Page 10 of One More Chance

“Does she hurt you?”

The boy said, “Lila is hurt.”

Kenna nodded. “The doctor can help her.”

“He helped us.” The kid motioned to Bruce with a lift of his chin. “He kept her away from us.” He looked at the window, where an ambulance had parked with its flashing lights reflecting on the unbroken glass of the door. “Is she dead?”

“No, honey.”

“Shame.” A tendon in the kid’s jaw flexed.

One of the cops cleared his throat. Kenna touched the little girl’s knee. “We’ll take care of you, okay?” Not really a question, and she didn’t wait around for an answer. She stood and turned to the cops. “These two don’t fall through the cracks.”

The cop lifted his brows. Officer rank, and his nameplate saidAlbertson. “Is that right?”

His partner, a younger guy, said, “Seems like they already did. So let’s fix that.” He went to the kids and crouched as she’d done.

Officer Albertson didn’t move. “Ma’am, I need you to answer some questions.”

Kenna nodded, looking around for Bruce. Where did he…? The guy was gone. Nowhere to be found. While her back was turned, in front of cops. She needed to put a little bell on that guy.

Fatigue washed over her, and she hadn’t even done all that much so far this morning. The persistent heaviness of her body that seemed to have crept up on her slowly over the last two months was her most prominent symptom. The nausea was a secondary factor.

She needed her test results.

But until she could get those from the doctor, she slumped into a chair on the far side of the waiting room. Officer Albertson asked her a few questions, and she gave him some basic answers. After all, she’d only shown up and then defended herself. The whole thing had been barely a couple of minutes from start to finish, so what more was there to say?

Kenna glanced over at the kids, who were talking to the younger cop. The boy’s attention drifted to her. She gave him a smile, fully intending to check up on them in a few days. She’d meant what she said to the cop—that they didn’t fall through the cracks. Sure, it had effectively been a threat. He just didn’t know that.

The doctor came back in with her nurse, both of them removing protective gloves. Doctor Santorini shook her head.

“Is she…?” The implications of the doc’s expression send an icy shiver down her spine. Kenna bit her lip.

“She’s in a bad way.” Santorini sighed.

Her nurse went behind the front desk and spoke to the older woman sitting there with her headset on. Had that woman seen where Bruce went?

Kenna said, “The girl needs to be looked at.”

“She needs an X-ray, something I can’t do. We should get another ambulance here.”

“Good call not putting her in the ambulance with the woman who did that to her.”

Santorini’s expression flashed with surprise, then hardened. “She is going to a different hospital entirely, then.”

Officer Albertson said, “My partner and I will escort the kids to the hospital and make sure they’re taken care of.” He grabbed the radio on his shoulder and said to his partner, “I’ll call it in.”

It didn’t take long for them to encourage the kids into the police car so the little girl could get an X-ray somewhere that was equipped with the tech. Kenna crouched in the open back door of the cop car to speak with them both before they left.

When the officer shut the car door, he said, “We’ll take care of them.”

Anything she responded with would probably sound like a threat, likeMake sure you do, so Kenna simply nodded. “Thank you.” Still, she watched them drive away until they were out of sight.

She headed back inside the medical center and found the doctor behind the front desk.

“You’ll need to find a new doctor’s office.” Santorini folded her arms.

“I didn’t start that fight.”

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