Truth And Consequences

Whitney might be sore and bruised, but she wasn’t one to give up.

Today, she’d been teamed again with officer Eddie Harmon to run down some leads, most of which were either crazy people wanting attention or curious people hoping to make the news, since a reporter from the Canyon County Gazette had been snooping around. Tracking those two low-level criminals from the train had taken a backseat.

But Whitney sure would have liked to collar them and find another shipment of heroin to prove her case. If what David Evans had seen was correct, that much heroin would be worth a lot of money on the street. As in thousands of dollars.

When Shelby started crying again, she forgot about her workload and returned her attention to David. “She woke up around three this morning, fussy and crying. I gave her some drops for the fever and rocked her back to sleep. She seemed better this morning when I left her with the babysitter.”

David nodded and spoke softly to Shelby. He managed to check her ears while Whitney held her, but Shelby wasn’t happy with that, either.

“Is she okay?” she asked, praying Shelby just had a bit of a cold. Was she old enough to be teething? Whitney wished she’d reread all the help books well-meaning people had given her.

“I think she’ll be fine,” David said. “Let me check a few other things.” He gave Whitney a reassuring smile. Then he started with the standard questions. “How old is she?”

“Five months. Closer to six, really.”

“Is she eating properly?”

“Yes. Formula and some baby food.”

“Any other illnesses or problems recently?”

“No. Nothing.” Whitney patted Shelby’s little back. “She’s usually a happy, healthy baby.”

She wanted him to understand, so Whitney started with nervous chatter, trying to explain, trying to show that she was a good mother. “I work such crazy hours, but I have a great babysitter right next door. Marilyn. She has four boys. She thinks it might be an ear infection.”

“She might be right,” David said, his tone professional and sure. “An experienced mother usually knows her stuff.”

And she wasn’t that experienced, Whitney thought. She should have stayed at home today. How could she leave her sick child with someone else? How could she do this? Love someone so much it hurt to breathe whenever her baby was hurting?

How could she take care of Shelby and do the kind of work her job demanded?

Tired and bleary-eyed, Whitney had gone on to work after Marilyn had promised she’d call if Shelby got cranky again. When Marilyn called later in the day and told her Shelby had a fever and it was climbing, Whitney had rushed home in time to get Shelby to the clinic.

“She’d never been this sick before,” she said, trying to hold tight to her emotions. “Marilyn suggested I bring her here since I’d never make it to the pediatrician’s office before it closes. It’s about twenty miles west of here in the Canyon County Medical Center.”

“You did the right thing,” David said, his voice soothing, his eyes on Shelby. He placed a thermometer inside Shelby’s little ear. Which the baby didn’t like at all.

“She has a high fever,” he said after reading the thermometer. “One-oh-three.”

Whitney inhaled and wished she could be a better mother. “It was close to a hundred and two the last time Marilyn checked. She didn’t want to give her any more medicine until I got home.”

“We’ll give her something to bring it down,” David said. “What’s her name?”

“Shelby,” Whitney said, her heart breaking with each little whimper.

David took over, checking Shelby and cooing to her in a way that helped Whitney relax. Shelby actually started smiling at his antics. Whitney smiled, too, but it didn’t relieve her apprehension.

She felt guilty for spending the day checking leads and trying to figure out angles on Veronica Earnshaw’s murder at the K9 Training Center. Whitney wished she could get the case out of her mind. But they all wondered why one of the puppies Veronica had been working with when she’d been killed had gone missing. Chief Jones wanted this case solved. And so did a lot of prominent people who’d helped sponsor the whole puppy program. Today they’d at least tracked down leads on witnesses who’d said they’d seen a puppy running along Desert Valley Road the night Veronica had been murdered. Whitney had reported her prowler to the chief, too. She didn’t need a drug lord gunning for her. She had to protect Shelby, no matter what.

Torn between doing her job and taking care of her baby, Whitney tried to focus on the here and now.

“Okay, Shelby,” David said, his expression hard to read. “We’re going to make you feel better.”

Shelby laughed and then reached up for her mother. After Whitney took her, she buried her little head against Whitney’s blue uniform collar and started bawling all over again.

