NECESSARY MEASURES

by Alexander, Hannah

  “I don’t get paid enough for this kind of grunt work,” Bill said.

  “Quit complaining,” Christy said. “It isn’t as if we have a right to eat dinner.”

  “ ...can’t replace the tooth in the socket?” one of the parents was asking Grant.

  To everyone’s amazement, the parents had found the tooth and saved it.

  Christy shook her head. “I don’t even let my dog ride with his head out the window. At the speed we drive these days a flying bug could put an eye out just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “Look at the splats on your windshield if you don’t believe me.”

  Lauren sighed. What a cheery crowd today.

  Christy slumped back in her chair. “Sorry guys. I’m a little wound up. It’s that cold medicine I’m taking.”

  Bill’s radio beeped. He pulled it off his belt and listened for a moment. “We’re on our way.” He hung up and turned to Christy. “Wrap it up and get ready to roll. We’ve got another hot one.”

  Christy scowled at him. “What now? Somebody with a gooseberry up his nose?”

  “Hit-and-run on Third. Three teenagers.”

  She jumped to her feet. “Let’s get to it.”

  Chapter 4

  Grant strolled into William Butler’s exam room with a printout of the administrator’s medical records. “Only a minor change from your routine physical a year ago.”

  “No MI or stroke?”

  Grant studied the numbers again, mystified. “Is the pressure still in your chest?”

  Will shook his head. The droop in his facial features had not changed but his pronunciation had improved markedly. “Gone. Could it have been a TIA?”

  “I don’t know yet. The CT scan came back clean. You do have a first-degree heart block that wasn’t there before.”

  “It probably came with my sixty-first birthday last Saturday, much as I hate to admit it. I could even be reacting to stress.”

  “Could be. You’ve been through a lot these past few months.” Grant lowered the sidebars of the exam bed and pressed a button to raise his patient to a seated position. William reminded him of his favorite uncle who had the same tough attitude. Will always seemed to have a gleam of humor lurking behind the façade. Not lately but usually. “I want to send you to Branson for a complete work-up. I’d like both a neurologist and a cardiologist.”

  Will raised a hand. “You’re not shipping me out of here.”

  “You need further testing.”

  “You know the mess we have on our hands right now.”

  “It won’t improve if something happens to you. We need you healthy. Branson isn’t that far away.”

  Will closed his eyes. The paper-pale color of his skin made the dark circles beneath his eyes stand out. Bushy salt-and-pepper eyebrows accentuated the pallor of his face. “Did I mention that Jade Myers has made a depressing habit of calling an average of three times a day since the first of November to discuss our city’s finances?”

  “You did and you have my deepest sympathy.”

  A shadow of a smile passed across Will’s face. “Don’t get me wrong. Her father and I were in the Navy together and he was a good man. She has a lot of his positive qualities.” He opened his eyes and caught Grant’s gaze. His smile deepened. “A guy could do worse.”

  Grant caught the implication. “Huh-uh.”

  “She has a tender heart underneath that tough exterior.”

  “I know. She cares a great deal for Dogwood Springs.”

  “She has a high opinion of you,” William said. “You could call her.”

  Grant tried not to dwell on the thought of Jade Myers spending any time under the same roof with his strong-willed daughter. Brooke could make life uncomfortable for anyone who stepped between her and her long-term goal of making Lauren McCaffrey a member of the family.

  A few months ago Grant would not have thought that possible but Lauren’s attitude of casual friendship toward him had piqued Brooke’s interest. Now she considered Lauren to be one of her best friends.

  Lauren’s vitality and natural love for others affected him much more deeply than he let on. He had no interest in looking further even though their friendship was just that—friendship.

  “I happen to know Jade would love to see more of you,” Will said.

  “Tell you what, I’ll call her and explain the effect her telephone calls are having on you.”

  “Grant.” Will’s voice held a touch of its old vibrancy. “If you tell her I was in the ER as a patient she’ll have the whole hospital in an uproar—not something we need right now. Not something she needs with the battle she’s waging to keep Dogwood Springs in the black.” Will’s enunciation continued to improve, much to Grant’s relief.

  “Then I guess we’ll have to swear our nurses on the floor to secrecy because I’m admitting you here if you won’t go to Branson.”

  Will’s thick brows lowered as he studied Grant. “You know I trust your judgment but is it absolutely necessary? I can’t afford to be out of the office.”

  “I can’t afford to let you go home like this. I want to find out what’s happening. We need to keep you in fighting condition.”

  As Grant lowered Will to a more comfortable position he heard a light rap at the entryway.

  The door cracked open and Gina Drake leaned through. She appeared less sanguine than she had a few moments. “Dr. Sheldon, can I speak to you for a moment?” She turned and looked back over her shoulder, her freckled face pale, mouth tense with concern. “Sorry William, I hate to interrupt.”

  “Go ahead.” Will waved them away. “Take him out of here. He’s determined to truss me up like a Thanksgiving turkey.”

  Grant followed Gina out into the hallway and closed the door behind him. “Is Mr. Proctor okay?”

  She glanced both ways along the hall. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault. He took off.”

