Cop's Passion (6 page)

Wondering why
the nurse was in such a hurry, he watched as Alan returned to sit
in the seat to call in the drivers licence.

“Nurse,” Alan
stated. “In a hurry, and boy is she a little mouthy.”

“Maybe it’s to
do with a patient.”

“The big chick
needs to learn to cool down some.” Alan called in the drivers
licence name and number.

It took less
than two seconds for the name to register. Madeline Rosemary
Lovett. Maddy. Mike looked through the windshield at the car in
front of him. Maddy was a nurse?

“I know her,”
he said.

“Really?” Alan
looked at the back of the car as well. “She’s not what I’d call a
hot nurse. Don’t think I’d want her looking after me. I’d want a
sexy nurse, not a hefty sheila, especially if she’s undressing me
to give me a…” He smirked. “Bed-bath.”

Mike frowned.
“The lady is all right. Don’t be such a prick.”

“Lady?” Alan’s
brows rose. “Oh-ho.” He made to hand over the licence. “You want to
handle this?”

Mike took the
drivers licence just as the report came back that there were no
outstanding warrants or anything on the owner of it.. Getting out
of the car, he strode over to the small car, rounded the back of it
and stopped at the driver’s window. He leaned down to see Maddy’s
profile as she spoke into the mobile phone.

“I’m coming as
fast as I can.” Maddy thumbed quickly through a file sitting on the
passenger seat. “I’ve just been held up a little. I won’t be long.”
Someone said something on the other end and Maddy rolled her eyes.
“Just give her something to eat. I’ll be there soon, I promise.”
Switching the phone off, she tossed it onto the seat and rubbed her
eyes. “Bloody cops better bloody hurry or I’m on the shit list.
Again.”

“You wouldn’t
be on our shit list if you’d been doing the speed limit,” Mike
rumbled, partly amused but also partly annoyed, generally having no
patience with offenders who didn’t respect the law.

Swinging
around, Maddy’s mouth dropped open at the sight of his face.
“Mike?”

He handed her
the drivers licence. “Thank your lucky stars I heard you and not
Alan.”

A faint flush
rose in her cheeks. “Sorry about that.”

“You seem to be
sorry about a lot of things.”

“Story of my
life today.” She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “I’m in
a real hurry.”

“What’s the
rush?”

“A
patient.”

“Dying?”

“No, but she is
getting more agitated by the minute. I need to go now.” Maddy
looked up at him. “The ticket?”

He was half
tempted to give her one, but having had personal experience, he
respected nurses who did home nursing. “I’m not giving you a ticket
but I am giving you a warning.”

A hint of
impatience on her face, Maddy already had the car in gear.
“Yes?”

“Watch your
speed limit. If you get caught again, you won’t be so lucky.”

“Okay. Thanks.”
She glanced at his hand on the door frame.

“Maddy.” When
she glanced up at him, he gave her the full force of his scowl.
“I’m warning you. No more speeding.”

She stared at
him for several seconds before nodding. “I hear you.” When he
stepped back, she added, “Thanks, really.” And took off.

The little car
didn’t quite leave a skid mark, but he’d bet his black boots that
she didn’t normally leave quite as fast.

Alan was
waiting in the patrol car with a grin on his face.

Mike gave him a
warning glare but it didn’t faze his incorrigible friend at
all.

“So,” he
drawled, “Maddy, huh?”

“That’s her.”
Mike settled himself into the seat and strapped on the seat
belt.

“Didn’t know
you were into big chicks.”

“I’m not into
any chicks.”

“Am I safe here
with you?” Alan fluttered his eyelashes. “I didn’t know you batted
for the other team.”

Unscrewing the
lid of the thermos, Mike poured out a cup of hot coffee. “Trust me,
sweetheart, I wouldn’t be doing anything with you in public.”

“Oh my.” Alan
gave a shiver of fake delight. “Shall we park behind the
bushes?”

“I’m on duty. I
save playtime for after hours.”

“Your place or
mine?” Alan made kissy sounds. “Big boy.”

Sipping the hot
coffee, Mike amusedly regarded his friend over the top of the mug.
“No offence, darling, but you’re not my type.”

“But Maddy
is?”

“No.”

“Because
she’s…you know?” Alan made an overblown hour-glass shape with his
hands. “Plenty of padding.”

