I scoffed. “So you want to play detective.”
“I want to get the facts straight before we run off half-cocked and let Maria lie her way out of this.”
“That won’t happen. If she stole money—”
“You heard her. She said she needs to find a reason for it disappearing, which I think means she found other reasons before. I bet they’d go back through the books and find every single dime accounted for, even if those books are built on the backs of a whole lot of falsehoods.”
I paced back and forth in front of the elevators. This was way too much for me right now, especially considering how I was running on empty and ready to jump off a roof out of sheer exhaustion and mental fog. It didn’t help that Dean was the epitome of a know-it-all doctor, so sure of himself, absolutely convinced that he was the smartest person in the room at all times, and that his professional opinion needed to be followed to the letter. He was the kind of doctor that double-checked whatever a nurse was doing just because he didn’t think they could be trusted with even the simplest tasks.
I let out an annoyed breath. I knew I wasn’t being fair to him. Dean was a very good doctor, and I didn’t really know his working habits all that well. I rarely worked with neuro patients, and when I did, he’d been nothing but kind and easygoing.
I could feel myself losing it and needed to get the heck out of there.
“All right, fine,” I said. “I’ll sleep on it for now.”
“Good,” he said, nodding. “Are you at the end of a shift?”
“How can you tell?”
“You look tired.”
I balled up my hands into fists. “You’re not supposed to tell a lady she looks tired.”
He held his palms up in surrender. “Sorry, I just meant—”
“I know what you meant.” I waved him off, calming myself down. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“When are you working next?”
“Tomorrow, day shift.”
“All right. I’ll find you and we’ll talk about what to do, okay?”
“I can do that. Just don’t do anything in the meantime.”
“I won’t. I need to process whatever the hell we just heard and try to come up with a plan.”
I sighed and rubbed my eyes then bashed the elevator call button. “Don’t even plan. Just wait until we talk again, okay?”
“If that’s what you want.”
I knew he wasn’t going to listen and his little brain was probably already doing mental math. Not that I could blame him—we’d just experienced something pretty crazy together, and the implications were both enormous and horrifying.
I glanced back over my shoulder and expected to see him staring out the window or off into space or something, but instead his eyes were on me, locked on to my body. He met my gaze and a smile broke across his lips, his handsome, full lips, and I took a step back.
“What?” I asked.
“It was nice being trapped in that closet with you.”
“That’s not— what?” I blinked rapidly.
“You and me. In that closet.” He tilted his head. “I liked having you so close. It was nice. Except for when you tried to bite my finger off.”
“I wasn’t going to bite it off,” I said, shaking my head. “And you’re not supposed to say that.”
“What, I’m not supposed to like being close to the most attractive nurse on staff?”
I gaped at him then snapped my jaw shut and turned my glare back on. “That’s enough, okay? Don’t get any stupid ideas. That was purely—it was purely business.”
He laughed and waved as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open, revealing an empty car. “Right, sure, purely business. See you soon, Fiona.”
I gave him one last you’re-a-total-bastard stare then stepped onto the elevator, banged the button for the ground floor, and watched the doors slide shut.
I leaned my head back against the cool metal wall and stared at the ceiling.
Something bad was happening in Mercy General, and Maria Dickens was at the heart of it. I didn’t know what she was up to, or if I should even get involved, but I knew Dean was going to throw himself directly into the path of that train whether I wanted him to or not.
He was right about one thing though. I couldn’t run off and start telling everyone. I didn’t know nearly enough yet, didn’t know what the scheme was or who was involved, didn’t know anything worth talking about. I’d been a nurse at Mercy for four years, but I wasn’t exactly important, well-known, or respected.
The elevator doors slid open and I walked through the lobby and out into the city.2DeanThe next day was a blur of patients. I kept myself busy, mostly because I knew that the second I slowed down, I’d start thinking about that moment in the closet.