Page 5 of The Naughty One
“Sorry,” Romy sang in a not-so-at-all voice. She loathed running, unless it was towards something. Likepizza.
Juno sulked while Artemis grinned at Romy. “Nice work, Romy. And what with my brokenankle…”
“What broken ankle?” Juno shot her eldest sister a confusedlook.
“The one I’ll mysteriously acquire on Thanksgiving.” Artemis laughed and high-fivedRomy.
“Don’t blame me when the pair of you get old and fat.” Juno sighed dramatically, then, lowering her voice, she nodded towards the kitchen where Stuart and their mother talking. “What do youthink?”
“Too early tosay.”
“He looks like Blue a little. Sameeyes.”
Juno grinned. “You got a little crush,Romulus?”
Romy threw a pillow at her. “None of your business,quisling.”
Dinner was a fun affair, and Romy decided she liked Stuart very much. He was charming, intelligent, and seemed to adore her mother. Romy noticed, however, that Artemis was a little quieter than normal and when she questioned her sister afterward, Artemisshrugged.
“I’m just reserving judgement is all, Romy. We don’t know him that wellyet.”
Romy went to work the next day, wondering if she should mention Stuart to Blue, but when she walked into the locker room, the place was in a chaotic state with people running every whichway.
“What’s going on?” she asked, preparing herself mentally and physically for what would likely be a longhaul.
“There’s been an attack at a sorority house,” Mac told her, his face pale. “Really nasty stuff. Eight girls, three dead. The rest are being brought in here. Allende is alreadyoperating.”
Every time she thought she was used to the darker side of her profession, Romy got a reality check. Because truthfully, there was no way to ever get used to innocentsslaughtered.
Reaching for her scrubs automatically, she asked, “Does he want us in the observationroom?”
“No.” They heard Blue’s voice behind them and turned. Clad in bloodstained scrubs, the handsome surgeon looked weary and grim-faced. “Romy, you’re with me in OR3; Mac, with Dr. Fredericks in OR7; Jim, Molly, and Flynn, emergency room until we can find theaters for the less injured girls. Come on,Romy.”
She changed and was back in under a minute. Blue briefed her on the way to theater. “Patient is Yasmin Levant, nineteen, multiple stab wounds to the abdomen, shattered left femur, looks like the killer stamped on it, possibly to incapacitate her. We’ve got Ortho coming in but her abdominal wounds are catastrophic, at least twenty-nine separatewounds.”
“God, poorgirl.”
Blue nodded as they went to scrub. “Look, Romy, we’re going to do everything and anything to save her, but I have to warn you. The odds are againstus.”
She’d expected as much, sadly, but appreciated the warninganyway.
After scrubbing, Romy followed him into the operating room where the victim lay on the table. She was covered in blood and barely breathing, blood bags and saline trying to keep her alive. Automatically, Romy avoided looking at anything but the injuries. Looking at the faces right off the bat when the situation was so dire … it didn’t helpthings.
For hours they operated, trying to repair the damage the knife had caused, pumping her full of blood, but at midnight, Blue called it. There was nothing else todo…
Yasmin Levant wasdead.
Chapter3
The adrenaline leaving her system,Romy felt weirdly emotional, horrified, and drained by the experience. She waited until almost everyone had left the room before walking up to Yasmin’s head. Finally looking at the young girl’s still, pale face, her dark hair blood-soaked to an auburn color, Romy saw herself reflected in the victim’s silent, still features. She whispered a silent apology for her failure and started removing the tubes from herthroat.
“The nurses will do that,” Blue said gently, putting his hand on her back. Romy, unable to speak, just shook her head and eventually Blue began to help her, both working in silence until all the medical equipment had been cleared away and Yasmin lay on the table silent and still, but at least with slightly moredignity.
“Can I wash her face?” Romy found her voice breaking as she asked, but Blue, his eyes sad, shook hishead.
“No, we have to keep her secure for the forensic team now. Even all of our equipment will need to be saved. The police will probably want a statement from all ofus.”
Romy looked back down at Yasmin and a sob choked its way out of her. “Who would do this?Why?”
