She looked up at the blurred face above her. All the people hovering around were wearing white, so much white. She didn’t understand why, but in that moment, it didn’t seem to matter. “Stay with me,” she whispered, and closed her eyes again.
Savich held Sherlock’s hand as he walked beside the gurney out of the ER down a long hallway. She squeezed his hand once and his heart stuttered. He couldn’t stand seeing the smear of blood on her cheek, the blood matted in her hair beside the pressure bandage they’d placed on her head. No, she would be fine, her breathing was slow and steady. They pushed through another door, down another hallway, and through a door marked COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY.
“Time to leave her with us, Agent Savich,” Dr. Loomis said at the doorway. “I promise I’ll come speak to you as soon as I can.” She paused, then said, “Try not to worry, all right?”
He leaned down, lightly cupped Sherlock’s face, kissed her mouth, and straightened. They wheeled her in and the door closed in his face. Savich stood staring at the door, aware of low voices, machines beeping, people hurrying past him. It seemed no one walked in this place, and for that he was grateful. He stood in front of the door, unable to move. He realized there was nothing he could do, and he hated it, hated feeling helpless. Slowly, Savich walked up the stairs past two nurses talking about a patient who’d thrown a bedpan at an orderly, to the second floor surgical waiting room. It was empty. Well, who would want to operate at nearly seven o’clock in the evening? Only for emergencies, like Sherlock. He had to stop it, there was no talk of surgery. Not yet.
It had been only a matter of months since Savich had spent time in that waiting room. Nothing had changed. It was small and square, its walls painted a light green, with three eye-level Monet water lily reproductions, lamps on side tables, and year-old magazines stacked neatly on a coffee table. A new Keurig machine held the place of honor on a table in the corner, pods of coffee and tea piled in a basket. He sat down, immediately jumped back up, and began to pace. He stopped, took a deep breath. He had to get it together, there were things he had to do. That steadied him. He pulled out his cell, called Gabriella. He told her what had happened, where he was. He heard Sean in the background. “Put him on, Gabriella, and please listen, this is what we’re going to tell him for now.”
He said simply to his son, “Something has come up, Sean. Your mother and I won’t be home until late. Eat your dinner, ask nicely if Gabriella would like to play Captain Carr with you or maybe watch those clips of Steph Curry shooting three-pointers in China again. Go to bed when she tells you to. No whining, okay? You promise?” Of course, Sean wanted to know if they were chasing bad guys, and Savich, an excellent liar, spun a fine tale about three bank robbers on the loose, nothing to worry about. Finally, he said to Gabriella, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for hanging in with him.”
There were others to call, but he simply couldn’t do it yet. He slipped his cell into his jacket pocket and eased back down on a surprisingly comfortable chair. He looked straight ahead at nothing in particular, and prayed.
Savich was still sitting, his hands clasped between his knees, when Metro detective Ben Raven, a longtime friend, hurried in. “Ted Malone, one of the officers at the accident site, knew you and I were friends and called me. Savich, the nurse in the ER said Sherlock was getting tests, no word yet on the results.” Ben plowed his fingers through his hair. “Of course, you already know that.” He sat down beside Savich, laid his hand on his shoulder.
“Thanks for coming, Ben.” Savich looked at his friend. “It’s strange. There’s nothing I can do, only sit here like a zombie and wait. And wait. I don’t think they ever run out of tests. Her hair was soaked with blood, Ben, it was black.”
“You know as well as I do scalp wounds bleed bad. It doesn’t mean much.”
Savich shook himself. “Yes, I know. Do you know what happened? Who hit her?”