The boss entered.
The nurse watched him cautiously.
“You stayed?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked at her arm.
She pulled the blanket over it.
“That again.”
He took the chair beside the bed.
“You fainted in front of me.”
“People faint every day.”
“Not usually into my arms.”
She looked irritated.
“You make everything sound like ownership?”
“Only restaurants.”
That caught her off guard.
She almost laughed.
The boss noticed.
Something softened in his face.
Then his gaze dropped toward her sleeve again.
“Who did it?”
The softness disappeared from hers.
“I fell.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You’re very certain for somebody who met me unconscious.”
“My sister had bruises exactly like those.”
The nurse stopped breathing for a moment.
He noticed.
“Why did that matter to you?”
She asked.
The boss stared at the floor.
“She died.”
The nurse’s expression changed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Nine years ago.”
He looked back at her.
“There were marks around both wrists.”
The nurse swallowed.
“What happened?”
“Car wreck.”
“You don’t believe that.”
It was not a question.
“No.”
Silence.
The nurse looked toward the window.
“I can’t help you.”
“You reacted.”
“To what?”
“When I mentioned my sister.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
The nurse’s shoulders tightened.
The boss leaned back.
“I’m not going to threaten you.”
She laughed nervously.
“That is exactly what a threatening person says.”
“Fair.”
He looked toward the door.
“My driver can leave.”
“No.”
The boss frowned.
“No?”
“I’d prefer the witness.”
That made him smile.
For the first time, the nurse realized his face could do that.
It changed him considerably.
Then she hated noticing.
The boss said:
“You have excellent instincts.”
“I work in a clinic.”
“Same thing.”
She looked at him.
“You really want to know how I got these?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I spent nine years wondering whether I ignored the same warning on somebody else.”
The nurse studied him.
He was not asking out of curiosity.
Something in him had been waiting nine years for a reason to wake up.
That frightened her.
“I don’t know who hurt your sister.”
“I didn’t ask that.”
“No.”
She touched the blanket.
“But you’re hoping the answer to one question becomes the answer to the other.”
The boss said nothing.
She continued:
“That’s dangerous.”
He almost laughed.
“People usually use that word about me.”
“Maybe they’re right.”
His expression changed slightly.
The nurse continued.
“You see bruises.”
“You remember your sister.”
“And now you’re already building a story.”
The words struck him.
She saw it.
“What if the stories aren’t connected?”
“Then I’ll know.”
“And if they are?”
He did not answer.
That answer frightened her more than words would have.
The nurse looked toward the closed door.
“Then I’m not telling you.”