Page 5 of One Little Memory
“Do you have a death wish?”
Phoenix stared. What the hell was he talking about? “Er, no sir. I just do what is necessary.”
“Yes, you do what you think is necessary, but you don’t factor in your own safety. You can’t help others if you get hurt. You’ve been putting yourself in more and more dangerous situations. I’m starting to think you have a problem.”
“Sir, that’s not true. I’m just doing the job that’s required of me.” What the hell was this really about? Phoenix had heard money was tight at the department. Was the chief trying to get rid of him to save on payroll? He knew as a detective with a master’s degree and eight years of experience, he made more than most at the department.
“No, Phoenix. You do more. Much more, and I respect that. I know I can count on you to always give one hundred and ten percent. Or, at least, I used to. Lately, son, I’m just not sure what’s going on with you. Do you need some time off? Maybe talk to someone?”
“What? No. I’m fine. Really, Chief. I’m good.” He fought the panic growing in his chest. The last thing he wanted was time to sit around and think. He loved his job. It was the only thing that kept him going some days.
Bowers studied him for a moment. “Fine, but Phoenix, no more hero stuff, okay? You don’t have to do it all yourself.”
“Yes, sir.” A wave of relief swept over him. He’d dodged that bullet.
“Get to the hospital and see if you can find out anything about the woman in the car.” Chief Bowers walked over to Vickers, and the two started chatting.
Phoenix waved at Jory and Aiden one more time and headed back to his SUV. He let out a long sigh as he started his truck. He couldn’t lose this job. It was all he had at the moment. Falcon… Well, he wasn’t going there. He just couldn’t bring himself to face it if the worst happened. He was going to have to be more careful, though. The stress of the stuff with Falcon was leading him to do stupid things. He rubbed his right knee. Case in point. Going down the embankment and falling a couple of times was not helping his knee at all. He’d had it replaced after he blew the joint out when he played football in college. Everything was fine as long as he wasn’t too hard on it. Tonight had been a bit much. Jesus, he was thirty-four and already having issues with his joints. He turned over the engine and headed to the hospital.
“Hey, Phoenix,”Kerry Jackson greeted him when he walked up to the nurses’ desk in the ER twenty minutes later.
“Hey, Kerry. What are you doing here? I thought as head nurse, you got to pick your shifts. Why are you working on a Friday night?”
She grinned and ran a hand over her black hair. “I do, but I want the whole weekend off next weekend, so I needed to switch a couple of shifts. I’m saving my vacation so we can take the kids to Disney this summer.”
Kerry had married Rufus Wentworth five years ago. The reception was the best party the town had seen in a long time. They had two of the cutest kids now. A little girl, Daisy, who was four and a boy, Daniel, aged two and a half. “I’m sure they’ll love it.”
She smiled. “Let me guess. You’re here to see about the mystery woman.”
Phoenix raised his eyebrows. “Mystery woman?”
“The one from the car accident. We can’t seem to figure out who she is. She’s not from around here.”
“Ah, I see. Yes, I’m here to see her. How’s she doing?”
Kerry’s fingers flew across the keyboard in front of her. “She’s regained consciousness, and the doctor is in with her now. Dr. Cahill, the new guy.”
“How’s he working out?” They’d lost their last doctor, Paul Bryson, when he’d been arrested for murder.
“He seems to know what he’s doing. We’ll see. We thought the last one was okay, and look how that worked out.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, your mystery woman is in room six. You can talk to Dr. Cahill when he’s finished.”
Phoenix thanked her and went to stand outside of room six. He had waited only a few minutes before a tall man with dark curly hair wearing a white lab coat came out of the room. The name tag on his left breast pocket saidR. Cahill.
“Hi, Doc. I’m Detective Phoenix Halston. I was wondering if I could chat with you for a moment.”
Cahill shook Phoenix’s proffered hand and nodded. “Nice to meet you, Detective.”
“Phoenix, please.”
“Ridge. What can I help you with?”
Dr. Ridge Cahill was about Phoenix’s height, but leaner. More a basketball player than football if he had to guess. He had blue eyes and a friendly smile. And if the looks the passing nurses were giving him were any indication, they found the man good looking.
“I need to speak to the woman you were just examining. How’s she doing? Do you think she’d be up for answering a few questions?”
Cahill shook his head. “Not tonight. She’s regained consciousness, but she’s pretty shaken up. She’s not making a whole lot of sense at the moment. If it’s all the same to you, I think it would be better if you waited until morning.”
Phoenix glanced at his watch. It was close to two am. Later than he thought. “Yeah, I guess that would be okay.”
