Page 4 of One Little Memory (Cherry Valley Novella)

“What the hell were you thinking going down there?” Jory Kincaid demanded as he pulled off his fire helmet.

Phoenix took a deep breath. He appreciated his friend’s concern, but it was over and done with. He’d gone down to check out the car, and it was a damn good thing he did. “I had to see if there was anyone in the car.”

“You should have waited for us.” Jory shook his head. “You don’t always have to be the hero.”

“Says the man who is always first through the door.” Phoenix shrugged. He knew Jory had a point. “You’re probably right, but in my defense, until I got down to the car, I didn’t know it wasn’t stable.”

Jory opened his mouth to say something else, but his best friend and fellow firefighter, Aiden Wolfe, cut him off. “Give the guy a break. He just saved that woman’s life.” He turned to Phoenix. “You got her out just in time.”

“Yeah.” Phoenix didn’t like to think about how flippin’ close it had been.

The ambulance siren wailed as the driver sped away. They were taking her to the hospital now. She hadn’t regained consciousness yet. His gut tightened. If he’d gone through all that only to lose her now, well, it didn’t bear thinking about.

“Detective Halston,” the fire chief barked.

Jory glanced over at his chief and then back at Phoenix. “He’s got his cranky face on. You’re in trouble now.”

“Shit,” Phoenix mumbled.

Jory grinned. “It’s like being called into the principal’s office.”

“Or in your case,” Aiden added, “the vice principal’s office. Your chief is going to chew you up and spit you out over this, too, because you just know Chief Vickers is going to call him and tell him all about it.”

“Yeah. Chief Bowers is going to have my ass.” Phoenix let out a sigh as he said, “See you guys later,” and walked over to the fire chief.

“Detective Halston, what possessed you to go down that embankment with no equipment and no backup?”

Technically, Vickers wasn’t his boss, and he didn’t really have to put up with the fire chief calling him on the carpet, but Cherry Valley, Pennsylvania was a small town.

The fire chief and Police Chief Bowers not only worked closely together, but they were also in the same bowling league and played poker together every second Saturday night.

There was no way Phoenix was getting out of this unscathed.

“Chief Vickers, I know going down there on my own wasn’t the smartest move, but from the top it looked like the car was stationary and had all four wheels on the ground. I didn’t realize until I was down there how precarious the situation was.”

Vickers was wearing his full firefighting gear. The white helmet that signified him as chief covered his salt and pepper hair. He stood an inch or two shorter than Phoenix, but he was broad and getting broader still around the middle. He was as strong as an ox and didn’t suffer fools gladly.

His blue eyes studied Phoenix. “Son, I know you were doing what you thought was necessary, but I have to tell you, this is the third time this month that I’ve found you in a situation where a more prudent man would have waited for help. So, I have to ask; Do you have a death wish?”

“That’s a damn good question,” asked a male voice at Phoenix’s elbow.

His shoulders slumped and he turned to find Bowers glaring at him. “Chief.” He dipped his head, acknowledging the man’s authority.

“Ruben, give us a minute, will you?”

Vickers nodded and walked off. Bowers folded his arms over his chest. He had on civilian clothes, a maroon sweater and a pair of jeans.

His hair was graying at the temples but his middle wasn’t thickening the same way as Vickers, even though they were the same age.

His brown eyes were just as piercing, however.

“Well, Phoenix?

“Sir?”

“Do you have a death wish?”

Phoenix stared. What the hell was he talking about? “Er, no sir. I just do what is necessary.”

“Yes, you do what you think is necessary, but you don’t factor in your own safety. You can’t help others if you get hurt. You’ve been putting yourself in more and more dangerous situations. I’m starting to think you have a problem.”

“Sir, that’s not true. I’m just doing the job that’s required of me.

” What the hell was this really about? Phoenix had heard money was tight at the department.

Was the chief trying to get rid of him to save on payroll?

He knew as a detective with a master’s degree and eight years of experience, he made more than most at the department.

“No, Phoenix. You do more. Much more, and I respect that. I know I can count on you to always give one hundred and ten percent. Or, at least, I used to. Lately, son, I’m just not sure what’s going on with you. Do you need some time off? Maybe talk to someone?”

“What? No. I’m fine. Really, Chief. I’m good.” He fought the panic growing in his chest. The last thing he wanted was time to sit around and think. He loved his job. It was the only thing that kept him going some days.

Bowers studied him for a moment. “Fine, but Phoenix, no more hero stuff, okay? You don’t have to do it all yourself.”

“Yes, sir.” A wave of relief swept over him. He’d dodged that bullet.

“Get to the hospital and see if you can find out anything about the woman in the car.” Chief Bowers walked over to Vickers, and the two started chatting.

Phoenix waved at Jory and Aiden one more time and headed back to his SUV.

He let out a long sigh as he started his truck.

He couldn’t lose this job. It was all he had at the moment.

Falcon… Well, he wasn’t going there. He just couldn’t bring himself to face it if the worst happened.

He was going to have to be more careful, though.

The stress of the stuff with Falcon was leading him to do stupid things.