Whitney heard footsteps stalking up the hallway. Dr. Pennington charged into the room, his face red with rage. “What’s going on here? I was on my way out the door.”

When he saw Whitney standing there, he looked shocked, but a cautious blankness wiped his surprise away. “Oh, Officer Godwin. What are you doing here?”

Whitney wanted to drop through the floor. She’d never cared for Dr. Pennington, but she tried to tolerate him since he’d once been married to Veronica Earnshaw. But she refused to succumb to the shame she’d felt after he’d insulted her when she’d become pregnant and had remained husbandless. At least he hadn’t spread the word when she’d come to him as a patient last year, since he couldn’t break confidentiality.

Straightening her spine, she held Shelby tight. “We’re almost done.”

“Her little girl is sick,” David said on a sharp note before Whitney could say more. “You can leave, Doc. I’ve got it.”

The cantankerous doctor glanced from David back to Whitney. “Stop ordering me around, Evans. You’ve only been here one day, and this is still my clinic.” He tried to take Shelby, but the baby started crying again. “What seems to be the problem?”

“A high fever,” David said. “I’ve checked her ears. She has some congestion in her chest, too.”

“She’s been cranky,” Whitney said, gently holding Shelby still while David listened to Shelby’s heart. “She was congested last night.”

The doctor scrubbed a hand down his face. “Could be allergies or she might be teething.”

Whitney watched in amazement as David ignored the doctor and went about examining Shelby. Most people cowered when Dr. Pennington entered a room. He was a known bully around here. She’d brought Shelby here only because she was so worried. She’d take Shelby to her regular doctor for a second opinion, just to be sure. Right now, she had to trust David and Dr. Pennington.

Together, they checked Shelby over, both silent and seeming determined to make the proper diagnosis. Whitney even sensed a begrudging respect for David in Dr. Pennington’s silvery eyes.

“She has an ear infection,” David finally announced.

“And she’s teething,” the doctor said, his tone grumpy but low-key. “We’ll prescribe antibiotics and something for the fever.”

“Will she be all right?” Whitney asked, more frightened of something happening to Shelby than she’d ever been of dealing with dangerous criminals.

David gave her an encouraging glance. “She’ll be better soon. This is normal at five months.” His expression changed to something she couldn’t quite figure out. He was probably wondering if she had a husband. Whitney hoped he wouldn’t ask.

* * *

After locking up, David walked Whitney to her police vehicle. While she put a drowsy little Shelby in the baby seat, he glanced in the back. “Where’s Hunter?”

Whitney hurried to find her keys. “I left him at my house, and I need to get back.” She couldn’t thank David enough, but she turned to tell him once again.

He spoke before she could show him her gratitude. “I’ll follow you home and make sure Shelby is okay. I mean, until your husband gets home. Or is he already there?”

“You don’t have to do that.” Whitney’s surprise turned to anger. “And I don’t have a husband. It’s just Shelby and me.”

Maybe she shouldn’t have told him that. She didn’t know him and his reasons for being here were a bit sketchy. He could be the one who’d tried to break into her house. Besides, he probably didn’t even have a car.

“I wasn’t trying to be nosy,” David said. “I wanted to check up on you today, but I got busy here. Any word on those two goons?”

“No, and I can’t discuss that with you right now. Sorry I didn’t call you with an update.”

She whirled and opened the driver’s-side door. “As for me, I told you, I can take care of myself. Thank you for checking over my baby, but I have to get her home.”

David didn’t make a move to let her leave. “Look, I need to talk to you about something important.”

Whitney’s instincts kicked in, making her wonder what this man was doing in Desert Valley and why he’d volunteered to work at the clinic. But in spite of her doubts, she believed David Evans was a good man. He had come to her rescue yesterday, and she appreciated that. She couldn’t be careless like that again. She had to think of Shelby.

“What is it?” she asked David, hoping she wouldn’t regret trusting this man. In spite of that fragile trust, she had to be firm with him. “I told you, I’m okay. I’ve been on my own for a long time. So you don’t need to—”

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