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Pushing away from herdesk, she came around, eyes blazing. Cooper rose slowly, bracinghimself for the storm about erupting. He had deliberately angered herto the point of breaking because he wanted to see her reaction.
“You bastard.”She whispered. “I have been at this clinic for years and careenough about what happens to them. I have gone to great lengths tobeg for scraps to keep it running. Egotistical? You son of a bitch. Ido this because I could not bear to see the suffering. You-”
“I want tohelp.” He started to reach for her, dropping his hands when shestepped back. “You cannot do this alone, and I have the meansand resources to help you. I just do not want to treat them and bedone with it. I want to do more. Let me.”
“Why?”
He hissed out animpatient breath. “Because I admire what you do here. I work atthe hospital, and I love what I do. I am an excellent trauma surgeon,and that is a fact. But these people have basic needs, and that isnew to me. I want to help.”
She stared at him fora few seconds before taking a step back. “I will talk to her.”She told him coolly. “Now, excuse me, I have work to do.”
“Brooke-”
“Please don’tsay anything else. I don’t want to hear it.”
“How long areyou going to run away from us?”
She rounded on him.“There is no ‘us.’ Just- I have to go.”
He stood there andwatched her hurrying out. He had won the battle, but the war wasstill raging.
*****
“Thanks formeeting me here.”
“I waspleasantly surprised when you called.” The detective beamed ather as he reached for his coffee. “I must tell you that thisplace is famous for its rhubarb pie. The entire precinct drops byevery day to take advantage of the cuisine.”
He smiled at herwarmly, admiring the striking contrast of her complexion against thelemon-yellow scrubs she had on. She had pulled on a matching greensweater over the top and left it open.
“Now, mydear, what can I do for you?”
“The shelter upthe street.”
“I know theplace, of course. What about it?”
“Without goinginto details, there is an occupant who is claiming that she wasraped.”
“Ah.” Danreached for his pie and cut into it. “We have had severalcomplaints of sexual assault.”
“And?”
“Theinvestigation is ongoing. I have to tell you that, unfortunately, inplaces like these, things like this happen with increasing frequency.These people are bunched together in the open, and there is noprivacy. They receive over the maximum on any night, makingmonitoring what goes on difficult.”
“And that’sit? You just shrug your shoulders and say, ‘Oh well’?”
He gave her a patientsmile. “We are doing our due diligence and investigating theallegations, but the women have the habit of recanting after wequestion them the third time.”
“So there isnothing to be done.”
“As I said, weare doing our best-”
“In otherwords, these are people who do not contribute to society; they are,in fact, a blight on the neighborhood, so no effort is being made tosee to their protection.” Sucking in a breath, she closed hereyes briefly. “I apologize. I am not supposed to be taking outmy frustration on you.”
“I understand,my dear.”
She gritted her teethat the patronizing note in his voice.
“I supposethese places are not equipped with cameras?”
