He blew out a breath. “Okay. That makes me feel a little better. I appreciate it. I knew you were a good one, Redding, but you always seem to be taking things up a notch.”
“I have the luxury of only being interested in the truth. But just in case Hermes surprises us, do you have an alibi for last night?”
“What time?”
“Honestly, I have zero idea. Say a couple hours before the girl was found maybe?”
“That was around eight, right? I was with Pop. The day nurse that makes rounds left around six, maybe. I talked to a buddy about fishing a bit after that, then fixed dinner for Pops, but he dropped off before I was even done cooking.”
“Could anyone else vouch for you being there?”
“Don’t see how. Can’t see his place from any others, and even if someone came by and saw my truck out front, my boat’s docked out back.”
“Then the nurse and the phone call will have to do. Try not to worry about this. If things take a turn with Hermes, there’s plenty of people who’d say straight out that there’s no way you’d leave your dad there alone.”
He sighed. “Once you’ve been inside, that seems to be the only thing everyone sees. Man, if I could go back in time and kick my own butt… Thanks for checking on this, and tell Ms. Gertie thanks for taking that stuff out.”
“I will. And in the meantime, you stay put and pretend this conversation never happened. If for any reason your phone records come into question, then you say I called you to check on your dad and then called back to ask you about your fried fish batter recipe. Go ahead and text it to me, just in case.”
“Got it.”
I disconnected and slipped my phone into my jeans. That was, at least, the beauty of small-town living. No one needed much of a reason to drop by a house or make a phone call, so cops had a much harder time making implications based on location, conversation, or the company you were keeping. It was often like one big family reunion. Unfortunately, every family had those members who spoiled things for the rest of the group. I’d already unearthed a few of them since I’d arrived in Sinful and had no doubt others would come. I just hoped this case didn’t involve my extended family.
Especially with Carter gone.
CHAPTER SEVEN
We had just docked the boat when my phone went off, signaling a call from Blanchet. He sounded as peeved as ever, but said his tests were clear and I needed to come get him the hell out of that place. I couldn’t blame him for being upset. If he hadn’t been in the hospital, Hermes might not have had the ammunition to get the placement. But we couldn’t exactly go back and redo things. If we could, I’d be tempted to ask Carter to turn down the military altogether, but then, that wouldn’t be fair. Carter’s sense of responsibility matched my own, and I knew his decision hadn’t come lightly.
I made a quick change of jeans, socks, and shoes since I’d gotten my feet wet wading around with Rambo, then we headed for the hospital. Because the ER doctor was ordering the tests, they’d kept him in that wing, figuring it would probably take just as long to get him moved to a regular room as to get the tests done and let him go. When we walked into the lobby, I could hear arguing down the hall and recognized Hermes’s and Blanchet’s voices. Then Cassidy chimed in, and I rushed up to the desk.
“I’m here to pick up Andy Blanchet.”
The nurse at the desk gave me a grateful look. “Good. Then maybe you can get him out of here. Dr. Williams has her hands full with that Hermes guy and Mr. Blanchet is making things worse. I’ve already called the chief of staff.”
I gave Ida Belle and Gertie a grim look as we hurried through the door. Blanchet, Hermes, and Cassidy were all in the hallway, and it was clear from the red faces that no one was happy. Hermes looked over as we walked up and pointed a finger at us.
“You have no business here, so leave now or I’ll arrest you.”
“We’re here to pick up Andy,” I said. “If you can figure out how picking up a friend at the hospital is breaking a law, let me know.”
“Then take him and leave. Because he’s interfering in my investigation and that is against the law.”
“This is not about your investigation,” Cassidy said. “In fact, this is not about you at all and from my standpoint never will be. This is about the patient.”
“Exactly,” Hermes said. “And given her circumstances, she’s a ward of the state. So someone from child services will be picking her up.”
Cassidy took a step closer to Hermes and stared him right in the eye. “And I’ve already told you that girl is not leaving this hospital until I release her. And that will not be happening until I’m certain she is medically clear.”
Hermes waved a hand in dismissal. “She’s fine. She woke up, had breakfast… What else do you want?”
We all stared. She’d woken up?
If Cassidy had been armed, I was pretty sure she would have given the finger to the Hippocratic Oath. “She almost died,” she said between clenched teeth.
“But she’s fine now.”
“You and I have very different definitions of fine. Fortunately, since you’re not a doctor, yours isn’t relevant.”
“We’ll see about that.”
I could tell Blanchet was a second away from clocking Hermes when a man in a suit rounded the corner at the end of the hall and walked right up to us.
“This discussion is highly inappropriate to have in the ER hallway,” he said, giving all of us dirty looks.
“This discussion is inappropriate to have at all,” Cassidy said. “This ‘man’ is insisting I release the girl who was brought in last night to child services.”
He stared at Cassidy for a moment, then blinked. “This is the emergency I was called out of a board meeting for?”
Hermes nodded. “And a good thing since this hospital is breaking the law. That kid is a ward of the state.”
“The child needs medical supervision and is under my care,” Cassidy said. “She’s not going anywhere.”
“I don’t think you have the juice to make that call, little lady,” Hermes said.
Suit guy cleared his throat as his gaze darted uncomfortably back and forth between Cassidy and Hermes.
“Sir, I don’t care who you are and what authority you think you have,” he said. “Dr. Williams is a pediatric specialist. Her assessment on this issue ranks higher than mine, and I’m chief of staff. But if you require someone with a more impressive title to draw that line in the sand for you, then hear this—I reviewed the child’s case this morning both before and after she regained consciousness, and at this time, there’s no way I’d release that girl to anyone except her parents. And even then, not until we’ve run more tests and are absolutely certain she’s stabilized.”
Hermes smirked. “Really? How much are you charging the taxpayers for her stay in the ER?”
“I’m certain the hospital can handle the cost of not throwing a child to the wolves.”
“The system is not the wolves.”
He gave Hermes a pointed look. “It’s also not a hospital. Inside these walls, I am cop, judge, and jury. If Dr. Williams determines the girl can be released, then I’ll review the situation with her, and we’ll let you know. Until then, you have no further business here. So please show yourself out or I’ll call security.”