Part 18 (1/2)
Which, I thought, she had a very good chance of doing.
The air was cool once I hit the outside air, and it was extra dark due to the storm still ravaging the night sky.
Opening my flimsy umbrella, I made my way to my car cursing myself for not bringing my good umbrella that spanned about four feet.
”Hey, you got a light?” A man said from his car as I pa.s.sed.
I shook my head. ”Nope. Sorry.”
A fat droplet of rain hit me in the face just as I reached the car, and I opened the door without looking, dropping down into the opening.
I lost the grasp I had on the umbrella as the wind gusted particularly hard, and I slammed my car door shut.
”I should just go home,” I grumbled as I watched my pretty pink umbrella tumble down the parking lot.
Sighing, I reached for my bag, digging down to the very bottom.
”There you are, you slippery little b.a.s.t.a.r.d,” I murmured.
Clicking the center b.u.t.ton, my phone lit up.
Four missed calls.
”Oops,” I said as I opened the phone app.
It wasn't who I'd thought it was, though. It was Audrey telling me she was running a few minutes late.
Clicking Audrey's name, I listened to the phone as it rang and rang, finally being picked up by her voicemail. ”Hey, it's me. I was just returning your call. I'm not going to be at the bar. I think I'm just going to go home.”
My next call was to Cody.
”h.e.l.lo?” He answered on the fourth ring.
”Hey,” I hesitated. ”I might have accidentally lost my umbrella...and I'm wearing white scrubs, so there's no way I'm coming back in there.”
”It's okay,” he laughed. ”Dooley walked in right after you left. It works out. Be careful driving home. Text me when you get there so I know you're safe.”
I felt warmed by his concern.
It'd been just me taking care of the world so long that it felt nice to be cared after.
”Okay, thanks Cody. I'll see you in two days,” I said just before hanging up.
Starting my car, I pulled through the parking s.p.a.ce and straight into the street.
My drive home was luckily short, but I knew as soon as I got out of the car that I'd be soaked.
I stuffed my phone down deep into my bag, followed by my jacket before I zipped it up, perused the distance to my door, opened the car door, and flung myself out.
I slammed the door shut behind me, but the sound was lost in the howl of the wind.
I started running up the stairs two at a time, and finally came to a stop under my awning, soaked through and through.
”f.u.c.k me in the a.s.s,” I groaned as I missed the lock twice, before finally sliding it all the way in.
I turned it quickly, and had just turned the front light on when my pager went off in the bottom of the bag.
My state pager.
The one that told me when I had a case.
I slapped my hand against my forehead.
Dropping my things down on the couch, I dried off my arm with the afghan laying over the back of the couch before I dug for my phone and called into work.
”Christus Health, this is Erma,” a voice answered cheerfully ”Hi, this is Rue Loden. I was just paged for a s.e.xual a.s.sault. May I speak to the supervisor please?” I asked Erma.
Erma was one of the ER's newest nurses, and hadn't yet gotten that jadedness that most of the nurses got once they'd worked in the ER environment for a long time.
”Sure,” Erma said sadly. ”I'll get her now.”
It took less than two minutes before Mona was on the line. ”This is Mona speaking.”
”Hi, Mona. This is Rue. I was paged,” I went straight to the point.
”Yes, dear. I have a case for you. I know you're not on call, but...I need you. I don't trust anybody else for this,” Mona said softly.
I stopped for a heartbeat, waiting for her to explain, but she never did. ”Mona...what's going on?”
”Just...get here. The sooner the better,” she replied quietly.
I blinked.
”I had a drink a little over thirty minutes ago. Only one though. I'll need some coffee and some water. Maybe about thirty minutes for my head to be on straight again,” I explained.
”You got it. She only wants you,” Mona said before hanging up.
I blinked rapidly. She only wanted me?
”Tell me what's going on,” I demanded.