Deklan

She checks his vitals, adjusts the IV, and asks him to rate his pain on a scale from one to ten.

“One,” Deklan says. “Ditch the morphine.”

“Would you like a bullet to bite on instead?”

“Yes.”

Dr. Henry rolls her eyes.

“There are a couple of officers here who want to ask you about the mugging. Are you up for that?”

“No,” Deklan says definitively. “I won’t be later, either.”

“If you aren’t in pain, I’m not sure I can refuse them. I don’t think they’ll leave until they talk to you.”

“I don’t have anything to say.”

“You can tell them that.” Dr. Henry gives Deklan a pointed stare before she walks back around the curtain.

“They already asked me about you.” I rub my thumb over the edge of his hand and glance at him tentatively.

“What did you tell them?”

“Nothing. I didn’t know anything. I still don’t know anything.”

“And we’re going to keep it that way. I don’t want them bothering you.”

A few minutes later, the curtain rustles and we’re facing Longbow and Sloan.

“We need to ask you some questions,” Longbow says.

“I got nothing to say, Longbow.” Deklan stares at the man, his eyes narrowed.

“Mr. Kearney, a man is dead,” Sloan says. “You know we can’t just walk out of here without anything from you.”

“Oh, did he die?” Deklan shakes his head. “I guess that will save the taxpayers some prison money.”

“He was shot in the head.” Longbow hooks his thumbs in his belt. “Yeah, he’s dead. And we have a recently fired gun registered to you. I have a pretty good idea what ballistics will have to say about it. You have to give me something, Dek.”

I’m surprised by the familiarity.

“It’s all very simple,” Deklan says. “I was walking down the street, and some asshole jumped me and tried to take my wallet. He stabbed me. I shot him. Self-defense.”

“Were there any witnesses?”

“I was alone.”

“No one on the street?”

“Guess not. It’s all one big blur.”

“Do you have a name for him?”

“Random mugger number one,” Deklan says. “That’s what the credits will say when they make a movie about my life.”

Sloan snickers, and Longbow glares at him.

“He appears to have also been beaten,” Longbow says. “Did you do that before or after you shot him in the temple?”