A Night of Southern Comfort by Robin Covington

eternity. Why was it taking them so damn long to figure out the extent of her injuries? He knew from his stints in the Marines and undercover that head injuries were never good, and he’d raised holy hell when he’d brought her inside. One look at his thunderous expression and the staff had scuttled her directly to get a CAT scan, then called Beck to the ER to get him under control.
    Beck assured him that the best doctor was on Kayla’s case and reminded him that she’d get all the courtesy due as a member of the hospital staff.
    Well, what he’d actually said was, Jack, calm your ass down or I’ll kick you out myself —but it had worked well enough to get him to focus on whether this was a deliberate attack or an accident.
    Lucky walked up to him, accompanied by Sheriff Burke, and nodded toward the bed where Kayla lay, looking shaky and pale. The fear in her eyes was in direct contrast to the rigid calm of her demeanor. She hung onto her control like a champ. While he admired her strength, he fought the urge to walk over and hold her.
    “Is she all right?” Lucky asked.
    “The doctor hasn’t said.” He turned to face Lucky and Sheriff Burke—both had a grave expression on their faces. This didn’t look good. “Did you see anything on the security tapes?”
    “Nope. They’re grainy and it was dark.” Lucky sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “We can tell someone ran toward her and knocked her down but we don’t have enough to ID ’em.”
    “So it wasn’t an accident.”
    “No, son, it wasn’t. We found these lying on the ground near the front of her car.” Sheriff Burke held up two clear evidence bags. The smaller one held several lug nuts and the larger one held a wrench. “Whoever knocked her down was fooling with the tires on her car. She must’ve surprised him.”
    Jackson glanced at Lucky. Was this the same person he’d chased a two nights ago?
    Lucky cleared his throat. “There were no other signs of tampering or foul play with the car.”
    “Where’s the jack?” he asked.
    “No jack.” Lucky answered, solemnly.
    “So, he wasn’t stealing tires.” It wasn’t a question and neither man answered. His trigger finger got itchy again. “She would’ve lost control of the car.”
    Lucky finished his thought. “Not a good thing when you’re driving down a mountain.”
    Sheriff Burke’s voice broke into their dark thoughts. “You boys want to tell me what’s going on?”
    “She’s had some trouble lately with some unwelcome attention. This could be related.” Jack gestured toward the evidence bags in his hand. “But I can tell you he wasn’t trying to steal her tires and it wasn’t random.”
    Sheriff Burke opened his mouth to ask more questions but the arrival of the doctor at the opening to Kayla’s room stopped the conversation. At least temporarily.
    “You can come in now.” Dr. Talbot nodded to the sheriff in greeting as they all filed into the small space. A slim woman with auburn hair and green eyes, she didn’t bother to hide her irritation at having all these extra bodies in her domain. “Dr. Roarke is fine. No sign of a concussion but she needs to take it easy.” She leveled a stern look at them to emphasize her point. “You can ask her a few questions, but then I’m gonna kick you out and get her up to a room for tonight.”
    “No. I’m not staying here.” Kayla’s voice was firm but tinged with a hint of fear. The last part pissed him off. When he caught this guy he was going to make him hurt. “I’m going home.”
    “Kayla.” Jack stepped forward to the edge of the bed and stared her down. She was like most doctors he knew, lousy patients, but if she needed to stay here then he was going to make sure she did it.
    “I’m not staying.”
    At a stalemate, they both looked to Dr. Talbot to break the tie.
    She spoke directly to Michaela. “You aren’t in any medical danger but you need someone to stay with you. Just in case.”
    “Well, then