Page 74 of Raff
“Yeah,” Huck said, nodding. “I had a feeling this was something you didn’t let your president in on.”
“It wasn’t really my business.”
“Maybe it wasn’t until you involved my club. But now we’re involved. And I don’t want to be keeping shit from Slash. I won’t force your hand on when, but I want him debriefed.”
“I’ll do that. You understand not being in a rush,” I said, glancing over at the door, wondering how Lula was doing in there.
“Yeah. But within the next few days.”
“Got it.”
“Alright. I think that’s it for now,” Huck said. “Go check on your girl. Let me know if she needs anything. I’ll go talk to Teddy.”
“I appreciate it. Really. I’m sure getting rid of a body wasn’t on your bucket list tonight.”
“This is Florida, man,” Huck said with a smile. “We got built-in corpse removal animals. We know the locations of a lot of groups of crocs. Never had an issue getting rid of something.”
“Even the bones?”
“All those teeth, but they don’t chew. Swallow everything whole,” Huck said.
“And they have the most acidic stomachs of any animal,” York piped in. “Can dissolve anything… even bones.”
No wonder no one seemed particularly worked up about a body lying around.
“Either way, I appreciate it.”
“You’ll make it up to me when you deliver that gun Murphy is designing.”
With that, I made my way back to the exam room, finding Lula’s face cleaned up but the bruises settling even darker than before.
“How’s the patient, Doc?”
“She’s going to be just fine. Sore, obviously. But it’s all superficial bruising. No fractures or anything like that. As for the tooth, it was completely avulsed, so I irrigated the wound and stuffed it with gauze. Lula already knows she needs to bite down on that for thirty to sixty minutes to make sure a good clot forms. No straws. Soft foods. The usual kind of things you’d hear when a tooth is pulled. Obviously, you’re going to want to follow up with a dentist.”
“Definitely on the list,” I said, giving Lula’s thigh a squeeze. “Anything else?”
“Lula is very out of date for a tetanus booster, so I am going to give her that. As well as some pain meds. I’m going to hold off on prescribing an antibiotic, but if you notice any signs of an infection—fever, swelling—I want to know right away. Otherwise, a dentist will do the follow-up.”
“Great. Thanks so much for coming in this late, Ama.”
“Yeah, thank you,” Lula said with a mouth full of gauze.
“I’m just going to go get your shot. Then write up your scripts. Then you can be on your way. I’m sure you’re both exhausted.”
“We’re not going back to the beach house,” I told her when we were alone, tucking some hair behind her ear. “Huck is talking to Teddy about which hotel has the best room for us. Seems safest for the time being.”
“Safest?” she asked, her voice a jumble of sounds.
“Keep biting on that gauze,” I told her, running a finger over the bulge in her cheek. “I know he was wearing a mask when he attacked you. But the guy at the house… that wasn’t Drake. It seems like he hired someone to try to kill you.”
Lula exhaled hard, shaking her head.
“Huck offered the clubhouse, if you want to go that route. I just thought you might want more privacy than that.”
She nodded as Ama came back into the room, handing me scripts, then setting up and injecting the tetanus booster before telling us we could head out.
Lula was too quiet through the process of leaving the clinic, climbing back into Teddy’s car, and making our way to the hotel.
