the rapist if he’s not the man. They always say, ‘He was such a nice guy’,” Owen informed her, turning to rake her with a look she couldn’t read.

  “Still,” Jenna began.

  “Still, you know Brandan and he knows you. And we’ve got every reason to believe this rapist knows you,” Owen interrupted, and Jenna received the distinct impression by his demeanor that her days of independence had come to an end. Not the long drawn out, beginning of the end, but instead, just merely, the end. He probably wouldn’t let her out of his sight. While a month ago this would have severely bothered her, now she felt...content. Because if she was in his sights, that pretty much meant he would be in her sights, and she liked that idea very much.

  “I doubt Dr. Fields is at risk, but I still think we should continue with the precautions,” TJ said, still attempting to peer over Fred’s shoulder. Even seated, the man was tall, and while she didn’t need to stand on her tip toes, Jenna noticed the detective still stretched herself to her fullest height to view the contents of the laptop screen.

  “As far as any of you women are concerned, you’re at risk. Maybe not from this guy, because his records clearly state he’s gay and experiencing erectile dysfunction problems, so he’s not interested in women or men at the moment. However, someone out there is hurting women,” Fred refuted flatly, not taking his eyes off the contents he read. Jenna heard an unmistakable hard edge in his voice and felt an eyebrow raise. TJ, who stood right behind him, actually stepped back before stopping herself and glared at his back instead.

  “Oh, and who made you the authority here, Savage?” she snarled.

  Fred’s eyes finally left his precious data and he turned to look TJ in the eyes before he did the same to Jenna. Then his eyes flicked briefly to the woman on the stretcher. They softened, but when he returned his attention to TJ, they were once again determined.

  “She did,” he answered quietly.

  After Fred’s rather bleak statement, one Owen heartily agreed with, and which neither of the women argued about after Fred’s very convincing and succinct reasoning, they hustled the women out of the hospital. With Carrie Snyder still in a comatose state, someone would call them when she regained consciousness. He, McCully, and Jenna were all feeling the effects of working long hours with very little sleep while still recovering from a virus.

  “Let’s go home and sleep. You can be sure someone will rouse us when she regains consciousness,” he declared, and he realized anew how tired both women must truly be, because neither of them protested. Eyeing McCully suspiciously, he was extremely surprised at the lack of resistance from that quarter. She usually argued just for the sake of the activity. But then, she started coughing and the barking heaves explained why she didn’t appear to care.

  “Did you forget your cold medicine?” Jenna accused in a cold roughened voice.

  “Yeah,” McCully returned in a nasally tone of her own.

  Owen decided he’d just keep quiet, because he could feel the fatigue threatening and since he’d also forgotten his cold medicine... It had been a pretty long week, between the illness and then finding his mother, and learning he was related to McCully and her huge clan. In addition, he kept battling with himself about Jenna Fields. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to taste those succulent looking lips and determine through experience whether they were as delicious as they promised. Unfortunately, his thoughts leapt the unprofessional realm more and more often and he had to concentrate to keep his mind on his work. He did have a job to do.

  The only thing that kept him from losing his composure completely was the knowledge that this woman’s safety depended on his abilities. Sure, he had McCully and Fred as backup, yet he wasn’t about to rely on either of them, no matter how excellent their skills. Jenna Fields was too important to trust to anyone other than himself. And even himself was letting him down.

  Maybe tonight he’d just...

  “So, anyone hungry?” Fred asked as they reached the parking lot. At his question, their stomachs growled. “Guess that answers my question.”

  “There’s a little Chinese restaurant not far from here where we can go for takeout, if that’s okay with everyone,” Jenna offered as he opened the passenger door of his truck for her.

  “Works for me,” he answered. He glanced at McCully, but noticed her eyes looked dull and concern threatened when she didn’t answer. Usually McCully was the first one to mention food. Jenna must have noticed the oddity of his partner’s behavior, too, because she cleared the space separating them fairly quickly and checked McCully’s temperature.

  “She has a fever,” Jenna informed them.

  “I’m not feeling so good,” McCully admitted in a voice that wasn’t hers. She swayed a bit, and Fred reached out to steady her before she hit the pavement. She didn’t even try to shake him off.

  “Okay, I’ll take her back to your house, Jenna, if you and O want to swing by and get us food,” Fred offered.

  “Or, you and O can go for the food and I can take her home,” Jenna said, eyeing McCully with a trace of worry in her eyes. Owen understood completely. This vulnerable McCully was cause for major concern, concern that lapped into worry. She still hadn’t shaken Fred off.

  “You’re not going to be able to carry her,” Owen sided with Fred as he watched his partner deteriorate fast.

  “Well, no, probably not.” Jenna continued watching McCully.

  “I can carry her into the house and up to her bed. This does not look good,” Fred stated emphatically.

  “No,” Owen replied. “She didn’t even say she wanted food.” Nervousness welled within him, but he tamped the emotion down. Fred would know what to do for her, and once he and Jenna returned to her place, there’d be a doctor in the house.

  Jenna touched his arm. He was happy when she didn’t break the contact while she spoke. “She’s a day or two behind us with her cold. And she didn’t take her medicine today. It’s likely this is a slight relapse after the excitement of the weekend. Let Fred take her home. Once she’s in bed, and gets some medicine in her, she should be fine.”

  “Okay,” he said, although he wasn’t convinced. He didn’t like the bright spots on her otherwise extra pale cheeks or her complete lack of animation. She normally drove him crazy with her antics. A quiet McCully proved disconcerting.

  Fred picked her up and set her gently into his car. She didn’t seem to notice. He had to buckle her in. Her redhead slid sideways against the door when he slammed it shut. Jenna put out a hand to stop Fred when he loped around to the driver’s side. She stayed him with her hand, and Owen was grateful to see she removed the contact almost immediately.

  “There are cold tablets beside the toaster in the kitchen. Make certain she gets two of them before she goes to bed. She should be fine with some sleep. Have her drink some of the sports drink in the fridge, okay?”
Jenna instructed.

  Fred nodded and saluted before he made short work of firing up the engine. He took off out of the parking lot with far more speed than usual. This worried Owen. Usually up for a joke, and rarely serious, the fact that Fred seemed just as concerned raised his concern levels.

  “Let’s go, shall we?” Jenna asked and he was grateful when she pre-ordered their meal via her phone. She seemed to have ordered a bit of everything and then instructed him on where to go.

  The restaurant folks had their order ready and Jenna whipped out a credit card and whisked them back into the car before he had time to catch his breath.

  “Okay, I’m getting the impression you’re concerned about McCully, too,” he said finally, not able to stand the weighted tension.

  “I’m a little worried. She ate just fine when she had that fever on Wednesday,” Jenna admitted, and something pierced his gut. He really wanted to hear one of McCully’s smart remarks right now.

  “How serious do you think her condition is?” he finally managed to ask.

  “I’m not certain. This truly may be her just needing some more medicine and we’ve no cause for concern.” Jenna said reassuringly. He didn’t know whether she tried to convince him or herself.

  “What else could it be?” he hated to ask, but felt not knowing might be worse.

  “I don’t know. I’ll have more answers after I examine her,” Jenna said as she worried her lip.

  While he didn’t like to see her abusing her soft flesh like that, especially when he wanted the privilege to nip at her lips himself, at least she managed to distract him. If however briefly.

  “I don’t like how unresponsive she was. Not at all,” he stated. “And I think Fred was worried. I’ve never seen him stay serious for so long.”

  “I also picked up on his tension. Does he have medical training?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know how much, but he has some.”

  “Hopefully, if her condition is dire he’ll be able to make a snap judgment.”