Page 11 of Tough Justice

“I’ve got this one,” Wil said, following the stretcher.

“I think your next appointment just found you.” Suzie looked over Tori’s shoulder then winked and followed Wil.

“Dr. Sampson?”

The “hunkie hottie” leaned against the other side of the nurses’ station desk, watching her, waiting. She’d hoped he’d have given up and gone away. No such luck. Dealing with the DEA any day of the week was rock bottom on her list of things-I-want-to-do, let alone today. Somehow, she had to scrounge up enough professionalism to get through it.

He pushed from the desk, his thick biceps flexing beneath the sleeve of the black polo shirt he wore, one that seemed to cling to every other muscle in the man’s sculpted torso. Every nurse within range stopped to watch him come toward her.

“What can I do for you, Special Agent…” She’d already forgotten his name.

“Decker.” He held out his hand, and for a moment she just stared at it. Eventually, she put her hand in his. The simple gesture should have been just that—simple, but it wasn’t. The man’s grip was strong and gentle at the same time, and warm. So warm. “Is there someplace we can speak privately?”

She glanced behind her. If Ethan wasn’t in the doctors’ lounge cooling his jets, she would’ve taken the agent there. “We can go to the cafeteria.”

Decker frowned. “Is there someplace more private? What I have to say isn’t for public consumption.”

Moments later, they sat across from each other at a table in one of the vacant doctor’s offices.

“First off,” Decker began, “I want to thank you for what you did for my colleague, Dan Prince. If it weren’t for your expertise, he would’ve died.”

“Thank you, but again, I was only doing my job.”

“And doing it well. That’s why I’m here.”

“I don’t mean to be rude”—Liar—“but I have patients to get back to. What did you want to speak with me about?”

His mouth tightened. “I need your help. You’re absolutely right. The DEA should be doing more to address the opioid epidemic, especially this new designer drug. We need to be proactive, get to the source as quickly as possible.”

About time. Although it wouldn’t help Tyler Wojcik. “I’m very glad to hear that. Now, what does this have to do with me?”

“You said there were three OD deaths at North Metro in the last week. I want to see—”

“Four,” she bit out, her voice clogging with emotion. “As of an hour ago, there have been four.”

Decker’s brown eyes softened, and frown lines burrowed into his forehead. “Right. A teenage boy. I heard. I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” Tori clasped her hands together tightly on top of the desk, sorely regretting taking this meeting so soon after taking Tyler off life support. Her emotions were still too raw.

The defensive retort she expected never came. Rather, her blunt declaration of blame was met by stony silence. Finally, Decker took a deep breath that tightened his shirt over his broad chest. “Yeah,” was all he said. “Which is exactly why I need your help. I want to see the lab reports for those ODs, including Dan Prince, and compare them to the powder we seized yesterday.”

“As for most of those reports, you’ll need a subpoena, and you’ll have to deal with our legal department.”

“Consider it done.”

“As for your friend, you can get him to sign a release form.”

Decker pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to her. A quick glance told her it was, indeed, a signed release form. She handed it back to him, but he didn’t take it. “Again, you’ll have to deal with the hospital’s legal department.”

“I don’t have time for that. Don’t you think this request will be processed faster if you hand-deliver it?”

Reluctantly, she set the request form on the desk. Expediting his request was a small thing she could do.

His eyes took on a suspicious glint. “You’ve already looked at the labs. Haven’t you? I’m guessing you already know what’s in this new drug.”

In truth, she had looked at all the lab reports for the OD deaths, and she’d been astounded by what she’d discovered. And she knew precisely what Decker was getting at. “I can’t divulge anything specifically connected to any patient by name.”

“Of course not.” He leaned forward, giving her a close-up view of just how richly brown his eyes were. “I wouldn’t want you to violate HIPAA.”