Page 5 of Gold Rush
Abs came and kneeled next to Goldie, staring at him like he was staring at the beautiful man on the ground by a dumpster. “What’s wrong?”
“He…reminds me of someone.”
“This guy?”
“Yeah. Yeah, this guy.”
Chapter Two
Itwasn’tquick,likethe cops came, the ambulance came, and he was carted off to the hospital. The cops came, questioned them, tried to roughly wake the man before the EMTs were allowed to come onto the scene.
Abs was pale and drawn. Ever since they had dealt with the BBC, police officers scared him. He saw all of them as if they were human traffickers and killers. Of course, that wasn’t true, but Goldie understood why he felt that way.
When the EMTs finally got the guy on a gurney and gave him fluids and Narcan, he began to come around. Goldie was being questioned by the cops yet again but could see easily over the shorter of the two cops, and he watched tears streaming down the man’s face as he tried to tell the EMTs what had happened.
Goldie followed the cops over to listen, and what he heard broke his already fractured heart. “I didn’t! I don’t like drugs, any drugs, I swear! It was someone else, they did this to me!”
No one wanted to listen. No one believed him, but there was something in his voice that told Goldie he wasn’t lying.
Abs grabbed his hand and pulled him away. “Come on. Let’s get out of here now.”
He couldn’t deny his best friend, because of the fear he felt. “Okay. I’m gonna get you a ride home, and I’m going to follow the ambulance.”
“What?Have you lost your mind?”
He nodded a little and said, “Maybe. I just have to know…to make sure he’s going to be okay. I mean…whoever did this to him, maybe he needs help.”
“You cannot tell me you believe him. Goldie, babe, come on, please, be serious!”
He walked with Abs and tried to explain himself, even though he really didn’t have much of an explanation. “He’s…I think he’s telling the truth. Maybe he’s not, but Abs, we all could have ended up where he was, if Murphy hadn’t given us a home and a job.”
Abs grew quiet after that, then whispered, “Yeah. You’re right.”
“Just…let me check on him, see what he has to say, maybe?”
“Sure. Sure, Goldie, you know I support you, but…let me go, too. I don’t want to leave you alone right now.”
Goldie grabbed him and roughly kissed the top of his blond head. “I love you, babe. You know that, right?”
“I do, and I love you too, even when you pull and push me around like I’m a doll or something!”
“You are a doll.”
They had the driver head to the nearest hospital and got there just after the ambulance. They waited for a while before asking about the guy, but they had no name, so it was uneasy. Finally, Abs batted his puppy-dog eyes at the older woman and said, “Listen, we’re invested in this man. We found him, and…we want to make sure he’s okay.”
She laid her hand over his and winked at him. “You boys are very sweet. Listen, let me find out who all has just come in, and what the status is. I’ll be right back.”
She told another nurse she was leaving the reception area and headed into the emergency room.
When she returned, she came right out into the lobby to find them. Both jumped up from their chairs and hurried to her.
“He’s fine. His name is Dean Miles. He insists he didn’t use, and from the looks of it, he’s not our normal addict.”
“His skin was too clear,” Goldie said.
“Lots of ways to tell, and the doctor thinks he might be telling the truth. You know,” she said, then pulled them away from anyone who could overhear. “We’ve seen this before. He’s admittedly a prostitute. He had no pimp, but someone wanted to change that, and when he considered it, he was dosed. Being he had never used well, it knocked him for a loop. Now, this is what he said, and like I said, the doctor tends to believe him. The pimps around here like to get their people addicted.”
“Easier to control,” Abs said with his voice cracking.
