Shielded by the Ruthless Military Boss novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Badge

Judd left for Atlanta at five the next morning, for a brigade review he could not move.

He stood in the hall with his duffel and his jaw set and told me twice not to leave the base.

"The lieutenant asked for me," I said.

"Then go with the captain. Stay in sight of a guard."

"I will."

He kissed me, hard and quick, at the door.

"Back Thursday," he said. "Call me if anyone looks at you wrong."

I went to the ICU at ten with Clover and the captain's pass.

The unit was full of people I had worked beside for eleven months, and every one of them stopped what they were doing when I came through the doors.

Dr. Colquitt was standing at the nurses' station.

A county deputy stood beside him, and so did a woman from the pharmacy with a clipboard and two hospital security guards.

"Leah," he said, in the voice he used for bad news. "My dear girl."

"Dr. Colquitt."

"I'm so sorry. I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this."

"To what?"

"The pharmacy found a discrepancy in the controlled drug count," the woman with the clipboard said. "Eleven vials of fentanyl and six of morphine. They were signed out on the night of the lockdown, under your badge."

"I was in a stairwell that night with a knife at my neck."

"The log says otherwise."

"Then the log is wrong."

"Leah." Colquitt put a hand on his chest. "I'd like to believe that. The deputy will have to search your locker. For your own sake."

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