Page 28 of Fire Harbor

“And he’ll probably get the call before the night is through but for now, I think we’re ready with the best staff possible.”

“Do you know if that includes Sheena?” Linus asked.

“Sure. The last time I saw her, she was in radiology, taking a picture of Kyle Sullivan’s broken wrist.”

“Thanks. I’ll find her.” Linus headed down the hall toward the imaging department, wondering why Jimmy was put on standby. He found Joy Sullivan, Kyle’s anxious grandmother, in the waiting room. “What happened to Kyle?”

“Fell off his bicycle and hit the curb with his wrist. Dr. Blackwood confirmed that it’s broken so here we are. Sheena’s back there now, wrapping his arm and putting on the cast. She says he doesn’t even need a sling.”

“In my experience, kids won’t wear a sling anyway,” Linus said. “I’ll go check and see how much longer Kyle will be. How does that sound?”

“Thanks, Linus,” Joy said. “Watching grandkids these days wears me out.”

Linus chuckled. “No problem. Watching six-year-olds would wear anyone out,” he cracked, pushing open the door into imaging. He found Sheena in one of the treatment rooms, wrapping Kyle’s arm with a bright orange fiber material. He ruffled the boy’s hair. “Let’s see your war wound. Who won?”

Kyle giggled and grinned wide enough to show off his two front missing teeth but didn’t say anything.

Persistent, Linus’s eyes widened. “Oh, no. You knocked out your two front teeth, too.”

“No!” Kyle shouted. “The tooth fairy gots ’em. My bike broke my arm.”

“I heard the concrete did that.”

“Don’t wriggle,” Sheena warned the boy. “We’re almost done. Don’t you dare get him all hyped up, Linus. I just got him to sit still long enough for me to get this far.”

“Yikes, looks like we’re both in trouble now,” Linus teased. He went over to a drawer and pulled out two Tootsie Roll Pops, one red, one purple. “Did you give him his reward for being good?”

Kyle’s brown eyes lit up. “Cherry.”

“Cherry it is. My personal favorite.”

“There, all done,” Sheena announced with a sigh. “Your grandmother will wonder what took us so long.”

“Can I go now?” Kyle asked, lollipop in hand.

“Yes, I’ll walk you out,” Sheena offered, lifting the boy off the treatment table. To Linus, she wanted to know, “Please tell me it’s stopped raining.”

“No such luck. The wind’s picked up. We could be looking at a long night for all of us if the power goes out.”

“I’ve already been here since eleven this morning. That’s all we need is to go into emergency mode. The idea we might have to evacuate patients is not something I want to consider right now.”

“I hear ya.”

After reuniting Kyle with his grandmother, Linus turned to Sheena. “I need to ask you something. It might sound kind of weird. But did you ever check out a book from the library about the Zodiac Killer last July?”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t used my library card in…forever. And I have two of them, one from here, one from San Sebastian. Between filling in at two different hospitals, who has time to read? Besides, I’m not a fan of serial killers. I’m a single woman who lives alone. Why would I read anything that would probably scare me to death? I’d never leave the house.”

The two began walking down the corridor back to the main entrance. “Ah. Yeah. I see your point.”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because someone used your card to check out a book about the Zodiac Killer. Every true crime book in that place has gone missing since then.”

Sheena’s mouth fell open. “So this book is overdue for how long? Nine months? That’s probably like a fifty-dollar fine or something.”

“No, there’s no fine due. Apparently, since Lake Marigold took over, she started a fine-free system.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, that’s something, I guess. Wait a minute,” Sheena said, stopping in her tracks. “This is about that serial killer business and Gabby Moreland.”

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