The police were checking on Faye, who abruptly awakened with a shout. “Damn you, Cleo! You and that bratty kid will regret sticking your noses into my business. Who do you think will believe your lies about me after they find out you two talk to ghosts?”
The rest of her outburst was drowned out by the scream of the ambulance siren as it pulled into the parking lot. Pablo directed the crew to Angelica and I stayed right with her as the medic checked her vital signs. “Are you her mother?” he asked.
“No,” I admitted. “Just a friend. Her mother is dead, but I can call her sister and try to reach her father. Is she going to be all right?”
“We need to get her to the hospital,” he said, as the other crewmember ran in, pushing a stretcher. They lifted her on, strapped her in, and wheeled her toward the door.
I ran frantically along beside. “Please tell me how she is,” I implored. I knew they couldn’t tell me anything about her condition—they weren’t doctors and she was a minor and not my child. But I could and did insist on riding with her to the hospital.
“I’m staying with Angelica until her family gets to the hospital,” I yelled over to the police who were questioning Faye on the other side of the room. “I’ll give you a statement at the hospital or later at the police station, but not now,” I said in my strongest don’t-mess-with-me voice.
More Boulder police had arrived by then, but Pablo waved them away from me as I headed out to the ambulance. “I’m right behind you, babe,” he said giving me a quick hug. “Call her family from the ambulance, but don’t give anyone details until you’ve made your statement. I know none of this is your fault, but her family might not see it that way.”
As I sat in the back of the ambulance, holding Angelica’s hand, the wail of the siren washed over me like a tragic Greek chorus bemoaning my mistakes. I sagged in anguish. I deserved whatever consequences I might suffer from all this. I had ignored both Pablo’s and Elisa’s warnings. But Angelica—who had already suffered so much at such a young age—did not deserve to be hurt. And my failure to keep her safe stung like a sharp thorn in my heart.
Chapter 40
Staff at the hospital emergency entrance whisked Angelica off to a treatment room and sent me to the intake desk to provide basic information. The waiting room was a madhouse. Two college women had fallen from the roof of a three-story sorority house during an early-evening drinking party. Their not-so-sober sorority sisters jammed the tiny waiting area—crying, talking, laughing—all at an ear-splitting level.
As I fought through the crowd to the desk, one voice from the front door was loud and frantic enough to stand out above the cacophony of young female voices. “Cleo, where is she? Where’s Angelica? I was on the phone with Dad when you called from the ambulance. Your voicemail made me crazy! I ran at least three red lights getting over here. Please say she’s okay!”
Lacey and I shoved through the crush to get to each other, and I pulled her back with me to the desk where the receptionist sat behind a glass panel. Lacey looked sweaty and frazzled and very, very scared. I put my arms around her and spoke quietly into her ear. “Angelica’s in a treatment room. I’m sure they’ll let you go there as soon as you tell them who she is and what insurance she has.”
Once the woman behind the desk understood who Lacey was, she took her behind the glass separator to fill out the forms in a quieter space. I was left alone with the boisterous after-party crowd. The adrenaline that had sustained me during our capture and escape was wearing off. I was shaky and dizzy, but I managed to slowly make my way through the mob to the front door. I wanted to get out and call Pablo. He’d said he’d be right behind me and I desperately needed a huge Pablo hug.
Just as I got to the door, it swung open in my face. I looked up hoping to see Pablo’s caring face, but instead I got a surly glare from Derrick Townes. “I told you to stay away from Angelica,” he snarled, pausing briefly to glower at me. “But you didn’t listen. And now she’s hurt, maybe dying.” Before I could even think about what to reply, he put his hand out to silence any response from me. “I don’t have time to deal with you now,” he said menacingly, “but you’d better believe there will be consequences.” Then he pushed off through the throng toward the reception desk.
I opened the door again, walked out into the quiet parking lot, sagged against the wall, and vomited into a trashcan. My phone rang. Pablo. By the time I got a tissue from my pocket, wiped off my face and picked up the call, it had gone to voicemail. I sobbed in frustration and total misery.
A familiar voice broke into my melancholy. “Yo, Cleo.”
I looked up. Suddenly Tyler materialized in the dark sky. Crouched low on his board, he surfed gracefully over a parking-lot lamppost and hovered in front of me.
“Awesome. You didn’t bail in the impact zone.”
“Tyler! I wish I had bailed. Angelica is hurt. What if she has a serious head injury? What if she dies? I should have stayed out of this whole mess.”
“Hey, you’re no poser. You’re the badass. Cruncher didn’t wipe you out. Now you can paddle back out and shoot the curl.”
“Tyler, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I cried. “You’re not helping me one bit. It’s bad enough that Angelica is hurt. Now Derrick blames me. I could lose my license or worse.”
I got no response. Tyler had surfed off over the hospital roof, leaving me as usual stuck trying to decipher his message.
But I was too worried about Angelica to think any more about Tyler or to stand outside wallowing in self-pity. I pulled myself together, tried calling Pablo again and got his voicemail. I checked my voicemail and got his message saying he had to make a report to the Boulder police before he could come to the hospital and he’d be there as soon as he could.
As I turned to go back inside, the sorority girls came streaming out en masse. I stood back to let them pass, then headed in to the empty waiting room and looked around for a ladies room to clean myself up. I washed my face, rinsed out my mouth, then went back into the waiting area and over to the desk to find out about Angelica. The woman behind the desk apologetically told me that Angelica’s father had insisted that the hospital was not to give out any information about her condition.
“Can you at least tell me if she’s alive,” I begged.
“I’m sorry,” she said, kindly. “We can’t.”
