No Good Deed - Marie Sexton Page 0,49
only used it for things Abuela would have approved of. He’d used it to pay for his nursing degree. He’d used it to set up his clinic. He used a bit more of it each and every year buying equipment and drugs for his clinic. It bought things like the expensive CBD lotion that allowed Agnes to knit again after all these years.
Whoever had seduced his mother and cast her aside, Charlie found it deeply satisfying knowing their money provided free healthcare to the lower-class community they’d considered beneath them. He hoped Officer Murphy wasn’t about to take it all away.
Charlie’s stomach growled. How long had he been sitting here in his bathrobe, anyway?
The officers finally emerged from his bedroom, disappointment written all over their faces.
“Guess you got lucky today,” Murphy told him. “But trust me, Charlie.” He turned the name into a snarl. “This isn’t over.”
Charlie had to give Murphy credit for one thing—he didn’t lie. The shitstorm had only just begun.
Charlie was still trying to clean up the mess they’d made in his exam room three hours later when the Urgent Care administrator called to tell him he was on temporary suspension. The cops had been there, asking questions. They assumed Charlie was stealing meds. Charlie had never stolen a single pill from his job, but it was a logical assumption for them to make.
He saw Murphy going up and down his street, knocking on doors. The one door they didn’t knock on was Jeremy’s, which told Charlie everything he needed to know about where Murphy’s information had come from. Jeremy couldn’t get drugs from Charlie. He couldn’t get his girlfriend back. Apparently he’d decided to settle for getting revenge instead. Charlie did his best not to worry.
“You haven’t done anything wrong,” Jonas said, his adorable sideways smile trying to make an appearance and failing. “Right?”
“It’s only illegal if I charge them, or if I give them prescription drugs.”
Jonas didn’t ask any more questions after that. They didn’t talk about it all, almost as if they suspected the room of being bugged. As if Murphy might hear them and come busting through the door.
The next day, Murphy was back in the neighborhood. He didn’t knock on Charlie’s door, but he knocked on others, this time with somebody out of uniform in tow.
Charlie tried calling Gray. Murphy was right—Gray couldn’t help him. Not this time. But he wanted his friend. He wanted some reassurance. But Gray refused to answer.
On the third day, Charlie received a call he hadn’t expected.
Phil.
“What the hell is going on?” Phil asked, without preamble.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the police were here today, questioning both River and me about you and whether or not we supply you with prescription drugs. River’s on administrative leave at the hospital pending an investigation. And the drugstore is threatening to suspend me without pay.”
“Jesus.” Charlie was in his kitchen, pulling cookies from the oven. He’d been stress baking for two solid days. Tupperware containers full of cookies, banana bread, lemon bars, and zucchini bread already littered his countertops. He didn’t dare take any of it to his neighbors in case it attracted Murphy’s attention. The last thing Charlie needed was more baked goods, but it kept his mind off his problems. “Phil. Shit. I’m sorry. How did they even know to question you?”
“Who knows how the cops know anything. The gay man database? I’m sure it has a cute little acronym. GAYCAP or something.”
Charlie sank down into his kitchen chair. Jonas had been working on his digital tablet, and he looked up, his eyebrows raised.
Charlie had never asked Phil to get drugs for him, largely because he knew Phil never would have done it, but also because he didn’t want an incident like the one he was now caught in coming between them. “Phil, I’m so sorry. I’d never tell them the meds came from you.”
“Of course not. It probably wouldn’t even be an issue except it’s the second time in a year we’re been investigated, thanks to River’s ex.”
“If I’d known—
“Charlie, I’m not calling to make accusations. River and I are innocent. They can’t prove anything because there’s nothing to prove.” He took a breath, and Charlie’s pounding heart began to slow. “I’m calling to see if you’re okay.”
Charlie had never been as close to Phil as he had to Gray or even Warren. And yet Phil was the first one to reach out to him. If he’d been in the same room, Charlie might have hugged him.
“What