Solemn Oath

by Hannah Alexander

  Lukas nearly gasped aloud. That was not good news! “B-but, Estelle, you said—”

  “Think of the power you have to make a difference, Lukas. Think of the policies you can improve, the lives you can influence.”

  “The twenty-four-hour shifts I can work because I can’t convince anyone to come in,” he interrupted with alarm.

  “No problem. We’re going to hire four more full-timers plus a PRN, so you can work out a schedule to suit—”

  “Please, Estelle, I’m not administrative material.” Had he fallen asleep and drifted into some kind of nightmare? “You told me this morning that if Dr. George resigned his directorship you would…” What was that? Laughter? “Estelle…?”

  Yes, it definitely was laughter, and it grew louder, the deep tones of her voice raised to an unaccustomed level of obvious enjoyment at his expense. “Don’t worry, Lukas, I have you covered. Three of the physicians applying for work in our E.R. have administrative experience. Surely we can find someone to take over your unwanted responsibilities and still be enough of a pushover to fall into line with my plans for this hospital.”

  Lukas gave a relieved sigh. “Where’d you learn how to bluff like that?”

  “In the cradle. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” She gave another deep chuckle, then she sighed, and the air grew serious over the line. “I needed that. Thanks for being the fall guy for me.” She hesitated. “Lukas, I need your prayers this afternoon. I’m going to lock horns with Bailey, and it’s going to get ugly.”

  “Ugly?”

  “He can’t win this fight. I’ve got all the ammunition I need to stop him, and when he realizes he’s going to lose, he’ll get nasty.”

  “What time is the meeting?”

  “Two o’clock. He’ll arrive late just to spite me, but not too late.”

  Lukas glanced at his watch. “You don’t have much time to prepare.”

  “I’m prepared. Just pray.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  He hung up, then turned around to find Cowboy Casey standing at the desk, a new gray hat shading his eyes from the glare of the overhead lights, a smile creasing his sun-worn face like a silver lining. Beside him, tucked against his side by his unhurt arm, stood Beverly with a glow in her eyes that seemed to reflect against her red hair like a sunrise.

  Lukas didn’t have to ask. He knew Beverly wouldn’t be this happy about a new lion cub.

  “Dr. Bower, we’re getting married in a week,” Cowboy announced in his deep Ozark drawl. “Want to come?”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Lukas watched as Ken, the X-ray tech, wheeled a female patient out of exam room three into the radiology department. The patient’s left eye was angry red and purple, and her only explanation was that she had gotten clumsy and stumbled into a chair. Tears had filled her eyes since her arrival thirty minutes ago, but they never fell. It was as if the pain was too great for even a teardrop to touch.

  Even in a small town like Knolls, the E.R. saw battered women with silent, unacknowledged tears. They came alone a lot of times because they didn’t want anyone else to guess what was going on. And yet they kept going back to the men who continued to abuse them.

  Buck stepped up beside Lukas with arms crossed over his chest, his face grim as he watched Ken wheel the patient out. “Guess she must have been clumsy six months ago when she bruised her jaw, too. Did you see her chart, Dr. Bower? She broke her wrist a year ago—or had it broken for her. Maybe she ought to do to her husband what Delphi did to Abner. Then maybe he’d think twice when he flexes his muscles with his wife in the room.”

  “You know these people?” Lukas asked.

  “Kendra used to work with Galen at Baker Metalworks before we got married. I doubt if he’s changed. He was a real bully then.” Buck uncrossed his arms and shook his head. “Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?” Frustration edged every word. “Maybe Kendra’d go for somebody like that, somebody who’d knock her around and yell at her.”

  Lukas stifled a sigh. He’d managed to coax his friend into a better mood for a while, but he’d known it wouldn’t last. Buck was obviously getting tired of the disappointment in his life right now. Lukas didn’t blame him.

  Buck nudged Lukas, and the gentle force of his muscular arm sent Lukas stepping sideways. “Look who’s coming in, Doc.” Buck pointed toward the entrance. “Just what I need to make my day complete.”

  Lukas saw Kyle Alder stepping into the waiting room.

  Kyle caught sight of Buck, waved and walked toward them. “Hi, Buck,” he said. “Hi, Dr. Bower.”

  Buck straightened from the counter. “Aren’t you on duty?”