  “What?”

  “I’m really sorry,” she said quickly. “The smell got so bad in there I stepped out for fresh air. I couldn’t have been gone more than a couple of minutes. Long enough to clear that smell from my lungs while he continued his treatment. I wasn’t out of view of the door more than thirty seconds, tops. When I went back to his room he was gone.” She covered her face with her hands. “I feel awful about this.”

  He took a moment to catch his breath and recover some calm as echoes of last spring bounced through his head. “It’s happened before and it’ll happen again. As I told Eugene when the last one got away, ER staff members are not security guards. The police haven’t arrived yet?”

  She shook her head.

  “They’ll want your input on his description so don’t leave the hospital until someone has spoken with you.”

  She walked away, head bowed, copper curls drooping over her forehead.

  ***

  Lauren stepped out into the main corridor that led to Respiratory from Emergency and saw her red-haired friend pushing a cart of supplies as if she was headed toward a funeral.

  “Hey stranger,” Lauren called.

  Gina glanced up and then her shoulders slumped. “Hey.” She stopped and waited for Lauren to catch up with her. “I know the police are on their way. I’m hanging around. I can’t believe I let the guy get away.”

  “He took off on his own. You could have been standing right there in the room and he would have done the same thing.”

  “I wouldn’t have let him.”

  “And that would have been dangerous.”

  “Don’t be dumb,” Gina said. “I don’t mean I would have physically stood in his way but I think I might have been able to convince him that if he removed the oxygen tubes from his nose his sinuses would swell up and implode into his brain.”

  Lauren grinned. “You have a disgusting way with words.”

  Gina slowed her steps. “Maybe I should start writing horror stories. It seems I’ve been living in the middle of one lately.”

  “Here at the hospital?”

  “Som
etimes. Too many adults with drug addictions, asthma, cancer. I prefer working with kids. My dream is to work in a children’s hospital where I don’t have so much contact with adult monsters. If it had been up to me, I might have been tempted to let Gil Proctor—if that’s his real name, which I’m sure it isn’t—fry in his own poison. I recognized that smell as soon as I stepped in the door.”

  “I’ll walk you to your department.” Lauren matched her steps to her friend’s shorter strides.

  “Evan Webster gave me a copy of his article in the school paper last week.” Gina pushed her cart beside Lauren. “I think that was the first time it really hit me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Whoever dumped those supplies above Honey Spring had no regard for human life. People died because of them. And that Proctor jerk? All he cared about was feeling better today. He wouldn’t have cared if his lab had exploded and killed a thousand people or even the whole town as long as he kept his business going.”

  “I try not to think about it.”

  Gina frowned up at her. “All the financial problems this town and this hospital are suffering were caused by people like him. You nearly died because of people like him.”

  “But I’m still alive.” Thanks to Grant.

  Gina took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sorry. But still—”

  “I know.” Lauren had learned from the experience. Gripped by the sickness while she was alone in the wilderness, she’d discovered what loneliness truly was for the first time in her life. The episode had changed her whole perception about being single. What she’d learned had increased her faith.

  “Are you going to Dr. Sheldon’s for Thanksgiving next Thursday?” Gina asked. “He invited the kids and me. I think he invited the Websters.”

  “I’ll be there. My parents are having our family gathering this Sunday since so many of my family members have to work next Thursday. Several of us chose the medical field. You and your boys are welcome to join me with my family Sunday too.”

  Gina cleared her throat. “I’ve got…other plans.”

  Lauren glanced at her. “So tell me where you’ve been keeping yourself. We haven’t had lunch together in a month. Every time I call you’re too busy to eat.”

  They rounded a corner in the broad hallway in silence. When Lauren looked again she saw the glow of a blush across the freckled cheeks.

  “You know things are busy lately.” Gina swallowed. “We’re working short in the department and I take my lunch later now.”

  “How late? Maybe I can adjust my break time.”

  Gina wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Uh, three in the afternoon.”

  “Why so late? I can’t take mine then because….” She hesitated. “That’s when Todd Lennard always takes his...” Todd, the LPN who had helped with Mr. Butler today, worked in the department most often from eleven in the morning to eleven at night—the high volume hours.

  Gina’s blush deepened. Lauren felt a twinge of alarm. “Gina?” She waited for a quick reply. Todd Lennard? Gina wouldn’t be coordinating her lunch breaks to eat with him.

  Gina ducked her head and picked up her pace. “Tell the police I’ll be in Respiratory when they need to talk to me.”

  Lauren followed her. “Please tell me you’re not having lunch every day with a married man.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “You mean you are?”

  “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “You’re really seeing Todd?” This was not the Gina Drake Lauren knew.

  Gina pulled the heavy cart to a stop and turned, raising a finger to her lips. “Would you lower your voice? We eat lunch together, that’s all.”

  “If you eat lunch together here in the hospital—”

  “Shh!” Gina glanced both ways down the corridor. “We don’t eat in the cafeteria, we eat in the private conference room on the second floor. That way there won’t be any silly rumors. You know how this place can be.”

  Lauren couldn’t believe Gina would do that after what she’d been through during and after her own divorce. “Why don’t you try explaining a little more so I can at least sleep tonight?”

