AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“An incident?” His tone changes instantly. “What incident? What happened?”
“Uh…” She sighs. Because there’s no easy way to tell your boss this sort of shit. “Yesterday, a call came in about a hit-and-run fatality. I sent one of mine out to get him.”
I sure as shit notice how she doesn’t name Aubree, but rather, calls ithers.
“Well, we also got another body from the Opulus Killer soon after. I prioritized the Opulus over the hit-and-run, instructed my team to put the fatality in the negative temperature refrigerator, and figured we’d get to him today.”
“Alright…” Lawrence pauses. Waits. “What’s theincident, Doctor Mayet?”
“Shit.” She scrubs her face and takes a deep breath. “Turns out, the guy wasn’t dead.” Opening her eyes, she looks to me. Exhausted, and most of the way defeated. “But he spent the night in the morgue.”
“The guy…” Stunned, Lawrence repeats fragments of her sentence. “He was dead… but he’s alive?”
“Yes, sir. It was a complete breakdown in protocol, starting with a blind paramedic and ending with a medical examiner rushed to put him away and attend another scene.”
“Were you the rushed M.E., Mayet? Did you do this?”
“Yes. I…” She shakes her head. “I wasn’t the M.E. on-scene, but I was the one who told her to put him away without completing the steps first. I take full responsibility, Mr. Lawrence. This was on me, because I was shortsighted and too eager to follow up on another case. The appropriate thing for me to do would have been to let my staff complete their job without interruption. So yes, I did this.”
“And the guy?” Lawrence’s tone grows a little softer. “How is he?”
“Last I heard,” she responds, “he’s in surgery. We thought he was deceased for approximately twelve hours, and he’d been in the snow for hours before that. He was bleeding internally, Mr. Lawrence. The damage is extensive. The only reason he’s alive at all is because he froze most of the way to death.”
“Prognosis?”
“I don’t… I don’t know. We called 911 immediately and had him transported to Copeland Memorial. While we waited, I personally worked on him and attempted to stabilize. Paramedics were mostly concerned about the damage to his skull. If he lives, I expect legal to be tied up in this for years.” She drops her chin to her chest and breathes. “If he dies, legal will be tied up even longer.”
“Quite the incident,” he agrees.
Exhaling and taking a long minute as the former D.A. formulates his response, Minka’s eyes—much the same as Aubree’s moments ago—show fear. Disappointment. Worry.
“Alright. There are steps for this sort of thing, right? I don’t know medical, Doctor, but I know legal. There are several steps before a body makes it to the morgue. So this isn’t entirely on you.”
“Mayor?”
He scoffs low on his breath. “Luckily for you, I’m not the mayoryet, which means I won’t be forced to take anyone’s job over this.”
“Mr. Lawrence—”
“But we’re on thin ice, Doctor Mayet. This is quite the mess, and even though it’s happenedbeforeI take office, we both know it’s still going to be a headache for me into the future. Let it play out,” he decides. “Let’s see if the guy lives first. Let’s hope he recovers and enjoys a long, happy life. In the meantime, I intend to reach out to the investigating detectives. We’ll push to get the driver in the hit-and-run charged for his crimes. Once that’s done, I imagine your patient and his family will become more gracious in all things legal. Until then, work out what you need to work out in-house so this doesn’t happen again.”
“Mr. Lawrence,” Minka tries again. “You’re being entirely too…fairin all this.”
“We had a deal, no, that we would give the other grace as we step into these new roles? There were other professionals who had their part in this man’s ordeal long before you, Doctor Mayet. So I’ll work my way back and ensure what happened was a terrible accident and not gross negligence.”
“Sir… Doctor Emeri was the medical examiner on-scene, but I was the one who gave her orders to lock him in the fridge and attend to a different crime scene. She didn’t…” She shakes her head. “That’s on me.”
Seemingly exasperated, he sniggers under his breath. “Of course it was Doctor Emeri. And naturally, you’re taking responsibility for her part in this?”
“I gave the orders, sir. If I’d given her time to work the case like I should have, if I’d delegated appropriately and not been distracted by the new mayor coming to the George Stanley, and later, by another woman killed by the Opulus murderer, this wouldn’t have happened. No matter which way we slice this, Mr. Lawrence, the fault comes back to me.”
“Yes, well…” After a moment of silence, he exhales. “Sometimes shit just happens. We’ll deal with the blows as they come, and I’ll head down to the hospital later today and see how he’s doing.”
“I expect he’ll be in surgery for quite some time. His injuries were extensive.”
“The reality of the situation,” Lawrence murmurs “is if he wasn’t in the elements like he was, and later, if he wasn’t in the fridge, he wouldn’t have lived anyway. So I’ll follow it all up and get back to you.”
“Yes, sir. And, uh, thanks for the connect with Jen. I’ll be awaiting her call.”
