Page 38 of Sticks and Stones
Ethan knew the truth.
Some things, unfortunately, weren’t fixable. He was hoping this wasn’t one of them.
As they got off of the elevator, there was a doctor waiting near the room, and they didn’t think it was a coincidence.
This had to be one of Corbin’s doctors, and he was ready to either stop them or update them.
“Gentlemen?” he asked, seeing their badges and guns on their hips.
They stopped and waited to figure out if Ethan was playing bad cop again.
“Are you here about Detective Price?” he asked.
Together, they nodded.
“Yeah, we’re here to investigate it. How is he?” Gene asked, trying to keep emotion out of it, for now.
They had to pull this off.
When the doctor sighed, they didn’t need an answer for that question. Instead, they pushed on.
“What happened?” he asked.
The doctor sighed.
“He’s short on the details when it comes to sharing with us, even though we’re just his medical staff. All I know is a good Samaritan saw him at the mouth of an alley, naked, battered, and nearly frozen to death. They got him here, and he was triaged in the ER and had his arm set. It was broken. His shoulder was dislocated too. That he pulled himself to the street is a miracle in itself. It had to be incredibly painful.”
Jesus.
Poor Corbin.
This made them even more worried about him.
The doctor was to the point.
“We know that he was beaten badly by looking at him, and we’re assuming that he was raped in the process. His thighs are bruised, but he won’t let us do a kit. His boss was here, and he tried to talk him into it, but he wouldn’t let him in either. The detective is not handling it well, and that’s to be expected. It’s also why we’re assuming he was raped. Male victimsSELDOMadmit it to get help.”
Yeah, they weren’t shocked.
Not.
At.
All.
Gene was pretty sure he wouldn’t admit it if he was assaulted like that.
“He’s combative,” the doctor admitted. “All that we know is someone, or a group of someones, did a number on him, and he won’t even let his own family in. I had to stop his mother, and she wasn’t happy. If she’s scaling the building, I wouldn’t be shocked.”
Oh, well, they bet.
Alice was…Alice.
You couldn't keep her away from her only child on a good day.
When he was hurt?
Yeah, no.
