Page 48 of All I Need (Hearts of the South)
While Haley phoned Lorraine to send Investigator Calvert back, Savannah skimmed the intake form. Thirty-two years old, five-eight, a hundred thirty-seven pounds, no medical allergies, no prior surgeries, fifteen weeks pregnant. Reported physical trauma to her arms, torso and legs. Pregnantanddelayed care after a physical assault. She kept her face expressionless and laid the chart aside.
A low knock sounded at the door. Savannah lifted her gaze to Landra’s in silent inquiry. Giving control back, however small the increments, was crucial in a domestic-violence situation. Landra’s throat moved in a hard swallow. “Come in.”
The tall, dark-haired detective who entered wore the same dark-green department polo and khakis Savannah associated with Rob and Emmett. He rested his hands at his hips, above his badge and gun, and graced Landra with a gentle smile. “Hey, Landra.”
A tremulous response flitted across Landra’s mouth and disappeared. “Hey, Tick.”
“I’m sorry about this.” He shook his head, brows drawing together. “Are you sure you don’t want Tori over here?”
“Oh, God, no. She’ll be nice to me and I’ll lose it.” She cast a desperate look around at all of them. “I can’t handle nice today.”
“Got it.” He pulled a chair away from the wall, placed it next to Savannah’s stool, and straddled it, his gaze on Landra’s. “This is your rodeo. How do you want to play it? You want to talk to me or let Dr. Mills here do her stuff first or what? I do need to get some photos, but I can do that during the exam if you don’t mind.”
“That works.” Landra blew out a long exhale, twisting her fingers together in her lap. “Can I talk while she does the exam and you take photos? Maybe then it won’t take as long.”
“Sounds good to me.” Calvert slanted a sideways glance at Savannah, and she nodded.
Autry pulled a digital recorder from her pocket and laid it on the counter. “I’m going to record this.”
Savannah reached for a pair of gloves. “I want to do a quick physical exam, then we’ll do a sonogram to check the baby.”
“I think she—it’s okay.” Landra blinked hard. “I have a friend over at Leon Medical Center who works in L&D. I wasn’t bleeding or cramping afterward, and she did a quick sonogram yesterday. Everything looked okay, but I couldn’t do much more than that or anything official.”
“Mandatory reporting,” Calvert said quietly, and Landra nodded. Calvert looked at Savannah. “Husband’s a sergeant with Leon County.”
Landra rocked forward a little, slender fingers fluttering. “He’d have taken me home, like the last time.”
“Not everybody follows protocol.” Calvert’s mouth tightened. He gestured toward her arm. “I’m going to start with photos of those, okay, and you tell me what happened.”
The small digital camera whirred and beeped. Landra winced. Savannah motioned at the gown. “Are you ready to drop that for me? You can cover with the sheet as you need to, all right?”
Landra nodded and lowered the paper gown to her lap. A simple white bra covered her breasts, but highlighted the ugly bruising that marred her chest and abdomen. Savannah schooled her features and leaned in silently to examine the abrasions within the contusions.
“Holy hell,” Calvert whispered, and Savannah glared at him, only to find his sympathetic gaze locked with Landra’s. He shook his head. “I know I’m supposed to be all cool and nonreactive, but you know I suck at that sometimes.”
“Yeah, I know.” Landra lifted a trembling hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I remember.”
“Is that from a belt buckle?” Calvert shifted forward to get a closer shot at one of the lacerations above her right breast.
“Yes.”
Savannah’s stomach churned at the simple affirmative and the ugliness that lay behind it. “Haley, those need to be irrigated, then let’s use mupirocin, two percent.”
While Haley tended the lacerations on her shoulders and chest, Savannah checked for broken ribs and other injuries. Calvert snapped photo after photo, and Landra’s broken voice layered a story over the tableau, a story of violence erupting from a pregnancy unwanted by her husband and her own desire to leave a marriage filled with unpredictability, infidelity, and aggression.
The contusions and lacerations told their own story, extending from thigh to shoulder, over her spine and concentrating around the slight swell of her unborn child. Once Calvert documented each injury with painstaking care, he balanced a clipboard on his knee and his pen scratched across paper as he recorded Landra’s narrative. Savannah and Haley helped Landra lie down, and Savannah squirted warmed gel across the end of the sonogram transponder.
Landra’s gaze stayed on the ceiling as grainy images of her baby bloomed on the screen. Savannah checked the placement of the placenta and the status of the amniotic sac, as well as the baby’s heartbeat. Everything looked good.
Autry turned off the recorder and returned it to her purse. Calvert laid his pen atop the report and leaned forward. “Landra, you’ve not told Emmett the extent of this, have you?”
She tensed visibly. “No.”
“I guessed not. He was pretty normal this morning, and I can imagine if he was aware of everything, we might have an issue on our hands.”
“You think?” A ruefully affectionate smile curved Landra’s mouth, the first real one Savannah had witnessed yet. It was weird, this small interlude with people who knew Emmett better than she did, showing her how little she really did know, how much more she wanted to know.
“I’m pretty sure he’d go ballistic, and I have a vested interest in keeping him around. My department has never run so smoothly.” He rested a forearm on his thigh. “I also know the two of you don’t normally keep secrets either, despite y’all being out of contact lately. I can’t tell you what to do, but you might want to consider telling him.”
