Page 28 of Justice for JoElla

Chapter 5

“BP’s ninety-five over fifty.You’ve got to get him out of there. It’s plummeting,” Brandon barked at the first responders as he looped his stethoscope back around his neck and yanked the pressure cuff from the man trapped in the car.

He stepped back and let the first responders move in with their “jaws of life” apparatus, and they began the process of cutting the man free. The steering wheel was pinning him down, but as soon as it popped free, blood was everywhere. “EMT!”

“Yeah. Arterial bleed. Tourniquet applied,” Brandon said as he worked over the man. The tourniquet staunched the flow, but not completely. “Let’s get him out of there.” Boomer and Crow managed the cervical collar, and the first responders joined them to get him on a backboard and ready for transport. Brandon was already in the rig, getting out everything they’d need to get him to the hospital, if he made it. And that was becoming doubtful.

Twenty minutes later, they passed him off to the staff at the hospital and headed back outside. “Hey, great work. You need a call name. Doc. That suits you,” Crow told him.

Brandon fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Uh, I’d really rather it was something else.”

“All the more reason to call you that!” Boomer said with a laugh.

The afternoon had been grueling. They’d cared for that accident victim, a toddler who fell into a pool and drowned, and two kids hit by a car while skateboarding. He’d almost forgotten?a woman who was in anaphylaxis and didn’t have money to buy an epinephrine auto-injector. Thank god the law had changed years before allowing EMTs to administer it by syringe. Otherwise, she would’ve been gone. Before they wheeled her into the hospital for a once-over, Brandon slipped her information on a clinic that gave the auto-injectors to people who couldn’t afford them. Maybe she’d go get one. He certainly hoped so, because the next time might be the last time if they didn’t get there fast enough.

He had everything he needed in his locker, so he showered at the station and changed into his street clothes. The guys coming on watch were cooking dinner, and some of the guys from his shift were planning to eat with them too. “Staying, Doc?”

“Nah. Gotta go. But thanks. See you tomorrow.” They all waved him away and he headed out the door. It was too early to go to JoElla’s, so he stopped at a florist nearby and picked up some flowers. He’d done that often for Maria when they’d first married, but it seemed like after a while, she didn’t care about them. The main reason she didn’t care about them was that she didn’t care about him, just the things his job could bring to the table.

Still early, he stopped at the local discount store and bought a box of assorted-flavor truffles.God, I look like a cliché?flowers and candy, he groused to himself. Hell, it had been years since he’d dated. He and Maria had been married for several years before William had come along, and he didn’t remember doing any of those things for her anyway. She wanted diamonds and an expensive bottle of wine. Honestly, he couldn’t really afford the candy and flowers, but he wanted to at least put in a little effort.

There was a car in front of the apartment when he pulled up, and he figured that had to be hers unless she had a roommate. He gently picked up the flowers and grabbed the box of candy, then made his way up the walk. Feeling stupid didn’t even touch it. As he walked, he glanced around, and something caught his eye. The apartment next to hers was boarded up. Must’ve been that murder victim’s apartment. One knock and the door swung open. “Hi! These are for you.”

The look on her face… Dumbfounded. She stared at him like he’d just set his pants on fire to entertain her. So he waited. Finally, when he was wondering if he should just go back to the car, she stammered, “Well, uh, um, nobody’s ever, uh, brought meflowersandcandybefore,” she said, emphasizing the names of the gifts.

He shrugged. “Yeah. Rather junior high school-ish of me, but I just thought… Hell, I don’t know what I thought, but I just?”

“No. It’s nice. Really. Come on in.” He watched as she rummaged around in the kitchen, then came back with a canning jar full of water and set it on the table with the flowers in it. “There we go. Very nice.” That was the moment he looked around.

Bland. Colorless. The apartment had zero personality. Matter of fact, it looked like somebody had just moved in. “How long have you lived here?”

“Several years. I have no idea.” Wandering into the bedroom, she kept talking. “Yeah, I know. Looks like nobody lives here. I’m not much on all that decorating and shit. Gets on my last nerve.”

“Ah. Well, there’s not much to dust, huh?”What the fuck am I saying? I’ve completely lost my mind and my ability to carry on a rational conversation. He didn’t dust. Maria didn’t dust. The housekeeper did that. The last time he’d dusted was… never.

“That’s true,” she answered back, then reappeared in the bedroom doorway with a cardigan on over her tee. “Thought it might get a bit chilly out.”

“Good thinking. Ready to go?”

“Sure. Let me grab my stuff.” She slipped her phone and a tablet into her bag, then holstered a small handgun of some type in the middle of her back.

“Uh, you’re carrying a gun to dinner?”

One eyebrow popped up as she stared at him. “I carry a guneverywhere. When I’m off duty, the only place I don’t carry one is in areas that are restricted to the public for carry, and even then I’ve got one in the car. I’m a cop. You don’t leave your house without a way to defend yourself.”

He didn’t know much about guns, and even though he was sure she did, it made him nervous to know there was one on her. Very nervous. “So I guess if I do something you don’t like, I’m a dead man.”

Just as deadpan as anyone he’d ever seen, she threw back, “Seriously?”

Was that disrespectful? Maybe that was disrespectful.He wasn’t sure. Did law enforcement officers like to joke about their jobs? “So have you ever had to use your weapon when you weren’t on duty?”

“Nope. But there’s a first time for everything. Just like this.”

“Just like what?”

“I’m going to dinner with a doctor.” He wasn’t quite sure what to say until she started to laugh. “Relax! I’m just bustin’ your chops!”

“I thought that was my ex-wife’s job. Correction: Soon-to-be ex-wife.”

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