Page 14 of One Little Spark

He gave her another quick nod.

She straightened and pulled off the gloves. She tossed them with the rest of the discarded biologicals in a bag.

“Hazel, what are you doing here?”

She turned to find Doctor Bryson coming up next to her. “Do you live here?” His look of confusion seemed to strike a false note somehow. The overly concerned tone of his voice hadthe same false note he’d used with patients he’d been trying to placate or make them believe he gave a damn about them. She gave herself a mental shake. Why would he be acting weird with her now? She was seeing things that weren’t there. The fire jangled all her nerves.

“No. Jory called about the fire, so I came over.” She wasn’t sure why she wasn’t telling the whole truth, but she just didn’t quite feel comfortable saying anything about living with Aiden just yet.

“That’s right. Your brother is a firefighter. I forgot.” He touched her arm and looked over her head at the fire as he said, “I hope he’s okay.”

She glanced back at the burning building. The fire seemed to be lessening. She hoped that was true and not just wishful thinking on her part. She turned back to Dr. Bryson. “What are you doing here?”

“I was driving home from the hospital and saw the flames. I thought emergency services might need help.”

She frowned. It was the middle of the night. Why was he at the hospital now?

He must have sensed her confusion. “Emergency by-pass surgery. It’s my night on-call.”

“Did it go well?”

“Thankfully, yes.”

There was the sound of yelling, and then a group of EMTs appeared around the corner of the ambulance with an elderly woman on a stretcher.

“Mrs. Josephs?” Tommy said as he stood up, his voice full of panic. “Is she okay?”

Dr. Bryson sprang into action next to the EMTs. “What are her vitals?” He helped set up her saline drip as they got her ready to be placed into the back of another ambulance that was standing by.

The EMTs recited a flurry of information to the doctor. They worked efficiently on either side of the gurney as they loaded her into the ambulance. Bryson immediately whipped out his cell phone. He must have called the hospital because he was giving them details on Mrs. Josephs’ condition.

Hazel felt someone touch her arm. It was Phoenix. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just worried about Mrs. Josephs.”

“She’s a tough lady. I hope she pulls through,” Phoenix said, but his gaze was following Dr. Bryson. “What’s he doing here?”

“He said he was on the way home from the hospital and saw the commotion.”

“At this hour?” Phoenix raised his eyebrows.

Hazel shrugged. “He was on call. There was an emergency surgery.”

Phoenix nodded. “Easy enough to check.”

Although he’d said it out loud, she had the distinct impression he was talking to himself more than anyone else, but that begged the question: Why would he want to check?

Chapter Seven

Aiden pulled the tank from Jory’s back and put it back on the fire truck, then he turned around and Jory did the same for him. He grabbed a couple bottles of water from the case that sat on the sidewalk. He threw one to Jory and then opened his own. He downed half the bottle in one go. When the cold wetness ran down his throat, nothing had ever tasted so good.

Captain Hastings came to stand beside Aiden. “That was a tough one.”

“Yeah. Will Mrs. Josephs be okay, do you think?” he asked.

“I’ve got no idea,” the captain replied.

Aiden stared at the smoldering mess that used to be the end unit apartments. “Arson?” he asked, his voice quiet.

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