She felt desperate and ready to scream. It was too much. All of the major aspects of her life had been destroyed. Now she couldn’t catch a simple train that she needed desperately. Just then, she spotted a taxi cab and hailed it.
“Where to, Miss?” the cabbie asked as she got into the back seat.
Ellie looked at the time on her cellphone and cursed to herself. Natalie would already have left school by now. She considered telling the taxi driver to take her to the nearest police station. There was no way she could do that without talking to Jake and Daniel, though.
“Miss?” the cabbie prompted again.
She gave him ABTC’s address. She had to talk to Natalie’s mom and find out if the comatose patient was Chelsea Bothwell. She called Natalie’s cellphone again, relieved when Natalie answered. They exchanged greetings, then Ellie asked, “Are you going in to work today?”
“Yeah. I’m almost there.” Natalie’s voice sounded a little odd—as if she was being fake-perky.
“Did you tell your mother about our conversation yesterday?”
There was a pause. “Yeah. She kind of said to let her supervise our conversations for a while.”
Ellie rolled her eyes.
“She thinks your grief has gotten to you, and that you pretty much . . . . She really likes you, Elizabeth. She just thinks you should be under a psychiatrist’s care, but she says that’s true for a lot of people. I asked if I could have you spend a couple nights in our guest room, and she said that’s a good idea.”
Ellie winced, not knowing how to begin to respond. In her head, Alexis’s voice said: I’m Alexis. For just a moment, for an eye-blink of time, she saw Alexis’s mother’s face, smiling down at her.
My brain was not a clean slate! Alexis still has some memories after all!
“Elizabeth? Are you still there?”
“Yes. I’m in a cab. I’m almost at ABTC. I’ll meet you in the lobby. Okay?”
“Okay,” Natalie said. “See you soon.”
“Wait,” Ellie said. “I’m afraid I have to ask you a pretty big favor.”
“Okay,” Natalie said with no hesitation. “Ask away.”
“I need to find out from your mom if there are any coma patients named Chelsea Bothwell or Mark Jones. Can you call her and ask?”
“We’d . . . be better off asking her that in person. I’ll see you in a bit.” She hung up.
#
Natalie arrived a minute after Ellie did. To Ellie’s surprise, her badge still opened the door lock. She put her badge in her pocket, hoping that doing so would help her stick with her vow to get the coma patient’s name, then leave immediately, hopefully taking Natalie with her.
She and Natalie exchanged small talk; Ellie sensed that Natalie was equally concerned with being overheard. Ellie eyed a security camera as they walked down the corridor toward the brain-trauma wing. “I need to know the patient’s name because of the stuff I was talking to you about yesterday.”
“That’s what I figured,” Natalie replied. She pressed the buzzer for the security door.
“Yes?” came the voice.
“Mom? It’s me and Elizabeth. Can you come out for just a sec? Nothing’s wrong, but it’s important.”
“Sure, honey. I’ll be right there.” Her voice had a concerned-mother tone.
Lisa Stein emerged momentarily. She gave Ellie a wan smile but focused immediately on Natalie. “Is everything all right?”
“Fine.”
Ellie pretended as if she had to give her neck a massage so that she could hide her mouth from the camera. “I know you think I’m having a nervous breakdown. If our roles were reversed, I’d think the same thing. I’m not crazy, Ms. Stein. I need to know if any of your coma patients are unidentified, or if they’re named ‘Chelsea Bothwell’ or ‘Mark Jones.’”
Ms. Stein sighed. “This is about that Alzheimer’s patient and her niece, isn’t it,” Natalie’s mom said. “I’m so sorry. Yes, Elizabeth. The young woman who was admitted yesterday morning is Chelsea Bothwell.”
“Oh, God,” Ellie said before she could stop herself. She also dropped any pretense of hiding her lips from the camera lens.
“I spoke to Chelsea Bothwell’s mother yesterday and asked if she knew ‘Susan Mitchell,’ but she said she didn’t. I can go talk to Ms. Mitchell about Chelsea right now.”
