Chapter 11 – Presley #2
After I got my patient taken care of, I walked to the front doors and looked outside. The sky was dark, and it was pouring rain. A bright flash of lightning caused me to flinch and quickly step back, bumping into someone. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said and turned around.
Dr. Vaughn smiled at me. “That was my fault. I was in a hurry and wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“Is everything okay?” I asked. Dr. Vaughn had his own practice, so he wasn’t usually at the hospital during the day.
“Yes. I’m here to see a patient. Do you happen to know what room Macy Marshall is in?”
“Yes, she’s my patient. She’s in room three. Is she one of yours?”
“She is. How’s she doing?” he asked and motioned for me to walk with him.
“She’s okay right now. She’s had something for pain that seems to have helped,” I said and lowered my voice.
“She says she fell, but her injuries aren’t consistent with a fall.
There’s a big man in there with her, so I didn’t push her for answers.
I was planning on talking to her when she goes to radiology. ”
“That’s her husband. He’s the VP of the Blackwings. I’m guessing you haven’t met him,” he said.
“No, I haven’t. I went to a cookout with Ink, but they weren’t there.”
“You’re right. She didn’t fall, but he’s not the one who did that to her.
The club would never stand for that,” Dr. Vaughn explained.
“I haven’t talked to her myself, but if she’s hiding what happened, then it probably has something to do with their daughter.
She’s had some struggles. Badger and Macy have been trying to help her without enabling her.
” He smiled sheepishly. “I probably shouldn’t have told you all that, but they’re good people.
If she seems evasive, it’s because she’s protecting her child, not her husband. Badger adores Macy.”
As we were talking, Dice came sliding to a stop beside us, dripping water all over the floor. “Patch,” he said between breaths. “How is she?”
“I haven’t seen her yet, but Presley is her nurse, so she’s been in excellent hands.”
Dice’s eyes widened when he looked at me. “Oh, Presley. Hey. How’s Macy?”
“Um, are you family?”
“Yes, and no,” he said. “It’s complicated.”
“There’s not much I can tell you because of the privacy laws, but she’s in room three, if you want to ask her yourself,” I said, pointing to her room.
“Thanks,” he said and headed to her room.
“I’ll get him some towels,” I told Dr. Vaughn.
“Thanks, Presley.”
I grabbed a handful of towels and mopped up the water on the floor before I took the rest to Dice. Raising my hand to knock on the partially open door, I stopped when I heard Dice say, “Ink and Edge went after him. I haven’t heard anything yet.”
Dice looked up and saw me standing at the door with my hand raised in the air. “Hey, I was just about to knock. Can I come in?”
“Of course,” Macy said weakly.
“I brought you some towels,” I said to Dice. “How are you feeling?” I asked Macy.
“The pain medicine helped. Thank you.”
“Can I get you anything else while we wait for Dr. Vaughn?”
“No, I’m fine,” she said.
“No, she’s not. She’s cold. Can she have another blanket?” Dice asked.
“Of course. I’ll be right back.”
I grabbed a blanket out of the warmer and brought it to her, along with a pair of fuzzy socks. They weren’t cute, but they were warm.
“Oh, honey, feel this blanket. We have to get a warmer for the house,” Macy said.
“We have one. It’s called the dryer,” the man I presumed to be Badger said.
She laughed, followed by a groan of pain.
“What hurts?” I asked.
“My side. I didn’t notice until just now.”
“May I take a look?” I asked.
“Sure.” Dice and Badger got up to leave the room, but Macy stopped them. “No need to leave. It’s just my side.”
Macy pulled the covers back and moved her gown so I could see her side. There was a large red area in the shape of a shoe that would eventually turn into one hell of a bruise. “I think we should probably get an X-ray of your ribs. I’ll let Dr. Vaughn know.”
“Macy,” Badger said in a low tone. “Did he kick you?”
“I don’t know. It all happened so fast. One second I was walking to my car, and the next I was on the ground. Then Diesel and Mason were there.”
I cleared my throat. “For what it’s worth, I’ve seen many injuries over the years, and that looks like a shoe print.”
“Sorry about lying,” Macy said quietly.
I waved my hand dismissively. “I’m required to report certain things to the authorities. This isn’t one of them. If you don’t want to tell me what happened, you don’t have to. The only thing I ask is that you tell me what hurts so we can check it out.”
“I will. That was the only thing I kept to myself, and honestly, it didn’t hurt that bad until after I got here.”
“Knock, knock,” Dr. Vaughn said. “How are we doing in here?”
