Page 97 of Bad Medicine

If he maybe wanted them with me.

“Mom!” Jasper squealed, waving at me from the top of the slide, his stuffed tiger, Roy, clutched tightly in one hand. He looked so cute standing there, his smile huge beneath the brim of his baseball cap, the one with the fighter jet on it that he justhadto have. “Mom, watch me!” he called, flopping down onto his butt and pushing himself down the spiral tube. I could hear his happy laughter echoing from inside the slide.

“Well done, little man,” I called when he popped out the bottom of the slide, his cheeks red and his eyes shining.

“I’m gonna go again,” he hollered, racing for the back of the play structure where the stairs were situated.

I was watching him make his way around, his little feet slipping and sliding in the gravel, when a voice started shouting nearby.

“Help! Someone, help him! He can’t breathe!”

It was as though a switch had been flipped in my head, and the part of me that worked for twelve hours a day in the ER simply took over. Standing from my bench, I headed over to the small crowd gathered around a man on his knees. I sensed Benny moving up behind me, but didn’t take the time to look at him as I made my way over the grass and toward the commotion. The woman who had been shouting for help was still screaming, waving her arms frantically as though that would help.

“I’m a doctor,” I said, rushing over and kneeling down next to the man in question, who was presently on his hands and knees, sounding like he was experiencing a terrible asthma attack. “Did anyone see what happened?”

“Mia,” Benny said from behind me. “Don’t get so close.”

“It’s fine, Benny,” I said dismissively. “I need to help him.” Looking at the woman again, I asked, “What happened?”

“He was just walking by,” a woman answered. She was wearing expensive looking workout gear, but also looked like she’d just come straight from the salon. I couldn’t remember when the last time was that I’d done either of those things; worked out or gone to a salon. The woman didn’t notice my scrutiny and carried on with her explanation of events. “I was jogging, listening to a podcast, minding my own business, and then all of a sudden, this guy comes along, and he just keeled over with a hand to his chest.”

Her accusatory tone irked me, but I ignored her and turned my attention back to the man on the ground.

“Sir?” I called out, hoping he’d look at me, but the man was still wheezing, hacking and coughing like crazy. People had really started to gather now, the eyes of everyone in the park now on me and the man making a huge racket.

“Mia,” Benny tried again, and I shot him a look over my shoulder. His face was etched with concern, but I didn’t know if it was for me or the man.

“Benny, please. Everything’s fine.”

“Sir, I’m a doctor. I’m going to take a look and see if I can help.” I wished I had a stethoscope—anything, really—but I guessed I’d have to make due. I didn’t complete a three-year residency in emergency medicine to not know how to work under pressure. Putting my hands on his shoulders, I pressed up, hoping to get a look at his lips, wondering if he was becoming cyanotic.

The man rose to his knees with a suddenness that startled me, and I gasped as I got my first look at his face.

Because he was no longer coughing, but laughing.

This man, whom just moments ago had been the center of what I and everyone else here assumed was a medical emergency, was now laughing at me with a callousness that honestly frightened me.

“What?” I asked, completely confused. “What is happening?”

The man looked at me, his eyes cold and dead, their black depths sending a chill down my spine, and shook his head.

“You stupid, stupid bitch.”

“Who are you?” I asked, standing and backing away.

“Did you really think he wouldn’t find you? That you could hide behind that mafia prick and he wouldn’t find you? Find hisson?”

My blood froze in my veins, every cell in my body suddenly on high alert.

His words cut like a knife, and I backed away as fast as I could, turning toward the playground with my heart pounding frantically in my chest.

“Jasper?” I screamed, the word tearing out of my throat. “Jasper!”

“Mia, what the hell?” Benny asked, running after me.

“Where is Jasper?” I panted, tearing across the gravel as I searched for my son.

How could this have happened?