“Is Chelsea still in a coma?” Ellie asked, her heart already pounding for fear that she was too late.
“Dr. McGavin is keeping a close watch on her.”
Elizabeth was starting to hyperventilate. “What about Mark Jones?”
“We don’t have any current patients by that name. I’ll try to look up his name in the computer. None of us nurses could get into the patient database yesterday. There seems to be a problem with the computer security screening. We were told that I.T. had already been notified. Heaven knows what we’ll do if we have to check a patient’s medical history for potentially lethal allergies.”
“Okay. Thanks so much for your help,” Ellie said.
She shifted her gaze to her daughter. “I suppose you heard the sad news,” Ms. Stein said quietly.
“What news?” Ellie asked.
“We just got here a minute ago,” Natalie added.
“Jennifer McGavin died last night.”
Chapter 35
“I’d better get to back to work,” Ms. Stein said. She hesitated. “Why did you want to know about a Mark Jones?”
“That’s someone I think could wind up as a victim.”
“A victim? Of what?” When Ellie didn’t answer, Ms. Stein said, “There isn’t a conspiracy going on, Elizabeth. I know you think there is, but that’s a symptom of your grief. It can cause a chemical imbalance in your brain.”
“I realize that, but I’m not crazy, Ms. Stein. I’m in—”
“You’re not wearing your badge,” Natalie interrupted.
“I don’t work here anymore. I’m leaving right now.” She returned her attention to Natalie’s mother. “I think Natalie should come with me.”
Lisa paled visibly. “That’s not a good idea, dear.”
Ellie realized at once that arguing was useless. “I understand.” She gave Natalie a quick hug. “Bye, Natalie.” Ellie turned.
“Wait, Elizabeth. I’ll walk you out.”
“Hold up a moment,” Ms. Stein said, grabbing Natalie’s arm. “I want to discuss our schedules for the rest of the week.”
“We’ll talk later,” Ellie said to Natalie, to ease the situation. She had to swallow the lump in her throat as she walked away. Of course Natalie’s mother thinks I’m crazy. I think I’m crazy. And Natalie is in danger when she’s with me!
Heading for the lobby, she turned onto the main corridor. Up ahead of her, she saw Ethan coming toward her. His gaze locked with hers. She froze. It’s too late! He overheard me!
A door opened about midway between her and Ethan. Three people in white lab coats entered the hallway, heading toward Ethan. Ellie ran and squeezed in front of one of them, startling all three.
“Elizabeth, I need to have a word with you,” Ethan said evenly, stopping a few feet ahead of the group Ellie had planted herself among. She grabbed the sleeves of the man and woman ahead of her. They abruptly stopped walking and tried to pull free from her grasp.
“I don’t believe I’ve met any of you,” Ellie said. She released her grasp on the two lab coats. “My name is Elizabeth Peterson, and I need to be escorted from the building. I’m leveling sexual misconduct charges against Dr. Ethan McGavin. I’m really afraid he’s going to hurt me.”
“She’s lying!” Ethan growled.
“It’s not his fault,” Ellie continued. “He’s grieving for his wife. I’m sure he’s not in his right mind. He doesn’t even realize what he’s doing. But you’re all medical professionals. You need to keep him under observation and shouldn’t let him near any of the patients.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Ethan growled, his face red with rage. “I’m you
r superior! I know exactly what I’m doing!”
“All I want is to get out of the building and get home safely.”
“She’s making all of this up! I was simply going to tell Miss Peterson here that she’s fired due to her atrocious work habits.”
She yanked off her badge. “Here’s my badge.” She turned and gave it to the man she’d scooted in front of. “You can keep any of the salary you still owe me,” Ellie said to Ethan. “Just let me leave without following me.”
“I was never following her!” Ethan said, directing his comments to the eldest of the three employees. “And I’m not in shock. Jennifer is no longer in pain. My wife’s death was not unexpected.”
“With all due respect, sir, you shouldn’t be at work today,” the fortyish Hispanic man replied. “Nobody should be at work the day after their spouse has passed away.”
“All I want is to get home without anyone following me,” Ellie said again.
