Justice for All Read Free

Ali repeated with just a hint of a growl.
    “Okay. Okay.” Rebecca stretched out on the narrow bed. As soon as she did she noticed that her headache dialed down a notch or two. She decided to keep that information to herself.
    “Any double vision?” Ali flicked the beam of a penlight back and forth between Rebecca’s eyes.
    “No.”
    “Headache?”
    “No.”
    “Let’s try that one again. Headache?”
    Out of the corner of her eye, Rebecca could see Catherine’s concerned expression. “Mild. Nothing worse than a bad hangover.”
    Ali swung her stethoscope from around her neck, hooked it in her ears, and pressed the bell to Rebecca’s chest. “Take a deep breath. Again. One more time.” Then she straightened and slung the stethoscope over her shoulder. “Fortunately the x-rays don’t show any evidence of sternal or rib fractures. I don’t expect you’ll have the same kind of pulmonary problems you had after the chest wound.”
    The last thing Rebecca wanted was Ali reminding Catherine of another brush with death. “Look, this was nothing. I was wearing a vest and it did its job. I got caught with a glancing round. The ER guys should’ve sent me home with a couple of stitches.”
    “We all know what happened, darling,” Catherine said quietly. “And we all know what could have happened. Let’s just—”
    Another knock sounded and a slightly overweight, gray-haired man in a brown suit that was shiny at the knees lumbered in. He took in the group and quickly looked at the ceiling. “Is everything covered? I hope not.”
    “You should be so lucky.” Rebecca had never been so happy to see her partner, William Watts. She hadn’t wanted to work with the sometimes crude, reputedly over-the-hill detective after her longtime partner had been executed along with another undercover cop just less than a year before. But her captain had insisted and it hadn’t taken her long to realize that Watts was no burned-out cop putting in time until his pension. He was astute, hardworking in his own laid-back way, and most importantly to Rebecca, completely trustworthy.
    Watts grinned, his blue eyes twinkling in his heavyset, ruddy face. “I always thought those little hospital johnnies were a turn-on. Better view from the back, though.”
    “Jesus,” Rebecca muttered. “Get out of here so I can get dressed.”
    “Getting sprung, huh, Loo?”
    “Yes, and you’re my ride.”
    “Sure thing. I’ll be outside.” He nodded to Catherine and Ali as he headed out the door. “Ladies.”
    “I can drive you home, darling.” Catherine glanced at Ali. “If you’re going to let her go?”
    Ali stood back from the bed. “Your CT scan shows a small hematoma just below that hairline fracture in the left temporal area. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time it resolves over the course of a few weeks. Every once in a blue moon we see delayed bleeding, usually from a vein tearing during excessive exercise or something else popping because of severe hypertension. What that means is you need to take it easy. No driving for two weeks. No workouts, no jogging, and no vigorous sex.”
    “Got it,” Rebecca said through gritted teeth.
    “There’s an even smaller chance, maybe one in five thousand, that this hematoma could resolve with a small area of scarring. Scarring in the brain equals a focus of irritation, and we sometimes see seizures. If you notice weakness, numbness, olfactory disturbances, memory loss, tremors, I need to know about it immediately.”
    “What about prophylactic Dilantin?” Catherine asked.
    Rebecca’s stomach tightened at the slight quiver in Catherine’s voice. She hated this—she just wanted it over, fast.
    Ali shook her head. “The risk is smaller that she’ll have problems than the potential complications of taking the drug. I’d rather just wait and watch.” She fixed Rebecca with a piercing stare. “If I have your word that you’ll follow instructions.”
    Rebecca reached for