to be the one explaining your corpse to Nate Turner!”
His eyes snapped open and he turned his head to look at her. “Who’s that?”
“The deputy sheriff.” She held his gaze. “And your family would probably sue us for negligence or something, so it’s just not going to happen.”
“I don’t have any family.”
“Which makes it even worse because you’d probably expect me to dig your damn grave for you.”
He stared at her for a long moment and then the side of his mouth kicked up. “Who’s cursing now? You look quite sweet, but you’re tough, aren’t you?”
“As I mentioned earlier, I have two teenage boys living in my house right now. It’s like pushing a huge boulder up a steep hill every single darn day.” She pointed at his leg. “Now, let me take a look at this.”
He sighed. “Okay, fine.”
“Thank you.” She glared at him, unwilling to be gracious even in victory, and pulled on a pair of gloves from her medical kit. “Let me know if I hurt you.”
She placed a towel under his leg and took her time peeling away the bandage he’d wrapped around his calf. There were four or five ragged puncture wounds and all of them were red and inflamed.
“Ugh.” Beth said.
“Yeah. I was taking care of the wounds, but the last couple of days I’ve been sleeping a lot and I didn’t get to it.”
She wanted to ask him why he hadn’t called for help, but now wasn’t the time. From what she could see, the infection hadn’t progressed too far, and he was a good healer. Although his leg was pouring out heat there were no ominous streaks stretching away from the wounds.
“Can you wiggle your toes?” she asked.
He obliged and she felt her way down to his foot, checking the temperature as she went. His circulation appeared to be holding up well. She carefully cleaned out each ragged cut, making him curse quietly under his breath, applied a lavish dose of antibiotic cream, and wrapped a light layer of gauze around his leg.
“That looks a lot better already.” She stripped off her gloves and studied him carefully. She knew she must have hurt him, but he had hardly moved an inch. “Would you like me to help you sit in the chair while I change the bed?”
“Can you give me a minute?”
He looked absolutely terrible, his teeth set in his lower lip and his hands clenched into fists. Maybe the strain of pretending nothing was wrong had finally gotten to him. Aware that her sympathy would be unwelcome, Beth resorted to briskness.
“Sure.” She picked up the bowl of bloodied water. “I need to clean up anyway.”
She also needed to check in with Dr. Tio and Nate, but she’d do that when she was outside the cabin. There was no need for Conner to hear her airing her concerns. Knowing him, he’d insist there was nothing wrong with him and that she should wave him a cheery goodbye and leave.
She threw the water away, rinsed out the bowl, disposed of her gloves, and checked the bars on her cell phone, which were nonexistent. It was already late in the afternoon and the sun was throwing out enough heat to make the air shimmer and crackle over the barren golden hills like a living thing. The radio she’d brought with her was working and she checked in with Nate Turner, who patched her through to the doctor.
“So, should I bring him into town or not?” Beth asked after explaining what had happened to Conner and detailing his symptoms. “To be honest, he looks like he’s over the worst of it, but I’m not a medical expert.”
“If you’re okay to stay with him, I’d leave him where he is overnight,” Dr. Tio said. “And see how he is in the morning. You’ve got pain medication with you?”
“Yes, I’ve got my full medical kit.”
“Then make sure he takes anti-inflammatory pain pills, acetaminophen for the fever, and get lots of fluids inside him. You know the drill. If he suddenly gets worse, call my emergency service and we can airlift him out to Bridgeport.”
“Okay, got it, but I think he’s healing up nicely.” Beth turned away from the glare of the sun and looked at the cabin, which was still in the shadows. “Can you put Nate back on the line?”
“I’m still here,” Nate said. “What’s up?”
“I need to let the boys know I’ll be staying at the cabin tonight.”