Page 48 of 3rd Tango
“You’ve never been shot!”
JJ has. His was much, much, more serious, and it was my fault. I nearly lost him because of my stupidity.
“Sorry, I know it sounds like I’m not taking this seriously, but I am.”
“If that bullet had been even a few inches off…”
“I’m aware.” Yolanda and her doctor would be digging it out of my brain.
My days in the Bureau were spent mostly behind a desk, analyzing criminals. I’m a trained agent, able to use a variety of weapons and I practice every week so I don’t lose my skills, but I never drew my gun during my tenure. I was never shot at.
“It’s been on my bucket list.” I try to lighten the tension. “I can check it off now.”
JJ curses under his breath, not appreciating my attempt at humor.
From behind me, Meg calls my name. “Charlize Lauren Schock. Get off the phone. Your doctor is here.”
I turn to find a woman—Dr. Marx by her name tag—squeezing into the already stuffed room.Damn you, Yolanda.
But I gotta give the nurse points for making me squirm.
The doctor glances at me, then the detectives, her full mouth turning down. She’s taller than all of us and I wonder if her large hands really are as precise as Yolanda claims. “Ms. Schock, would you kindly get back on the exam table?” Her steely gaze shifts to Young and Ansel. “You two wait outside.”
“We have more questions,” Young says.
Yolanda busts in. She waves at the women to vamoose, even as she works that smile of hers. “You’ll have to save them until later. This is an emergency room and our patient needs medical care. She’s in shock, can’t you see that? Do you have no compassion? This woman was shot and her poor momma injured. I’ll call you when she’s ready to talk.”
“But—” Ansel tries, although she does look a little chagrined at the bawling out.
“I’m not in shock,” I argue, but I wink at Yolanda.
“Charlie?” JJ’s voice comes from the phone.
As Yolanda nearly shoves the two detectives out, I go back to him. “There is one thing I need you to do for me. Go to Family Ties and pick up the DNA results for our unidentified female. Chuck’s going to put them into the ancestry database and see if we get any hits there, but I want Meg to upload them to GenCo.”
Before he can answer, I cover the receiver, another thing on my list for today popping into my head. “Matt, see if Taylor can find a picture of Evelyn Jacoby. The Bureau surely investigated her in the ’90s because of her boyfriend.”
“Miss Schock,” the doctor says sternly, pointing at the table.
At the same time, Yolanda tries to remove Meg and Matt. My sister stands her ground, going eye-to-eye with the feisty nurse. “Charlie, do you want us to leave?”
“Charlie?” JJ’s worried voice.
“Yeah, I’m here,” I tell him, hopping up and presenting my face. “I want them to stay,” I tell Yolanda.
“Put the phone down,” Dr. Marx says.
“I’ve been thinking it over,” I say to all of them in general, holding up a couple of fingers at her to beg for two seconds. “If this wasn’t some random road rage shooting, we’ve rattled someone’s cage. And, crazy as it sounds, given Mom was in the car with me, it might have something to do with us digging around about Gayle.”
Yolanda grabs the phone from my hand. “I warned you.”
“Hey,” I say, indignant.
She clicks the end button, walks the two steps across the tiny room, and gives me a big smile as she dangles it over the waste bin.
18
Meg
