A Shot in the Dark (Dark #1) Read online

  “Yeah, but you really like this guy. There’s never been a guy you really liked before. So I think you should go for it.”

  “Do you now?”

  “Yes. And the next time he comes by, I’ll give him some pointers on dating.”

  Rebecca chuckled. “Based on all your years of experience?”

  “I’m a ladies’ man. I know how to treat them to a good time!”

  Rebecca shook her head. “Oh Lord, help us all!”

  Someone tapped on the door Rebecca looked up. The sight of Stephen brought a smile to her face.

  “Well, if it isn’t Romeo,” Skyler exclaimed. “Come on in.”

  “Good morning. I see you’re feeling better today.”

  “Yup, the doctor said I can go home.”

  “Did he now?”

  Rebecca rolled her eyes. “No, he didn’t. He’ll get to go home in the next couple of days.”

  “That’s great news. I’m glad to hear it.”

  “Yeah, maybe when I finally get out of this place, you can take my mom on a proper date, none of this coffee business. Bring the lady some flowers, take her to a nice dark restaurant, or even do some clubbin’. Whatever it is you kids do these days.”

  Rebecca couldn’t do anything but shake her head and look at Stephen apologetically. “See what you’re getting yourself into? You may want to rethink asking me out again.”

  Stephen laughed. “I didn’t know Skyler was my biggest fan.”

  “I’m a fan of anyone who can put a smile on my mom’s face. And if you’re any good at shooting hoops, I like you that much more.”

  “I’m glad that I have your support.” Stephen shifted his attention to Rebecca. “After Skyler is settled in at home, would you be willing to go on a proper date with me? Perhaps we can go clubbin’. Isn’t that what you called it?” Stephen winked at Skyler.

  “Yeah, but why wait until I get home? How about you crazy kids go out tonight? The babysitters are already here making sure I am tucked in safe and sound.”

  “The boy has a point.”

  Rebecca couldn’t wipe the smile from her face as she looked from Stephen and then back at Skyler. “Son, I don’t know whether to ground you or to thank you.”

  “Well, Officer Stephen here better show you a good time. I don’t want to be grounded if he’s a horrible date.”

  They all laughed.

  “Sure, I’ll go out with you.”

  “How about I pick you up at seven? Would you like me to pick you up here or at your house?”

  “I’d appreciate it if you would pick her up at my house. I want to make sure that she gets home safely. She shouldn’t have to drive herself home from the hospital after such a long day.”

  “Is he always like this?”

  “Yes, he’s quite overprotective of his mom. And really, I think that he’s just trying get rid of me. He’s tired of my hovering.”

  “My mom knows me so well.”

  “Fine, I’ll pick you up at your house at seven.”

  “Did you catch the sponsor dude? Was he the one who caused my accident?”

  Stephen looked at Rebecca, who nodded for him to continue.

  “We did arrest Mr. Dillon. He confessed to tampering with your bike in an attempt to cause the accident.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  Again, Stephen looked at Rebecca for direction. He did not want to be the one to tell Skyler that Curt Dillon was actually his father.

  “Because he’s a very sick man. There are some people who just shouldn’t be allowed to roam free, and he is one of them,” Rebecca answered quickly.

  “Geez, what a loser. And the whole time I thought I was rockin’ it on the motorcycle.”

  Rebecca jumped to Skyler’s side. “Don’t let the actions of this man make you think any less of yourself. You are tremendously talented, and you’re the smartest and bravest son I could ever hope for. We will get past this.” Rebecca wrapped her arms around Skyler and gave him a good squeeze.

  “So, how long is he going to be in jail?”

  “We don’t know yet. It all depends on what he’s convicted of at his trial. With any luck, he’ll be in there for a while.” Stephen patted Skyler on the leg.

  Rebecca desperately wanted to change the subject. She was afraid if she told Skyler the sponsor was really his father, it might hinder his progress in getting better. She wanted to wait until he was out of the hospital with no chance for a relapse.

  “On that note, here is my address.” Rebecca scribbled it down on a piece of paper for Stephen

  Stephen took it and promised to see her later. Just as he was leaving, there was an overhead page:

  “Trauma team to the emergency department, stat! Trauma team to the emergency department, stat!”

  “I guess the doc isn’t going to be seeing his patients anytime soon,” Skyler said as he grabbed the remote to the television.

  ***

  Josh

  “What’s coming in?” Josh asked as he strode into the trauma room.

  “Apparently we’re getting some guy who is high on PCP and pot. He jumped off the top of a building after being chased by the cops. They had to Taser him to subdue him. I’m not sure what his injuries are.”

  “Fabulous. San Diego’s finest citizen coming to our house.”

  Josh came up closer to Laney so that no one could hear their conversation.

  “I talked to Detective Neal,” he said softly. “There were no occurrences last night, so we are in the clear. Hopefully they will find the guy sooner than later, and we can get you back into your own apartment without being hassled.”

