Doctor Hero by Madison Faye
Chapter Eight
Aria
It’s actuallyabout half an hour later when I finally make my way back into the waiting area. I’ve done all I can, and the plans are in place now that can’t be undone. Courtney is taking over my rounds for the rest of my shift, with me being vague about some stomach cramps. I’ve gone into the system and reassigned my patients to other extremely competent doctors, using the administrative password the ER shift supervisor accidentally saved on my computer when his was down.
Leaving without saying goodbye isn’t really going to be a problem—I mean it’s not like I’ve got many friends who are more than just coworkers. I feel bad about Courtney, because we’re at least fairly friendly towards each other even if we’re not best friends or anything. But I know when things are settled, I’ll find a way to reach out and apologize for just disappearing.
But I know I have to. I know in my heart that no matter how completely fucking insane it feels like to walk away from my job, my life, my career, and all the rest of it, it’s what I need to do. I won’t lie, it’s got a lot to do with the man who’s somehow stolen my heart out of nowhere. Like, a lot. But it’s not all Jack, it’s me, too. I’m leaving because for the first time, I’m jumping into the deep end and seeing where life takes me.
I walk into the waiting area, and instantly, Detective Hall is out of his seat and marching right over.
“Dr. Linetti—”
“Detective Hall, I just wanted to give you my official report on Mr. Corbin.”
I pass him my notes in a filing folder, and he yanks it open. His eyes scan the page before they darken and scowl just like I knew they would. He hisses under his breath before he yanks his gaze up from the page to glare at me.
“Dr. Linetti, pardon my saying it, but this is bullshit!”
I feign surprise. “Excuse me?”
“This is bullshit!” he barks again, drawing the concerned looks of other patients, doctors, and nurses in the waiting area.
“Detective Hall—”
“Like this part, right here?” He grunts, jabbing a finger onto the page. “Dr. Linetti, he came here in that car! It’s still fucking outside against that light post with crime scene tape all over it!”
I shrug. “Detective, he was lying next to it when the orderlies found him. I can’t guarantee he drove it. Until we assess the full composite of his injuries, for all we know, some of them may have been inflicted by that car.”
His face goes dark red. “Well who the fuck do you suppose the driver is, then!”
I shrug. “I’m not a detective, I’m a doctor.”
Detective Hall growls deeply.
“Miss Linetti—”
“Doctor,” I spit back.
He sighs heavily, his brow furrowing.
“Doctor Linetti, this is….” He shakes his head and looks at the report again. “And this shit! Are you kidding me? Self fucking inflicted wounds?” He roars, looking up at me furiously. “You can’t be fucking serious!”
I shrug, looking as neutral as I can, which is hard knowing that I’m giving misleading and downright incorrect medical reports to a police detective.
“He does seem like a depressed guy, detective.”
Detective Hall looks like he’s about to have a brain aneurism.
“Self-inflicted? To the fucking torso and shoulder?”
“I don’t know the details of his initial actions, I just patched him up after the fact, Mr. Hall. But he describes it as self-harm.”
“This is bullshit,” Detective Hall seethes. “And you fucking know it.”
I glare right back at him, my mouth tight.
“Anything else, detective?” I hiss darkly.
“Goddamn right,” he growls. “I want to see him.”
“He’s resting, he tore stitches,”
“Fuck that I don’t care.”
“And I’m imposing a doctor’s restriction,” I growl. “He needs the night to rest.”
“The night?” Detective Hall hisses.
“The night.”
He snarls. “What time in the morning then?”
I smile. “Eight?”
“I’ll be here at seven,” he growls. “And I want to see him. Alone. That’s not a request, Doctor Linetti. Tomorrow I’ll be here with a court order. Understand?”
“Perfectly,” I smile thinly. “Will there be anything else, Detective?”
I’m buzzing inside, jumping around and on the verge of losing every single ounce of my cool. But mercifully, he doesn’t push back anymore.
“I’ll see you at seven, doctor,” Detective Hall grunts, turning and storming out through the sliding doors into the parking lot.
I let my breath out in a whoosh, turn, and I run. I rush through the ER intake, downstairs to the lower-level cafeteria. My adrenaline is roaring through me, but when I see the full body burn victim in the wheelchair trying to push Jell-O through the slit where his lips are, I snort a laugh. An orderly whirls and gives me a horrified and scandalized look, but I just shrug it off as I walk over to the burn patient.
“Enjoying yourself?”
“Blue raspberry sucks,” Jack mutters through the gauze.
I giggle quietly. “The lime is better, but that’s not until Wednesday.”
“Afraid I can’t make it for lime Jell-O day, then,” he grunts as he turns to wink at me through the eye holes of his hastily wrapped bandages. “But how about on Wednesday, we eat coconuts off the tree instead?”
“Deal.”
