What Hides Inside: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 2

I’ll be happy to call her when you find the number.”
“Can you tell us anything in the meantime?” Sam gave himself a mental pat on the back for sounding so much calmer than he felt.
“Your friend has Mr. Meloy here listed as emergency contact, so I think that will be all right.” Perching on the edge of an empty chair, the doctor leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Dr. Broussard’s wound had already developed an abscess by the time he arrived here, he was running a fever of one hundred and five, and his blood pressure was dangerously low. We took him straight to surgery to clean out the wound. The abscess was completely removed, then we washed the entire area with an antibiotic solution before closing. Luckily, the abscess was close to the surface, probably because the wound consisted of several parallel scratches rather than punctures. They were no more than half an inch deep, and the abscess didn’t extend much beyond that depth.”
David swallowed, looking a little green. “So, he’s okay now? He’ll be okay?”
Dr. Shore gave them all a long, solemn look. “Normally, I’d say definitely so. He’s young and healthy, with no long-term health problems or immunosuppressive diseases, as far as we’ve been able to determine. Under normal circumstances, he should do just fine.”
“But?” Sam wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer, but he had to ask.
“But, these are not normal circumstances. This infection is like nothing I’ve ever seen. I’m told your friend was already developing localized signs of infection at the scene after being bitten by this unidentified animal. By the time he arrived here, not even half an hour later, he was in septic shock. No known infectious organism causes such severe sepsis so quickly. We’re analyzing his blood to see if we can isolate and identify the organism behind this, and we’re hitting him with broad-spectrum antibiotics to try and cover all the bases. But we’re most likely dealing with an unknown quantity here, which means I can’t predict what might happen.”
Sam wanted to scream, but his throat was tight and aching and he couldn’t make a sound. He stared at his feet, hoping the rest of the world couldn’t see the anger and despair in his face.
“Can we see him?” David’s voice shook. “You said he was stable.”
“He is. He woke up in recovery, and was able to correctly tell us his name and the year, though of course he wasn’t sure where he was.” Dr. Shore smiled. “He did ask about all of you. He wanted to make sure you were all okay.”
Andre let out a relieved laugh. “He would.”
“Stay here, and the ICU desk will call you when Dr. Broussard is in his room. You’ll only be allowed five minutes for this visit, since it’s immediately postop, so best to pick one person to go see him.” Rising to his feet, Dr. Shore glanced at the scrap of paper he still held. “Speaking of which, is one of you Sam?”
Sam’s heart leapt straight up his throat. “I am.”
“Dr. Broussard would like to see you.” Turning on his heel, the doctor strode briskly toward the waiting room door. “Have the nurse page me when you find the wife’s number.”
Silence hung thick and heavy in the wake of the doctor’s departure. Tucking his feet under him, Sam took a long swallow of his cooling coffee. He could feel David and Andre staring at him, and knew they were wondering why Bo had asked for him when they’d been friends with him for far longer. Probably wondering if it had anything to do with the way Sam had kissed Bo’s hand as the paramedics wheeled him along the hallway at South Bay High.
Sam longed to tell them, but he couldn’t. Bo wanted to keep his secret for now, and Sam was determined to respect that. You shouldn’t have acted like that at the school, he berated himself. You were so fucking obvious, you might as well have “I love Bo” carved into your forehead.
    It was too much to think about right then. Sam kept his gaze fixed on the floor. Eventually, David and Andre started talking in low tones. Ignoring them, Sam steeled himself to wait for the time when he could see Bo.
    It didn’t take as long as he thought it would. No more than twenty minutes after Dr. Shore left, the volunteer at the waiting room desk came walking over. He looked up at her.
    The elderly woman gave him a sweet smile. “You’re Sam Raintree, right?”
“That’s right.” Sam glanced at David and Andre. Both were sitting ramrod straight,