Page 16 of Deep Down

“I’ll give you ‘my sweet,’ Dr Wick!” she called after him. “I’ll be catching you later.”

He had no doubt she would, too. Alex chuckled on his way back to Craig’s room, knocking briefly before entering again. “Here you go. Take these. It will make things a bit more bearable for you.” He handed Craig the pills and refilled a cup of water before giving that to him as well. “Bottoms up.”

Craig contemplated the pills, switched his gaze to Alex, paused then took the pills with a swallow of the water.

“Good. Give it a short time, and you’ll be feeling a bit more comfortable.”

“Thanks.”

“Have you remembered any more from yesterday?” Alex pottered around, pretending to check files and monitors while waiting impatiently for Craig’s answer.

“No. Everything’s blank after making dinner.” He frowned.

Alex couldn’t tell if Craig was lying or not from his tone of voice. “That’s okay. I’m going to have a quick check of you again. Starting with your back as you’re already on your side.” He stepped around the back of Craig and moved the gown to the side. The bruising was becoming a nasty shade of purple and began at the base of his neck and went into his briefs. Alex shook his head. There was no way he’d receivedthatfrom training.

He shuffled around the front again. “Can I have a check of your neck, please?”

Craig moved his head back slightly, and Alex could see more purple bruising, somewhat lighter in colour there, appearing in a distinct pattern, which didn’t correlate to a headlock. Inwardly, Alex simultaneously cheered and swore because it was more proof something untoward was happening.

“That’s great, thank you. Rest easy now.” He glanced at Craig’s hand, seeing a fresh bandage on and knew a nurse or doctor would have taken care of it first thing in the morning. “It looks like everything is going well. Apart from the injuries, how are you feeling?”

Craig peered at him briefly before returning to face the side of the room. “I’m fine, tired, I guess. The nurses kept waking me up.”

“Yeah, they have to do that with head injuries. Concussion and all.”

“Right.”

“One question.” Alex was willing to become a nuisance.

Craig sighed. “My answer is no.”

“I’ve not asked yet.”

“You’re going to ask the same question you’ve asked every time you’ve seen me.”

Alex smirked. “Not quite.”

“Fine, ask.”

“As your memory is not one hundred percent, I won’t ask anything specific except to say, do you feel like you’re in danger?”