  “From your mouth to God’s ears. That would be amazing.”

  “We’ll need to go on that trip to Santa Barbara to celebrate and get away from it all for a few days.”

  “That sounds nice. I’d like that,” she said with a smile.

  “Here they come!” yelled one of the techs.

  Josh went to the head of the trauma gurney and waited in his usual spot. The medics rolled in with the patient strapped to the gurney, and Stephen was following along behind them. They pushed the gurney over to the trauma bed, unstrapped the patient, and moved him over.

  “Tell me about this upstanding gentleman,” Josh said sarcastically.

  “This is a thirty-one-year-old male named Scott. He was reportedly smoking some pot laced with PCP when, according to witnesses, he started hallucinating. He apparently thought that people were chasing him, trying to kill him. He started running around the street threatening to harm people when they looked at him. Someone called the police and there was a chase. Long story short, he ended up jumping off a three-story building.

  He’s got an open fracture to his left forearm. I believe that’s where he took most of the impact. He didn’t complain of any neck, head, or back pain. However, due to the mechanism of injury and the fact that he is under the influence, we thought it would be better to bring him in as a trauma.”

  “Probably a good idea. Tell me what his vital signs are.”

  “His BP is two ten over one hundred. His heart rate is one twenty corresponding with sinus tach on the monitor. We were unable to get a saturation because he was moving around too much. We did establish an IV and gave him ten milligrams of versed. He’s been knocked out ever since.”

  “Let’s get him onto the trauma bed and clean this blood off his face. I want to know where it’s coming from,” Josh ordered.

  “I palpated his head, and I felt an approximate three-inch laceration to the back of it. I believe that’s where the blood is from.”

  “Laney, can you come hold his head for spinal precautions while I palpate around?”

  “Sure.”

  Laney walked up to the side of the gurney as the medics left with their gurney. She put her hands around the patient’s head, supporting the neck as Josh was palpating. She looked at the patient’s face.

  “You know, his nose looks a little deformed. I wonder if it’s broken.
Maybe that’s where some of the blood is coming from.”

  Josh finished palpating. “I do feel the laceration, but I don’t think it is bleeding anymore. We’ll have to suture it up after he gets his X-rays. Let me take a look at his nose.”

  Laney put the patient’s head down on the gurney. Josh shined a light up the patient’s nose. “I think you’re right. This looks like the source of most of the blood. Laney, please clean him off with some saline while I take a look at his arm.”

  Laney grabbed a saline bottle and some four-by-four gauze pads. She soaked the pads with the saline wiped away the blood.

  As Laney got about halfway through, her face went as pale as a ghost. Josh studied her.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah.” She couldn’t take her eyes off the patient.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I know this guy.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I went to high school with him.”

  “You’ve seen a lot of people that you’ve known coming into this trauma room. Why are you so shocked by this one?”

  Laney looked up at Josh. “Because I dated him.”

  “Nice choice in men.”

  “I was fifteen. I was stupid.”

  Stephen walked over. “Do you know his full name? He just kept on repeating his name was Scott.”

  “Yeah, it’s Scott James.”

  Stephen jotted the information down on his notepad. “Do you know anything else about him?”

  Laney looked up at the officer. “I can tell you his birthday is June fourteenth.”

  “Great. That’s a big…Oh shit!” yelled Stephen.

  Instantly, Scott sat up on the gurney and grabbed Stephen’s gun from his holster. He turned and pointed it toward Laney.

  “Bitch! You were supposed to give me the money. You promised. Instead you left me high and dry in my time of need. I told you if you ever left me I was going to kill you!”

  Laney’s eyes grew wide as the bullets hit her. She reached for her chest and looked down at her blood soaked hands before her lifeless body hit the floor.

  Josh stood in shock as Stephen and several of the techs tackled Scott, wrestling away the weapon. Josh snapped out of his tranced and rushed to Laney’s side.

  “Laney!” Josh shook her. “Laney, open your eyes!”

  Laney cracked open her eyes and stared into his eyes as she mouthed “I love you.”

  Epilogue

  Josh

  Josh had just finished eight long grueling hours of surgery. Not only did he feel physically fatigued but mentally and emotionally, he was wrecked. He felt like his mind and his heart were an abyss. Normally, he shouldn’t have been the one to operate on the woman he loved, but the urgency to get Laney to the operating room left him with few options and no alternative. And Laney would not have survived without his quick action.

  Two of his partners were out of town on vacation and his back-up trauma surgeon was in surgery performing an emergency laparotomy on one of his own patients. That just left Dr. Milken, who was a good forty minutes away from the hospital. Because of Laney’s injuries, Josh called the cardiothoracic surgeon Nathan George to assist with repair to the left ventricle in Laney’s heart.

