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The receptionist was a rosy-cheeked kid of maybe nineteen or twenty who turned the color of fresh snow when he saw the three FBI agents walk into the hospital. That made Faith wonder what the hospital might be hiding that they were so afraid of law enforcement. Then again, they weren’t the police, they were the FBI, and the kid was young enough that he might just be afraid of authority.
Faith smiled to try to relax him a little. "Good afternoon. I'm Special Agent Faith Bold, and this is my partner, Special Agent Michael Prince. And this furry little guy is my K-9 unit, Turk."
Turk barked, and the kid jumped. Ah. He was afraid of dogs.
“Don’t worry,” Faith assured him. “He won’t bite. Unless you’re a criminal.” She narrowed her eyes playfully. “Are you a criminal?”
A trace of green colored the young man’s white face. He shook his head rapidly. “N—no!”
Michael looked sideways at Faith and stepped in to rescue her. “We need to speak to Dr. Lucas Hammond. Is he in right now?”
“Um… Um… I’ll check.”
The kid’s fingers flew across the keyboard. He glanced nervously up at Faith. She smiled at him, and he paled further.
Was it something I said?
A moment later, the receptionist said, “Um… he should be in his office right now. That’s room 373. He does have an examination scheduled for forty-five minutes from now, but he should be free to talk. Um… is he in trouble?”
“I’m afraid we’re not at liberty to discuss details,” Michael said. “Thank you.”
They headed to the elevator. Turk looked sideways at the receptionist as they passed the desk, and the kid shrank back in his chair. Turk looked at Faith in confusion, and she shrugged.
In the elevator, Michael asked, “What the hell was that?”
Faith felt heat climb her cheeks. “What?”
“You know what. Were you trying to flirt with that kid?”
“No! I was just trying to calm him down. He looked nervous.”
“How was that supposed to calm him down? You sounded like a desperate cougar asking him for his number.”
“Hey! Don’t call me a cougar!”
“I’m just saying. The poor kid’s going to go home thinking some crazy cop with a scary dog tried to hit on him in full battle uniform.”
“I was just trying to relax him,” Faith said, face flaming.
“I’ll bet you were.”
“Oh, shut up. You’re gross.”
Michael chuckled, but when the elevator door opened, he adopted a professional look. Faith hoped her face was also professional, but she was pretty sure it was close in shade to a raspberry.
So she was a little awkward around younger people. Whatever. Plenty of adults had trouble talking to… younger adults.
God, maybe she was getting old.
They reached Dr. Hammond’s office, and the task at hand pushed away Faith’s embarrassment. She could deal with her social awkwardness later. Maybe she’d get a chance to apologize to the kid on the way downstairs.
They walked inside to find Dr. Hammond in the middle of eating a sandwich. He looked between the three of them in surprise. “Can I help you?”
“We sure hope so,” Faith said. “I’m Special—”
His brow furrowed. “Why is that dog in here? This is a hospital floor. You can’t have dogs in here.”
“That dog is my K9 unit, Turk,” Faith said. “I am Special—”
