Playing Doctor

"Nope. And if he gets loose, we're locked in, so he's not getting in here."

She nodded. "Thank you."

Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. Kristi got up and moved to the door. "Who is it?"

"Dr. West and Police Officer Brent."

Kristi opened the door a crack and peeked out, then opened it wider. "She's calm. Let me turn the monitor back on." She came over and pushed a few buttons and the machine started its slow beeping.

Aurelia had never been so glad to see Daniel as she was right then, but she knew she couldn't show it, so she just smiled. She could see the concern in his eyes as his gaze swept over her. "Thank you for checking on me. I think I'm okay though. Kristi explained what was going on, I'm glad she was here and knew to come let me know."

"Ms. Carson, I'm Officer Brent. Do you know this man?" He held out a still picture of Marcus.

"Yes, I moved to New York to get away from him. That is my former boyfriend. He's the reason I'm in the hospital. His name is Marcus Stahl."

"Thank you. NYPD has taken him into custody. When they arrived, he was found with drugs on his person and is being detained at the White Plains precinct. He'll be arraigned within forty-eight hours. Doctor, will you be discharging Ms. Carson before then? Do we need to arrange to have an officer on this floor beyond then?"

"I think that might be wise. If you'd like to take her statement, I'll step out of the room."

"Now that he's gone, I'm going to take off too, if you're still here tomorrow, I'll be back," Kristi said, and then gave her a hug. "Get some rest okay?"

"I will."

Officer Brent closed the door behind them both. "Now, Ms. Carson, if you would like to tell me about your involvement with Mr. Stahl?"

Aurelia gave him her statement, filling him in on her prior relationship with him and how he'd manipulated her into taking the diuretics for so long, the abuse she'd suffered under him and how she'd managed to get away, or so she thought. She told him of the recent harassment, the threats he'd made, as well as the fact that she'd recently called to get a restraining order.

He nodded and closed his notebook, then said, "That's good to know, I'll check on the status of it for you and have an officer contact you."

"Thank you, Officer."

"Get better soon."

Chapter 17

Daniel

Daniel paced outside of Aurelia's hospital room, waiting for the officer to finish. After a moment he feared he looked a bit too concerned, so he strode over to the nurse's station and pulled the chart of one of his other patients who also happened to be recovering on the same floor.

After glancing at the chart, he went to the man's room and knocked on the door. "Mr. Davis, how are you feeling this morning?"

"Better. I thought for sure I was having another heart attack."

Daniel chuckled. "You'd be surprised how often indigestion gets mistaken for angina. I'm just glad that's all it was."

"You and me both, doctor." Mr. Davis nodded.

"So, no more spicy foods, okay?"

"I swear I will lay off it." He smiled.

"In that case, I'll get the discharge paperwork in and you can go. I'll see you for your follow-up on Friday."

"Great, thanks, Dr. West."

"Take care," he murmured as he stepped back out into the hall.

He signed the paperwork for discharging him and dropped it off at the nurses' station. A glance at Aurelia's door, told him the officer had left, so he grabbed her chart and returned to her room.

"Are you awake, Ms. Carson?" He peeked his head in.

"Mmm, come in, Doctor, I'm awake."

He glanced over to the desk and noticed one of the nurses was in the room as well. "How is her heart rate, Susan? Back to normal?"

The young woman glanced up and smiled. "Yes, finally. I was just about to give her a sleeping pill so she could rest."

"I think hold off on that. It's getting close to lunch and I think the food would serve her better. I'd rather see her try to rest without the aid of extra medication. Of course, if she can't sleep this evening, we'll revisit this conversation."

"Oh. I was just going by what's in her chart."

"Yes, I'll make some changes to it after I give her heart a listen, all right?" He moved toward Aurelia and smiled. "How are you feeling, Ms. Carson?"

"Hungry, tired, still a little in pain. Weak." She glanced up at him and he could see she wanted to say more, but was keeping it to herself, just as he was.

"Well, let me give your heart a listen then you can call down for some lunch." He warmed up his stethoscope and placed it over her heart.