A Dark and Stormy Tea by Laura Childs

Author:Laura Childs [Childs, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

* * *

Haley was lucky. The ER wasn’t one bit busy this Thursday night, so a young resident by the name of Dr. Tony Wieks was able to see her right away.

“That’s quite a cut you have,” Dr. Wieks said to Haley. “You want to tell me how you got it?”

“I fell down,” Haley said.

“Somebody shoved her down,” Drayton said. He seemed more nervous than Haley at being in the ER.

“Am I telling this or are you?” Haley grumped at him.

“Judging by the tone of your voice, you seem to be feeling better,” Drayton said. “Feisty.”

“She’s going to be fine,” Dr. Wieks said. He gazed intently at Haley. “Five stitches should do the trick. But first I’m going to numb you up.”

Haley groaned. “With a needle?”

“No,” Drayton said. “He’s going to hit you over the head with a tire iron.”

“You guys,” Dr. Wieks laughed. “You all work together?”

“If you could call it that,” Drayton said.

“This has been kind of a crazy week for us,” Haley said as Dr. Wieks picked up a syringe and injected lidocaine into Haley’s cut.

“Ouch!” she cried. “That hurt more than getting knocked down.”

While Haley got her stitches, gripping Drayton’s hand like a vise, Theodosia walked out into the hallway and called Riley.

“Theo?” he said. “I thought you had to—”

“Haley just got assaulted,” Theodosia said.

“What!”

“Right outside our back door.”

“At the tea shop? What happened? Is she all right?”

“We’re at the ER now; she needed a couple of stitches on the side of her head.”

“Holy crap.”

“I know,” Theodosia said. “Somebody drove their car down our alley and tried to run her down. It’s weird.”

“It’s more than that.”

“Do you think you could send a patrol car over to search the Church Street area? I mean, I’m sure whoever went after Haley is gone now. But you never know.”

“I’ll send a cruiser right away,” Riley said. “Don’t . . . are you going back there?”

“Haley wants to go back to her apartment, yes.”

“Do you think she’ll let you stay with her?”

“No,” Theodosia said. “Knowing Haley, she’s going to want to curl up with her cat, drink some hot cocoa, and watch TV. Something mindless on Bravo.”

“So you’re still having dinner at Drayton’s place?”

Theodosia looked down the hallway to where Drayton was standing, chatting with one of the nurses now.

“That’s the plan,” she said.

“So Haley’s okay, but what about you?”

“Oh, you know me. When I get to the end of my rope I just tie a knot and hang on.”

That brought a chuckle from Riley.

Then Theodosia turned serious. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“What’s that?”

“It might be nothing, but . . .”

“Spit it out.”

“Haley was wearing my raincoat. So maybe . . .”

“Maybe her assailant was really after you?” Riley said.

“The thought had crossed my mind.”

“You’d better go straight home,” Riley said.

“No, I’m going to stick to my original plan. Dinner at Drayton’s, then the vigil.”

“Don’t be out alone. Please don’t be alone.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

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