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The assistant looked anywhere but at Talon. “I don’t believe he’s had any. We were told by Lincoln that he was faking. That he knew the boy from Chapel Hill Correctional, and he could hear and speak fine. He’s always in trouble. Lincoln said he just wanted attention.”
“Lincoln?”
The assistant shuffled even more, “Our certified nursing assistant. Lincoln Bright.”
“I need to make a call.” Before he lost his temper. BecauseLincoln Brighthad been the one to report Evan for assault and the more he found out about this, the less he liked. “You are?’
“Alix Patterson.” He gestured to the desk and the telephone. Talon had left his cell in the car, knowing he’d have to leave it at the gate as it wasn’t allowed in anyway.
“Are you aware of what happened earlier?” Talon asked, heading to the desk. He knew Bright had been taken to urgent care.
Patterson didn’t answer and Talon glanced back at him. He seemed to find his shoes fascinating.
“It says in the incident report you were there,” Talon pushed.
Patterson nodded but still didn’t look up.
“But you weren’t, were you?” Talon glanced at the cameras.
“I came in just as the tray tipped over. Lincoln had just asked me to get a spare flashlight from the supply closet.”
“And what did you see?” He needed Gael to get into those cameras.
“Lincoln bent over Sutton. Then Sutton pushed at him, and he overbalanced, knocking the tray over.” Patterson hesitated. “I believe he needed his wrist x-rayed.”
He’d just bet he did.
Even though it was approaching eight at night, both Doc Natalie and Charles responded. Within two hours they’d completed what assessment they could in this environment, and Charles had spent a long time signing with Evan. Apparently Evan had never learned sign language, but Charles said Evan was concentrating so hard, he was spelling it out in his head so everything Evan tried to say using a mixture of hand signals and writing it down, Charles heard.
“For the first time, I desperately want to reply.”
Because they could all hear him except Natalie, Talon squeezed his shoulder in sympathy. Shamelessly using her dad’s renowned credentials, Natalie insisted on admitting Evan to Tampa Gen for tests. She hinted at possible tumor discovery, and Talon basically promised they were all fucked for ignoring it.
This time Finn didn’t even bother smoothing things over like he normally did.
Charles told them that Evan had started struggling with his hearing when he was around eleven but as he was in and out of the foster system no one picked it up. His words had started sounding funny well over a year ago, and he’d stopped trying to speak since he got bullied for it. He had trouble swallowing.
For the first time ever, he thought he was going to see Doc Natalie cry. They’d gotten Evan settled in his bed and Natalie had promised she would be back in the morning. Apparently, all the signs pointed to a possible central nervous system tumor.
That had just sat there and grown for years. And because of a scar on his cheek, it had been ignored.
“And the bruises?” It said in the file that Evan picked fights, but either Evan was the best actor in the world, or he was getting assaulted.
Charles hesitated.“He’s scared of telling me in case he has to go back there.”
Talon nodded and they didn’t press him any further. He was safe for the moment, and the doc had insisted on photographing every single mark on him.
Charles shooed them all home after a while and told them he was staying with Evan until he was asleep. Natalie had even personally briefed all the nurses on his care. Talon had spoken to the guard that had accompanied them and had to stay with Evan all night. He’d made it clear that if anything happened to Evan he’d be looking for a new job tomorrow, and then because he still didn’t trust him, he had Jacob send a cop over as well. One that knew the team and he could trust.
Talon had held Finn very tightly that night and struggled to sleep. He’d seen over and over in his head the complete acceptance on Evan’s face as Talon had been rough with him, and there wasn’t an excuse in the world for it.
In fact, the next morning Talon was at Target when it opened and bought an assortment of clothes, toiletries, and books. He would have happily bought Evan a kindle or something like that, but it was by no means certain the boy wouldn’t end up back in some sort of detention facility, so electronics were pointless as they would be stolen. He knew Hillsborough Juvenile allowed them to wear their own clothes if they wished, and whatever happened, if that was where Evan had to go, he wasn’t on his own anymore. Between the whole team, he would always have a visitor, and that would make it clear to everyone that he wasn’t without friends and unprotected.
If that had happened before, the Lincoln Brights of this world wouldn’t have the influence they did. Talon smiled a self-satisfied smile. Lincoln had been suspended and was currently under investigation after Evan admitted Lincoln had many scams going, the biggest being selling drugs prescribed for prisoners. Apparently, once the other men knew there wouldn’t be any retaliation, it had opened the floodgates. Lincoln Bright was likely going down, but more importantly the nursing assistant was about to get a taste of his own much-deserved medicine.
Four of the guards were also being investigated, because there was no way Bright had gotten away with this without help.
Talon always made sure either Charles or Finn was present when he went to visit Evan. But today he wanted to address the assault charge. He’d done his own investigation and was almost certain he knew what had happened, but he needed to record Evan’s version. He’d deliberately arranged to see him with the state-appointed attorney so everything was official.
