Chapter 7 Mitch #2
“Let me guess,” Lori said, her tone light and coaxing as she worked. “It was done in the field with hardly any anesthetic and under less than ideal conditions.” She smiled warmly at him. “My father was a doctor in the military.”
Mitch watched as his son’s defensive walls came down slightly under Lori’s gentle ministrations and her easy acceptance, along with her understanding of military protocols.
“Something like that,” Ryan admitted. “We were lucky to have a doctor with us at the time, period.”
Lori nodded knowingly. “The doctor did a good job considering what he or she had to work with. Although I have to tell you, this is going to leave quite the scar.”
“Yeah,” Ryan said with a resigned sigh. Mitch saw his son’s earlier anger draining away under Lori’s tender care and matter-of-fact conversation. “It will be a good talking point on the beach, though.”
Lori laughed as she carefully placed butterfly bandages across the opened section of the wound, pulling the edges together.
“Not all women like scars, you know,” she told him with a teasing smile.
She put a larger dressing over the entire wound, carefully applying medical tape along the sides in strips wide enough apart not to interfere with the stitches.
“There,” she said, stepping back to admire her handiwork.
“But we really do need to get you to the hospital to have a doctor look at this. That wound could become septic if it’s not closed correctly, and it still has quite a way to go before it’s fully healed.
I’d say another week and a half at least before those stitches should come out, and that’s assuming no complications. ”
“We can take Ryan with us,” Marcus’s voice came from the doorway, making all three of them turn.
“Oh, right,” Lori said, stripping off the latex gloves and disposing of them in the trash can. She tidied up the first aid kit efficiently. “I came to tell you that one of Marcus’s contacts who’s been stationed at Elias Dane’s room just called. Elias has woken up.”
“He’s awake?” Ryan and Mitch said in perfect unison, their voices sharp with surprise and hope.
“Yes,” Marcus confirmed with a nod.
“Do you think it’s wise for all of us to descend on his hospital room?” Mitch asked, already thinking through the logistics and potential problems.
“No,” Marcus shook his head. “But we have a perfect excuse now. We’re taking Ryan to the hospital to get his stitches properly repaired, and while we’re there.
..” His eyebrows rose meaningfully. “Myself and maybe Sally could slip away to visit Elias. He knows Sally well, and she might be able to get him to talk more freely than he would with strangers.”
“Good idea,” Mitch agreed immediately. “Let’s go.”
“We can take my SUV,” Lori offered. “It’s big enough for all five of us.”
“Yes, fitting three tall guys into a pickup truck is uncomfortable even if it is a twin cab,” Marcus agreed readily.
“You can drive,” Lori said, pulling the keys from her pocket and offering them to Mitch. “You know this town better than I do, and you’ll know the fastest route to the hospital.”
They all piled into Lori’s SUV, with Mitch behind the wheel. The drive to Nantucket Cottage Hospital took less than ten minutes, and Mitch found a parking spot close to the main entrance.
Marcus quickly found out where Elias Dane’s room was located, and Sally told the nurse at the desk that she was his fiancée. The nurse, apparently satisfied with this explanation, gave them directions and sent them off down the hallway toward the ICU.
Mitch, Lori, and Ryan walked in the opposite direction toward the emergency room entrance. As they entered the hallway leading to the ER, Mitch spotted a familiar figure approaching from the opposite direction.
Clara Parks. She had a freshly bandaged wrist and was carrying a small pharmacy bag that presumably contained medication.
“Oh, not again,” Ryan hissed under his breath. Mitch noticed his son’s eyes rapidly scanning the hallway, clearly looking for an escape route. “I’m going to the bathroom. Please don’t mention me to her.”
With that, Ryan ducked into the men’s restroom with impressive speed.
“Let’s go find a doctor to see Ryan,” Mitch told Lori quietly. “Maybe if we give her a wide berth, she won’t see us.”
But it was too late.
“Mr. Brandon!” Clara called out, her face lighting up when she spotted them. Then her eyes drifted to Lori, and something flashed in them. It was gone so quickly that Mitch couldn’t decipher what it was, but he was certain he’d seen something. Dislike? Wariness? He couldn’t be sure.
“Chief Ware,” Clara greeted Lori.
Mitch remembered that he’d meant to ask Lori about why Clara kept calling her that.
“Clara,” Lori said pleasantly. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m a lot better, thank you for asking,” Clara told her.
Mitch’s trained eye automatically observed Clara’s body language.
Despite her cheerful words, she was stiff and uncomfortable.
Although she was trying hard not to let it show, Mitch was certain that Clara was uncomfortable around Lori.
Maybe it was because she thought Lori was the police chief.
He’d seen plenty of people react that way around Carrie over the years, even when she was off duty and just being friendly.
“I just got my wrist rebandaged,” Clara continued, holding up her wrapped wrist. “And the doctor prescribed me some sleeping pills. I’m sure I’m going to have nightmares for weeks to come after what I saw today.”
“Just be careful with them,” Lori advised kindly. “Sleeping pills can be helpful in the short term, but you don’t want to come to rely on them.”
“I won’t,” Clara assured her with a tight smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I don’t have an addictive personality.”
She glanced around the hallway, her eyes searching.
“Did I see Ryan enter the hospital with you?” she asked.
