Page 9 of Tough Justice

For a brief moment, Barnett’s gaze shifted down the corridor in the direction Deck had been heading. “She’s tied up at the moment. I don’t think she’ll be able to meet with you today, but you could leave a message for her at the nurses’ station.” He indicated the opposite direction.

“Thanks.” Deck pulled his phone from his thigh pocket, pretending to take a call as the doctor continued down the hall. As soon as Barnett was out of sight, he headed in the direction Barnett clearly hadn’t wanted him to go. Along the way, he snagged an orderly whose nametag said D. Landry and that Deck thought had also been in the ER yesterday. “Have you seen Dr. Sampson?”

“Yeah.” The man looked behind him. “Saw her go that way about ten minutes ago.”

“Thanks.” Deck continued on until he came to another intersection. He looked left then right. Both corridors were empty. He turned right, walking to the end of the hall that dead-ended at the hospital chapel. The doors were open. A lone figure sat in the first pew. He recognized her long, straight hair tied up in a high ponytail.

Dr. Victoria Sampson. With her deep auburn hair and bright green eyes, she was extremely pretty. Too bad all that pretty was covered by a steel glove capable of punching a man’s testicles right up to his tonsils.

Her shoulders shook, the way someone’s might if they were laughing. Or crying. Given the location, he’d go with the latter. Who would have thought that the thorny ice queen who’d threatened to throw him from the ER on his “muscled ass” had a heart after all? The woman was all irony. As he stood there, her muffled sobs ripped straight into his gut.

Deck turned to leave, giving one last look over his shoulder to see her lower her head in her hands and make him wonder what had upset her to the point of tears. No matter how important his quest, he didn’t have the heart to bother her right then and there.

Quietly, he pulled the chapel doors closed behind him then headed back the way he’d come. When he turned left, he nearly bumped into a nurse wearing blue scrubs. Nurse Torres, he definitely remembered from yesterday. He’d catalogued everyone who’d come into contact with Dan. Just in case things had gone to shit.

“I heard you were looking for Dr. Sampson,” Nurse Torres said.

“I was, and I found her.” He nodded toward the chapel.

“Oh, I was trying to stop you. This isn’t a good time. She just lost a patient, a teenage boy, and it hit her very hard.”

“I could see that. I actually didn’t speak with her, but I think she could use a friend right about now.” Deck was certain he didn’t fall into Dr. Sampson’s “friend” category.

Nurse Torres nodded sadly. “We all could. That boy makes the fourth OD death at North Metro in the last week from this new drug.”

“Jesus.”

“Exactly,” the nurse agreed solemnly. “Excuse me.”

Deck stared after Nurse Torres as she turned right toward the chapel. He wondered how old the kid was. Opioids were indiscriminate killers, not caring what age, race, or sex its victims were. Marianne had been only sixteen when she’d OD’d. Thinking about his baby sister had guilt twisting his insides. For a moment, he wondered if anyone would notice a big hole in the wall after he rammed his fist through the sheetrock.

He wasn’t a fan of involving civilians in his cases and certainly not a doctor, of all people. But he was desperate, and Dr. Sampson could very well be the key he needed to smash this investigation wide open.

Chapter Four

“I need to get back to work.” Tori plucked a tissue from the pack Suzie held out to her. The tiny diamond in Suzie’s engagement ring sparkled in the sunlight streaming in through the chapel’s one and only stained-glass window. Suzie couldn’t wait to marry her fiancé, Hector, and have kids. Tori prayed her friend would never have to go through what the Wojciks had. Quickly, she dabbed at the tears wetting her face. “I’m fine now.”

“Are you?” Suzie’s eyes brimmed with sympathy.

“I have to be, or I won’t be able to do my job.” And her job was everything to her.

After what had happened to her father all those years ago, all the money he’d set aside for her and her sister’s tuition…gone in the time it took for the judge to pound his gavel. As a result, she’d had to get a job. While all her friends were playing after school sports or shopping at the mall, she’d worked. During college, she’d worked nights and weekends. It had taken blood, sweat, and tears—literally—but she’d finally gotten into med school then graduated with honors. Allowing her emotions to interfere with her work was simply unacceptable.

Renewed sobs bubbled up from somewhere deep inside her anyway, and she let Suzie wrap her arms around her. “He was so young. He didn’t deserve to die.” None of them did, but this boy dying on her watch had taken a lot out of her. People died in hospitals all the time, but overdoses were so senseless, so avoidable.

Being an ER doctor, she was used to death, had even become somewhat immune. Watching Tyler Wojcik die today was the straw that had broken her emotional back.

Tori grabbed a fresh tissue to dry her face. “Thanks, Suze.” She squeezed her friend’s hand. “At least no one else caught me bawling like an infant.”

Suzie grimaced. “Um, that’s not exactly true.”

“What do you mean?” She looked around the chapel, taking in the empty pews.

“Just before I came in, I ran into that DEA agent from yesterday. You know, the Double H?”

“Double H?”

“Come. On.” She splayed a hand across her chest. “Hunky Hottie, the one with the gorgeous brown eyes?”