by Marja McGraw
“Zasu has high hopes,” I said. “Mom and Aunt Martha, me and Pete, and the police will be there to watch over the two of them.”
Felicity started to laugh. “Criminals wouldn’t have a chance against your mother and aunt. They’d eat them for breakfast.”
She laughed harder while Stanley looked miserable. I guessed the hormones were still raging, but I’d always heard things settled down toward the end of a pregnancy.
Zasu knocked and brought Sophie in. “Are you sure you don’t mind taking care of her?”
“We’d be delighted,” Felicity said. “I need the practice.”
She turned to her husband.
“Right, Stan?”
He nodded, apparently hesitant to speak.
When we returned from the hospital, I’d have to make sure he and Pete got out for a while. Stanley needed some guy time. Yeah, like I was an expert.
My cell phone rang and Caller ID told me it was the detective.
“I’ve got a couple of men posted near Delgado’s room. You can leave now, if you’re ready.”
“We are. Will you be there?”
“Yes.” He hung up, still a man of few words.
“Okay, Zasu, this is it. Let’s get everyone loaded. You ride in my mother’s car. Pete and I will take the Jeep. We don’t want anyone to know we’re all together.”
“I understand.” There was a certain excitement and hope in her voice. She was finally going to see the love of her life, her child’s father.
It didn’t take long to reach the hospital. The parking lot was full, which in my mind was a good thing. After all, this was a medical facility and if the lot had plenty of cars, then there were plenty of patients. We could be going inside to see any one of them. I glanced around, looking for black SUVs. There were several.
Pete and I kept our distance, but we didn’t have any trouble following the women because my aunt’s camo hat stuck out like a sore thumb.
My mother and aunt stopped at the reception desk and got the room number for Mateo. Pete and I stood in line behind my relatives, waiting our turn. We reached the desk and asked an inane question rather than requesting the same room number.
Zasu waited by the elevators and acted like she didn’t know any of us.
Everything seemed to be working out according to our plan.
Pete and I stalled and took a different elevator.
While Zasu casually walked down the hall and into Mateo’s room, my mother and aunt stood at the nurse’s station, speaking loudly.
“Ladies,” the nurse said, “please keep your voices down.”
“Oh, yes,” Mom said. “Our idiot friend was so intent on watching a particular bird that he tripped over a rock and hurt his back. We were told he’s on this floor.”
“What’s his name?” the nurse asked.
“John Lemmon,” my aunt said.
“James Black,” my mother said.
The women spoke in unison.
“James Black,” my aunt said.
“John Lemmon,” my mother said.
They did it again, speaking at the same time but switching names.
“I’m sorry, but what’s his name?” The nurse looked perplexed. She looked my relatives up and down, and I wondered if she thought they might have escaped from the mental ward.
My mother sighed and put her index finger to her lips while looking at my aunt. “His name is James Lemmon Black, but some people call him John.”
Pete and I sauntered down the hallway to Mateo’s room and peeked in. There was a second patient nearer to the door who was asleep. A so-called relative sat by the bed. In actuality, it was Detective Redding, which led me to believe the patient was actually a cop.
Pete winked at me. We walked in and stood by the second patient’s bed, as though we were there to see him. The detective gave us a barely noticeable nod.
A curtain had been drawn between the two patients.
We could hear Zasu speaking to Mateo. “Oh, Mat!” She sounded both relieved to be seeing him and worried, and she spoke softly, trying to rouse him.
I could hear my mother and aunt still harassing the nurse.
“He’s got to be here,” Aunt Martha said loudly.
“There has to be a mistake,” my mother insisted.
“I’m sorry, ladies, but there’s no one by that name on this floor. Let me call downstairs and I’ll see what I can find out.”
“We’ll wait over there.” That was my aunt’s voice, and I could hear her coming closer to the room. Thankfully, she and my mother stood outside the room and didn’t come in.
My aunt sang softly, under her breath. I knew that to be her habit when she was nervous or frightened.
“We can’t keep this up forever,” she said, softly.
“Sure we can.” My mother spoke loudly. “It’s your fault he wasn’t looking where he was going.”
Ah, the art of arguing. That might be a good stall if they
didn’t get kicked out of the hospital.
Before anyone could blink, they were bickering about a nonexistent friend who’d been on a nonexistent birdwatching expedition with them.
I stuck my head out of the room. “Would you ladies mind moving down the hall? We’re trying to visit someone in here.”
My mother turned to look at me and quietly said, “There’s a copper in the room across the hall.”
“Shhh. Move away, please. You’ll disturb my uncle.”
We were all turning into quite the little actresses.
The bickering continued, but they moved away from the doorway.
“Please wake up, Mat.” Zasu was beginning to sound tearful. “I need you. Sophie needs you. Come back to us. Please!”
My heart was breaking for this young woman.
“We’re going to have to put a stop to this soon,” Redding said. “I’ll be back in a minute. I want to check for strangers on the floor – other than your mother and aunt.” He grinned.
