“Checking Up on Things”

(a direct continuation from “The Rescue – Part 5”)

After a quick stop off at the docks to pick up his car, Adam sped off for the hospital in Coffs to get the cut on his forehead checked out. He’d soon given up his protests, Raine and Colin being most insistent about him having it looked at. Adam, however, was more concerned about his wife’s safety. For all he knew Dob or his men could be waiting for them to get back to the house, take the money, kill them all. If stopping off at the hospital to get poked and prodded by a few nurses kept them safe from Dob for a few more hours, well then so be it. There was also the matter of the money he’d gotten from Mr. Smith. Adam was supposed to get a text from Dob after the job was done, letting him know where to leave the money. He’d checked his cell phone several times, no new messages. Damn. The sooner he made the drop, the better he’d feel.

Adam pulled up to the hospital Emergency Room entrance, parked his car. The three of them were just about to exit the car when Adam stopped them.

“Look, we’ve, um... got to get our stories straight, right?” he said, looking Colin in the eye. “No cops, no matter what.”

Colin reluctantly nodded, “So, you had a little too much to drink? Fell off your chair, hit your head?”

“Yeah, that’s right, simple as that,” Adam agreed.

“Adam, when this is over, when we’re back home, you will tell me what really happened, what’s going on with you,” Raine said to him.

He cleared his throat, unable to look her in the eye, “C’mon, let’s get this over with then,” he said, then opened the door and slid out of the driver’s seat.

Once they were inside, they looked around, spotted the nurses station and quickly made their way there. It was late, but the Emergency room was still quite busy, even this time of night. Adam and Raine took a seat in the waiting area while Colin went up to the front desk to get the paperwork for Adam to fill out.

“Can I help you?” the nurse asked him, a bit impatiently. A buzzer was sounding and one of the room lights was lighting up which seemed to irritate her more than anything.

“Um...yeah, I’d like to...,” Colin started, then stopped when he noticed the room buzzer was going off again – even more insistently this time. “uh... don’t you have to answer that?”

“Oh, him?” she let out an exasperated sigh, “he’s fine, I assure you. Thinks we’re running a hotel here... no, no, he can wait.”

“Okay...,” Colin chuckled a bit nervously, “Well, then, as I was saying, my brother-in-law over there,” he pointed towards Adam, “had a bit of an accident, cracked his skull on the cement. Thought he should get it looked at.”

The nurse looked past Colin to where Adam was sitting, frowned a bit when she saw the condition of his forehead. “Yes, yes, here, just have him fill out these forms...,” just then, the buzzer started again, and the nurse took a deep breath to calm herself. “Excuse me for one moment, won’t you?” She called over one of the other nurses on duty, “Charlotte, will you please go to room 213 and see what Mr. Harbour wants this time?” The younger nurse nodded, took off for the elevator. The front desk nurse let out a sigh, turned back to Colin, who was standing with a surprised look on his face. “Now then young man, like I was saying...have your brother-in-law fill out these forms and we’ll get right to him.”

Colin just stood there a moment, clenching his jaw, “Umm... right. Ex...excuse me, miss? Um... I couldn’t help but overhear, you said there’s a Mr. Harbour staying here? Would that be Sidney Harbour?”

“I’m sorry, unless you’re a relative, I’m not allowed to talk about the other patients here,” she told him. “You aren’t... a relative... are you?” she asked, looking him up and down.

“No, no, not a rellie,” Colin replied, “Well, not to him, anyway, but...his wife...” Colin wasn’t exactly lying, he and Kate had once been like family, and she was carrying his child.

“Oh, well... that changes things, then,” she told him. “She is the one that is actually the patient. He brought her in earlier this afternoon.”

“She’s alright, isn’t she? And the baby?” Colin asked, frantic that something may have happened to his unborn child.

“Yes, yes, she’ll be fine,” the nurse assured him. “Wild dog attacked her, poor dear. She’s supposed to be resting, though I can’t see how she can be with her husband fussing over her the way he is.”

Colin clenched his teeth, nodded, “Thanks,” he told the nurse, then quickly made his way back over to Adam and Raine.

“Here, fill these out, give them to that nurse over there,” Colin told them, then turned and began to walk off for the elevators.

“Oi! Mate, where you going then?” Adam called out to him.

“Upstairs, room 213... someone I need to check up on,” he replied, then headed into the open elevator.

TBC... (continued as "A Most Unwelcome Visitor")