She smiled. “Don’t worry, Dr. Dante. I’ve worked with Colonel Harrington on quite a few car wrecks.” And she said wrecks like it meant anything except what actually involved a motor vehicle. She patted the countertop of the island in the center of the room. “Up here please.”
Reese obeyed. “How much did he tell you?”
“That you were in a car wreck.” She opened her bag and took out a stethoscope. “Now, please take off your shirt so I can look you over.”
“I—”
“Dr. Dante—”
“Yeah, shirt.” He pulled his T-shirt over his head.
Dr. Stacy hissed. “Ouch.”
“What?”
She touched his side.
A jab shot through his chest. “Ouch…” He pulled away.
“Like I said.” She grinned.
“Not funny.” Reese lifted his arm. Black and blue painted his side. Blotches of yellow edged the darkest part.
“How did this happen?” She poked and prodded along his spine. “Let me guess, you rock climb while fighting bears?” Humor accented her words.
“Uh, yeah.” Sounded safer than the truth.
She stepped in front of him. “No, seriously. What happened?”
“Car wreck?”
“I was under the impression that happened this morning. Those bruises are days old.” Dr. Stacy scowled. “That son-of-a-bitch better have a damn good reason to have waited to—”
“I slipped.” Reese wadded up his shirt in his lap. “On the cobblestones in front of my house. They get wet and they turn in to goose shit. I’ve got a lovely scar on my knee where I earned about five stitches from the last time.” He tacked on a smile.
“Did you go to the hospital?”
“No, nothing was bleeding….”
“This is a pretty serious contusion, Dr. Dante. You could have cracked a rib or bled internally.”
“It didn’t hurt until you poked it.”
She frowned.
“No, I promise. I didn’t even know it was there.”
She put the stethoscope earpieces in her ears and lay the cold metal against his back. “Breath deep.”
Reese inhaled.
“And out.”
Reese exhaled.
The cold spot moved to the other side, and Reese repeated the process until she’d made a full circle.
“Do I have any broken lungs?”