He rubbed his right knee. Case in point.

Going down the embankment and falling a couple of times was not helping his knee at all.

He’d had it replaced after he blew the joint out when he played football in college.

Everything was fine as long as he wasn’t too hard on it.

Tonight had been a bit much. Jesus, he was thirty-four and already having issues with his joints.

He turned over the engine and headed to the hospital.

“Hey, Phoenix,” Kerry Jackson greeted him when he walked up to the nurses’ desk in the ER twenty minutes later.

“Hey, Kerry. What are you doing here? I thought as head nurse, you got to pick your shifts. Why are you working on a Friday night?”

She grinned and ran a hand over her black hair. “I do, but I want the whole weekend off next weekend, so I needed to switch a couple of shifts. I’m saving my vacation so we can take the kids to Disney this summer.”

Kerry had married Rufus Wentworth five years ago. The reception was the best party the town had seen in a long time. They had two of the cutest kids now. A little girl, Daisy, who was four and a boy, Daniel, aged two and a half. “I’m sure they’ll love it.”

She smiled. “Let me guess. You’re here to see about the mystery woman.”

Phoenix raised his eyebrows. “Mystery woman?”

“The one from the car accident. We can’t seem to figure out who she is. She’s not from around here.”

“Ah, I see. Yes, I’m here to see her. How’s she doing?”

Kerry’s fingers flew across the keyboard in front of her. “She’s regained consciousness, and the doctor is in with her now. Dr. Cahill, the new guy.”

“How’s he working out?” They’d lost their last doctor, Paul Bryson, when he’d been arrested for murder.

“He seems to know what he’s doing. We’ll see. We thought the last one was okay, and look how that worked out.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, your mystery woman is in room six. You can talk to Dr. Cahill when he’s finished.”

Phoenix thanked her and went to stand outside of room six. He had waited only a few minutes before a tall man with dark curly hair wearing a white lab coat came out of the room. The name tag on his left breast pocket said R. Cahill.

“Hi, Doc. I’m Detective Phoenix Halston. I was wondering if I could chat with you for a moment.”

Cahill shook Phoenix’s proffered hand and nodded. “Nice to meet you, Detective.”

“Phoenix, please.”

“Ridge. What can I help you with?”

Dr. Ridge Cahill was about Phoenix’s height, but leaner. More a basketball player than football if he had to guess. He had blue eyes and a friendly smile. And if the looks the passing nurses were giving him were any indication, they found the man good looking.

“I need to speak to the woman you were just examining. How’s she doing? Do you think she’d be up for answering a few questions?”

Cahill shook his head. “Not tonight. She’s regained consciousness, but she’s pretty shaken up. She’s not making a whole lot of sense at the moment. If it’s all the same to you, I think it would be better if you waited until morning.”

Phoenix glanced at his watch. It was close to two am. Later than he thought. “Yeah, I guess that would be okay.”

“Good. If anything comes up or if anything changes with her, I’ll make sure one of the nurses calls you.”

He was surprised. Most doctors wouldn’t know to do that. The nurses would have done it anyway because they all knew Phoenix needed to know as soon as possible, but it was the first time a doctor had ever offered. Maybe this guy was going to work out. “I’d appreciate that.”

Cahill offered his hand again. “Good to meet you, Phoenix.” They shook, and then Cahill disappeared down the hallway.

“So, what’d you think?” a voice said behind him.

Phoenix turned to find Hazel Kincaid, Jory’s sister and Aiden’s girlfriend, standing behind him. “Hey, Hazel. He seems okay.”

“I think so, too. Of course, anything has to be an improvement on the last one.” She shuddered. “You here about the mystery woman?”

“Yeah. Cahill says I can talk to her in the morning.”

“Did he tell you that she can’t remember anything?” Hazel’s long blond hair was up in a bun, but a few stray strands were tucked behind her ear.

“That’s not unusual for an accident victim.”

Hazel shook her head, and her blue eyes widened. “No, I mean she can’t remember anything, not even her own name.”

Phoenix’s eyebrows went up. “Seriously?”

“Yes. Dr. Cahill is hoping she’ll start remembering things once she’s had a bit of time to relax and recover from the accident.”

“Shit,” Phoenix breathed. “That puts a new spin on things.”

“Doesn’t it, though,” Hazel agreed. “Anyway, hopefully Dr. Cahill is right.” She smiled at him. “Go home and get some sleep. You look bushed. Wait, is that blood on your pants?”

Phoenix glanced down. There was a dark stain on the knee of his jeans. “Um, I guess so. I slid on the embankment. Must have cut myself.”

“Come on. I’ll clean you up.” Hazel turned and headed for room five.

“Really, Hazel, I’m good.”

She turned and gave him a pointed look. “Uh-uh. That cut needs to be cleaned, and you aren’t going to do it when you get home. I know you too well, Phoenix. So, get in there, and I’ll be back in a minute.” She turned and hurried toward the nurse’s station.

He sighed. He knew Hazel too well, too. She wasn’t going to let this go. He might as well go in and get it taken care of. It would save him the aggravation of fighting and losing. Some days were just like that.