  Kyle shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “Not until tonight. Some of the guys at the station said you had a shift here today.” He sighed and looked down. “They don’t want me over there.”

  “Join the club,” Buck said bitterly.

  “What’s going on, anyway?” Kyle asked. “I mean, doesn’t the chief know better than to suspect you? Anybody could’ve gotten that solvent. Everybody knew about it, and you never locked your locker.”

  Buck nodded and leaned back against the counter, arms crossed over his chest again. “Somebody should tell the chief that.”

  “I did as soon as I found out what happened.”

  “What did he say?”

  Kyle swallowed and looked away. “Oh, you know the chief, never gives anything away. He…uh…asked me a few questions.”

  “Like what?”

  “He wanted to know what kind of stuff you taught us, you know, how we spent our time on duty and…well, if we were with you when the calls came in for the fires…things like that.”

  Buck was silent for a few seconds. Lukas could almost feel the tension mounting once again, and he wished Kyle had opted to stay home today.

  “What did you tell him?” Buck asked. His voice was soft. Controlled.

  Kyle’s eyes widened slightly, and his face flushed. “Buck, I had to tell him the truth. We weren’t with you before those fires started, remember? You weren’t even on duty most of those times.”

  “But I was at the station when we got the second and third calls,” Buck snapped. “You knew that! Everybody knew I was staying there.”

  Kyle watched Buck for a moment. “You weren’t with us every minute,” he said, not breaking eye contact with Buck. “There were a couple of times I went looking for you and couldn’t find you. Alex and I were working on your model, and we needed another piece, and we couldn’t find it in your locker.” His eyes widened, as if he’d just thought of something. “That was just about an hour before we got the call on the second fire, the one at that other convenience store down on Fourth.”

  “That’s crazy,” Buck said. “You all knew I was on a food run. I took your orders, remember? I went to get pizza, right down the street—”

  “From the store on Fourth,” Kyle finished for him. “And the chief reminded me that we were all here at the hospital for a fire drill just before Little Mary’s caught fire—all except you.”

  “The chief told you that?” Buck exclaimed. “I don’t believe it.”

  Kyle took a step backward. He drew his hands out of his pockets and spread them in front of him. “Look, I didn’t do anything to get you in trouble, okay? The chief could’ve found that stuff out without asking me. He’s asking everybody, and it would blow my future in firefighting if I tried to lie to him.”

  “Your future…I didn’t ask you to lie to him!” Buck glared at Kyle, then turned to Lukas incredulously. He shook his head. “I’ve got a patient to check on.” He pivoted and stalked away. The squeak of his rubber-soled shoes shot through the E.R. after he disappeared from sight.

  “Why’s he so mad?” Kyle asked. “I didn’t do anything. I thought he’d want to know what’s going on at the station.”

  Lukas covered his own irritation at the teenager’s insensitivity. He looked out into the parking lot and saw a car pulling in. “Kyle, it looks like we may
be getting busy again, so…”

  “Yeah, I guess maybe I should go now,” Kyle said. “It doesn’t look like I’m wanted here, either. But tell me, Dr. Bower. Doesn’t it seem to you like Buck isn’t happy unless he’s the hero?” He shoved his hands back into his pockets and asked for directions to the restroom, then turned to leave.

  Ken came back in from Radiology pushing the woman with the bruised face. He handed Lukas the plain film X-rays he’d taken. “Did you see Buck race through here a minute ago?”

  “Yes, I thought he was going to help you,” Lukas said. He took the films and mounted them on the light beside the desk.

  “Nope, he sailed right by me.” Ken took the patient back into her exam room, then came back out. “Anything broken there?” he asked, peering over Lukas’s shoulder.

  “I don’t see anything.”

  Ken moved closer and lowered his voice. “Buck sure didn’t look happy, Dr. Bower.”

  Before Lukas had time to reply, a car squealed into the ambulance entrance and jerked to a stop. A chubby man burst out of the door on the driver’s side and yanked open the back door. He reached inside and half lifted, half dragged a limp and bleeding young girl from the vehicle.

  “Carol, get me a nurse!” Lukas shouted as he rushed to grab a wheelchair. “And find Buck.”