“She needs a chest X-ray if you haven’t already ordered one,” I said.
“I haven’t, but I will now. Are we suspecting broken ribs?”
“She has a large contusion on her left side and is complaining of pain in that area.”
I instructed Macy to call me if she needed anything and stepped out while Dr. Vaughn examined her. To my surprise, Dice followed me out of the room.
“You overheard me, didn’t you?” he asked in a tone that wasn’t accusatory.
“I didn’t mean to, but yes, I did,” I admitted.
“It’s not what you think.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. It’s none of my business.”
“Well, it might be,” Dice grimaced.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“There’s a lot more to the story, but here’s the short version.
I have a sister who is nineteen years younger than me.
Badger and Macy adopted her when she was four years old, after our parents were killed.
Despite their efforts, Tawny got involved with drugs and has been struggling with addiction.
I’ve had run-ins with some of her dealers.
Once was last year at Irene’s Diner. Another time was at the party when we found Ariel.
I have a feeling that what happened to Macy today was another one of those run-ins. ”
“What are you implying?”
“I’m not implying anything. I just wanted you to be aware. If you see something suspicious, assume it’s suspicious. That’s all.”
I nodded in understanding. “About Ink, will you let me know when you hear from him?”
“Already have, and so have you, but he’s fine,” he said as my phone rang.
I looked at the screen to see Ariel’s name. “Ariel? Is everything okay?” I asked instead of my usual greeting.
“I’m not sure. The same car has driven by the house several times, and it slows down in front of our house each time.”
“What? Where’s Jake?”
“He’s inside with me. We’re watching from the window.”
“What’s wrong?” Dice asked.
“Ariel’s at home, and the same car keeps driving by our house,” I told him. “Your prospect, Jake, is there with her.”
“I’ll go check it out. Tell them to stay inside. I’m on my way.”
“Dice is on his way over there,” I told Ariel. “He said to—”
“I heard him,” she said. “Why is Dice at the hospital? Did something happen?”
“He knows someone who was brought into the ER today,” I told her. “Have you been able to get the car’s license plate number?”
“No. We tried, but the rain is making it hard to see. Then there was a bright flash of lightning, so we moved away from the window.”
“That was smart,” I said as another call light went off. “Crap. I’ve got to go check on a patient. I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”
I hurried to check on my patient and walked into chaos.
When I was finally able to leave the room, I called Ariel as soon as I stepped into the hall. “Is everything okay?” I asked as soon as she answered.
“Yes. Dice is here. He saw the car and got the tag number. We haven’t seen it again since he’s been here.”
“That’s good. Are you sure you’re okay with them being in the house? That wasn’t part of the original plan.”
“It’s fine, Mom. Jake is helping me with my homework, and I think we might order a pizza,” she said.
“Okay. Well, call me if anything else happens.”
“I will,” she promised.
The rest of my shift was just as busy as it had been, and I was barely able to keep up. Macy was discharged right before shift change. Thankfully, her injuries were mostly superficial, though they would take some time to heal.
When I pulled into my driveway, my thoughts were on Ariel.
I was in such a hurry to get inside and see that she was okay for myself that I didn’t notice the second motorcycle parked on the other side of Dice’s truck.
I walked into my kitchen to find Dice and Ink sitting at the table talking while Jake and Ariel were in the living room.
“I remember Daphne saying something about this,” I said.
“Hey, Mom,” Ariel called from her spot on the couch. “There’s pizza in the fridge.”
“Thanks,” I said and looked at the two men in the kitchen. “Is everything okay?” I felt like I’d asked that question too many times in one day.
“Everything’s fine,” Dice said. “I saw the car when I turned onto your street and followed it. After one lap around the neighborhood, it left, and we haven’t seen it since.”
“Ariel said you got a tag number.”
Dice grimaced and looked at Ink. “The tag belongs to an unmarked police car assigned to Detective Coleman,” Ink said.
“I knew something was off about him,” I blurted. “He’s supposed to come talk to us tomorrow. Why in the hell was he repeatedly driving by my house today?”
Ink leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table, giving me a sly grin. “We’ll see what he says when I ask him tomorrow.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” I asked. Pissing off a detective wasn’t something I wanted to do, especially if said detective wasn’t on the up and up.
“I think he needs to know that you and Ariel are observant and aware of what goes on around you.”
“I guess we’ll see what he has to say tomorrow. Anyway, thank you both for coming over and making sure my girl was okay.”
“You’re welcome,” Dice said and got to his feet. “I’m going to head out and check on Macy.”