Victoria Houston - Loon Lake 14 - Dead Lil' Hustler Read Free Page A

into tears. “What on earth? What did I do? Oh, my God…”
    “Hey, hey, hold on,” said Osborne, folding his arms around his daughter. “You didn’t do anything. I’m sure Cody was not that sick when you left. But by the time I got there, his temperature had skyrocketed.”
    Dr. Schrieber appeared in the hallway. “Are you the boy’s parents?” he asked Mark and Erin. “Come with me. You, too, Dr. Osborne.”
    “I’ll wait here,” said Lew. Osborne nodded and followed the trio down the hall into a small office.
    “Mr. and Mrs. Amundson, Dr. Osborne,” said the physician. “Here is all we know right now. Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining that surrounds the spinal cord and the brain. Symptoms can come on so fast and seem so ordinary—fever, headache, stiff neck, and a rash. You may have thought it was just a cold or flu,” he said to Erin. “I would have thought the same if one of my kids looked like that earlier today. Has anyone else in the home or your neighbors been sick recently?”
    “Yes, some of the boys on Cody’s T-ball team have had the mumps,” said Erin.
    “That could be it,” said the doctor. “Could be a virus hit your son’s immune system and it reacted this way. We’ll be running tests to see what we have. Meantime, we have to keep Cody in isolation because we may not know for several days…”
    “Know what? How many days?” asked Mark.
    “Not sure, five, six maybe.”
    “But you won’t know
what
?” asked Erin.
    The doctor paused, then said, “If he’ll make it. Your son is a very sick little boy. All we can do right now is keep him stable. There are a number of different strains of meningitis. Some we can treat, some not. The risks run from hearing loss to brain damage to limbs that may need to be amputated.”
    “That bad,” said Erin, trying hard to keep her composure. “That bad, really?”
    “I wish I could tell you more. We’re bringing in a specialist from Madison and he may be able to answer your questions better than I can. Oh, one question—I have two residents on the team who are studying infectious diseases. Do you mind if they run some additional tests? They will meet with you first and tell you what and why.”
    “Anything. Everything,” said Erin, trying to talk through her tears.
    Mark put an arm around his wife. “Can we see him?”
    • • •
    Osborne left the office and walked back to the waiting room. With a quick glance through the doorway he could see Bud Jarvison still parked in an easy chair near the magazine rack. Once again he motioned for Lew to join him in the hall. The last person he needed asking questions right now was Bud.
    “Lew,” said Osborne. “They don’t know how sick Cody is. Could be…” A sudden pressure of tears made it difficult for Osborne to continue. Lew put a comforting arm around his waist and waited. “Well, it’s not good. Some strain of meningitis and we have to hope that it’s viral. If it’s bacterial…” Again Osborne choked up, pressing his fingers against his eyelids.
    Watching his face, Lew could tell the news was everything he did not want to hear. She also knew how helpless he must feel. “Would you like me to stay, Doc? Until you know more.”
    Osborne inhaled deeply, “No, this could take a while, Lew. You have a police department to run.”
    “Things can be canceled…” She pursed her lips as she looked up at him.
    “Really?” Osborne managed a small smile. “You can tell a bunch of jabones to put their bad behavior on hold?”
    “Well, no, but I can ask Todd to take over for a while.”
    “No, Lew, it’s okay. You can go.”
    She squeezed his hand and stood on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the cheek. “Call if you need me, okay?”
    “Thanks, I will.” As she walked off, Osborne watched her go, thinking as he often did these days how lucky he was that she had invited him into her life.
    He turned around to find Bud standing at the entrance to the waiting room,