I had saved her.

It was, to him, the one true tragedy of the entire evening.

Chapter 8 — The Phone Call

I waited ten seconds after the doors closed.

Then I picked up the phone.

I called the medical director first, because there are protocols, and because a sealed patch that is about to become evidence in an attempted homicide must be handled correctly or it is worth nothing.

And then I made a second call, to an investigator with the county sheriff’s department whom I had known for years and trusted completely — because I understood that what I had found was no longer a medical matter, and that if I tried to handle it as one, the most dangerous man I had ever met would walk out of that hospital and, sooner or later, find another way.