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Maybe she wasn’t as okay with his job as he thought. The comments Jillian had made about changing his career for Shannon’s sake came back in a rush. He liked being a cop. He was good at being a cop.
Yet as much as he tried, he couldn’t erase the image of his daughter’s face peering at him from the doorway.
* * *
Jillian drove to work,hoping the emergency department would be busy enough to keep her mind occupied. Because despite the way she deleted the message, Alec’s accusing tone slipped into her subconscious so she heard his words over and over again.
Shannon's feelings were hurt. Call me. Shannon's feelings were hurt.
She sighed, knowing she needed to talk to Alec face to face. To let him know why their relationship was over. He might not understand, but eventually, hopefully, he'd learned to forgive her.
And to forget her?
The idea of Alec finding someone else to share his life with caused a rare surge of jealousy to clench in her belly. She quickly thrust it aside. Of course he deserved to share his life with someone. To have a family, more children, with a woman who could be a true partner in every way.
Too bad she couldn't be that person.
She headed into the emergency department with a determined stride. Here at least, amidst the chaos, she was comfortable. In charge.
After locking her purse in her office, she headed into her assigned team, her attention centered on the electronic census board, with a full listing of patients. That answered the question of whether or not she'd be busy enough to forget Alec, she thought wryly.
Someone bumped into her from behind. She turned, catching a glimpse of Lacy.
“Sorry, Jillian,” Lacy murmured.
“Are you okay?” She frowned because Lacy looked as if she'd been crying.
The charge nurse shook her head. “Daniel died this morning.”
Daniel had died. She closed her eyes on a wave of grief. No wonder Lacy was upset. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“I have to go,” Lacy appeared half dazed. “I can't—I have to leave.”
“Take care of yourself. We'll talk more tomorrow.”
Lacy nodded and quickly walked toward the staff lock room.
Jillian knew that Lacy, along with everyone else in the department, was still on edge, although it had been several days since the last narcotic theft. Jillian glanced over, nearly groaning out loud when she saw Wayne Netter striding toward her.
“We have a full house. Do you think you can handle it?” He asked. “Or do you want me to stay?”
She'd rather work alone than with Wayne so she shook her head. “I'll be fine. Any patients in particular I need to know about?”
“All of them.” He turned to the census board and quickly ran down the list of patients, telling her in detail what needed to be done. The man had a personality of a toad, but he obviously knew his stuff as far as emergency medicine was concerned.
“Thanks,” she said when he'd finished. “I appreciate the update.”
Wayne nodded and turned to leave. Amy, another charged nurse, stood by the narcotic dispensing machine and called her name. “Dr. Davis?”
“Yes? What is it?” With a sinking feeling in her gut, Jillian hurried over.
“Eighteen percocets are missing.” Amy's face was red as she met Jillian’s gaze. “And you're listed as the person who removed them.”
“What? That's impossible.” She'd only been in the department for a half hour. And she’d had been nowhere near the narcotic dispensing machine. She reached over and snatched the narcotic discrepancy notice generated by the machine. “Let me see that.”
There it was, and clear bold print, her name and the starting percocet count of eighteen, with the final count of zero.
“I don't understand,” she said more to herself than to Amy. The time of the transaction was listed as three-fifteen in the afternoon, and it was three-thirty now. “I haven't logged into the narcotic dispensing machine. I just got here. I spoke to Lacy briefly and then I got report from Dr. Netter.”
