You Betrayed Me (The Cahills #3) - Lisa Jackson Page 0,98

phrase because he just moaned and leaned against the window, the white towel wrapped over his hand now red.

Jardine was in too much pain to be making any sense, too scared.

Let him rant and rave.

Once they’d crossed the bridge, the town came into view, and Leon took a side street, turned two corners, and cut through an alley to avoid the clog of traffic in the middle of town.

The hospital loomed into view.

Gus moaned as Leon slowed to turn into the lane that stretched under the emergency room’s canopy. Gus opened the door while the Tahoe was still rolling.

“Hey, man, hold up!” Leon stood on the brakes. The Chevy jerked to a halt. “What the hell? You tryin’ to kill yourself? Dios!”

“Get me out!” Jardine ordered, seeming not to care about the injuries he could have sustained if his seat belt had failed and he’d tumbled onto the pavement.

“I got him.” James was out of the back seat in an instant. He attempted to help Jardine inside.

Gus was having none of it. “Didn’t I tell you to leave me the fuck alone?” he snarled, his face pale. Holding his bleeding hand, blood covering the towel and smeared all over his shirt and jeans, he walked unsteadily through the sliding doors of the ER to announce, “I need help. Now.”

“You sure do. Let’s get it,” said a woman behind a wide, curved desk as she picked up a phone.

Within seconds, a male nurse in his late twenties wearing pale blue scrubs hustled to the desk. He was tall, but rangy, his brown hair clipped to stubble, his hawkish eyes intense.

“Let’s get you back here,” the nurse said to Gus, then to James, “If you can see to the paperwork . . .”

“He doesn’t know nothin’ about me!” Gus sputtered and sent a hateful look over his shoulder as if James had personally harmed him. “I’m gonna sue you, you fuckin’ bastard,” he said again, and a smattering of people in the waiting room looked up from what they were doing to watch. “Ya hear me?” Jardine was bellowing. “I’m gonna sue your ass! Count on it.” With his good hand, he jabbed a blood-stained finger at James as he was being herded through a wide door by the nurse.

James felt the gazes of the curious land on him. From a short couch, a thirtysomething man was trying to keep an energetic toddler entertained, but he kept glancing up at James, while a woman in her sixties in a nearby chair had her gaze fixed on both him and the information desk. Even the worried-looking elderly couple seated on linked chairs near a ficus tree looked up. They were huddled together while talking in hushed tones, the woman dabbing at her eyes, but their conversation had stopped as Gus began screaming out invectives.

Leon was hovering nearby. “You have a ride coming? Bobby?”

“Yeah. You can go back to work,” said James.

“Okay.” He gnawed on his lip. “But there’s something I think you should know.”

“What is it?”

Leon’s dark eyes shifted from one side to the other. “It’s about Gus. I saw him a little earlier, before he went to the saw and . . .” Leon rubbed a hand over his forehead as if he wasn’t certain he should continue.

“And—?” James said.

“And . . . I don’t know. I just caught a glimpse of his hand, but I think it was fucked up before he went to the saw.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just that it didn’t look right. Like maybe it was swollen or bruised, so maybe he shouldn’t have been working, you know. Maybe he messed up because his grip was off . . . oh, qué carajo . . . what the fuck.”

“You think?” James asked.

“I don’t know, man, but it seems like now he’s trying to blame you.”

“Why?”

“You heard him. A lawsuit. Easy money.” Then, as if he’d said too much, Leon added, “I’d better go,” and took off for the sliding doors. James was tossing over what he’d said when he heard a quiet cough.

“Ooo-kay,” the woman behind the desk said, bringing his attention back to her. “Why don’t we get started? We can begin with his personal information. As much of it as you know. I’ll confirm with him later.” The ID tag hanging from a lanyard around her neck indicated she was Sharon Nader, but the picture on the badge was barely recognizable as she’d cut and changed her hair color from a medium brown to flaming red, gained