“Even clothes?”
“Anything received by the emergency department gets documented and sealed.”
His eyes stayed on mine, not accusing and not rude, just steady enough to make me uncomfortable. “So if something wasn’t on the list, that mean the hospital never got it?”
I hated how dry my mouth suddenly felt. “Not necessarily because EMS may have documented items separately, and sometimes law enforcement takes possession of certain belongings depending on the circumstances. Security can trace the chain of custody if he files a report.”
“He don’t fuck with police.”
Kendra’s eyes got a little wide, but she looked back down at her computer like she hadn’t heard him. I kept my toneprofessional. “Then there’s only so much the hospital can investigate without him reporting what’s missing.”
Lev rubbed his beard while looking at me. “He didn’t say what it was?”
“Not to me.”
That part was technically true. Marvelous had never said the words fifty thousand dollars to my face. He had only asked about his things and said he was still trying to figure out what was missing.
Lev studied me for another second before nodding once with a small smile showing his gold teeth . “Aight then.”
I hated that the smile looked good on him because nothing about this situation was supposed to feel light. This man was standing right in front of the person who had taken his cousin’s money, and instead of suspecting me, he was playing it cool.
“Is there anything else you need?” I asked.
“Nah.” He glanced back toward Marvelous’s room. “Just make sure that hardheaded nigga don’t do too much.”
“That depends on whether he listens.”
“He don’t.”
“I noticed.”
Lev looked back at me, and that small grin returned. “Yeah, I can tell.”
He walked away before I could ask what that was supposed to mean. Kendra waited until he disappeared into the room before slowly turning her chair toward me with the biggest smile on her face.
“So you weren’t paying attention?”
I frowned. “Please don’t start.”
“I didn’t say nothing.”
“You didn’t have to. Your face is doing enough.” She laughed quietly. “All I’m saying is that man has been coming up herefor three days and barely says more than five words to anybody. Now all of a sudden he’s standing at my desk talking to you.”
“He asked about his cousin’s belongings. Nothing more nothing less.”
I shook my head and went back to documenting because Kendra clearly had too much time on her hands. Although I didn’t know her, she did seem cool. Whatever Lev had been doing wasn’t flirting anyway. He was asking questions, and that was the part I needed to remember. It didn’t matter how fine he was, how good he smelled, or how calm his voice sounded. By the time Marvelous’s pain medicine was due, I had convinced myself I could walk back into the room without looking like I had anything to hide. When I pushed the door open, Lev was sitting in the chair near the window while Marvelous stared at the television with an irritated look on his face. They both looked over at me at the same time.
“Finally,” Marvelous complained. “I thought you forgot about me.”
“It has been exactly thirty minutes.” I walked toward the medication pump and scanned his wristband. “You are not my only patient.”
“I’m your favorite though.”
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Lev shook his head from the chair. “This man almost died and still annoying.”
