Free Dance or Die (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 3) by Liza O'Connor Page A

pile.
    Finally, the last tentacles of her father’s poisonous reach were gone.
    She’d never felt such lethargy in her life. When she attempted to climb in the pickup, it took her three tries to succeed. Whatever the sheriff bought, she’d eat. Even if it was red meat, cheese, and mayonnaise on white bread. Her stomach roiled at the thought, but she remained determined. If she was going to ask Steel to go through hell to come back to her, then the least she could do was eat unhealthy, sickening food.
    The sheriff returned, checking out the trashcan. His frown confused her. Had she misunderstood his suggestion?
    He climbed into the car and handed her a wrapped sandwich and a green tea. She latched upon the tea and drank half the bottle in one gulp.
    “I’ll go buy you another one. While I do, will you please take care of those papers? If Danny Spadoni got hold of that marriage certificate, he’d use it to claim Benito’s family and instead of finally killing this snake, it would simply grow a stronger head.”
    “I burned all three,” she assured him.
    “Where?”
    “In the trash like you said.”
    “There’s nothing there.”
    “Well, there was a tiny black pile. The rest crumbled and blew away.”
    He got out of the car and inspected the trashcan. When he returned, he apologized. “Sorry, for questioning you, but this was important. It put you and all of Iowa in danger.”
    She reached out and gripped his hand. “Sheriff Cobbs, you have been my staunchest supporter. I trust you, which is rare for me to do. I will do whatever you ask, including eat this sandwich, even if it’s on white bread and loaded with mayonnaise. And I will never lie to you.”
    He smiled. “I believe you. However, you aren’t going to be able to prove it by eating an unhealthy meal, unless you want to forego that sandwich and have me stop and buy you fast food. That’s sliced turkey, baby spinach, and tomato on a whole wheat roll.”
    Now, her stomach wanted to be fed. She unwrapped an end and bit into it. She tried to thank him at the same time she ate, but it came out a garbled mess.
    He laughed. “Let me get you another green tea and then we’ll get going.”
    ***
    Tess barely had time to finish her sandwich and second green tea before they arrived at the hospital.
    He led her in a back way, straight to the emergency ward. Upon identifying himself, the nurse called someone. A moment later, a doctor arrived and led them both down the hall while he talked.
    “Both men are in surgery right now. Their conditions are critical. Mr. Brown’s surgery should be completed first. We had clearance on him when he arrived. However, it took a while to determine who was authorized to approve surgical procedures on Mr. Castile.”
    “Aren’t you allowed to perform life-saving surgery without permission?” Cobbs asked.
    “Yes, but Secret Service requested we wait while they got clearance to avoid an international event in case he didn’t make it.”
    His comment outraged Tess too much to keep quiet. “We risked his life because someone wanted to avoid an international event by not treating him until permission came? Don’t you think it would be a worse ‘event’ if he’d died while you waited?”
    The doctor focused on her. “Yes, I do. And I plan to lodge a complaint with the agent’s supervisor, because if that is their policy, then they need to fix it.”
    Tess’s anger at the man dissipated. “Did the wait worsen his chance of recovery?”
    “No. He was still getting an MRI when the consent forms arrived. So in this case, their procedure did no harm. But I’m still lodging a complaint.”
    Tess nodded in agreement. “So Steel is in surgery now?”
    “Yes. We have our best surgeon working on him. However, if you speak to the Secret Service guy wandering our halls, call him the second best.”
    Tess finally managed to smile. “Thank you.”
    He opened a door and led them into a small waiting room. “You can wait here. When