Page 72 of Above All Else

My brows hiked. “How many times have I told you to lay off of those while working? You have a sloppy hand. Remember the Tesco debacle?”

“Yes. Sorry. I know. It’s just that—“

“Stop giving me excuses and tell me what’s going on.” My molars ground together as a family of five ambled past me, their suitcases rolling behind them. I gave them a courtesy smile. “Start from the beginning.”

“It’s a logistical nightmare.” Papers rattled in the background like she’d stacked them together and plopped them on some surface beside her. “St. Mercy’s coolers had a catastrophic failure. The department reached out, asking if we could take some excess waiting for processing until the coolers got fixed... or, in this case, replaced.”

“So ask the surrounding hospitals if they can help take the load off.”

“I have. They’re at capacity.”

I frowned. “All of them?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, and you’re behind because why?”

“The system overloaded. IT is working on it, but I have to do all the paperwork by hand.”

“So you have excess cases without a working computer system?”

“Correct.”

I sighed. “Without help?”

“I have the other technicians helping with the papers and borrowed a few transcriptionists from the hospitals. But I have fifteen autopsies that need processing today. The bloodwork can’t be entered into the system... because I don’t have a system, and the sheriff is down my throat because of the big murder case involving one of their own.” She gasped as though she ran out of breath.

“Relax, Felicity.” I leaned against the wall, staring at the closed door where she slept. “Can’t the hospital send over a few to help since they are twiddling their thumbs without a cooler?”

“Again.” She breathed into the phone. “They are busy attending to everyone else. It’s like I got thrown to the wayside. No one cares about Felicity Grant.”

My molars grated together, creating an abhorrent noise. “I can be there in ten hours. That’s the best I can do.”

“Oh, my God. You’re a lifesaver. Really. I wouldn’t have called you if it wasn’t important, but you know how I can’t tolerate so much activity at once. It stimulates my prefrontal cortex, and I short circuit like a robot on iRobot.”

“Felicity?”

“Yeah-hmm.”

“Get your work done, and I’ll see you tonight.”

“Right, boss man. Thank you. You’re a godsend. No, really—“ Her voice trailed away as I pulled the phone from my ear and hung up.

“Dammit.” Tipping my head against the wall, I breathed out through my nose, my eyes closed.

As if I don’t have enough to deal with.

Flipping through the contacts on my phone, I tapped Rooster’s number and let it ring.

“This is Rooster.”

“I need a favor.”

“I’m all ears, Carter. But you do know it’s six in the morning?”

“Yeah. Sorry, it can’t wait.” I nodded. “I need you to look into a few houses for me.”

“Not happy with yours already?”

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