Free Silent Witness by Diane Burke

needed to know.” She started to stand and the interior of the ambulance swirled as if she were seeing it from the inside of a tornado funnel. She sat back down, closed her eyes and held her head in her hands.
    Darlene stuck her head inside the ambulance. “Why don’t I take Jeremy outside while you get that leg taken care of?” She had slipped a baseball jacket on over her uniform. Liz was grateful for her sensitivity to Jeremy’s needs.
    Adam looked Jeremy in the eyes and told him that Darlene was a friend and would be putting him in the car so they could go home. Surprisingly, the mention of going home this time seemed more important to Jeremy than anything else and he went willingly.
    Darlene lifted the boy out of the ambulance. “I’ll leave you my car and go back to the office with Sal as soon as you’re finished in here.”
    “The paramedic can’t stitch your leg,” Adam said after the boy was gone. “You have to go to the hospital. You need a doctor.”
    Liz heard the self-satisfied tone in his voice and wanted to pitch something at him.
    “I have a doctor—you.”
    “I’m a psychiatrist.”
    “Aren’t psychiatrists medical doctors who specialize in psychiatry?”
    “I don’t have what I need on board. Lizzie, go to the hospital.”
    “Ever hear of butterfly stitches?”
    His sigh exposed his exasperation with her. “Let me take a look. If it’s too deep, you’ll need regular stitches.”
    “Just do the best you can, Adam. I am going to make sure Jeremy gets home safely and this investigation is organized before I waste valuable time sitting in an E.R. getting stitches. Pack it. Bandage it. Whatever. But I don’t have time to waste right now.”
    Adam saw the determination in her eyes. He pulled his identification out of his wallet and showed it to the paramedic. “I’d appreciate it if you’d slide down and let me take a look at this wound.”
    The paramedic looked at the grim expression on the sheriff’s face, grinned and jumped out the back of the wagon. He seemed quite happy not having to deal with the situation, but he didn’t wander far in case he was needed.
    Adam cut off the lower half of Liz’s pant leg and rolled up the top, revealing her thigh. He cleaned the wound with peroxide and sprayed it with an antiseptic.
    “You’re lucky. It’s nastier looking than it really is.”
    His touch was light and gentle, but as his fingers moved across her skin, a rush of sensation pulsed through her body. A flush of heat colored her neck and cheeks. It felt as though someone had suddenly cut off her oxygen supply.
    He looked into her eyes and a ghost of a smile crossed his lips. She could tell that he knew what his touch was doing to her. Many things had changed over the years but their reaction to each other wasn’t one of them. She was grateful when he broke eye contact and finished bandaging the wound.
    His hand still cradled her thigh and Liz could barely stand the sensations racing through her body at his touch. The second he was finished, she pushed down the top of her pant leg, threw him a quick thank-you, and jumped out of the back of the vehicle.
    * * *
    Stubborn. Hardheaded. Beautiful. Vulnerable. Strong. A paradox if he’d ever run into one.
    Liz was even more intriguing as a grown, independent woman than she’d been as the teenage girl he’d once loved. Adam knew that when he saw her again it would bring back past feelings, questions—and, yes, even pain—to the surface, but he’d thought he’d prepared for their encounter.
    Fifteen years was a long time. He wasn’t a boy anymore. He was an adult with all the physical and emotional needs of a man. He had devoted his adult professional years to helping other people understand and cope with their feelings, past hurts and pain so they could move on with their lives.
    Seeing her again should have been a piece of cake. He’d expected an awkward moment or two and then a mutual acknowledgment of years past and a healthy