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Crispin opened one eye. “Where’d he go?”
“You scared him off.” Booth continued to hold pressure on the wound. “But you look like you went a few rounds with Conor McGregor. What happened here?”
Crispin’s eye rolled to look at her, then back to Booth.
“That’s my friend Nova. She’s gonna clean you up. You can speak freely with her here.” Booth looked at her and arched a brow.
She nodded. He wanted to trust her with the parts he’d kept secret all this time. She wasn’t about to break his trust. “We need to get his shirt off, but hold pressure until I tell you.”
“I remember. Under the canoes.” Crispin licked his bloodied lip. “It’s Floyd. Wants revenge…Blames us for Earl’s death. Hired…men. Wants…wants to find…” He trailed off.
“Don’t worry about that now. Save your energy.” Nova pulled gloves on and cut up the middle of Crispin’s shirt and along the shoulder seam.
Booth lifted his hands long enough for Nova to peel the shirt back. The bullet wound was a small hole about the size of her index finger. Booth was right. The shot had gone through Crispin’s shoulder muscle and exited. It looked clean, but doctors would need to verify with an X-ray.
She covered the front wound with a stack of gauze pads and taped it down. “Roll him so I can do the back.”
Nova waited until Booth was by her side. “Roll on three. One…two…three.”
Booth rolled Crispin enough for Nova to get the bandage in place.
Crispin grunted.
She taped it down fast, and they lowered Crispin. She covered him with a blanket up to his chin and handed Booth a wet wipe for the blood on his hands.
Instead of using it himself, Booth wiped Crispin’s chin. “Why’d you come here, buddy?”
“I…I had to tell you…” Crispin’s eye fought to stay open, lost.
“Tell me? Tell me what?” Booth looked to her.
Nova put her fingers to Crispin’s neck. “Pulse is good.”
Her cell phone rang. She pulled off the bloody gloves and answered. “Burns.”
“We’re landing in two minutes. Clear the area,” Medevac said.
“Copy.” She disconnected and slid her phone into her back pocket. “Medevac is incoming. I’ll go meet them.”
Booth nodded and continued to watch Crispin. She stood and squeezed Booth’s shoulder. He placed his hand over hers. “Thanks.”
Nova swallowed and went outside into the afternoon sun.
The thump-thump-thump of the helicopter’s rotors grew louder on approach.
She was all kinds of twisted up inside seeing Booth so worried about Crispin. This was why she avoided relationships. Pain.
The helicopter made a sharp turn before setting down in the clearing. In a matter of seconds, the EMTs unloaded with their gear and ran to Crispin.
The small one-room jail was too crowded, so Nova waited outside with Booth. They stood in silence as the EMTs loaded Crispin onto a gurney and hurried him to the air ambulance.
Almost as quickly as it had arrived, the chopper ascended.
Booth turned and walked off.
“Wait.” She trotted after him. “Where are you going?”
He kept walking. “To find whoever did this.”
