Detective Wade Jackson Mystery - 03 - Thrilled to Death Read Online Free PDF

time, and who knows when it will happen again.”
    “Sure. I can arrange that. How early can I come in? I’d like to spend most of the day.”
    “Be here at ten o’clock and we’ll see how it goes.”
    “See you then.”
    Jackson dreaded the interview most of all. He hated answering questions. He could ask them all day, but it was not in his nature to respond to probing. He shut off his computer, filed his paperwork from the assault case, and headed out.
    On his way to pick up Katie from drill team practice, the pain flamed near his kidney again. This time it was so bad he had to pull off into a store parking lot. He waited ten minutes for the burning to subside, then called his ex-wife.
    “Renee? I need you to do me a favor and pick up Katie and take her to your place.”
    “Are you working a homicide?”
    “I’m going to the emergency room.”
    “Seriously? In the sixteen years we were married, you never saw a doctor except for your annual physical.”
    “Maybe I should have. Tell Katie I’m fine. I just need to get an MRI, so I know what’s going on.”
    “Are you in pain?”
    Jackson realized he’d never told Katie or Renee about his flare-ups. Only Kera and Sergeant Lammers knew the specifics. “I’ve had this pain in my lower abdomen off and on for months.” He decided to keep the chest-tightening symptom to himself. “Don’t worry. My doctor thinks it’s nothing.”
    “Keep us posted, okay? Katie will worry if you don’t call.”
    Jackson started his cruiser and headed across the downtown area to North McKenzie. He’d spent plenty of time at the hospital over the years, usually waiting to question a victim or a witness, but he’d never been a patient. This morning when Kera said he might have a growth, it had been a wake up call. What if this was cancer? It felt like it had invaded his kidneys. Nobody survived kidney cancer. What if he had waited too long?
    Jackson thought about his last will and testament, which hadn’t been updated in a long time. As a patrol cop, he’d been encouraged to keep his affairs in order. The first responders to a situation were always more at risk. Oh, damn . Was Renee still his beneficiary? He would have to change that and ensure his life insurance money went into a trust for Katie.
    The downtown hospital was only a block from the University of Oregon, and the side-by-side institutions were major employers and life forces in the community. North McKenzie was building a new hospital on the outskirts of Springfield, so the dynamic would change and not for the better. Jackson found a parking space on the first floor of the overpark across the street. Grateful for the short walk, he tried not to hold his gut or wince as he hobbled in.
    The glass-walled waiting area in the ER was moderately quiet. Jackson only counted three people who looked miserable enough to be checked in for services: a young man with a bloody towel wrapped around his hand, an older woman who kept putting her head in her lap, and a little boy with fever-pink cheeks who slept against his mother. The others waiting in the hard plastic chairs were keeping company.
    Jackson sat in one of the little cubicles at the check-in counter. A thirty-something woman in purple scrubs with deadpan delivery asked him twenty-seven questions: When was your last bowel movement? Are you here because you want pain medication? Have you ever been tested for HIV?
    He was glad he wasn’t bleeding, because she was in no hurry to get him back to see a doctor. After fifteen minutes with the Questioner, he took a seat near the dizzy old woman. Jackson knew he should call Kera, but he hesitated. She was already worried about Danette and he hated to add to her stress. Yet his cell phone was in his hand and he felt an overwhelming need to hear her voice.
    “Hi Kera. Any news?”
    “Not yet. I even got on Facebook and contacted some of Danette’s friends. It’s almost seven o’clock. This is not a case of a young woman