“Officer Lamonte Davis” I gave his last name, watched it register in her expression the way it always did when you said officer in a hospital.Not respect.Not pity.Something like a grim understanding.
She nodded.“He’s in emergency surgery.The bullet is lodged very close to a major artery.They’re trying to?—”
“Save him,” I finished.
Her lips pressed together.“Yes.”
I exhaled shakily.“And Char?”
“She’s stable,” the nurse explained “For now.They had to shock her back.She’s in ICU.They had a bed open and needs that level of care because we are overwhelmed in the back.Once we confirmed they had room, they moved her on upstairs.We’ve ordered labs, but the doc in ICU will be handling her care now.For your report, though, there’s a tox screen pending.”
Tox screen.I closed my eyes.Images flashed, powder exploding in the air, the ex’s glassy stare, the chemical bite in the apartment air.
“What drugs?”I asked.
“We don’t know yet,” she shared what I subconsciously knew but obviously wasn’t clear-headed enough to think about.“That’s what the screen is for.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket for the third time in a minute.I hadn’t heard it over the pounding in my ears.I pulled it out and saw Nita’s name lighting up the screen.
I answered on instinct, voice low.“Nita.”
“Where are you?”she blurted, words tumbling out like she couldn’t catch her breath.“Where is she?Lamonte said, he said he was going to check and then he didn’t call back, he hasn’t answered.Dante, are you at her place?I’m on my way, I’m stuck in traffic.”
“Hospital,” I shared.“Washington Memorial.ER entrance.”
There was a choked sound on the line.“Is she?—”
“She’s alive,” I cut her off quickly, because I couldn’t make her wait for that word.“They shocked her back.She’s in ICU.She’s stable right now.”
Nita made a sound like she was trying not to sob while driving.“Oh my God.”
“And Lamonte,” My voice broke because I failed him.“Lamonte’s in surgery.”
“What?”she whispered.
I gripped the phone tighter.“Shot.He’s in emergency surgery.”
“No, no, no—” Her voice fractured.“Lamonte was with you.How?”
“Just get here,” I said, because I couldn’t explain it over a phone, not without reliving the sound of the gunshot.“Please.”
“I’m coming,” she replied, and then the line went dead.That was Nita, though, it wasn’t meant to be rude or harsh even if I felt like I deserved the world to turn their backs on me because I didn’t protect my partner.Nita was just a to the point woman who didn’t waste words.
I sat there for a long time after that, staring at the blank phone screen, trying to understand how the night could shift so fast.How a routine shift could turn into the kind of call you never washed off, no matter how many showers you took.It seared a man’s soul.
A doctor walked past, glanced at the blood on me, then kept going.
I wiped my palms on my thighs.It didn’t help ease any of my tension.
In moments, Nita burst through the ER doors like a storm.Hair pulled back, face bare, eyes wide and wet.She scanned the waiting area until she found me, and then she was moving fast, almost stumbling in her haste.
“Where is she?”she demanded, voice shaking.“Where is Char?”
I stood up too quickly and swayed.My legs felt like they’d forgotten how to hold me.“ICU.”
She grabbed my forearm like she needed something solid to anchor to.“Take me to her.”
“They won’t let you in,” I explained, because the words were a knife and I had to make them cut quickly.