“Sally,” the Hispanic man said, looking at the blond woman, “why don’t you accompany Elizabeth out of the building, and explain to the guard that she no longer works here.”
Sally winced and looked at Ethan, “I will, Dr. Garcia.” The second man handed Ellie’s badge to Sally.
While keeping Sally between her and Ethan, Ellie got past Ethan, who said, “That girl is unstable! She’s lying through her teeth!”
“Even so, it’s best to allow her to leave the premises,” Dr. Garcia replied.
Concentrating her energy on getting away without breaking into a dead run, Ellie couldn’t hear Ethan’s response. The woman—Sally—who was escorting her said nothing till they reached the door to the lobby. They both started to grab the knob, but Sally got there first.
“It’s best for my career if you don’t say a single word to me,” Sally told her.
Taking her at her word, Ellie nodded. She held her breath as she crossed the lobby and pushed open the glass door. She was already shivering; the chilly air felt good, and she didn’t bother to tighten her coat.
Ellie waited till she crossed the street to look back. Sally was no longer in sight. As best she could tell, nobody was following her.
She called Natalie, praying she’d ignored the work policy and had her cellphone turned on. Ellie cursed as the call went straight to voice messaging. “Natalie, it’s Elizabeth,” she said into the phone. “Please leave ABTC and call me the moment you get this message.” She hung up, then texted Natalie the same message. She supposed Jake and Daniel would be angry that she was still using the same cellphone that Daniel had given her yesterday.
She rode four stops to the new apartment without incident and ran from the station to the building. Nobody was running after her.
The manager at the front desk greeted her with: “Bon jour, Mademoiselle.” She threw him a: “Bonjour, Monsieur,” rushed into the elevator, grateful it was empty, avoiding his eyes. The eight-floor ride was painfully slow, and Ellie felt like screaming when it stopped on the fourth floor. A white-haired woman grinned at her. “Are you going down?”
“Up. I’m going up,” she said, pressing the button repeatedly to close the door. She finally arrived at their floor, ran to their apartment door, and let herself in.
Jake and Daniel were working on their computers at the dining room table. Panting, despite her respite of the elevator, she said, “Jennifer McGavin is dead.”
They both stared at her.
“We’ve run out of time. Ethan’s at work today. He’s going to erase Chelsea Bothwell’s memories and turn her into Jennifer. We have to kidnap Chelsea and bring her out of the coma. Right now! And Ethan heard me talking to Natalie and her mom about Chelsea. We have to get Natalie and her mom out of there!”
Chapter 36
Ellie told them about her narrow escape, then said, “I have to call Natalie again. I’ve got to make sure she gets out of there.”
“She’s fine for the time being,” Jake said. “Ethan won’t want to get within fifty yards of your friend Natalie now that you’ve accused him of sexual misconduct. He’s focused on Chelsea Bothwell and Mark Jones right now.”
“Maybe so, but I—”
Jake rose and held out his palm. “It’s time to swap out your phone.”
“But I’m waiting for Natalie to call me back! I’m trying to warn her to get the hell out of ABTC for good!”
“All the more reason to get rid of this phone.”
Ellie grudgingly handed him her phone. He grabbed another phone from a box in the bottom of the closet, yanked out the battery, and put it into the new phone. He handed her the new phone. “Don’t leave any messages.”
He shifted his gaze to Daniel, who continued to work at his computer. “Any luck?” Jake asked him.
Daniel shook his head. “I still can’t get into ABTC’s system.”
“And I haven’t gotten all of my research files to Professor Lee yet,” Jake muttered. He returned to his seat at the table.
After a few seconds of listening to their quiet tap-tap-tapping, she closed herself up in her room and called Natalie. Still no answer. Ellie vowed to call every fifteen minutes till she answered.
With visions of Ethan grabbing Natalie as a backup body for Chelsea Bothwell’s, Ellie grew more and more anxious.
Ninety minutes dragged past before Natalie finally answered, saying, “Elizabeth?”
“Yes. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m home. Didn’t you get my message?”
“No.”
