Theo’s eyes opened for a moment, focusing on the woman leaning over him, concern written all over her face.
“It’s you!” he whispered, and the last thing he saw was a pair of golden-colored eyes before he sank into darkness.
8
“I thought you said he was hit by a car?” Louisa frowned as she fed a breathing tube down the throat of the unconscious guy on the table.
“That’s what Olivia said,” Jake replied.
She pressed her stethoscope to his chest listening for good breath sounds. Removing it from her ears and wrapping it back around her neck, she looked up at Jake. “Then why does he smell like a bonfire? He looks as if he’s got at least second-degree burns. He’s almost certainly suffering from smoke inhalation and that’s not including the giant-ass knife wound in his forearm.”
“I didn’t see him. I just… I didn’t see him. I tried to stop in time…” Olivia kept repeating, voice rising with a slightly hysterical note to it, as Jake and Louisa watched her in concern. “Oh my god, is he going to die? Chief Walcott already thinks I’m a murderer, and now I’ve run over a guy dressed like a pilgrim and it’s not even thanksgiving….”
Louisa exchanged a glance with her brother.
“Hey.” Louisa moved away from her patient as the nurses attached various tubes and monitors. “Olive, honey, it’s okay.” She gripped her arms gently. “Are you hurt at all?”
“I tried to stop in time,” Olivia repeated. “I called Jake. I didn’t know what to do. Chief Walcott…”
“Hey.” Louisa tilted Olivia’s jaw, forcing Olivia to focus on her. “Chief Walcott is an asshole, never mind him. This guy, whoever he is, isn’t going die. He’s hurt, sure, but nothing immediately life-threatening and…” She hesitated for a moment. “I don’t think you did hit him with your car,” she told Olivia firmly.
“What?”
“His injuries aren’t consistent with the blunt force trauma associated with being struck by a moving vehicle,” Louisa explained. “I think he was standing in the road, and he just collapsed from the injuries he’d already sustained.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense.” Olivia shook her head. “I mean, where did he come from? I didn’t see any other cars. There’s nothing out on that road but acres of woodland.”
“That’s my job to figure out,” Jake answered.
“God.” Olivia rubbed her eyes with a huge sigh. “I shouldn’t have been driving. I was tired, and my eyes kept closing. I was just trying to get home.”
“Olivia?” Louisa frowned. “Have you slept yet?” Olivia shook her head mutely. “For God’s sake, we were up all night. I thought you were going home to bed when I left you this morning.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” Olivia murmured, the lines of misery etched in her exhausted face.
“I bet you haven’t eaten yet either.”
“I had something this morning,” Olivia replied.
Jake watched as Louisa turned toward him. “Can you take her down to the cafeteria and get some food in her? Afterward, find Cathy Wilson. She’s on duty tonight and can find Olivia a bed in the on-call room. Then come back and see me. I’ll have a clearer picture of his injuries by then.”
“Sure. I’ve got her,” Jake steered Olivia out of the room. “Come on, Olive,” you’ll feel better after you’ve eaten and rested.”
He took her down to the cafeteria first, but she barely ate anything, she was simply too exhausted. Figuring she needed sleep more than anything, Jake hunted down the motherly but slightly scary Cathy Wilson, who he remembered fondly from his childhood as she’d stitched him up after numerous scrapes and cast his broken arm when he was eleven.
Cathy showed them to a vacant room. Olivia was asleep before she even face-planted the pillow and with the knowledge that she was in good hands under Cathy’s watchful gaze, Jake made his way back to the ER intending to find his sister, only to find his boss striding through the main entrance instead.
“Chief.” Jake inclined his head.
“Jake,” he replied. “I hear Miss West was involved in a vehicular incident.”
“Is that why you’re here?” Jake asked cautiously.
“Actually, I came to speak with Doc Hughes regarding Adam’s autopsy.”
“It was definitely Adam then?”
Chief Walcott gave a sharp nod. “We ID’d him with what was left of his fingerprints.”
