Leslie craned her head. “Is it dead?”
“Probably, since it has a case of acute lead poisoning, but I’m not gonna check a pulse.” Mateo pulled out a light and shined it in her eyes. “You sure you didn’t hit your head?”
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think or you don’t know?” He gripped her chin when she tried to shy away from his light. “I’m not babying you. That bear wanted your stupid hide. Are you dizzy? Any difficulty breathing?”
“My ribs don’t feel great. And I’m a little dizzy and pukey, but it’s probably the adrenaline of not being eaten,” she begrudged her response.
“Might be a concussion. You need to be checked out in the ER. Chest X-ray for sure.”
“I don’t need a chest x-ray. My ribs aren’t broken.”
He palpated the section where he’d seen the bruises, and she hissed. “Ah, Mujer Araña, in addition to web slinging, do you have x-ray vision?”
She slapped his hand away, not appreciating his Spiderwoman reference. “I’ve had broken ribs before.”
He grabbed her again. “Don’t do that. Let me do my job.”
“Stop.” She ducked to the side and threw up on the pavement.
He sighed and something horrible occurred to him which would explain her reluctance to be x-rayed. “You aren’t pregnant, are you?”
She seemed too trim to be pregnant, but what did he know about that?
“I’m not pregnant. I have the new depo shot. I don’t want you to have an excuse to bench me more than I already am.”
“This has nothing to do with benching you or not. You fought a BEAR! I’d get a guy checked out, too. Got it?” He lifted her face back up and gave her a stern look in the eye.
“Excuse me.” Isadora cleared her throat to get their attention. “I have Chief Hastings from Cleveland Fire.”
“Hey y’all,” Chief Hastings of Operations greeted them, and Mateo released Leslie. The chief was in his mid-forties with thick black hair and an equally thick Mississippi accent. “You hadn’t reported back in so I came to see you in person.”
“My apologies. I was surveying Firefighter McClunis after she tried to dance with the bear,” Mateo said awkwardly.
“That is one large animal. I don’t think it’s merely dead, it’s really most sincerely dead,” Hastings said, not bothering to hide the awful grisly hilarity.
“Six point-blank shots from a Glock will do that,” Isadora said shortly. “I’ll be heading back to my command. ME’s on his way for the original vic.”
Somehow, she spun on her heel, and Mateo wondered if she was pissed.
“How interesting,” Hastings drawled. “So you two fought a bear and he didn’t get you?”
“It might be a she-bear,” Leslie volunteered, uninvited.
“A girl?” Hastings zeroed in on her comment.
“They don’t call ’em Mama Bears for nothing. Almost anything that aggressive might be protecting her young.”
“Now there’s a terrifying thought. If there is baby bear, there might be a daddy around here,” Mateo agreed.
“I’ll tell the police. You need to get Firefighter McClunis to MetroGen for a check. But first, Lieutenant, a word.” Hastings smiled and propelled Mateo out of earshot from Leslie.
“Sir?”
“Is she fine?” Hastings asked.
“Probably. Leslie took a tumble off a minivan roof. I’ll get her checked out, but I suspect she’s just got the shakes.”
