Page 7 of Rookie Days

“Quinn. Fill me in. What happened?”

“Nothing,” Ellie muttered. “Nothing. Let me go.”

Her normally vibrant grey eyes were glazed and unfocused under wet strands of jet-black hair. Janet did not waste any time listening to her, since she was obviously out of it. She arched a demanding eyebrow at Quinn instead. The information she was after came fast and precisely.

“Knife wound, right arm. 5-inch laceration. The blade went through to the bone and now she can’t feel her fingers.” Quinn winced at the trail of red on the floor. ”She’s lost a lot of blood. Don’t think this bandage is helping much.”

Janet nodded at the nurse who came running over with a wheelchair.

“Thanks, Anna. I’ll take care of this in Room 4. If you could just prep the—” She paused as her pager went off. “Damn, I’ve got a cracked head coming in... Change of plan. Anna, please call Dr Andrews from orthopedics and ask him to take over.”

“Yes, Dr Fox.”

“Sit down, rookie!” Quinn snapped in irritation when Ellie tried to slide off the chair. “For fuck’s sake!”

“Please, don’t yell at the patient, Lieutenant Wesley,” Janet countered in an easy voice, earning herself a sneer and irritated look from Quinn that she blissfully ignored. With a practiced hand on Ellie’s shoulder, she kept her steady without making it feel as if she were holding her down. “Look at me, Detective.”

Ellie met her gaze, eyes full of pain and a blast of distrust.

“I can’t feel my fingers,” she repeated.

“You will soon. I’ll have someone take care if it.”

“It’s my right hand... My weapon hand.”

“Yes, I can see that. Let’s get you into the exam room.”

“No. You don’t understand! If I can’t hold a gun, then I—”

“Shhh… Ellie.” Janet brushed hair from her forehead in a soothing gesture and she rested a hand on her cheek. She noted the quick refocusing of the young woman’s eyes as she touched her, and the way that she went still. She smiled at her. “DrAndrews is a real genius when it comes to repairing tendons and ligaments. And as soon as I’m done with my other patient, I will come back to see you. Okay?”

This type of injury would not normally require her services, but Janet made it her business, whenever she could, to look after Quinn and her people. Ellie James was a special case too. When Quinn had been shot during a mass shooting in Lewiston some two years earlier, Ellie had well and truly saved her life. She’d stuck her fingers into her thigh and held on to a bleeding artery, all the way from the site of the shooting to the hospital. Now, Janet was going to make sure that her injury did not turn into a career-ender for her.

“Okay, Detective?” she repeated.

Ellie let out an exhausted exhale, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes.

“’Kay,” she muttered. “Thanks.”

Janet nodded to the nurse to take her, then turned back to assess Quinn. Her friend seemed frozen to the core as well. Janet spotted blood on the side of her neck and the front of her Kevlar vest. Ellie’s, she assumed. But just in case…

“Are you okay yourself?” she asked.

“Yes. In one piece.”

“You can go in with her then, if you like,” Janet suggested, knowing that Quinn’s abrupt manner with Ellie earlier on was only a sign of how deeply she cared and worried. “Dr Andrews won’t mind you being there.”

“Yeah, I will. Hey, Jan?”

“Yes?” Janet paused, catching her friend’s eyes on the stretcher that carried her next customer into the elevator. “What? Something I should know?”

Quinn hesitated a moment as she obviously wrestled with how much to reveal. Janet did not take it personally, and Quinn soon told her anyway.

“Your next patient?”

“Yes?”

“He’s the one who wounded Ellie.”

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