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Alan placed his hand on the small of Cassie’s back as he led her over to the chairs. She had to resist the urge to wiggle out of his reach. Even through her jacket, his touch made her skin crawl.
“Thank you so much.” She made her voice breathy and plastered a smile on her face. She was grateful when they finally sat, so he’d stop touching her. “I really appreciate it. Vanessa told me you wouldn’t mind talking to me about one of your patients.”
Alan had the wherewithal to check that no one was listening. He at least pretended to care about breaking the rules. “I could get in trouble for that.”
She batted her eyelashes. “I’ll make it worth your trouble.”
“Sold.” Alan smirked, and Cassie had to resist rolling her eyes. It was all too easy. “What do you want to know?”
“She called to ask you about a patient who died at the other hospital. She said he’d come through here first and almost died, too.”
“Yeah, I remember him.” Alan squinted. “Can’t think of his name, though.”
“Don Chichetti.” She’d studied his chart.
“Right, right.” Alan shook his head. “He was in some sort of motorcycle gang. It wasn’t the first time he’d been through here. I’d say ‘and it wouldn’t be his last,’ but I guess it kind of was.”
She didn’t laugh at his joke. “You said he almost died after surgery? What happened?”
“Don’t know. His body started failing. They fed him an IV. Pumped him full of meds. He stabilized.” Alan shrugged. “He walked out of here a couple days later. Only to wind up in the hospital again. Stupid bastard.”
“And you don’t know why he crashed like that?”
“Not a clue.” Alan narrowed his eyes. “What’s this all about?”
Cassie flashed him a smile and leaned forward. The easiest way through this conversation was to stroke his ego. “He was my friend’s brother. She wants to know what happened to him. Vanessa told me you were the only one who could help.”
“She said that?”
“Yep.” Cassie didn’t linger in the moment. “Something’s fishy about the way he died. We think maybe someone was trying to hurt him.”
“Someone did hurt him.” Alan didn’t bother hiding the condescension in his voice. “That’s why he was here.”
“What I meant,” Cassie said, forcing her voice to remain flirtatious, “was that someone tried to hurt him while he was here. And while he was at UMC. And they succeeded the second time.”
“They fired a girl after they fixed him up, but I don’t think she has anything to do with this.”
Cassie sat a little straighter in her chair. “They fired someone? Who? Why?”
“This hot volunteer chick. She was in the room when he crashed.” He shook his head. “They couldn’t prove anything, not really, but they let her go because they said she may have accidentally increased his dosage. But I don’t buy it.”
“Why not?”
“She didn’t fit in around here. She had tattoos and piercings. Some of the older patients complained it was inappropriate. I didn’t care. It was hot.” He sneered in a way that told her she didn’t want to know what he was thinking. “She didn’t mind showing me all of her tattoos.”
“You think they were just looking for an excuse to fire her.”
“Pretty much.”
Cassie smiled. “So, you hooked up with her?”
He wasn’t good at playing coy. “Maybe.”
“Your place or hers?”
Alan laughed. He looked intrigued. “Hers. Why?”
“You know where she lives. Can I get her address?”
