Page 72 of Silver-Tongued Devil
“Sounds like you moved fast,” the doctor said. “Explains why she isn’t worse off. She was lucky.”
No, she wasn’t,Blake thought.
The doctor left, and Evan and Russell took off to find Dakota’s room. First, though, Russell asked Blake, “You OK?”
“Yeah.”
Russell looked at him hard, and Blake didn’t allow his gaze to shift away. Finally, Russell put a hand onto his shoulder and said, “Thanks.”
“You can’t say that, Russ,” Evan said. “You don’t know if it was an accident.”
“I don’t think it was,” Blake said.
Evan’s eyes were hard, and his face was harder. He said, “You were on the boat with her. Alone. She almost drowned. How could that happen? Dakota’s a great swimmer.”
“He pulled her out,” Russell said. “You heard him.”
“I don’t get it,” Evan said. “I don’t buy it.”
Somebody else was coming through the front door. A woman in a khaki uniform. And it wasn’t the sheriff. It was a deputy.
“I don’t have time for this,” Blake said. “Something was wrong out there, yeah. I’m going to find out what, and I’m going to find out who. Right now, somebody needs to go sit with Dakota. That was a bad time. She needs her dad.” He saw the woman at the desk beckoning them over, her crooked finger imperious, and told Russell, “The nurse over there wants Dakota’s info, but whatever her insurance doesn’t pay, I’m covering.”
“Why’s that?” Evan shot back.
“Because it was on my property,” Blake said. “Because it’s my responsibility.”
Which meant he had things to do before he saw Dakota. He went to meet the deputy.
It took him a while to get the sheriff. He was still going around with the deputy when Jennifer showed up, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, her hair in a ponytail, a paper bag in her arms. When she came over to where Blake was still leaning against the wall, the deputy said, “Excuse me. We’re not done here.”
Blake said, “Sorry, but as I’ve mentioned, I’m not talking to you. Please call your boss.”
Jennifer said, “Hi, Shari. Sorry. He’s really pigheaded. You’d better just do what he says.”
Shari—the deputy—said, “That’s not how it works.”
Jennifer said, “I know. I’m just telling you. He’s polite, so you think he’ll come around, but he won’t. You’re talking to a brick wall. Save yourself the time and trouble.”
Blake wasn’t sure whether to be insulted or grateful. He decided on “grateful” when the deputy said stiffly, “I’ll be back in a minute,” moved a ways away, and started to make a call.
“Thanks,” Blake told Jennifer. He stood up straight, because it looked weak, leaning against the wall like that.
“No problem,” she said. “Everything’s in here. I threw in some toiletries, plus a flannel jacket and a towel once I heard what happened out at the resort. Hospitals are always cold, and shock makes you colder.”
“Oh. Thanks.” He hadn’t realized it, but hewascold. He’d been cold since he’d jumped in the lake, and he’d never warmed up.
She dug in the bag, handed him a cellphone, and said, “Temporary solution. I’ll order you a legit replacement once I get home, and you’ll have it tomorrow. The security guard who found your boat for you—Logan—also found your phone on the beach. It was dead. You said ‘dead,’ but it wasreallydead.”
“Did you ask him to do the other thing?”
“Yep. I did.”
“Good.” Blake palmed the phone and immediately felt better, less unmoored. “Dakota said I needed to give him a raise.”
“You probably should. He’s better than most of them you’ve got out there. Just out of the service.”
“How do you know everything?”
