Chapter 11. Because I'd Have to Say I'm Fine

On the evening of day 10, Evelyn sorted the documents for her remote interview the following day. Leo was holding his spoon, watching the door.

“Where's Uncle?”

When Dane came in and sat, the boy began to eat again. Evelyn saw the corner of the man's mouth relax at that brief check. But a different expression crossed his face when he bent forward.

For the past 3 days, he had been leaving the table before he finished. When she asked about pain, he said he hadn't slept. He hadn't changed his schedule, even when the nurse recommended a follow-up examination.

After confirming who would stay beside Leo as he fell asleep, Evelyn left the room. At the stairs, Dane braced a hand against the wall.

“You need to rest too.”

“I have something to check. Don't you spend the whole night in your office either.”

When Marco called, he went down first. He didn't let go of the handrail.

***

Around 9 p.m., Evelyn finished preparing for her interview and left the office. A cough came from around the corner, then turned into a groan.

Dane was down on one knee. His other hand pressed against his right side.

“Mr. Blackwell.”

He looked up. His forehead was wet with sweat. Evelyn crouched beside him and took the hand pressed over his shirt.

“Move your hand. I need to see.”

The skin around the edge of the damp dressing was red and swollen.

“When were you hurt?”

“Gunshot wound. It's been treated.”

When he took his hand off the wall, his body tilted. Looking for somewhere to support his back, Evelyn called down the corridor for Marco.

His weight fell onto her bitten arm, and she clenched her teeth. Dane tried to straighten, then sagged back against the wall.

“Leo...”

“He's asleep. It's your turn now.”

Marco came running and lost a slipper on the way. When Evelyn asked for the medical staff and a transfer, he raised his radio first. Dane opened his eyes.

“On the island...”

“We can't even tell how deep this wound is here.”

His gaze found hers. Evelyn didn't lift the soaked dressing any farther. This wasn't something they could settle by guessing on a corridor floor.

A stretcher arrived. While the doctor examined the wound, Marco contacted the previous hospital. Dane had been shot at the port about 3 weeks earlier. After surgery, he had returned early and missed his follow-up.

“When did the fever start?”

“Yesterday.”

Evelyn told the doctor how he had been leaving meals early and how he had been unable to straighten up that night. The doctor suspected an infection and said he needed tests and treatment.

Asked what name to register him under, Dane looked at Marco.

“There are men who keep count whenever I'm absent.”

Another guard was about to be assigned under a name Evelyn didn't recognize. Dane sent him away. As the doctor moved the stretcher, he spoke into his phone.

“Hold anything that needs my signature. If my uncle asks, tell him to call me himself.”

A sound came from the boy's room, and Marco turned.

“If I'm gone when he wakes, he'll think I've left him again. I'll stay.”

Dane looked at him, then had another guard get the previous hospital's contact details. Marco remained by the stairs even after the transfer team set off. As Evelyn passed him, he turned toward Leo.

“Go with him. Someone will be here to take your calls.”

When he sat on the little chair inside the room, his knees came nearly to his chin. Evelyn looked at his back, then went downstairs.

As he was wheeled from the entrance toward the boat, Dane turned his head. When she followed, his gaze moved from her face to her injured arm.

“What about you, Doctor?”

“I'll come until I can hand over what I observed.”

Evelyn brought her uninjured arm near the stretcher. When Dane rested his hand on it, she supported it inside the rail.

“Don't try to get up. The stretcher's moving.”

The outer door opened. When Evelyn fell a step behind at the threshold, he turned his head. She put the observation sheet for the hospital in the transfer team's bag and came back alongside him. Dane's hand stayed inside the stretcher rail until they set off.

Rain splashed against the end of the stretcher outside. Dane opened his eyes and counted the people heading toward the boat. This time, the medical staff boarded before the guards.

***

“Are you his next of kin?”

Evelyn stopped at the hospital reception desk. She had come with Dane, but she was neither family nor one of the guards he had brought.

“I'm the doctor who assessed him on the island. His family has been notified.”

She handed over the fever, the wound, and when his responses had become sluggish to the attending surgeon. Marco would send the previous hospital's records. Only after Dane went in for tests did Evelyn tell Olivia where she was and that she intended to return to her accommodation.

Her hand shook around the cup at the vending machine. This time, she'd brought him to the hospital where her own arm had been treated. From the ward, someone said Dane was asking for her. Evelyn finished her water and turned back.

When she returned, Dane pushed himself upright. Before he could ask about Leo, she told him that Marco and the boy were all right.

“They told me.”

He searched for the next words, then gave up. While the attending doctor explained the treatment and pain relief, Dane described where it hurt himself. Only after changing position did he rest his head on the pillow.

They would continue watching his fever and the wound. Once the nurse left, Dane's phone rang. He looked at the caller's name and rejected the call.

“Isn't that a call you need to take?”

“If I answer now, I'll have to say I'm fine.”