Until now, Naomi had done a pretty good job of keeping it together, but the nurse’s sympathy cut through the gratitude she felt to be alive to the lingering horror inside her. She had come so close to being raped and murdered.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, fought to hold back tears. “It’s not what I was expecting from my Colorado vacation.”
“It’s certainly not what we put in our tourist brochures.” Lolly rested a reassuring hand on her forearm. “You just rest, and push the call button if you need anything.”
Naomi was exhausted, but the emergency room was no place to catch up on sleep. A woman arrived who was about to have a baby, her cries making Naomi swear she would never have kids. She’d just managed to drift off, when Dr. O’Brien stepped into her little exam room.
Dressed in blue scrubs, his long blond hair in a ponytail, he couldn’t have been much older than she was. He was tanned from lots of time outdoors and ripped, too. “How’s that arm?”
“It’s sore.”
He took a look at it, touched it. “Can you feel any pain?”
Naomi shook her head.
“I’m ordering IV antibiotics, and we’ll give you a tetanus shot, too. You had a lot of dirt in the wound, and I want to be careful.”
“Thank you.”
“Your CT scan came back normal—no skull fracture or bleeding. The headache is a concussion, the result of your fall into the ravine. It will take time to heal, but heal it will. The X-rays showed a broken tibia. Also, one of your tendons was torn from the bone and took a flake of bone with it. You’re going to have to have surgery.”
“What?” She couldn’t afford that. She had health insurance, but it was useless. She had a deductible of almost twelve grand before it would pay a penny. “Can’t I just wear a cast for a long time or something?”
“Nope.” Dr. O’Brien turned and typed something into a computer keyboard, calling up her X-rays, which filled the monitor. “Your tibia is slightly displaced. You can see that it doesn’t quite meet up with the rest of the bone. Also, there’s no way that tendon is ever going to reattach itself. The surgeon will align the two parts of your tibia with some hardware and then put the tendon back with more hardware.”
The full impact of her situation struck home, leaving her dizzy, panic making her pulse spike. She’d come to Colorado to celebrate her success, and this trip was going to strip her of every penny she had in savings. Everything she’d worked so hard for might be ripped away from her because thosebastardshad attacked her. She would be in debt for years. She couldn’t let herself end up on the streets again.
Dr. O’Brien noticed her distress. “It’s going to be all right.”
“No, it isn’t. I can’t afford any of this—the rescue, the ambulance, the ER, and now surgery.”
Dr. O’Brien gave her an understanding smile. “The good news is that the rescue was free. The Team doesn’t charge.”
She stared at him. “Really?”
Something beeped.
He pulled a pager out of his pocket, scanned the message. “All rescues are free, regardless of who’s at fault. That is our hard and fast rule. If we were to charge people, they might not call until the situation was dire. That would lead to loss of life. I’m a primary Team member—though I rarely get out of the ER these days.”
That explained the tan and the biceps.
“So those people today—”
“They were all volunteers.” He stuck the pager back in his pocket and pushed the call button for the nurse. “As for the rest of it, you’re the victim of a violent crime. Colorado has a program that helps cover the medical costs of people who are victims of violent crimes. The victim’s advocate from the Sheriff’s Department will tell you about that when she comes to visit. Now, let’s get your arm stitched up. Are you squeamish about needles?”
“I don’t know.” She’d never gotten stitches. She’d never even had an IV.
Then Lolly stepped in and helped Dr. O’Brien set up a tray that included a wicked curved needle that looked like an enormous fish hook.
Holy shit.
They were going to usethaton her?
“Okay, so maybe I am afraid of needles.”
Lolly walked around to the other side of Naomi’s bed and took her right hand. “Just close your eyes and breathe nice and even. You won’t feel a thing.”
Chaska calledthe office to say he wouldn’t be in today, then waited by his pickup for McBride, who was inside the Scarlet Springs Police Department, arranging things with the locals. He sent a quick text message to Winona to tell her what he was doing.