The First Three Rules by Adrienne Wilder Page A

had his brother with me and I didn’t think I needed to.”
    Her gaze went to Rudy. “Yes, sir.”
    She buzzed Jon in.
    “Harold will take you back.” The nurse nodded at the man wearing a blue scrub top.
    “C’mon.” Jon took Rudy by the arm.
    The man led them down a long gray hall to a back room where beds were separated by curtains. Disinfectant and ozone saturated the air.
    “He’s in this one.” The orderly pulled back the curtain. “The doctor will be by shortly so just sit tight.” He left.
    Ellis looked almost frail among the white blankets. He had a couple of butterfly stitches on the cut near his temple now and an IV line in the crook of his left arm.
    Jon want to touch him but he wasn’t sure he had the right so he put his hands on the railing.
    Rudy cringed in the corner.
    “It’s okay, he’s just asleep.” Rudy still didn’t move. “Rudy?” He shook his head. “All right, you stay right there then.”
    Ellis surprised Jon by opening his eyes. The hell with being appropriate, Jon put his hand over Ellis’s. “How are you feeling?”
    “Did you find the Tylenol?” Ellis squinted at him.
    “Yeah, and I even remembered to put it back.”
    Ellis blinked several time and looked around. “Where am I?”
    “Hospital.”
    “Rudy?”
    “He’s right there.” Jon nodded at Rudy.
    “Hey, how you doing?” Ellis smiled.
    “Are you dead?”
    “No, not dead. At least, I’m pretty sure I’m not.”
    Rudy touched Ellis’s foot, hidden under the blanket.
    “It’s okay,” Ellis said. “You can come over here.”
    Rudy did. Ellis held his hand. “You all right?”
    Rudy nodded.
    “Everything will be okay, so don’t to worry.”
    Rudy petted Ellis’s like he might break if he touched him too hard.
    The curtain pulled back. The doctor was tall and thin and the crop of white hair on his head was almost gone. His name tag read Bramblet. He looked at Ellis, then Rudy. “Hey there Rudy, it’s been a long time.”
    Rudy almost smiled. “I fell off the porch.”
    “You sure did.”
    “I broke my arm.”
    “Yup. But you’re doing okay today, right?”
    “Ellis is sick.”
    “Just a little. Don’t worry, we’ll get him fixed up.” The doctor looked at Jon. “And you’re the marshal, I presume.” The man’s expression said he was onto Jon’s game.
    “Retired, but yeah.”
    “A little young to be retired.”
    “Medical reasons.”
    He nodded like it explained everything. “I want to do an MRI.” Doctor Bramblet scanned the clipboard in his hands.
    “Why?” Ellis said.
    “Because you have a concussion. And I want to make sure there’s nothing serious going on up there.” His gaze flicked to Rudy then back. “You mind telling me how this happened?”
    “Lenny beat him up,” Rudy said. “The lady’s hair was so pretty. I broke rule number three. Then Lenny got mad and came over to the truck—”
    “Rudy,” Ellis said. Rudy snapped his mouth shut. “It was an accident. Nothing else.”
    “Did you file a police report?” Bramblet said.
    “No.”
    “You need to.”
    “No.”
    “Ellis, this is serious.”
    “I’m not filing a police report and that’s that.”
    “At least call George Marsh.”
    “He’s not the sheriff anymore so there’s nothing he can do.”
    “He may not be sheriff, but he can talk to Lenny.”
    Ellis tried to sit up. “I want to go home.” Jon put a hand on his shoulder. “Let me go. I want to go home.”
    “You need to stay.”
    “No.”
    “Ellis.”
    “Who the hell do you think you are?” He shoved Jon’s hand away and punched his shoulder. Jon didn’t even flinch.
    Ellis tried to hit him again and he grabbed Ellis’s wrist. “He won’t call the cops.” Ellis pulled but Jon hung on. The anger in Ellis’s eyes dulled with fatigue and the pink in his cheeks bled away. “Please, just lay down.” He resisted a few more seconds then fell back against the bed. Jon looked at Doctor Bramblet. “No police report.”
    His mouth