Page 8 of Bring Them Home

“You’re sure?”

“Uh-huh, but I’ll look him up if you wish. I happened to overhear. Landon Archer?” The woman looked at Amanda.

“Yes.” Amanda was impressed by how this woman could track that while registering a patient. But in a busy emergency room like this one, staff needed to be on high alert and tuned in to everything going on around them for their own safety.

The clerk tapped on her keyboard and shook her head. “He doesn’t show as coming in here. You could try the patient information desk in the main lobby. We can’t access that part of the hospital’s system.”

“Thanks.” Amanda walked off with Trent following. She didn’t need directions.

The clerk at the new counter struggled to rouse a smile. Not that Amanda could blame the woman. She was likely overworked and underpaid. She’d have to deal with egotistical doctors and nurses, all while managing stressed-out patients and their families.

Trent stepped up and ran through what Amanda just had with the clerk in the emergency department.

The one here grimaced. “I’m sorry, but I can’t disclose that information.”

Amanda was about to explain that she could when she heard someone calling her name.

“Amanda? What are you doing here?” Carter, or Dr. Paulsen to his patients, came walking over. “Everyone all right?”

It was a question that seemed to fall from his lips a lot. She’d say it was his line of work, if she didn’t know better. It was her job, and his knowing that it attracted misfortune, including trips to this hospital. It was on one such occasion when she’d met Carter. “Do you need to ask?”

Trent cleared his throat.

“Trent,” Carter said, acknowledging him for the first time.

Her partner didn’t respond.

“Right,” she said, “well, we’re in the middle of a missing person investigation and it led us here.”

“Oh?”

“We just need to know if Landon Archer is a patient here,” she told him.

“Which I can’t tell you, Officer,” the clerk stressed.

“Detective.” Amanda and Carter corrected her in unison, and Amanda smiled at him.

The clerk rolled her eyes.

“You can confirm that under these circumstances.” Carter walked over to the desk and leaned casually on the counter.

The woman’s cheeks flushed, which Amanda sensed had more to do with her feeling undermined than the proximity of Dr. Handsome—the nickname Amanda’s best friend, Becky Tulson, had given Carter just hearing about him. Amanda had never even shared his picture with her.

“That’s about all we can confirm, unfortunately, without a warrant,” Carter elaborated.

The clerk typed on her keyboard and, a moment later, looked up at the three of them. “He’s a patient here.”

“For how long? For what?” Amanda asked, disregarding what Carter had said a moment ago.

The clerk looked at Carter for direction.

“You can say when he was admitted, but don’t disclose anything about his medical condition.”

“He was admitted three months ago.”

“You’re sure?” The question left her lips without thought. It received a scowl from the clerk.

“That’s what the computer says.”