Pete sat down in the chair vacated by the detective. I took a peek around the curtain. Poor Mateo. He looked like he’d been beaten to within an inch of his life. I could understand why his attackers had left him for dead. His face was mostly black and blue, and he had stitches reaching into his hairline. There was a lot of swelling around his eyes and forehead. One of his arms was bandaged and there were huge bruises there, too. I didn’t look any further. It hurt just to look at him.
Zasu glanced up at me. “I’m not sure, but I thought I saw eye movement behind his eyelids. And his fingers moved a little.”
I had a feeling this was wishful thinking on her part.
“Redding says we’ll have to leave soon,” I said quietly.
She nodded and dropped her head, crying softly.
I walked to Pete and stood beside him, glancing down at the other patient. He looked almost as bad as Mateo. Auto accident? No, he was probably a cop and the bruises were make-up.
“Police! Stop where you are!”
Pete jumped out of his chair and the cop leaped out of bed, and they ran out of the room. “Stay here,” Pete yelled at me.
Chapter Fourteen
It was pandemonium. Zasu ran out from behind the curtain and stood with me. We could hear the cops and Pete yelling, my mother and aunt hollering, and the nurse trying to shush everyone.
Aunt Martha hurried into the room. “It’s getting exciting out there.” She ran back out.
We heard a door slam and the noise stopped as suddenly as it started.
“Zasu, you stay here,” I said after waiting for the yelling to start again and not hearing anything.
I ran out to the hallway. Everyone but a nervous and pale looking nurse had disappeared. Another nurse came running, and buzzers were going off at the desk.
“Where’d they go?” I asked.
The first nurse pointed toward a stairwell.
“The patients are frightened,” the second nurse said. “I’ve called for help.”
The two nurses starte
d running to rooms and I assumed they were checking on the most serious cases first.
I ran to the stairwell and pushed the door open. Pete and Redding were climbing up the stairs.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Ever heard of Stranger Danger?” Redding asked. “Officer Henry saw some dangerous looking strangers approaching Delgado’s room. It looked like one of them might be pulling a weapon out of his pocket.”
He looked disgusted, turning his glare in my direction.
“We would have had them, but two little women got in the way.”
I swallowed hard. “Where are my mother and aunt?”
“Downstairs trying to explain that they were trying to help to Officer Henry.”
“Oh, crap,” I said. “What next? Maybe I should send them home.”
“I thought of that,” Redding said. “Then your husband gave me a thumbnail description of what these women are like. They won’t leave unless I run them out of town on a rail.”
I smiled and gritted my teeth at the same time. “Are there any railroad tracks nearby?”
“We need to find something to distract them,” Pete said. “Maybe we could talk them into debunking Gloria’s ghosts.”
“Ghosts?” Redding looked confused.
“There’s a woman in Battle Ground who swears she has ghosts in her bed and breakfast,” Pete said.
“Or maybe bats in her belfry,” I added.
“Seriously,” Pete said. “We’ve got to distract them.”
The door opened and my relatives joined us, with Officer Henry herding them along. He was relatively tall and towered over the two small women.
I guessed Officer Henry to be in his late twenties, and although he’d probably dealt with all types of people, I was fairly sure that didn’t include anyone like my relatives. His dark hair was combed straight back, but I noticed it looked a bit messy, like he’d run his hands through his hair. I knew the look. That’s what Pete did after dealing with Mom and Aunt Martha. I had a feeling he worked out, although he was somewhat slender. I half expected his dark brown eyes to start spinning in circles after spending time with, well, my relatives.
“I wish I hadn’t taken my hormone pills today,” my mother said. “I could have caught those two thugs singlehandedly.”
“I’m sure you could have,” Aunt Martha said. “I’m sorry I reminded you to take your pills.”
The two nurses were joined by a third and they’d already managed to calm most of the patients down. I saw the first nurse pointing us out to the third nurse.
Before things could progress any further, Zasu came running out of Mateo’s room. “He’s awake! Come quick and bring a nurse.”
Before I could stop them, my mother and Aunt Martha ran down the hall and into the room.
I hurried over to the first nurse and told her what was going on. She hustled her little bustle down the hall.
“Henry,” Redding said, “I want you to take charge of those two women. Take them down to the cafeteria and buy them coffee or something. No. No caffeine. Get them bottled water or milk and a donut. I don’t care, but get them out of here!”
“Me, sir? Really?” He looked… Not terrified, but I couldn’t think of a good word.
“You, and now.”
“I can handle this,” I said. “Give me a minute.”
I hurried to Mateo’s room and found my relatives peeking around the curtain.
“Mom? Aunt Martha? I think Officer Henry needs your help. Take him down to the cafeteria and answer some questions for him. You’re witnesses, you know.”
“Why, I hadn’t thought of that,” Mother said. “Yes, we’re witnesses. Come on, Martha. We need to help in any way we can. You saw one of their faces, didn’t you?” She took hold of her sister’s hand and pulled her out of the room.
“No, I thought you did,” Aunt Martha replied.
His voice was weak, but I heard Mateo say, “What’s going on around here? What’s all that noise?”
