Free Touch of Death by Kelly Hashway Page B

from the top of the closest bush.
    “Alex?” Normally, I would’ve been freaked out, but I had had enough for one day. “I can see you. Enough with the games. I’m not in the mood.”
    He stepped into the open. Finally, we could get this over with. But Melodie came rushing out of the house with the car keys. “Sorry that took so long, I—” She stopped when she saw Alex.
    “Melodie, this is Alex, my personal stalker.”
    He glared at me, not even glancing at Melodie. “Another time.” He turned and disappeared behind the bushes.
    Melodie unlocked the car. “Get in. Let’s get out of here before he comes back.”
    “He’s not coming back.” At least not now. He wanted me alone.
    We drove to the clinic. Melodie insisted on waiting for me while the doctor examined my finger and checked my files. “It will give me a chance to catch up on all these ancient issues of magazines no one but a doctor would ever subscribe to.”
    I smiled at her and followed Nurse Bennett into one of the back rooms. I’d known her all my life, which was the only reason she took me in despite the fact that the clinic was closing for the day. She took my blood pressure and then un-bandaged my finger. The cut was deep and embedded with flecks of rust. That couldn’t be healthy.
    “Jodi, you cut yourself on a rusty nail, didn’t you?”
    “Yeah, I was helping rebuild the community center this morning.”
    She put on a pair of gloves, sat down on a swivel chair, and wheeled herself over to me. “Rebuilding the community center, huh?” She took my hand in hers. “Let me guess, college application time is coming up and you’re lacking in community service?”
    If it hadn’t been true, I would’ve gotten offended. It’s not like I was against doing community service. It’s just I spent my free time helping Mom around the house. She worked so much. It wasn’t easy for her to support the both of us and keep the house clean.
    I turned away, not wanting to watch Nurse Bennett remove the rust. Warm blood ran down my finger. She pressed a piece of gauze on the cut and applied pressure. I winced. “Hold this for a second.” I took over, not putting anywhere near as much pressure on my hand. The cut on my left finger stung. The stupid thing wouldn’t heal. It was bleeding through the Band-Aid again. Now I had a matching pair. Nurse Bennett came back with a tray at the same time Dr. Alvarez came in. She filled him in on my situation.
    Dr. Alvarez sat in front of me. “Okay, I’m going to put some dissolving sutures on this finger. It’s not that bad, but since you’re probably going to want to use your hand in the next few weeks, this will help it heal quicker.”
    “Thanks,” I said.
    He worked quickly. “There, that should do.” He put his instruments down on the tray, and Nurse Bennett carried them out of the room. As Dr. Alvarez removed his gloves, his eyes fell on the bloody Band-Aid on my left finger. “Another cut? Let’s get a fresh Band-Aid for that.” He changed the bandage, getting some of my blood on him in the process.
    “Sorry,” I said.
    “No worries. We have disinfectant soap, and exposure like that is pretty low risk. It happens a lot.” He went to the sink. “We don’t need to worry about—” He gagged, like he was choking on water.
    I hopped down from the examination table. “Dr. Alvarez, are you okay?”
    He reached a soapy hand to his chest and fell to the floor, his head landing at my feet. I jumped back, knocking over the tray and the chair. Nurse Bennett knocked on the door and peeked her head in. “Is everything—” her eyes darted from the mess to me to Dr. Alvarez. “What happened?” She rushed to him, but looked surprisingly calm.
    “I-I don’t know. He was washing his hands.” I pointed to the faucet, which was still running. “And then he started choking like he was having trouble breathing. I asked him if he was okay, but he clutched his chest and collapsed.”
    Nurse Bennett