I glanced at Dr. Cobb and realized that he was shaken. Something about these two or maybe the fact that we were suddenly staring our first nighttime patients in the eye had become too real, too fast.
“All right.” I looked at the girl, then the boy. “So, did he explain to you the ground rules?”
She nodded eagerly. “We don’t hafta say anything we don’t wanna.”
“That’s right, but what else?” I peered at her, smiling a little.
“But we gotta say if it’s about our health stuff.”
“Exactly. You have a good memory,” I told her. Then I made eye contact with the boy. “So, anything you want to tell us?”
He hadn’t been completely still for a second since I walked in, but he seemed to force his body to do so now. “I was on a job and came back to—to where we are staying, but I saw someone trying to push her into a car.”
“Yeah, I kicked a lot and bit the guy when he put his hand over my mouth.” She demonstrated with her good hand. “Then Madden was there and punched him and another guy tried to grab me but that one was inside the car, and the car moved, but then Madden grabbed my arm and pulled, and we fell on the ground and that first guy jumped in the car and they left.” The matter of fact way she explained the night’s events was eerie.
“Okay, and I guess you hit the ground pretty hard?” I gestured at her face.
“She did, and I think her arm…” Madden’s expression turned pained. “I think I wrenched it when I pulled her.”
Dr. Cobb spoke, having managed to get through his initial whatever it had been. “Did you hurt yourself?” he asked Madden.
“Twisted my ankle, but it’s fine.”
“His knee is busted and his palm,” she said frankly.
Madden rolled his eyes in such a big brotherly way that it made me grin. “Okay, we’ll take a look at those, too.”
“So, what hurts the most right now?” Dr. Cobb asked her.
She frowned, her gaze turning inwards as she felt her body. “The arm, I think.” Then her nose twitched. “It’s not as bad as when Gary broke my other arm though.”
“Our mom’s last boyfriend,” Madden said quietly. “Mona was two.”
Jesus.The life these kids had had already.
“Let’s take an X-ray to be sure,” Dr. Cobb said.
In short order, we went through explaining that it wouldn’t cost them anything, and then Dr. Cobb took Mona to get the imaging done while Madden hesitantly took off his jeans to let me clean his knee.
While I was sitting there on my little rolling chair, picking gravel out of the wound, I glanced at him. “So, hustling or something else?” I asked, steadying him by the shin when his leg jerked.
“I don’t want to answer that.”
“Okay. Well, just so you know,” I said, plinking another little rock into a metal dish, “I used to escort back when I lived in New York. It’s not the same, but it’s close. And I worked at an ER in there, too, so you can guess nothing I’ve seen with you guys so far is new exactly.”
He thought for a moment. Then he sighed and relaxed a bit more. “We have this decent hidey hole. It’s normally safe. But I guess someone noticed her and they wanted to grab her.” He hissed when I poked at the wound. “I don’t go far, and she never comes out while I’m gone.”
“Do you want STD tests?” I asked him point blank.
He looked thoughtful. “Might as well, I guess.”
“Good choice. I’ll give you stuff before you leave.” Whenever that would be.
Mona ran into the room. “It’s not broken, yay!”
Madden all but melted into the examination table he was sitting on. I could almost taste his relief.
“We still need to check your brother’s hand, but his knee is almost done,” I told her, then looked up at Madden. “So, here’s a question: do you guys want to take a shower and or a bath, and maybe we could throw your clothes in the washer and dryer?”