  Dr. Nathan George was a giant of a man, standing at six foot seven. He was devastatingly handsome with his sandy blond hair and blue eyes, and equally charming. Unfortunately, as was the case with most cardiothoracic surgeons, his head was as inflated as a hot air balloon. Josh hated working with him because it was often times a pissing match over who would do what on the patient. In this instance, Josh was left with no other option and asked him to assist. Uncharacteristically, when Dr. George found out who the patient was, he put his ego aside and worked diligently to save Laney’s life. Everyone liked Laney.

  Laney had been shot four times before Officer Miller and other staff in the trauma room were able to subdue Scott. It was a shock that Laney recognized, let alone dated, that loser who had presented to the trauma room initially unconscious. However, it was even more of a surprise when he grabbed the gun out of Officer Miller’s holster and shot Laney.

  Josh couldn’t get the images out of his head. They seemed to move in slow motion, rewinding, and playing over and over like a broken record. The most vivid memories were seeing Laney lift her blood-covered hands from her abdomen and the look in her eyes when she finally professed her love for Josh just as she fell to the floor.

  Normally, he would be over the moon that she had said he loved him. The fact she was bleeding out before his eyes shattered any prospects of what should have been a blissful moment. Within minutes, her bleeding body was scooped up onto a gurney, wheeled into the operating room, and surgery started.

  The two bullet wounds to her abdomen had fortunately not caused much damage. Unfortunately, she was not as lucky with the other two wounds. The third one had hit her right lower lung and went straight through to her back. The result had Josh removing the lower portion of her lung. The last bullet hit the left ventricle of her heart and was the most devastating. Nathan labored to repair the ventricle while Josh worked on the lung and the abdomen.

  Josh occasionally glanced up to gauge the other man’s expression. Sometimes, he saw sweat dripping down Nathan’s face. The scrub tech would be ready with a sterile towel to wipe it away. Other times, Josh saw him concentrating so hard, he looked like he was contemplating every possible option before he cut, grafted, or stitched.

  But it was when he looked up at Nathan and saw a look of concern, frustration, and helplessness that made Josh almost lose hope. Nathan must have sensed Josh was watching at him, because he looked up and nodded. Josh knew then Nathan would do everything in his power to make sure Laney’s heart would not only make it through the surgery, but it would function just as well as before. That nod, the small gesture, gave Josh the strength and tenacity to keep plugging away.

  There were times Josh wanted to break down and just cry, but he could not afford himself the opportunity. A short while into the surgery, Dr. Milken entered the operating room to offer his assistance. He offered to take over for Josh and strongly urged him take a respite. But Josh wanted to finish what he had started. He felt if he left Laney and she did not make it through the surgery, it would be his fault. So Dr. Milken stood by his side, supporting him and assisting him as necessary.

  When they had closed Laney up upon completion of her surgery, Josh thanked his colleagues for their assistance, encouragement, and support. He knew without their help, there would have been a very good chance Laney would not make it. For the time being, it looked like Laney had not only made it through surgery, but she was going to survive this tragedy. Further, the crazy guy who had been stalking her for several weeks was now in custody and could no longer hurt her. A day that had started with so much tragedy and despair was somehow ending triumphantly.

  Coming Soon!

  Into the Light

  The Dark Series, Book 2

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  Acknowledgments

  There are so many people to thank and not enough pages! Tim Whitehead, you probably have never realized the impact you had on my life. You took the time to listen, to care, and believe in me when no one else would. Blaise Jackson Esquire, thank you for your advice. Theresa Jackson for your artistic abilities. Trish Sotire, you are beautiful and amazing. Thank you Debbie, Brenda, and Gordon for being great parents. All of my brothers and sisters: John and Amber Musser, Thomas and Katie Musser, Nicole and Ethan Tyer, Melissa April, and Heather Ford for being supportive and encouraging. I love you
all! Liz Goldman for helping me to realize “that” and making me a better writer. And most important, thank you to my children: Trever, Conner, Jakey, and my wonderful husband, Craig, for being my rock and putting up with my many moods while writing this book. I love you so much! I would like to thank all of the health care professionals I have worked with through the years. It is only with the experiences I have shared with them that I was able to create this story. Finally, I would like to thank the readers who took the time to read this book. I hope you have thoroughly enjoyed it.

  © J.G. Sumner

  About the Author

  JG is a Registered Nurse who went rogue. As good as she was at starting IV's, she enjoys writing the down the stories in her head even more. Most of the time the characters won't stop pestering her until she has them down on paper.

  JG can often be found with a glass of red wine or prosecco in front of her computer. When she's not creating, she enjoys the outdoors hiking, bike riding, snowboarding, and camping.

  JG has a very dry sense of humor, and should never be taken too seriously. She loves to hear from her fans, and even those who aren't and would love to hear your opinion on her books.

  JG writes romantic suspense/thrillers including: A Shot in the Dark, Into the Light, The Surrender Trilogy including Surrender, Shattered, and Saved and her newest release, Wrecked.

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