Mike felt a
prick of annoyance. “How someone is built doesn’t matter, it’s
what’s underneath that matters.”

“Underneath
that nurse’s uniform is a whole lot of woman.” Alan leered. “Scared
you couldn’t handle her?”

“I can handle
her.”

“How do you
know?” Struck by a sudden thought, Alan’s eyes widened. “Whoa. Have
you already bedded this chick?”

“No, I haven’t.
And stop calling her a ‘chick’.” Mike scowled and looked out the
window. “Her name is Maddy.”

“Huh.” Alan
rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Maddy. One of your ladies.”

“She is not one
of my ladies.”

“Oh, yeah, she
is. You have a type of female you respect, Mike, and those you call
‘ladies’. Maddy is one of your ladies.”

“So what if she
is?” Mike glanced down at the speed gun. “We’ve a job to do. Stop
yakking and concentrate.”

Alan relaxed
back in the seat and was silent. Mike just knew it wouldn’t last
long, and he was proven correct when Alan suddenly burst out
singing, “Mike and Maddy, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!”

Sometimes Mike
just wanted to belt his friend fair in the moosh.

~*~

Pulling into
Elsie Maynart’s driveway, Maddy sighed. The elderly lady suffered
severe anxiety and anything that put even a small dent in her
perfectly timed day was enough to make her almost panic.

Janice, the
Golden Link aide, opened the door to the house and waved, relief
evident on her face.

“How is she?”
Maddy asked as she got out of the car, the medical box in her
hand.

“Refuses to eat
until you give her the injection.” Janice shook her head. “I’ve got
her lunch sitting in the oven to keep warm.”

“Damn.” Maddy
hurried over to Janice. “Okay, let’s get this done.”

Standing in the
entry to the kitchen, Elsie was all big eyes and drooping, lank,
curly grey hair. “I waited,” she quavered. “I waited so long for
you.”

“I’m only a
little late, Elsie,” Maddy replied soothingly. “Now we only-”

“It’s half an
hour!”

“But not too
long, right? Everything is all right.”

“No! My lunch
isn’t fresh now and I’m late for my needle. It’s not all right.”
Elsie wrung the tissues in her hand and then started plucking them.
Little pieces fell down around her feet like snow.

Maddy gently
placed her hand on Elsie’s frail waist. “It’s only a vitamin B12
injection, Elsie. We’ve had this talk before, remember? It’s not an
injection that’s vital to have at a certain time, as long as it’s
on the day. I-”

“I have to have
it on time. I must!” Cloudy grey eyes narrowed. “You know I have
to.”

There was no
winning this one today. Maddy caught Janice’s expression, saw her
roll her eyes behind Elsie’s back, and she grinned ruefully.

“It’s not
funny.” Catching sight of Maddy’s grin, Elsie gripped the tissue
tightly between arthritic fingers.

Knowing how
fast Elsie could fly into a temper, Maddy spoke softly. “You’re
right, it’s not funny and I am sorry. Now, you need this injection
today, so let’s go and do it now.”

Elsie pulled
away and stormed down the dreary passage as fast as her skinny legs
could take her. “Not funny. Not funny at all. I waited all day,
Nurse.”

Maddy blew out
a silent breath. Elsie was pissed off, no doubt about it. Great.
Going into the kitchen, she took a vial of vitamin B12 from the
refrigerator and followed the little old woman down the dreary
passage.

Entering the
bedroom which was dark as usual, and crowded with furniture and
knick-knacks, Maddy set the medical box on the dressing table.
Elsie stood right beside her while she opened the lid and took out
a syringe. The old woman didn’t miss one thing, watching anxiously
as Maddy put a needle on the syringe, snapped the neck of the vial
and drew up the contents into the syringe.

“You’re sure no
glass got into the medicine?” Elsie asked, as she did every month
without fail.

“Absolutely
sure.”

“It’s a clean
needle?”

“You saw me
open the packet.”

“Syringe? Can’t
be too careful.”

“Sterile
packet, unopened.”

“You’re sure
it’s not recycled?”

“It’s not
recycled.”

Elsie grabbed
the packet holding the alcohol swab and studied it closely. Maddy
waited resignedly while Elsie made certain that it, too, was
unopened. She’d learned a long time ago that to hurry Elsie only
ended in extreme anxiety, tears and several hours of calming her
down.

