L.A. Hustle by Billie Trager

Author:Billie Trager
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indigo River Publishing
Published: 2023-01-27T22:32:00+00:00

Chapter 16

I guess I slept for a bit, but it couldn’t have been long. The next thing I knew, the jovial face of Josh Cohen, LAPD, smiled down on me.

“What are you doing here?” I rasped, my voice almost unrecognizable.

“Well, I figured it was the least I could do, since you were so good as to call me and tell me where you were.” His voice seemed very far away.

“What?” Still groggy, I couldn’t focus. “I called you?”

“Sure did!” For some reason, this seemed very funny to Josh. “You meant to call 9-1-1, but you called me. Just as good, though.”

“Oh, god . . .” I looked left and right. I lay on a gurney in the hospital. I sighed, closed my eyes, and lay back on the pillow, but then sat up quickly. Bad idea. My head exploded. “Carmen!” I gasped.

“She’s fine, just fine. Lay back down, buddy.” He gently but firmly pushed me back down.

“Thanks. So I called you. What did I say?” I closed my eyes.

“Only that you needed help immediately and that someone was trapped in a garage with the car running. You gave me the address and everything. Don’t you remember that? Maybe you inhaled more smoke than they thought.”

I opened my eyes. Josh was still smiling, but I could tell by his furrowed brow how much I had worried him. I groaned and closed my eyes again.

“They say you saved her life,” he said.

“Mmmm . . .”

“Who is she, Digger?”

“You mean—”

“No, I know her name and that stuff, but what the hell were you doing out at that house? That’s not your client is it?”

I nodded without opening my eyes.

“I’m impressed, Digger.”

“Why?”

“Real easy on the eyes, that one.”

“Oh, fer Chrissakes, Josh.”

“Don’t worry, old buddy, things are under control.”

“What do you mean?” I opened my eyes, then closed them just as quickly, covering them with my hand. They had become exquisitely sensitive to light, even closed.

“Her husband’s here.”

“What?” Again, I sat up and opened my eyes. Again, very painful. I lay back down again. “But I thought he was . . .”

“Thought he was what?”

“Out of town,” I glanced up at him.

He raised an eyebrow, but merely added, “Well, we had to call him, you know.”

“Yeah, I guess. Where is he?”

Before he could answer, a doctor opened the door and strolled in. He smiled at Josh, and they exchanged the curt male head nod. I smiled, thinking of Belle.

“I’m Dr. Kleinschmidt,” he said, shaking my hand. “You’re a very lucky man, Mr. Sharma. I guess that should be, Dr. Sharma. But Mrs. Sloan is even luckier. Lucky you found her and remembered your CPR.”

I managed a weak smile. “Yeah, I guess.”

He performed an exam lasting several minutes and then said, “you seem to be doing okay now. Probably some smoke inhalation but you should feel better in a few days. By the way, her husband would like to thank you personally. That is, if you’re up to it.”

I would have preferred to meet the elusive

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.