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Letitia turned back to the room. “Come on, Selena. Let’s give them some room.” She held the younger woman’s arm and led her out into the hall.
One of the cops said, “What happened?”
Clare frowned. “I’d like to know as well.”
Selena’s face had paled, and she looked back to the room. When a nurse went to shut the door, Gage stuck his foot there. “Just worry about your patient.”
She didn’t have time to argue.
Clare realized he’d done it so Selena could see what was happening with Alex. Selena’s boyfriend lay in the bed, now completely flat. They hooked up more monitors to him. One of the nurses squeezed air into Alex’s lungs. The other stood by the readings, stating what she saw there. The doctor called out orders, then pushed something through the IV in Alex’s arm.
“He was coming around.”
Clare reached for Selena’s arm, and the young woman held on.
“The doctor gave him medicine through the IV that was supposed to help him stabilize and regain consciousness all the way. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he started having like a seizure or something.” Selena gasped and looked at Clare. “Is he gonna be okay?”
“I don’t know, honey.”
Beyond Selena, Letitia stared at them. As if she should be surprised Clare had people she cared about and looked out for. This was such a revelation to her? They weren’t best friends. Her relationship with her mother was stilted, but since she didn’t spend much time with her, that was likely a lack of familiarity.
They weren’t friends—they were mother and daughter.
“Okay, give him a second.” The doctor took a step back.
The nurses stopped what they were doing. One said, “He’s stabilized.”
“Keep an eye out. Make sure it stays that way.” Through the open doorway she saw the doctor turn from the staff to them—visitors who had all gathered. “Alex came through the surgery, and we were optimistic for his full recovery, but there appears to have been a complication. He’s slipped into a coma.”
Selena flinched. “What did you give him?”
The doctor frowned. “I don’t know what you mean. We administered drugs to try and wake him, but he’s at least stable right now.”
Selena shook her head. “You gave him something. He was waking up, and whatever you gave him caused this.” She pointed at her boyfriend, lying unconscious in the hospital bed.
“Sometimes things like this just happen,” Clare said. “They make no sense, but it isn’t anyone’s fault.”
“Unless it is.” Selena’s expression hardened.
“Let’s go talk through what happened.” Clare’s mother waved Selena to the side. “Then I’ll speak with hospital administration. If there’s fault to find here, you can have no doubt we’ll figure out who is to blame.”
The doctor looked at Clare, like she could fix the situation for him.
“Don’t look at me.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t in there, so I don’t know what happened.”
“I didn’t put that man into a coma. No matter what someone with zero medical training and zero grasp on the situation thinks.” He strode away and muttered, “Ridiculous.”
Gage scrubbed both hands down his face. He turned to the open door, watching the one remaining nurse checking Alex’s vitals—or whatever she was doing.
Maybe that doctor was right, even if his bedside manner in conversation with the next of kin had been lousy. She didn’t blame him for not appreciating being accused of malpractice. But she also didn’t think this was simply about Selena reacting purely on emotion.
The doctor had a phone to his ear now, down the hall. He glanced over at her, then disappeared into a side room.
What stuck with her was the look on his face.
She followed after him, needing to get to the bottom of this—for Selena as much as for Alex. Considering her mother had been killed, it was up to Clare to take care of her. That might mean removing Letitia from the situation if she stirred up Selena into a lawsuit just to line her own pockets—or whatever reason she had for taking on underdog cases.
“Clare.” Gage’s footsteps came after her down the hall. Even just the sound of his uniform boots on the floor sounded agitated.
