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Ignoring him, Cooperstared at Brooke. “We are going to have to get her to thehospital. I believe she is suffering from head trauma, and she is notresponding. We don’t have the necessary equipment here to treather.”
Brooke noddeddazedly. “I will make the call.”
“And you aregoing to have to get the police involved.”
Brooke stepped overMarcus, who had slid to the floor, weeping openly. Cooper was toobusy trying to get Lisa to respond to even look at him, but he couldsee that it was a hopeless case.
Her pulse had beenfaint when she was brought in, and no amount of CPR could get herheart pumping. Several of her ribs were cracked and had punctured herlungs. By the time Brooke came back into the room, the sounds of theambulance could be heard.
“She is gone,”he told her dully, shaking his head. “There was nothing I coulddo for her.”
“I realizedthat.” She was outwardly calm, but he could tell she was shakenup.
They both turned to look at the man, his head buried againsthis drawn-up knees. Cooper was about to say something when they heardthe front door being pushed open, and the EMTs came rushing in.
“Doc?”One of them looked at Brooke.
“There is nopulse.” She turned as soon as the officers came rushing in. “Itis now a homicide.” She gestured to the quivering Marcus, whowas still on the floor. “She is dead.”
With that, she walkedout of the room, leaving Cooper to give the details. Half an hourlater, she was sitting at her desk when he had finished with thefirst responders.
“They took thebastard away in a squad car. My guess would be extensive braindamage. He admitted to beating her with a tire iron.” He stoodinside the doorway. He was a trauma surgeon and a damn good one atthat.
But seeing that younggirl with her skull crushed and her body bearing so many bruises hadturned his stomach. He had spent more than twenty seconds trying towash her blood off his hands, and it was still not enough.
“I told her toleave him,” Brooke said tonelessly, leaning back against thechair. “She came in with a black eye just the other day, and Itold her to leave him. He had been beating her for months now, and Iwanted her to report it, but she refused. Now she is dead.”
“You cannotblame yourself.” He ventured. She looked so miserable that hejust wanted to take her in his arms and rock her. The feeling ofprotectiveness he felt towards her jolted him.
“I am supposedto be here to help them!”
“You cannothelp someone who does not want it.” Leaning off the door jamb,he came to sit on the edge of her desk, facing her. “The onlything you could have done was try and make her see reason. You couldnot have forced her to walk out on him.”
“I could havedone more. I could have-”
“Stop!”He ordered sharply, causing her head to jerk in surprise. “Youare torturing yourself with ‘what ifs,’ and I am here totell you that it does not make a difference. She had a choice-”
Her bitter laugh cuthim off in mid-sentence. “You live in an insulated world wherethere are choices, where everything is black and white. Where youhave the freedom of choice, girls like Lisa do not have that luxury.
She was from a homewhere her father abused her, and her mother was a junkie who did notmake the effort to get clean for her daughter’s sake. I comefrom a world where the only bad thing that happened was my dad-”Sucking in a sharp breath, she shook her head. Her eyes were brightwith the tears she was trying to hold back. “Never mind.”
“Brooke-”
The use of her namehad her staring at him. He felt the painful thudding of his heartinside his chest. He had never seen her look this vulnerable before.He had been coming here for the past two weeks and had seen severalsides of her, but never this.
Her golden-brown eyeswere bright with unshed tears, her soft, lush lips were parted andtrembling slightly, and he knew he had to have her. The desire insidehim was so strong that he could barely stand it.
“Let’sget you home.” He said roughly, getting to his feet. “Youneed some tea with a little whiskey in it.”
“I am fine.”Shaking off the euphoria from shock, she pushed away from the desk.Grabbing her sweater and pocketbook, she inched past him and waitedwhile he turned the light out.
“The cops willbe coming around tomorrow to take your statement. They wanted to dothat before they left, but I persuaded them to wait until tomorrow. Ifigured you would not be up to it tonight.”
“Thank you.”She told him quietly as they made their way toward the front door.Not having to do everything for herself felt strange, and she wasunsure how she felt about that.
He waited until shehad secured the lock on the door. It was a balmy spring night withthe sprinkle of stars dotting the velvety sky, and anineteen-year-old girl had been bludgeoned to death by her jealouslover. Another tragic story that happens much too often.
“I will drivebehind you.” His quiet voice intruded on her depressingthoughts and had her turning around.
