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“Is he going to make it?”
“Can’t say right now. He’s in a coma. We’re going to transfer him to a bed in the intensive care unit in the hospital next door.”
“Can you tell me his chances at this point?”
“Fifty-fifty, maybe less. I’ve seen worse survive, and I’ve seen better succumb.”
“So, you’re telling me it’s pretty much a crapshoot at this point.”
“I’m afraid so. No major organs involved, so that’s a plus.”
The doc went on to explain Dax’s condition in greater detail, but all Jim heard was fifty-fifty. His brother had beaten those odds before, and Jim had faith that he could do it again.
Although he hadn’t seen Dax in years, he wasn’t ready to lose him now. “His girlfriend. He has a girlfriend who’s in Seattle right now. I should call her. Do you have his personal effects?”
“The nurse can help you with that. I’ll transition your brother to the ICU tomorrow morning and have his doctor there give you a call.”
“I appreciate it, Dr. Verona. Can I look in on him here?”
“Of course. I’ll have the nurse bring you back.”
As the doctor turned, Deputy Stevens held up his hand. “Can I ask you a few questions, Dr. Verona? We’re treating this as an attempted homicide.”
The doctor pointed to the left. “We can go in that office, but I just have a few minutes.”
When they disappeared into the office, Jim leaned against the counter and addressed the nurse. “Dr. Verona said I could go back and see my brother.”
She held up her finger, and then picked up the phone. “Tell Tiana the brother wants to see five twenty-eight.”
Jim lifted his eyebrows and Scarlett said, “His name is Dax.”
“Sorry.” The nurse spread her hands. “It’s just a shortcut. He received excellent care. Dr. Verona’s the best trauma doc around.”
The door to the exam and operating rooms swung open and a nurse in pink scrubs poked her head out. “Are you Dax’s brother? This way.”
Jim grabbed Scarlett’s hand. “She’s my wife, and she’s coming with me.”
The nurse rolled her eyes. “No, she’s not. She’s Scarlett Easton, and I know for a fact she’s not married, but she can come, anyway.”
“Tiana...” Scarlett snapped her fingers. “Your grandmother and mine were friends for years.”
“That’s right—Gokey. Tiana Gokey. I didn’t grow up here because my parents left the reservation, but I moved back here when my grandmother was ill and I stayed.”
“Thanks for letting me check in on Jim’s brother. I—I’m the one who found him.”
“It’s a good thing you two acted quickly. If he lives, it’s because you stanched that flow of blood.” Tiana pulled aside a curtain and Jim’s eye twitched at the sight of his brother with tubes running in and out of him, hooked up to machines.
“The doc said Dax had a fifty-fifty chance.”
“If that’s what Dr. Verona said, it’s probably close. He’s the best.” She stuck a chart in a holder at the foot of the bed. “We’ll be moving him out of the emergency wing to the main hospital in the morning. Take your time.”
“Thanks, Tiana.” Jim dragged a plastic chair next to his brother’s bed, his gaze tracking along the tubes and monitors crisscrossing Dax’s body. “He looks bad.”
Scarlett stood beside him and squeezed his shoulder. “Shh. He may be able to hear us. Be positive.”
Jim leaned close to his brother’s pale face and murmured a few words of encouragement, talked to him the way he might talk to one of the vets he worked with.
“God, I hope he pulls out of this.”
“We just have to have some faith and think positive thoughts.” Scarlett reached past him and twitched Dax’s sheet into place, her hand skimming his arm.
She jerked back with a gasp.
“What’s wrong?” Jim narrowed his eyes. “You felt something, didn’t you?”
Scarlett stared at her fingers, which trembled in front of her face. “I flashed on something.”
