Betrayed (Rosato & DiNunzio, #2)(31)

“No, no.” Maria backed away from the counter. “I don’t feel … comfortable.”

“But we could get that information anywhere. Father Keegan would tell us her last name. You would just be saving us the trouble of asking him.”

“Then ask him. Please, ask him.”

“Really?” Judy’s phone kept ringing, and Aunt Barb took her arm, looking at her with pained eyes.

“Judy, let’s go. I don’t want to upset anybody. That’s not the point.”

“You want to leave?”

“Yes, please.” Aunt Barb gestured at the ringing phone. “And you should answer that. I bet it’s your mom, and we don’t need to make her angrier than she already is.”

“She can wait.”

“It could be an emergency.”

“All right, I hear you.” Judy checked her phone on the fly.

As it turned out, it wasn’t her mother.

But it was an emergency, of sorts.





Chapter Fifteen

Judy hustled to the counter of the modern octagonal desk that dominated the busy emergency room, which was staffed with medical personnel, hustling this way and that. She had been sent back into the ER by the department’s receptionist, who hadn’t known which examining room Frank was in. Evidently, he’d reinjured his wrist in his basketball game, and Judy was hoping that it wasn’t broken, because she wanted to break it herself.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for Frank Lucia.” Judy addressed the medical personnel in general, because she didn’t know which one to talk to. The doctor was on the phone, but both nurses looked up at her, one from the computer keyboard and the other from the printer.

“And you are…?” asked the nurse at the printer, standing with an open palm as a document eked out of the tray. She was pretty, with cropped red hair and green eyes so bright they could’ve been contacts. Fabric daisies curled around the rubbery black stem of her stethoscope, and her scrubs were Barbie pink.

“I’m Judy Carrier. His girlfriend.” Judy caught a quick exchange of glances between the two nurses, sensing their collective disappointment that Frank had a girlfriend, a familiar reaction.

“Great.” The nurse flashed a smile that tried but failed. “He’s in room seven. I’m Melanie, his nurse, and he’s ready to be discharged if you can drive him. He can’t drive himself because of the Percocet.”

“Was he in pain?” Judy tried not to sound hopeful.

“Initially, he had some discomfort.”

“Poor thing,” Judy said, but she really meant good. She was hoping he was very uncomfortable. “What was the injury exactly? He wasn’t very specific on the phone. Did he reinjure it?”

“Yes, there was no new fracture, but the doctor had to reset the bone, so it would heal properly. We gave him another cast.”

Judy wanted to give him a new cast, right in the face. “So playing basketball caused the bone to shift?”

“Yes, and the soft tissue in his wrist swelled during the night. He narrowly avoided another surgery.”

“So does that mean the healing process has to start over from the beginning? Are we talking eight to twelve weeks?”

“Yes, and I explained to him that he has to be patient. He can engage in only limited activity. I know that won’t be easy for him, seeing as how he makes his living with his hands.”

Judy couldn’t suppress her eye-roll. “Or maybe people who make a living with their hands shouldn’t play so much basketball. Do you think concert pianists shoot a lot of hoops?”

“Ha!” The nurse laughed lightly. “Everybody needs to have fun.”

“Do they? I’m a lawyer. I don’t believe in fun.”

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Judy shot back, then realized it sounded harsher than she felt. Or maybe it was exactly how she felt and she didn’t know how harshly she felt until this very moment. But the nurses were exchanging significant glances again.

“I’ll be right in with his prescription and discharge papers.”

“Thanks.” Judy turned away, her chest tight. She walked down the gleaming hall until she found the right examining room, pushed aside the privacy curtain, and went in.

“Babe?” Frank grinned in a loopy way, lying fully clothed on the bed, his eyes at a druggy half-mast. His left arm was back in its familiar blue cotton sling, and a fresh blue nylon cast covered his wrist to the knuckles. His skin was uncharacteristically pale, his hair disheveled, and his gray logo fleece and jeans looked rumpled enough to have come from the hamper, which they probably did. Judy felt herself softening and went to him.

“How are you feeling?”

“I feel great, I feel awesome! I love you!” Frank hugged her close, then threw up his arms like he’d scored a touchdown, or maybe a three-pointer. “Life is good!”

“Good.” Judy gave him a grudging kiss on his grizzly cheek. His breath smelled like onions, but luckily, she loved onions.

“Thanks for coming to get me!”

“No problem, thanks for playing basketball.” Judy couldn’t help her sarcasm. She’d had to race back to Aunt Barb’s house and drop her off, leaving her aunt to face Iris’s death, Daniella’s disappearance, and her impending mastectomy, with only Judy’s mom for company. The entire weekend had been cut short because Judy wouldn’t have time to go back to Kennett Square tonight and still be at work tomorrow morning.