One Day Soon (One Day Soon, #1)(4)

Twenty-three hairline fractures along the right cheekbone.

Facial contusions and significant bruising.

Some mild brain trauma resulting in temporary loss of consciousness.

Currently in ICU.

“But then who would bring me muffins every Friday?” I asked and he grinned.

“It’s only because I know how cranky you can get without the necessary intake of sugar,” he argued good-naturedly.

“So tell me about this guy.” I scanned the rest of his information and didn’t see much. The police found him under Seventh Street Bridge a little before three thirty in the morning. I stiffened marginally at the name of the familiar Lupton landmark, but then forced myself to relax.

“He appears to be homeless. One of the police officers recognized him from that burned out warehouse out on Summit Avenue. The one that had that horrible fire years ago. You know, the place people say the homeless congregate—”

“The Pit,” I corrected sharply, cutting him off. “I know the place. They don’t congregate there. It’s where they sleep. It’s dry, for the most part, if not the safest.”

Jason frowned, clearly confused by my tone. “Right. Well, one of the officers had spoken to him several times in the past for possible solicitation, though he couldn’t be sure of the man’s name. When they found him he was already unconscious and bleeding badly.”

“They didn’t ask around to find out who he was?” I asked incredulously, staring down at lines of facts about the nameless man.

Jason shrugged. “They were called out to a car accident minutes after dropping the guy off, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t important to them at the time.” His words were hateful, but also true.

A beat up homeless guy would be far down on the Lupton City PD’s list of priorities.

“So I get the honors of figuring out who he is, huh?” I deduced.

Jason leaned over and patted my hand. “There’s no one better for the job.”

“You mean no one else wanted it,” I amended.

“Tess’s case load is high right now and I know you just closed Ryan Sinclair’s file,” he explained.

“That’s fine. I’ll take it. Someone needs to find out who he is and whether someone’s looking for him,” I said softly, flipping through the pages in the folder.

Internal hemorrhage. Scalp lacerations. Broken ribs. Whoever he was, he had been badly abused then left for dead. The least I could do was find out the man’s name.

“Speaking of your former client, I received a call yesterday from Samantha Sinclair. She wanted me to know how much she appreciated your support during Ryan’s stay. She said it was important that your superiors knew what a fantastic member of the hospital staff you are,” Jason said and I had to smile.

Ryan Sinclair was one of the few cases that I could feel good about. Being a social worker didn’t lend itself to many warm, fuzzy moments. But Ryan’s case had been special.

The five-year-old child had been rushed to the hospital two months ago with severe head trauma after a car accident involving his mother and ten-year-old sister. Mrs. Samantha Sinclair and little Kelsie had made it out with only bumps and bruises.

Ryan wasn’t so lucky. The little boy was taken into surgery on arrival to relieve the cranial pressure he had endured. He remained in a coma for almost a week afterwards.

The doctors hadn’t been sure if he’d make it. The prognosis had been iffy at best. And if he did pull through, his grief stricken family had been told that he would most likely be a vegetable. That decisions would need to be made.

I was assigned the case to start coordinating support services for his parents in preparation for the boy’s probable death.

It was hard. Incredibly so. I spent a lot of time consoling a destroyed mother and placating a very angry father. I had been both punching bag and shoulder to cry on. But that was my job and I bore everything the family threw at me.

I worked with grief services to coordinate counseling. I talked with Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair about their options for Ryan’s on-going care.

We discussed instituting a Do Not Resuscitate plan.

But Ryan didn’t die.

And he didn’t remain a vegetable either.

I visited with his parents day after day while the little boy fought with everything he had.

One of my fondest memories would always be the morning they pulled the tube out of his tiny, little throat and he began breathing on his own.

I had been standing beside his bed, Mrs. Sinclair had been holding onto her husband. All of our eyes were trained on the tiny body lying in the bed. The doctor slowly, carefully pulled the tube from his mouth.

And we waited.

And waited.

The minute his chest began to rise and fall, his mother fell to her knees sobbing. His father covered his face and wept.

And I stood there; smiling so wide that my cheeks ached for hours afterwards.

Ryan eventually woke up. Remarkably, with no long-term brain damage. His recovery had baffled his doctors, but not his family.

“He’s the strongest person I know. Of course he’ll be fine,” his father had said proudly just after Ryan had finally opened his eyes for the first time since before the accident.

Ryan Sinclair had been discharged from the hospital two weeks ago. Happy, healthy, and ready to go back to school.