Everyone's Man – 32

 

"Marc," one of the doctors called out as soon as Marc appeared in the ER.

 

"Problems?" Marc asked. Judging from the look on the man's face, something was going on.

 

"Yeah. Remember the kid you took care of, the one who was raped? Well, we had another one, only this kid didn't survive."

 

"Damn it!" Marc scrubbed a hand over his face before saying, "I presume the cops were called in. Did anyone tell them about my case?"

 

"That I couldn't say, but the detective's still here. He's waiting for the rape kit." The doctor pointed across the room to a man who was watching everything with eyes that were too wise to the ways of the world.

 

When the detective spotted Marc, he stood and crossed the room to him. "Detective Keyes," he said, holding out his hand as he checked Marc's ID badge.

 

"Marc Rivers," Marc replied, shaking his hand.

 

"I need to talk to you about a patient of yours. Is there somewhere private we can go?"

 

"The chief of staff's not here at the moment. We can use his office." Marc turned, leading the way. Once they were inside with the door closed he rested a hip on his desk, asking, "How can I help you?"

 

Keyes leaned against the door and took a notebook from his pocket. Thumbing through it, he paused at a page before looking at Marc. "Last week you had a rape victim, name Colin Wilcox, come through the ER. Why didn't you report it?"

 

"He didn't want the police brought in, and quite honestly, his emotional condition was so fragile that as his doctor of record I wasn't willing to put him through an interrogation at that point, law or no," Marc said defiantly, lying through his teeth. To his mind, Colin was an adult and the fact that he didn't want to talk to the police was his call and no one else's.

 

"Did you do a rape kit on him?"

 

"Of course, but I can't give it to you without his permission."

 

Keyes shot him a stern look. "You know how to get a hold of him, then." When Marc neither confirmed nor denied that, the detective said, "Look, Wilcox has priors for solicitation. I'm not going to hassle him, if that's what you're worried about. But I would like to talk to him, especially if we can connect the two rapes."

 

"I understand that." Pushing off the edge of the desk, Marc paced the office for a moment before taking out his cell. As he dialed, he asked the detective for some privacy. Keyes frowned but left.

 

"Let me talk to Colin," Marc said when Bill answered.