Page 61 of Summer Ever After
The roof of the Starling Estate shrank beneath me as I flew over Windswan Lake, and headed west toward the mountains, and the Chance Rapids hospital.
* * *
The Chance Rapidshospital was a typical small-town health building. I landed the chopper in the parking lot and sprinted into the emergency reception area.
“Can I help you, sir?” A nurse in pink scrubs was clicking on a keyboard at the reception desk.
“The woman that was brought in from Windswan. I know who she is.”
The nurse’s eyes went wide and she picked up the phone. “The doctor will be out to see you shortly. Please have a seat.”
“No.” I gripped the edge of the counter. “I need to see her now.”
“Sir.” An air of authority came into her voice. “She’s in stable condition. You need to sit down.”
“I’ll wait here, but I will not sit.” I proceeded to pace in the waiting room, my motorcycle boots pounding on the linoleum floor. I must have looked insane, but I didn’t care.
A doctor arrived along with a uniformed policeman. “Sir, can we have a word with you?”
“Of course.” I followed the pretty brunette doctor and the tubby policeman into a private room. The police officer took out his notepad. “What’s your name?”
“Max Starling.”
“Oh, really?” The policeman looked up at me over his glasses. “I’ve heard about your family.”
“Can we get on with this?” I fidgeted in my chair.
“Are you nervous, sir?” The policeman set down his pen. I wanted to punch him in the face. “I’m not nervous. The woman in that room is Rosie.” I realized that I didn’t know her last name. “She works for my family.”
“What’s Rosie’s last name?”
I knew this was going to come up. “I’m not sure.” I took a deep breath. If I wanted to help Rosie, I needed to calm the fuck down. “She was at our masquerade ball last night.”
“That explains the dress.” The cop chewed on the end of the pen.
“What happened to her?” I looked to the doctor as it seemed the like cop was useless.
“If you’re not family, I can’t release any information to you.” The doctor’s eyes seemed sympathetic, but her by-the-book attitude was pissing me off.
“My driver dropped her off at the marina last night. Her stepmother, who HATES her, was supposed to meet her there. She’s got a birthmark that looks like an Orca on her inner thigh, and her necklace is missing a ruby stone.” I fished the charm out of my pocket and pointed to the stone in the middle. “This ruby stone.”
The police officer’s radio squawked and he stood. “I think that I have all that I need. Your friend bumped her head and fell into the lake.” He left the room.
“Is that what we’ve got for cops in this town?”
The doctor gave a light shrug. “He’s got a big heart and doesn’t always see what’s right in front of him.”
“That’s exactly what you want in law enforcement, someone who sees the good in people.”
The doctor shut the door and then sat down beside me. “There are signs of a struggle. Your friend had a blow to the head and was found floating in the lake. By some miracle, the dress that she was wearing kept her afloat – face up. A local fisherman found her this morning.
I doubled over in my chair and dry heaved. “Is she going to be okay?”
Again, the doctor looked like she was having an ethical dilemma. “I think so.”
“You think?” I pushed myself to an upright seated position. “Can I see her?”
The doctor cleared her throat. “Not yet.”
