Finally, around midnight, Lauryn gave up all pretense of politeness and closed her door, the universal hospital sign for GO AWAY. She starting to think she might actually be able to get some sleep at last when someone knocked.
“Unless you’re my blood work, bug off,” Lauryn grumbled, pressing the pillow over her head. “I have work in six hours.”
The door opened before she could finish. But when Lauryn yanked the pillow down to chew out whatever nosy secretary, nurse, or junior med tech had stopped by “just to see how she was doing,” she saw it wasn’t a hospital employee at all. It wasn’t even her roommate, though she was sure Naree would come storming in the moment she got Lauryn’s email about what had happened. The man standing in the doorway was someone she hadn’t seen in a long time, and he was the very last person Lauryn expected—or wanted—to visit tonight.
In hindsight, she didn’t know why she was surprised. Tonight had already gone to utter crap, and if there was anything that could put the crap bow on top of the crap cake, it was a nighttime hospital visit from her ex-boyfriend Will Tannenbaum.
“Hi,” he said awkwardly, looking around at the darkened room. “Is this a bad time?”
Lauryn’s answer was a long, silent stare. Will looked exactly the same as he had when she’d last seen him. Like, exactly exactly, right down to the scruffy, curling dark hair, five-o’clock shadow, and tired eyes he’d stared at her with the night they’d broken up. He was even wearing the same jacket, the leather one she’d bought him back before things had fallen apart, and for a stupid moment, Lauryn’s heart sped up. When she saw him standing in the doorway looking just like he used to, she could almost believe he was here because he wanted to be. That he’d heard she’d been attacked and had rushed to the hospital to make sure she was okay…
And then she remembered Will was a cop. Worse, a detective. A vice detective… and she was currently under observation for possible narcotics exposure.
With that, all her stupid hopes fell right back into the gutter. Will wasn’t here to see Lauryn, Girlfriend Who Got Away. He was here to see Dr. Jefferson, Witness. His work brought him to the hospital like this all the time. It was how they’d met in the first place, when she was a student doing her clinical rotations. Back then, it’d seemed like a perfect match. Since in addition to being a very attractive man, Will was also a vice detective, he was one of the only people in the world who’d understood Lauryn’s crazy schedule, because his was just as bad.
Unfortunately, this common ground was what had ultimately ended their relationship. Not because they hadn’t gotten along—when they actually managed to spend time together, things were great—but because those moments were just that: moments, little teases of what could have been if only they were less busy. And that was the trouble, because neither of them was willing or able to be less busy. Lauryn had tried for a while, reorganizing her classes and even taking one less shift at the hospital, but despite promises to the contrary, Will hadn’t made the effort to match her. There was always something else he had to take care of—a case, an emergency, a bust—and after a month of constantly being stood up for his work, Lauryn had decided she was better off cutting her losses and ended it.
That was half a year ago, ancient history, and Lauryn had every intention of keeping it as such. But it had also been a long, scary night, and she was only human. That was a combination tailor-made for bad decisions, and seeing Will like this after so long, Lauryn was teetering on the verge of a horrible one. She almost told him she was happy to see him, that she missed him… but thankfully he opened his mouth then and saved her from herself.
“Don’t worry,” he said, pulling out his badge. “I’m here on business.”
For the second time in as many minutes, Lauryn’s newborn hopes flatlined. “Of course you are,” she said, slumping back down into the scratchy hospital pillows. “Never thought otherwise.”
“I won’t be long,” he assured her, grabbing the battered plastic visitor’s chair and moving it closer to her bed. “I just need to take your statement about the attack tonight.”
She looked away. “I didn’t realize detectives did that kind of grunt work.”
Angry or not, that still came out snippier than Lauryn had intended. Thankfully, Will seemed to be as oblivious to her feelings as ever.
“I don’t, normally,” he admitted, pulling a hand-sized spiral notebook out of the back pocket of the department-provided brand-name jeans that were part of his street-clothes uniform. “But we’re shorthanded, so I’m taking this one on myself. I actually came here to interview the homeless man. I didn’t even know you were involved until I arrived.”
Lauryn didn’t believe that for a second. Will had been a lousy boyfriend, but he was an excellent cop. He might look like the nice Jewish boy next door, but he was a smooth operator with a network of informants reporters would kill for. He’d probably known she’d been hospitalized before the ink was dry on her admission form. Lauryn supposed the lie was proof that he really had sought her out, which meant he must still care at least a little, but after the crash and burn of a few seconds ago, she wasn’t going down that road again. If he wanted to pretend everything was normal, that was fine with her, so she pushed herself up, folding her hands in her lap as she gave him her best “nothing you say can possibly surprise me” doctor stare.
“Ask away.”
Will cleared his throat as he glanced down at the questions he’d written in his notebook. “Why don’t we start when you left work?”
For what felt like the millionth time that night, Lauryn told the story of how she’d gotten off the train, seen Lenny, gone to investigate, and been attacked. She’d also explained how she’d known the victim, a detail Will seemed particularly hooked on.
“So, again, you claim Lenny had never shown signs of violence or drug use before tonight?”
“Never,” Lauryn said firmly. “He’s a vet who suffers from severe PTSD and a whole host of other unmanaged mental issues, but he’s terrified of violence and has a pathological mistrust of chemicals, including medicines. The guy won’t drink artificial sweeteners, for God’s sake. I can’t believe he’d take a street drug knowingly.”
Will shrugged. “Life on the streets makes people do a lot of things they’d never consider otherwise.”
“Maybe,” Lauryn admitted. “But Lenny’s been on the streets for at least a decade without incident. Why would he change now?” She gave him a sharp look. “One of my EMT buddies told me there’s a new drug on the streets. Something you guys don’t understand. Do you think that’s what’s going on here?”
“You know I can’t answer that,” Will said, shaking his head. “You’re a witness. If I tell you what I’m looking for, it’ll change your answers.” He looked back down at his notebook. “Just describe what happened after you got the stuff on your hand.”
Lauryn shifted uncomfortably in the bed. Lots of people had asked about that, but Lauryn had yet to actually tell anyone what she’d actually seen—or thought she saw. But dodging nosy coworkers was very different from an official police interrogation. If they were ever going to get to the bottom of what had been done to Lenny, she needed to tell Will the truth. The whole truth. But while that made sense in her head, getting up the nerve to say it out loud was another matter entirely.