Dr. Amara Young shook her head. “Just can’t stop making friends, can you?”
The officer leading him pushed him roughly onto an examination bed and moved over to the other wall after casting Dr. Young a dirty look. “It’s just his arm.”
“So what did you do this time?” she asked, tossing her braid of coffee-colored hair over her shoulder and pulling over a tray of medical supplies.
Jay raised an eyebrow. “Who says I did anything?”
She gave him a steady look with her sapphire eyes. “You didn’t provoke this at all?”
Her tone was skeptical, even as she began cleaning the wound. She started to inspect it for small objects that might have gotten in, something the other prison doctor wouldn’t have bothered with. Others would only ever do the bare minimum for those brought to them.
Jayden grimaced and tried to throw her a glare. “Unless standing in line for my dinner is considered provocation, I didn’t do anything.”
The guard snorted, and they both looked over. “So you're so arrogant that you don’t even realize when you are being spoken to?”
The guard scoffed. “He was talking to you, asking you about something. You ignored him flat. Well known for his temper, he attacked.”
Jayden thought back and realized that he must have been so far in his own head. Of course, he wasn’t about to let this biased guard know that. He met the other man’s eyes with storm clouds in his.
“So you watched him get angrier and draw a weapon, but it still took you guys a full two minutes to come and stop me from being gutted?”
Dr. Young sucked in a sharp breath, and the guard’s complexion darkened. “That smart mouth of yours is going to get you killed.”
Jay’s lips tilted in a cocky smile. “Oh? I thought it was my arrogance that would do it?”
The guard took menacing steps forward before being stopped by Dr. Young, her eyes flashing in warning. “No. Out. Officer Sherple can take him back.” She demanded.
The guard looked ready to argue, but as old Officer Sherple from the door nodded his consent to her orders, he left while cursing under his breath.
Jayden gave a hearty laugh, and Amara turned her glare on him. “You make one more smart ass comment, and I will stitch your mouth shut for you.” He pressed his lips together, and she grinned. “Good. Now let me finish cleaning that and bandage it up.”
While she worked, he glanced out of her window, watching the sun set. He would finally be free in a few more days. He felt as if a bucket of lead had been poured into his gut. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He was a brilliant investigator and had no intention of giving it up, but where would he work? He no longer had the money he once did, nor the contacts. Yet he neither wanted to stay in Natchitoches, where there was too much bad blood, or move to Washington as Stella had suggested. He sighed inwardly. Taking down Goldstein had been all he had cared about for so long that he simply wasn’t certain how to live a normal life. He chuckled at himself and then winced as the movement made Dr. Young grab his arm harder to keep it still.
“Sorry,” he muttered, relaxing again.
She finished up her work with expert skill and lifted his arm carefully to ensure everything was neat.
“Keep that clean and dry,” she directed, disposing of the bloody swabs. “I’ll have you brought back here to look at it again the night before your release.”
Jayden turned his eyes back to her. “You’ve kept track of when I’m leaving?”
She gave him a small smile. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
Jayden grinned and left, following the elderly guard.
CHAPTER TWO
Jay stepped outside the main gates of Louisiana State Penitentiary and took a moment to realize how quickly one adjusted to a smaller, grayer world. How easy it was to make that the reality and this just some long-forgotten dream.
He wondered if all the years of silence, filled with very rare moments of intellectual stimulus, had made him turn somewhat fanciful. He adjusted the collar of the dark blue button-up shirt and double-checked that his cell phone, wallet, and keys to the new, red Land Rover Sport waiting for him were in his jeans pockets.
Stella had made sure that everything Goldstein had transferred to him was either sold or given over to Ruby. The previous Rover had been totaled in an explosion that meant to kill him, but he had loved the car too much not to want another just like it.
He moved over to the car that was still being dropped off from the pick-up truck sent to deliver it to him on this day. Stella, however, was nowhere in sight.
Jayden thanked the man, got in his new car, and dialed her again. He had already done this twice since his phone and clothes had been returned. Once again it didn’t even ring, merely going straight to voicemail.
His frown deepened, and his chest grew tight. It wasn’t like Stella to switch her phone off. Had something happened to make her lose it? Or perhaps it had been stolen? Jay shook his head. He wasn’t going to get any answers sitting in the parking lot of a prison he was eager to put far behind him. He gunned the engine and turned out of the lot, heading in the direction of Natchitoches. He couldn’t see why Stella would be there, but he at least owned some land there and could take time to try and track her down.
***
The drive had taken over