The nurse kicked all of us out, including Zasu, before she spoke to Mateo. “The doctor will be here soon, Mateo.”
I managed to drag my feet just in case the young man blurted out the killer’s name, but of course, he was a witness and not a participant. How would he know who the murderer was?
“Why am I here? Where’d Zasu go?”
He groaned.
“Don’t try to move yet,” the nurse advised. “I know this is confusing, but…”
I didn’t hear the rest.
Officer Henry once again herded my mother and aunt with his hands on their backs, but this time he was heading for the elevator. The door opened and a doctor stepped off with my little group stepping in.
“You can breathe now,” Pete said. “They won’t be back for a while.”
I watched the doctor head into Mateo’s room. Not to be denied, Zasu followed him in. So did Detective Redding.
Pete and I hung around outside the door, waiting for news.
“Can you believe that all of this ruckus seemed to wake him up?” I asked.
“Amazing.” Pete was staring out the window, not really paying attention. “Another storm is heading in.”
“Somehow it seems like today should be sunny, to celebrate Mateo’s impending recovery. Although, I guess the dark clouds fit the overall situation.”
“Uh huh.”
“Do you think the police will keep an eye on Mateo
now, since those men were here?”
“Probably.”
“I wonder where he’ll go when he recovers. He can’t go home unless the killer is caught.”
Pete sighed. “Knowing you, he’ll probably come to our place and stay with Zasu and the baby.”
My husband could read me like a book. “Do you think those men will make the connection between us being here and Mateo?”
“No. We were in the room, supposedly visiting the other patient. I’m not sure they even saw us.”
“Our house is going to be crowded for a while. I hope it doesn’t bother Felicity to have all of these people around.”
“You know, Sandi, Delgado isn’t going to recover overnight. This whole thing may be settled before he’s released.”
“At least the cops can talk to him now,” I said. “Maybe having so many people around will distract Felicity instead of upsetting her.”
Pete’s shoulders tightened. “Mateo was beaten into a coma, there’s a killer or killers on the loose, and you’re worried about Felicity?”
He was right, but I wasn’t ready to admit it. “Well, it’s not every day a woman has a baby.”
“Yeah? Well, I hope this one comes soon.”
“She’s not due for another three weeks.”
There was an empty room where Officer Henry had been watching things. I walked in and sat in a visitor’s chair.
Having my mother, my aunt and pregnant Felicity around seemed to have changed me, and not necessarily for the better. Adding Zasu and Sophie to that equation made me feel almost helpless. I needed to start looking at things more rationally. I wasn’t the camp director. I couldn’t whip everyone into line. They had to make their own decisions, and if they made mistakes, it was on them, not me.
So, then, why did I feel so responsible for everyone? Thinking about it only made me realize I always felt responsible for others. It wasn’t my job to watch out for others. I needed to start reminding myself of that fact.
On the other hand, when my friends and family were in danger, it was usually my fault. Well, partially my fault. No! It wasn’t my doing. People like my mother and aunt were always sticking their noses in where they didn’t belong. They had to start watching out for themselves.
Yeah, like that was going to happen. Putting all that thought into changes in me hadn’t resolved a thing.
I sighed loudly.
“I heard that,” Pete said, walking into the room. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, I was thinking about how being around all of these peop
le has changed me.”
He smiled. “Don’t worry about it. At some point they’ll all go home and you’ll have your old life back.”
“You’re so wise sometimes. By the way, did you guys get a good look at those men?”
“No. They had on baseball caps and sunglasses. It all happened too fast.”
“Oh.”
“Redding and I talked about the body in the forest. Since I’m a P.I. and an ex-cop, he opened up a little. They got an ID on the body. His name is, or was, James Kennedy. He was a CPA and he may have had some shady connections.”
“How shady?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Redding didn’t say much more than that. We can ask Stan do to some research. Maybe he can find out more about the man. I’d like to leave everything up to Redding, but we’re taking a chance by hiding these people out.”
I rubbed my hands together. “Besides, Zasu more or less hired us to help her and Mateo.”
“I’d say less, but I think we’re in this whether we want to be or not. That’s the last time I tell you about an abandoned house, at least while your relatives are on the scene.”
“You were right about that. We need to distract Mom and Aunt Martha. Maybe I’ll just give ol’ Gloria a call.”
“Good idea.”
“In the meantime, I wonder how the cop downstairs is doing. I’ll bet by the time he gets rid of my relatives his hair will have turned white.”
“No doubt. I’m surprised my hair has turned yet.”
“Oh, I don’t know. The streaks at your temples seem thicker to me.”
I laughed.
He didn’t.
“Something just struck me. Did you at least see the car those thugs got away in?”
“Yeah. A black SUV with no rear license plate.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Is Redding sure those men were here because of Mateo?” I asked.
“As sure as he can be,” Pete said. “They were headed for his room, it looked like one of them had a weapon, and they ran when they saw cops. Redding is going to look at surveillance to see if he can get a look at them or more on the SUV.”
“Does he think they saw Zasu?”