Chapter Three
Janet
I read the doctor’s report. He might be a bit abrupt in his bedside manner and the doctor I least liked working with, but Dr. Murphy was the best trauma doctor in the state.
Although a deep cut, and definitely messy, the knife wound wasn’t serious.
Thor was being admitted overnight, but I suspected that was more to make sure he didn’t move around and tear out any stitches than because of any concerns.
I’d taken advantage of the time Ace and the lawyer had spent with him to contact my mole in the family mansion.
Montgomery’s role in the family could best be described as butler/bodyguard.
I don’t remember a time he hadn’t been around, rescuing me from the consequences of my own actions.
I trusted him implicitly, even to the point of keeping my calls to him a secret from my parents. I hadn’t talked to them in years.
Montgomery swore no one had been paying any attention to my dating habits or anything else about me in the past year.
They knew I was dating a biker and didn’t seem to care.
Thought that it couldn’t possibly be serious.
My mother thought I just picked a biker to annoy them.
He pointed out that even Maxwell, the guy my parents had decided I was to marry, hadn’t shown much interest other than making sure he was never seen with another woman in public.
Montgomery had his theories on that one as well, but Maxwell’s sex life was of little interest to me as long as I wasn’t included in it.
I felt a bit better after the call but that still left the questions -- who set Thor up, and why?
Or was it really just a big coincidence?
I hesitated to call Maxwell directly. If anyone, like my family or his, caught wind of the fact I’d been in touch they might ramp up the marriage pressure all over again.
That wouldn’t be good for either of us. Montgomery didn’t seem to think Maxwell was behind this, so maybe I should let it go for now. No point in stirring the pot.
The lawyer, Daryl, strode into the waiting area and nodded to me as he headed out the door. Moments later, Ace appeared, stopping by the admissions desk where I was sitting. “Sorry about that. Club business.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. I get it. So, what can I know?”
He countered with a question of his own. “Are they keeping Thor in overnight, or sending him home?”
I glanced down at the chart still in my hands. “Keeping him overnight at a minimum, but he’s stable. I think the main reason is to make sure he stays in bed and lets things start to heal.”
Ace snorted. “You mean they don’t trust him not to jump on his bike and go after someone?”
“Pretty much.”
“Good call. In that case Daryl thinks we should let the cops interview him here. Neutral ground and all. They can’t try to bully him into admitting something he didn’t do if there're witnesses, and it’s easier to handle the narrative.”
That almost made me laugh. Thor wasn’t the kind of guy you could bully into doing something he didn’t want to do. “Sounds good. Give them an hour or so to get him upstairs and settled, though.”
“Okay. I’ll call Daryl and have him set it up. Let me know when he’s ready.” He pulled out his phone and paused. “Thank you for looking after him.”
I looked over at the two prospects lounging against the wall in the waiting room. “Looks like you’re doing some looking-after too. Joker left when those two showed up, but he made a point of telling me who they were. I let the triage nurse know to ignore them.”
Ace glanced over at the prospects. “Yeah. We take care of our own.”
And Thor was one of them. A good man, and an ex-SEAL who didn’t quite fit back into civilian life.
That was one of the things that drew me into their world.
There was no jockeying for favors, no backroom politics.
Just a bunch of guys looking out for each other and trying to make the world a better place.
Ace hit quick-dial and put the phone to his ear. I could hear him talking to Daryl as he headed out the door.
I hung the chart up and headed back to Thor’s bedside. He reached out for me when I entered the cubicle, and I took his hand. He looked tired. Exhausted, actually. “Did you think I deserted you?” I teased.
He squeezed my hand, his mouth curving up in that sensual smile I could never resist. “Nah. I’m so incredibly sexy you’d never be able to stay away.”
I laughed, even though the sight of him so weak terrified me. I could have lost him. “Don’t count on it.”
He let out an exaggerated sigh. “Are you saying I have to keep you locked up and chained to my bed?”
Someone behind me cleared their throat loudly. I turned, feeling my face go red with embarrassment.
Thor just grinned.
“We need to get your boy toy up to his room.” Madison, one of the on-duty aides, came into the room. “He’ll be in 211, so maybe you could get anything he might need and meet us there?”