“I texted that I was with my mom and couldn’t talk in front of her, so I turned off my phone.”
Ellie sighed. “I freaked her out, didn’t I.” She knew the answer was yes.
“She figures something is massively wrong with either you or Ethan, and she doesn’t want me near either of you. What on earth happened this afternoon? We overheard Ethan shouting at you.”
“He fired me. I’m sure he’s going to erase all of Chelsea’s memories and replace them with Jennifer’s. It was all I could to get out of the building. Did your mom happen to say anything about Ethan operating on Chelsea?”
“She said Dr. Garcia was watching him like a hawk.”
Ellie heard Natalie’s mom in the background ask: “Who are you talking to, honey?”
“A friend at school,” Natalie replied. “Bye, Stephanie,” Natalie said in an obvious ruse. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“I’ve got a new number,” Ellie said. “It’ll be on your missed-call log.”
“Thanks. You, too.” Natalie hung up.
#
Time was slipping away. The wait was maddening. Daniel and Jake seemed to take turns coming up with one last idea for an alternative course of action, or one more task they needed to complete. They finally agreed on a Plan A, which would require Natalie’s help, and a Plan B if they had to act alone.
Both plans were desperate and inane. Both plans included a step in which they called 911 so that the police would be forced to protect Chelsea, and the paramedics would take over Chelsea’s immediate medical care. Jake assured Ellie and Daniel that, provided they got there in time—before the memory-transfer procedure began—it was likely that Chelsea would awaken from her induced coma with her memories intact.
Natalie called Ellie back just as Ellie was about to call her. “I have to ask you to do something that I know you won’t want to do,” Ellie said. “I’m begging you to say yes.”
“What?” Natalie asked.
“Swap your badge for your mother’s, so it will look like an honest mistake. Then I’ll call you when we arrive at your home. Give me your mother’s badge. We’ll be able to use it to get into the brain-trauma ward.”
“Why? What are you planning to do?”
“Jake, Daniel, and I are going to kidnap Chelsea Bothwell and bring her out of her coma.”
There was a pause. “You’re serious?”
“I’m serious. We don’t have any choice. We can’t let her die and become Jennifer McGavin. Please
help us. I will do everything in my power to get your mom’s badge back to you tonight. Everything.” Including making that be my final request if someone shoots me, Ellie added in silence.
“Will you change your mind about the kidnapping if I refuse?”
Ellie sighed. “No. Daniel has a gun. We’ll try to take a security guard hostage and force him at gunpoint to let us in.”
“Eww,” Natalie said. “That’s a terrible idea!”
“I agree. But every minute we spend thinking instead of taking action could be the minute it will take for Ethan to erase Chelsea’s memories and replace them with Jennifer’s.”
“Geez, Elizabeth. I can’t refuse to help after hearing that . . . I’d never be able to live with myself! I’ll swap my badge for mom’s. She won’t notice till she goes to work tomorrow.”
“We’ll have it back to you before then. I promise.”
“I’ll wait here. Call me the moment you get here. You can park in my neighbor’s space . . . he’s out of town this whole week. It’s number three twelve, near the back door. It’s directly below my bedroom window. I’ll swap our badges now, and I’ll run my mom’s badge down to you when you call.”
Chapter 37
An hour later, with Jake behind the wheel, Daniel in the passenger seat, and Ellie in the back seat, they drove toward Natalie’s apartment building. As Jake pulled into the space marked 312, Ellie called Natalie’s cell phone.
It rang, but no one answered. Ellie hung up. “Damn it! No answer,” Ellie said, redialing.
“I think I saw Natalie in the window,” Daniel said.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ellie saw someone race toward the back of Daniel’s car. An instant later, the person pounded on the trunk. Ellie gasped in surprise. “That’s Natalie’s mom,” Ellie said. We’re trapped in this parking space!
Lisa held up her ABTC badge. “Is this what you’re looking for?” she shouted, looking livid.
Jake rolled down his window, apparently not wanting to waste time by getting out of the car. “You’re Lisa Stein,” Jake called back to her, his voice relatively friendly.
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