The Whole Truth

CHAPTER 74

THE RAIN HAD PASSED and it was a lovely day in Dublin. Skittish birds flitted from tree to tree; colorful flowers in neat beds waved in the slight breeze; people walked and chatted, drank coffee at street cafés; cars drifted down wide streets.

Inside the small, antiseptic room Shaw gritted his teeth and crushed the arm of the chair he was in. Leona, gloved, masked, and dressed in surgical scrubs, had pulled out several of the metal staples holding his ripped skin together while Katie gripped his other arm with her gloved hands.

“That was the easy part,” Leona said pleasantly as she dropped the last of the three staples she’d removed into a pan. There were four left in his arm.

“Glad to hear it,” muttered Shaw.

“Still want to go through with it? It’s going to set back the healing process.”

“Just do it, Leona.”

She used a slender instrument that looked like a miniature crowbar to pry open the wound and blood started to trickle out. Droplets of sweat popped up on Shaw’s brow. Katie tightened her grip on his arm. Leona had given him local anesthesia all around the wound but warned him again there would be pain. And the lady hadn’t been mistaken.

She’d wrapped the small metal device in a layer of sterilized mesh surgical wrap. “You can’t keep this in there long,” she said. “I’ve sterilized it, but there will eventually be infection. It’s unavoidable.”

“Funny, you didn’t say that the last time.”

“The last time was different.”

“Not for me it wasn’t.” He touched his side. “You never said me having this thing in me long-term was a problem.”

“Apples and oranges,” she snapped. “That device is like a pacemaker, designed for long-term use inside the body. But not this thing. So, as a doctor, I am giving you that warning. There will be infection here.”

“Duly noted.” Shaw grunted. “Now stick it in.”

She carefully wedged the device into the wound, her nimble, gloved fingers finding a small cavity where it would fit.

The pain made Shaw’s entire body shake.

“Take my hand, Shaw, squeeze it,” Katie offered.

“No,” he grunted.

“Why?”

“Because I’ll break every damn bone in it.”

A second later, the armrest came away in his hand, the screws sheared off.

Leona withdrew her fingers from the wound and looked with satisfaction at her work.

“I can put new staples back in, or even cauterize it.”

“Uh-uh.”

“Why not?”

“Because I won’t be able to get to the damn thing when I need it, Leona. Which is the whole point,” Shaw snapped. “Old-fashioned thread will be just fine.”

She shrugged, cleaned the wound as best she could, stitched him up, wrapped gauze around it, and sat back.

“All done.”

Katie let go of Shaw and also let out a relieved breath. Shaw slowly sat up, carefully moving his arm.

“Thanks,” he said gruffly.

“For you, Shaw, anything,” she said sarcastically. “As you said, I so clearly owe you.”

“Yeah, well now we’re even.”

“At least even,” she corrected. “The needle in fact might have swung to my side.”

“I don’t think so. Calling it even was a gift on my part.” He put his shirt on. While he was buttoning it up she glanced at the scar on his right side. “How is it working, by the way?”

“Ask Frank, I’m sure he’d love to tell you all about it.” He reached over and pocketed the tiny instrument she’d used to put the metal device in his arm. “For old time’s sake,” he said, when she looked ready to protest.

As they were leaving Leona stopped him at the door. “Is that thing in your arm what I think it is?”

“You never know, Leona, you just never know.”