Translation -- get out of the way and let me do my job. And get the guy a toothbrush.
I turned to drop a quick kiss on Thor’s forehead and gently extracted my hand from his grip. “I’ll call Ace and have him send someone over with your stuff. Anything you want?”
“My cut.” He looked around the room as if he’d just realized it was missing. “I had it at the pub.”
“Joker took it when they started cutting stuff off you in the alley. I’m sure he kept it safe.”
Thor relaxed. “Can you check to make sure? And see if you can find my phone? Not sure where I left the damn thing.”
“Oh, right! It’s in my purse.” I’d picked it up off the table when I’d gone out to find him. In the chaos that followed I’d totally forgotten about it. “I’ll bring it right up.”
Madison made little shooing motions with her hands, and I blew Thor a kiss as I left the room.
* * *
The police had come and gone, and both Daryl and Ace seemed to be happy with the outcome.
They were leaning toward labelling the killing self-defense, especially since Thor’s story was backed up by the bartender and a couple of the other bar patrons along with a rather grainy image from the security cameras.
No one knew the identity of the second man, and the officers promised to look into that.
The woman they’d used as bait was wily enough that all you could see of her was the back of her head as she left the area.
The dead man was a lowlife who was well-known to the police.
He’d been up on murder charges a couple of times, but there was never enough evidence to convict him.
They didn’t seem overly concerned at his demise.
I’d been allowed to stay in the room during the interview, mostly because Thor refused to cooperate unless I was present.
He sat up in bed and held onto my hand for the entire interview.
I was starting to feel like his emotional support girlfriend.
Or maybe he was just scared I’d disappear while he was too weak to chase me.
Fat chance of that. After this fiasco he’d be lucky if I let him out of my sight.
The interview was short, almost as if it were a forgone conclusion.
Thor followed the lawyer’s instructions, only answering what was asked and adding as little description or detail as possible.
Daryl had pointed out that the less he said, the less chance there was of the police tripping him up on some obscure point at a later date.
Joker was waiting downstairs and as soon as the officers left, he came up. He had Thor’s cut with him, along with a plate of brownies baked by Beast’s twin daughters.
“You didn’t bring him a toothbrush or comb?” I asked.
Joker shrugged. “You didn’t ask for those, just his cut. The twins added the brownies.”
I rolled my eyes. I’d just said his cut and stuff. I didn’t realize I needed to be specific. “It’s okay. I’ll just slip over to the pharmacy and get him a few basics if you’re going to be here for a bit?”
“Sure. I’ll stay until you get back.”
I grabbed my purse and headed out. The same two prospects were lounging just outside his room, and they nodded to me as I left.
Just the fact that Riptide felt the need to place a guard on Thor’s room made me nervous all over again.
Montgomery had assured me my family had nothing to do with the attack, but that still left anyone who’d ever felt they had a beef with Riptide in general, or Thor in particular.
Or maybe my wannabe fiancé felt Thor was a threat to the continued falsehood that we would someday be a couple. I made a mental note to give him a call as soon as I could.
There was a pharmacy attached to the hospital, and I picked up a toothbrush and some other basic items for Thor. I added a bag of potato chips and a couple of chocolate bars for good measure. Hospital food had a reputation for a reason.
I was on my way back into the hospital when Dr. Murphy intercepted me, indicating he wanted to talk to me in his office.
Great. He might be an amazing trauma doctor, but he was a terror to the rest of the staff. He seemed to regard us as some type of lower life form that needed his constant negative remarks to keep us in line.
He followed me into the office and closed the door behind us. I put my purchases down and took a seat in front of his desk. He strode behind the desk and sat, steepling his fingers in front of him as he stared at me without saying anything.
The silence stretched out, but I refused to be intimidated. This wasn’t the first time he’d called me in here, and after the day I’d had I wasn’t in the mood to be browbeaten by him.
He finally spoke. “This is not going to look good on your performance evaluation.”
“What’s not going to look good?”
“Hanging out with criminals and murder suspects.”
I lifted one brow. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
He snorted. “That man you came in with. He’s a member of a biker group. The police came to talk to him about a murder.”