“Oh, he’s already gone in to see the doctor,” Mitch said quickly, his eyes flicking briefly toward the bathroom door. “He has a terrible headache. A migraine, actually.”
“Probably from all that ice cream,” Clara stated matter-of-factly, then put on her brightest smile. “Well, I’d better get home. It’s nearly dinner time. Have a great evening!”
She said her goodbyes and took off down the hallway, humming a cheerful tune as she went.
“Is it just me, or does she turn up everywhere?” Ryan’s voice hissed from directly behind them, making both Mitch and Lori spin around to find him standing there. “She’s just... I’m sorry, I don’t like being nasty about people, but she’s creepy, right?”
“She’s just lonely,” Lori said charitably. “Now let’s find you a doctor.”
Once Ryan had been taken back to an examination room to get his stitches properly repaired, Mitch and Lori found themselves alone in the emergency room waiting area.
The plastic chairs were clearly not designed for people as tall as Mitch, and they were forced to sit close together, their shoulders almost touching.
Mitch could feel Lori’s warmth radiating from where she sat beside him, and he caught the subtle scent of her perfume, something light and floral that reminded him of summer gardens.
He swallowed hard and deliberately pushed romantic thoughts away.
Today was definitely not the day for those kinds of distractions.
“Why does Clara call you Chief Ware?” he asked, seizing on a safe topic of conversation.
Lori sighed and shook her head ruefully.
“The first day I met her, she called me Chief Ware,” she explained.
“I was with Tessa at the time, and Tessa never corrected her. We just haven’t bothered to set her straight since then.
I mean, we hardly ever speak to the woman, and she’s not really at the forefront of our minds right now with everything else going on.
But it’s already gotten to a point where I’ve just thought, what the heck, let her think I’m Carrie. ”
“I understand,” Mitch said, smiling. “Maybe it’s actually a good thing that she thinks you’re Carrie. She won’t try to take advantage of beach access or bend any rules if she thinks you’re the police chief.”
“I know I really should correct her,” Lori said. “And I will. The next time we see her, I really must clear that up.”
“I don’t know, what harm is it really doing?” Mitch shrugged. “As you said, it’s not like she’s a friend or someone you see regularly.”
“It’s still good to clear the air about these things,” Lori insisted. “You never know what could happen down the road. And besides, isn’t impersonating an officer of the law illegal or something?”
“Technically, you’re not impersonating anyone,” Mitch pointed out reasonably.
“You’re just allowing someone to continue laboring under a mistaken assumption.
That’s not the same thing as actively pretending to be a police officer.
You haven’t shown her a fake badge or claimed to have arrest powers or anything like that.
She just got confused about who you are, and you haven’t corrected her yet. That’s not a crime.”
Lori shifted in her uncomfortable chair, trying to find a better position, and accidentally knocked her purse off the arm of the chair. It hit the floor with a thud, spilling some of its contents across the linoleum.
“Oh, shoot,” Lori muttered.
“I’ve got it,” Mitch said, reaching down at the same moment Lori did.
Their heads collided with a gentle thunk.
“Ow,” they both said simultaneously, then looked at each other and burst out laughing.
They came back up slowly, both rubbing their foreheads, and their eyes met. Mitch felt the laughter fade as something electric passed between them. Lori’s eyes were warm and brown and full of something that made his heart beat faster.
They both leaned in, drawn together like magnets, and Mitch could feel her breath on his lips when—
The door to the examination area opened with a loud clatter, and Ryan walked through, looking considerably more comfortable than he had earlier. “I’m ready to go,” he announced.
“We are, too,” Marcus’s voice came from behind them.
Mitch and Lori sprang apart as if they’d been caught doing something wrong. Mitch turned to see Marcus and Sally approaching from the other direction, having returned from visiting Elias Dane. Lori scrambled to pick up her purse and the spilled contents before standing beside him.
As they all walked out of the hospital together toward the parking lot, Mitch fell into step beside Marcus.
“Did you get any information from Elias Dane?” he asked quietly.
Marcus’s expression was grim. “The man wasn’t very coherent or strong, but he was semi-conscious and aware. He kept muttering something about Sally being in danger because of what she said in court.”
“So the Lanes are after you to get whatever information you have on them?” Mitch asked Sally, who was walking on Marcus’s other side.
“I think so,” Sally nodded, her face pale but determined. “Or they want to make sure I can’t testify about anything else if another investigation opens up.”
“What is going on?” Ryan asked from behind them. “I feel like I’m missing about half of the story here.”
“We have a lot to catch you up on, son,” Mitch told him. “Which we’ll do at the barbecue tonight.”
“We’re still doing the barbecue?” Ryan asked incredulously.
“Yeah, we’ve still got to eat,” Marcus said pragmatically. “And we need to discuss everything we’ve learned and figure out our next steps.”
As they all piled into the SUV, Mitch smiled to himself as he noticed Marcus offering Lori the front passenger seat with exaggerated courtesy, then sliding into the back seat right beside Sally instead of taking the middle row.
Good for him, Mitch thought to himself as he started the engine and headed for home.
His old friend deserved some happiness, and if Sally could find someone who understood what she’d been through and could protect her from whatever threats still lingered from her past, then Mitch was all for it. Maybe something good would come from all this darkness they’d been pulled into.