  The front passenger door flew open, and another young girl stepped out. She, too, had bright streaks of blood over her clothes, face and hands. She ran to the doors as they slid open. Lukas recognized Tedi through the streaks of blood. No!

  “Tedi, what happened? Are you okay?”

  “Lukas, Abby cut her arm on broken glass.” She watched as Lukas pushed the wheelchair through the wide threshold. “The blood is all over the place, and it won’t stop, and she’s getting weaker.”

  “Has she lost consciousness?”

  “Not yet. She’s crying, and she’s scared.”

  Lukas looked Tedi over as he rushed the wheelchair around to the other side of the car. “Go inside, Tedi. We need to check you out, too.”

  “But I didn’t get hurt. It was just Abby. I watched her do it, Lukas, I was right there, and I tried to stop the blood, but it wouldn’t stop. I can show you where she got cut.” Tedi rushed over to walk beside Lukas. “They tried wrapping it when we got her to the nurse’s office, but it kept bleeding.”

  By this time the man had Abby out of the car and was holding her in his arms. A woman stepped out of the car to join them. Lukas recognized her as the school nurse.

  “Lead the way,” the man said. “Tedi says she isn’t hurt, but I’d like to get her looked at anyway, just in case. Abby looks bad.” He nodded down toward Abby’s gauze-wrapped left forearm. All the gauze was red. “We must be doing something wrong, because we can’t get it to stop bleeding.”

  They loaded Abby quickly into the wheelchair, and Tedi once more depressed the button for automatic entry as the group of them filed inside.

  Lukas aimed the chair toward the first trauma room. “Have the parents been called?” he asked the man.

  “Yes, the school secretary should have already called them.”

  Claudia came running in just as Lukas bent to lift Abby onto the exam bed.

  “Carol,” Lukas called toward the central station, “call Arthur and Alma Collins, would you, please? The number for their cell phone is up on the bulletin board.” Mrs. Pinkley had given permission for them to be called for patient counseling. It couldn’t hurt to have them here for Abby’s parents. “And, Carol, have you found Buck? I need him.”

  “Not yet, Dr. Bower. I’m still looking.”

  Abby opened her eyes as Lukas laid her down onto the bed. Tears had washed a course through the splotches of drying blood on her face. She struggled to sit back up, but Claudia stepped to her side and gently eased her back.

  “It’s going to be okay, honey. Dr. Bower’s here now. He’s the one who did your stitches, remember?”

  As if too weak to fight it, Abby laid her head back against the pillow. “Are my parents coming? Have you called them? Do they know what happened?”

  “I’m sure they’ll be here,” Lukas said.

  “Dr. Mercy?” came the voice of a young woman over the phone. “This is Tiffany from Tedi’s school. Mr. Walters asked me to call you and let you know that Tedi is on her way to the emergency room. In fact, she should be there by now.”

  Mercy felt a familiar grip of fear. Not again. “What happened?” She sank down onto her office chair.

  “There was an accident out on the playground when somebody hit a baseball through a window,” Tiffany said. “I think Tedi’s okay, but there was a lot of blood from the other girl. Mr. Walters and Mrs. Thomas want Tedi checked to make sure she doesn’t have any hidden cuts. Her friend doesn’t look very good.”

  “Her friend?” Mercy asked. “Which friend?”

  “Abby Cuendet. I just called her parents, and they’re both on their way in.”

  “Thanks, Tiffany. I’m going in, too.”

  After hanging up, Mercy grabbed her jacket and stethoscope, then hesitated and glanced once more at the telephone. Tiffany had said Tedi was probably okay.

  But how would Theodore feel if he heard from someone that his daughter was rushed to the hospital?

  She sighed and picked up the receiver once more.

  Tedi sat quietly on the exam bed, wide-eyed and frightened, ignoring the nurse who cleaned the blood from her arms and legs. She couldn’t tear her gaze from Abby, who lay on the exam bed across the E.R., where Lukas and another nurse worked. Lukas had said something about an “arterial bleed” and “Von Willebrand’s disease.” He had ordered pressure dressings and two trauma IVs. They had left the curtains open.

  “She needs blood,” Lukas said, then took a step toward the desk. “Carol, did you call Dr. Wong for a surgical consult?”

  “Yes. He was in his office, and he’ll be right down.”

  Abby started to cry again, as she’d been doing off and on since she got cut. Her voice sounded weaker than it had when they first came in.