Finally Elsie
was convinced that all was well and Maddy was able to jab her in
the scrawny bottom with her monthly injection. Elsie watched
closely again while Maddy disposed of the needle in the sharps
container, and the syringe in the little bag she carried especially
for disposing of syringes back at base.

Only then was
Elsie satisfied and she saw Maddy to the door. Janice had the hot
midday meal coming out of the oven and Elsie shut the door rather
quickly behind Maddy.

Breathing out a
sigh of relief, Maddy returned to the car. Two close misses - one,
a speeding fine, and two, an anxiety attack from Elsie. The day was
looking a little better.

The day, in
fact, got worse. As she went from one patient's house to another,
nothing seemed to go right. Old Mr Wainwright refused to have his
blood pressure taken and she couldn’t force him. The fact that it
had to be kept a close eye on was an on-going problem. Ben Carter,
an insulin dependant diabetic with a bad ulcer on his foot that
wouldn’t heal, she caught polishing off the last of a jumbo-sized
block of chocolate. The new client she had to assess wasn’t home,
and she had to double back an hour later when he rang her to
irritably inquire why she wasn’t there when he got home. One of the
quadriplegics had fallen out of the hoist sling while his wife had
tried to hoist him into his chair, and Maddy met one of the Gold
Link aides there and helped get the man back into the sling -
properly this time - and into his chair, but only after attending a
bad gash on his leg. Every incident set her back time-wise and by
the time she returned to base, it was dark and the receptionist,
other nurses and aides had gone home. Unlocking the door, she
disarmed the alarm and entered the building. In the office set
aside for the nurses, she filled in the last bits of her paperwork,
set it in the tray along with the work mobile phone, and finally
left after arming the alarm and locking the door behind her.

It was a
welcome relief to finally be on the road home in her own car, but
she’d only got halfway home when the steering wheel started to get
heavy and pull to the right. With foreboding, she pulled over.
Grabbing the torch from the glove box, she got out of the car and
walked around to find that yes, she did indeed have a flat
tyre.

Now she felt
like crying. The highway was dark, lit only by street lights, there
were cars passing at intervals, and she had no mobile phone.
Changing a tyre by herself late at night was on her dread list.

“Great, just
bloody great.” Giving the offending tyre a kick, she looked around.
There was only one thing for it and that was to suck up her fears
and get to work on changing the tyre. All she could hope for was to
have it all done and be back safely in the car before some
knife-wielding maniac found her.

Returning to
the driver’s door, she leaned in and flicked on the hazard lights
before pressing the lever to release the boot. Using the torch for
light, she lifted the flooring of the boot and hooked it up to the
latch, and the surveyed the tyre, tool bag, and jack.

Right now, it
all seemed like too much. She was tired, hungry, and yes, a little
bit scared. But straightening her shoulders, she muttered, “Suck it
up, princess,” and grabbed the tool kit.

Cars whizzed
past now and again and she was caught between wishing someone would
stop to help her, and hoping no would, because one never knew who
stopped on a dark night. Any crank could be around, and with her
crummy luck they’d find her.

Maddy undid the
nuts holding the tyre securely in the boot and wrestled the tyre
up. Luckily she owned a small car because the damned tyre was heavy
enough. She rolled it to rest beside the flat tyre and went back
for the jack and tools. Kneeling beside the flat tyre, she was
about to start loosening the nuts when a car pulled in behind her
and she was lit by the headlights.

Holding the
tyre lever in one hand, Maddy cautiously stood up. A door slammed
shut on the vehicle behind her and someone approached. Tall, lean,
it was a male, and to Maddy that was a possible threat. She gripped
the lever tightly.

“Hi.” The man
approached slowly but easily, his posture non-threatening, hands
swinging slightly by his side.

But appearances
could be deceiving and Maddy replied with a curt, “Hi.”

“Problem?” the
man queried.

She couldn’t
make out his features with the headlights behind him. “Nothing I
can’t handle.”

“You
alone?”

“No.”

The man looked
from the lever in her hand to the flat tyre. “Uh-huh.”

“My boyfriend
and his mate have just gone to relieve themselves in the bushes.
They’ll be back any second.” She flexed her fingers around the tyre
lever. “We’re fine.”