  “Things aren’t always what they seem to be.”

  “So you aren’t really spending your lunch hours behind closed doors with a married man who has two little girls?”

  “He left his wife two weeks ago. He needed someone to talk to.”

  Lauren gently grasped Gina by the shoulder. “Honey, how long have you been seeing him? What about that promise that you would never have anything to do with another man as long as you lived, particularly an undependable one?”

  Gina shot a quick glance along the empty hallway. “I didn’t exactly promise.”

  “That’s right. What you said to me was, ‘Lauren, if I ever look at another man as long as I live, just knock me in the head.’ So you wait right here and let me find a nice hard—”

  “Would you relax?” Gina chuckled. The sound was forced and the smile on her lips barely touched her eyes. “It isn’t as if we’re serious or anything.”

  “Then why hide it?”

  “Because people would think the wrong thing like you did.”

  “You mean people would be thinking that he’s the type of man who would leave his family for another woman?”

  Gina’s eyes flashed a warning. “That isn’t—”

  “Are you forgetting how you felt when your husband left you to raise your boys alone? How would you have felt if you’d walked into a room to find him having lunch with another woman two weeks after leaving you? How long have the two of you been having lunch together?”

  Gina looked away but her grimace betrayed the truth.

  “Let me guess,” Lauren continued. “Longer than two weeks.”

  “He needs a friend and so do I.”

  “I’m your friend. Please think about what you’re doing.”

  “Just stop interfering.”

  “Doesn’t a friend who cares for you have a good reason to help you with a blind spot?”

  At that moment they both stiffened at the rattle of metal on plastic and the labored slap of heavy footsteps. Black-haired sharp-eyed Fiona Perkins waddled around the corner ahead of them carrying her tray of lab supplies.

  She slowed her steps when she saw them and glanced from Gina to Lauren, which made her triple chins jiggle. “Break time?”

  “The break just ended.” Gina reclaimed her grip on her cart and pushed it away without another glance behind her.

  Lauren watched her go.

  Fiona continued to stand in the middle of the corridor, the beauty of her wide blue eyes marred by the sly cunning in her expression. “Did I just miss a catfight?”

  Lauren leveled a cool stare at the woman who had managed to convince half of the town a few months ago that Lauren was pregnant with the child of a local pastor. With deepening regret over her words with Gina, she left Fiona waiting greedily for more dirt and went back toward the ER, praying she’d kept her voice low enough.

  Why would Gina be seeing Todd?

  ***

  Grant sat at his desk with his door closed as he used the phone’s speaker and typed notes on his tablet. “I’m sorry, Tony. We had several other patients at the time. I couldn’t stay with the suspect.”

  “Could you tell if this guy was tweaking?” the police sergeant asked.

  “I’d almost guarantee it. Grumpy as a newly awakened bear. What I’m concerned about is an explosion somewhere in town. He showed signs of chemical burns, had trouble breathing.”

  “Haven’t heard of anything in town,” Tony said. “If there was one it probably was in the forest somewhere. Word is out we’re keeping a close watch for drug activity. What did this patient call himself?”

  “This one wasn’t the kingpin you were looking for last summer. Royce, right?”

  “That’s right. I forgot you met him.” Tony sounded disappointed. “That’s the one I want but I’ll take all I can g
et.”

  “This guy’s name was Proctor. I thought Royce left town.”

  “He might’ve returned. He had a lot of customers. Greed can make people take risks.” There was a long sigh. “Anyway, I’m glad you called. Don’t let your eyewitnesses leave until my men get there.”

  “I know the drill.” Grant stared across the manicured lawn decorated by sculpted cedars and holly shrubs. Some neighbors already had early Christmas decorations on the houses across the street. “I feel as if we’re under siege. I saw too much of this in St. Louis.”

  “Maybe you can help us rout it for good from this part of the Ozarks.”

  “I’m a doctor, Tony, not a policeman.”

  “As an ER physician you’re an expert. You can recognize signs of drug abuse and I can count on you to sound an alarm as soon as you see something.”

  Grant had met Tony Dalton several times. The sergeant was brought into this emergency room on a gurney last summer blinded by a booby trap of ammonia that his partner had accidentally tripped during a drug raid. Grant could picture the tall dark-haired police sergeant encouraging his men, issuing commands, and catching criminals.

  Tony’s blindness barely slowed him down. He managed an elite force of men devoted to shutting down drug manufacturers who took refuge in the wilderness of forest that checkerboarded the Ozarks.

  “When my guys get there they’ll be out of uniform but they’ll show you their badges,” Tony said.

  “We’ll be waiting.”

  “Thanks, Grant. Keep me posted.”

  Someone was knocking on the door when Grant disconnected.

  Vivian stepped into the office looking alarmed “Dr. Sheldon, that ambulance that was called out a few minutes ago? There was a little accident downtown. The teenagers being brought in don’t look too bad but the car was an older model Volvo.”

  He felt ice along his backbone. “Brooke and Beau?”

  “And Evan Webster. They’re being transported here.”

  Chapter 5