  Tedi wanted to push the nurse away from her and jump down from the exam bed and go to Abby, but she knew she would just be in the way. Mr. Walters and Mrs. Thomas had already gone to the waiting room.

  Lukas glanced in Tedi’s direction. “How’s our girl doing over there, Lauren?” he called to the blond nurse with a ponytail, who was cleaning Tedi’s arms and legs.

  “Looking good, Dr. Bower. No cuts.” Lauren patted Tedi’s newly scrubbed knee and smiled at her. “That blood didn’t bother you at all, did it, Tedi? You could be a doctor someday, just like your mom and your grandfather. Your parents will be so proud of you.”

  “What about Abby’s mom and dad?” Tedi asked. “Have you heard if they’re coming?” Now she recognized this lady. She went to Grandma Ivy’s church.

  “Is Abby going to be okay?” Tedi asked. “Is she losing too much blood? Do they need more? We’re the same blood type, you know.”

  Lauren paused in her cleaning and cocked her head to one side, her green eyes studying Tedi’s face. “You’re really worried about your friend, aren’t you? Well, you shouldn’t be. Dr. Bower’s going to take good care of her. We’re well stocked with blood, and if Abby needs surgery, Dr. Wong will know just what to do. Did you know that Dr. Wong knows how to repair everything from bullet wounds to lion bites? He’s great, and he’s on his way here right now. How did you manage to get splattered with so much blood and not get a single cut?”

  “I saw it happen, and I was the first one to reach her. What’s that disease Dr. Bower’s talking about? Is Abby sick?”

  “No, sweetie, she’ll be okay. Von Willebrand’s disease just means she has a condition that makes her bleed a lot. When she cuts herself, the flow doesn’t stop as easily as it does with you or other normal kids.”

  The shrill cry of an ambulance siren reached them, and Lauren glanced over her shoulder toward Lukas. “There’s the man they called about, Dr. Bower. I can do
the assessment. Tedi looks good, and I saw Buck just walk back into the E.R., so he can take her from here.”

  A lot of things happened at the same time after that. Tedi saw the ambulance attendants wheel in a man who sounded as if he was choking. His breaths came in short, wheezing gasps, and his eyes were wide with fear. When Lauren rushed up to him, he reached out and grabbed her arm.

  “Help me!” he cried hoarsely. “Help!”

  She reassured him and directed the attendants into an exam room. “Dr. Bower, we need you stat. Where’s Dr. Wong?”

  The ambulance attendant walked alongside the patient, pushing the gurney, giving his report to Lukas. “Dialysis patient who had the flu, so he missed his dialysis.”

  He jabbered some numbers to Lukas that Tedi didn’t understand, and halfway through, the patient released Lauren and grabbed Lukas by the arm.

  “Help me! I should’ve had dialysis, but I was sick and I didn’t feel like…”

  Right behind him came Abby’s dad running through the double ambulance doors just before they closed. “I’m Jason Cuendet,” he called to the secretary as he ran up to the central desk. “Where’s my daughter? They said she was here. Is she okay? What happened?”

  The secretary pointed him toward Abby as she turned and greeted a small dark-haired man, also in scrubs, who stepped in from the other door. “Dr. Wong, thank goodness! Your patient is in One. She needs you now.”

  Estelle Pinkley sat at her huge desk and stared out the large picture window of her office, kneading the painful hot joints and tips of her fingers. She didn’t want to think about the stack of subpoenaed reports her secretary had just brought in and placed on her desk. She wanted to bask just for a moment in the golden-red autumn beauty of mature maple trees that graced the hospital lawn. She wanted to watch ninety-year-old Mrs. Robinson walk her elderly collie along the sidewalk across the street, as she had done every day at this time for as long as Estelle had been hospital administrator.

  On the surface, Knolls County appeared to be the perfect community, where families could escape the crowded cities and raise their kids to be responsible adults who voted, worked for an honest living and made enough money after taxes to send their own kids to college. Sadly, many people who moved here were disappointed. The county next door to theirs had the unenviable reputation of producing the most methamphetamine in the state. Knolls Community Hospital E.R. treated their share of addicts, to the point that Estelle had suggested to the long-range planning committee that they crunch the numbers for a future drug-abuse treatment center.