I found a chair and sat, staring bleakly at a rack of dog-eared magazines. How had it come to this? I only wanted to help Angelica and now she and I were both in jeopardy. I heard the front door open again. Please let it be Pablo, I said silently. But it wasn’t Pablo. It was Shane.
He was wearing torn jeans and a rumpled gray tee shirt that said I’m dressed and out of bed—what more do you want? Pretty appropriate given how he looked. Unshaven, hair sticking up, eyes red. He scanned the room frantically, saw me and dashed over.
“What’s going on with Angelica?” he demanded. “I just listened to Lacey’s messages saying Angelica was missing and then that she’s in this hospital. What happened?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “Angelica’s in back with the doctors. Lacey and your dad are there too. I don’t know how she is. They won’t tell me because I’m not family. But I’m sure you can find out if you go over to the desk. And if you do, would you please let me know? I’m so worried about her.”
Shane dashed over and quickly disappeared into the treatment area behind the desk. Didn’t even look in my direction. I thought about trying to call Pablo again, but didn’t. He’d said he’d be here as soon as he could. No use interrupting him with a call that would delay him more. I sat, staring across the room trying to use deep breathing and a soft focus to calm my anxiety.
Finally the front door opened again. Pablo rushing toward me. Strong. Solid. Arms outstretched.
I ran to meet his hug. Wept in his arms. Told him what Derrick had said.
“It’s okay, babe,” he said, squeezing me tighter. “We can get this straightened out.
Derrick doesn’t know what happened to you and Angelica. Actually, I don’t even know. And the Boulder police don’t know, which is why we have to go to the Boulder Police station right now, so you can make a statement. They need the details to be able to hold Faye.”
I pulled away, dug a tissue out of my pocket, dried my eyes and blew my nose. “I can’t go now. I have to wait to find out about Angelica,” I said.
“They’re not going to tell you anything. And you don’t want Derrick Townes out here yelling at you again. Let’s go. While we’re there, the Boulder police can call the hospital to find out how Angelica is and let you know.”
Reluctantly I went with him. Told the whole story to the Boulder cops. With my statement added to what Pablo had already told them about the eBay fraud, they had more than enough to keep Faye in custody.
When I was done, Pablo came back to the interview room to take me home. “They called about Angelica,” he said. “She’s been moved to the intensive care unit. Still unconscious. They have her condition listed as serious.”
I groaned. “What does that mean? Will she get better?”
“It means she’s unstable, but not critical. And she hasn’t been airlifted to Denver, so that’s a good sign. For more than that, we’ll just have to wait.”
Chapter 41
We drove in silence to my house. Pablo suggested we stop for something to eat, but I was still feeling shaky and sick to my stomach. He grabbed a burger and fries for himself from the McDonalds drive-through on 28th. I didn’t want anything.
Actually the smell of his food was making me more nauseous as we drove. When we got home, I sent him and his meal to the kitchen, while I headed for a hot shower.
After that, all I wanted was the oblivion of sleep to shut down my mind. I crawled into bed and was asleep before he got there. I woke up later, snuggled close to him and drifted back to sleep after willing myself not to think about Angelica until morning.
When I woke up at 6:30 a.m. listening to Pablo getting ready to leave for work, I had that icky feeling in my gut that you get when you wake up knowing something terrible has happened, but it takes you a minute to remember what. Then it all came crashing down on me.
I jumped out of bed and ran to grab Pablo before he left. “Can you call and find out how Angelica is doing before you go?” I asked.
He hugged me close. “I already tried, babe,” he said. “The hospital wouldn’t tell me anything and I couldn’t get anyone at the Boulder PD who had a recent update. I’ll try again after I get to work. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.”
I was too worried to sleep any more, so after he left I grabbed my phone and went out for a run on the Boulder Creek Path. A bright sunny morning, cloudless blue sky, creek gurgling and splashing—all wasted on me. I was a prisoner of my own anxiety. Not only was I fearful about Angelica, I was apprehensive about Derrick’s threats. And then, to top it all off, I realized it was Wednesday and I had only a few days left to find the money for Gramma to get a space in the new assisted living house.
I slogged along, willing my body to take over and get me out of my miserable mind. But instead I started feeling dizzy and sick again like last night. I realized I hadn’t eaten anything for a long time, so I decided to go home and fix myself some breakfast.
I was finishing my eggs and toast when Pablo called. “I got an update from the Boulder cops,” he said. “It kind of sounds worse than it is, so don’t panic. Angelica has a severe concussion and the doctors are concerned she may have swelling or bleeding in her brain. They’re doing a CT scan this morning to see if there’s blood under her skull. Like I said, it sounds horrible, but they’re expecting her to make a full recovery.”
“You’re right. It does sound horrible. Poor Angelica.”
“I wish I could come stay with you, but there’s no way I can get off today. Try not to worry, okay? I’ll let you know as soon as I find out anything more.”
“Thanks for wanting to be with me even if you can’t,” I said. “But I have to work, too. I have clients scheduled and I can’t afford to cancel them. I’ve been doing that way too much with all that’s been going on lately. Oh well, at least work will be a good distraction.”
I met with a client at 9:00, then frantically checked my phone messages at the end of the session. Yes! A voicemail from Pablo saying Angelica’s CT scan had gone well. She was still in the hospital for observation and more tests, but her condition had been upgraded to good. He also said he would be in a training course for the rest of the day, so he wouldn’t be able to call again.
I had several other missed calls, but none was from Lacey or anyone in the Townes family. Apparently Derrick had cut me off from all of them. One call was from Tim Grosso. Maybe he had some new information about Shady Terrace. But I didn’t have time to listen to any more messages before my next client, so his news would have to wait. Actually if I’d had any hint of what he was going to say, I would have erased his message without hearing it.
But I had no clue, so at 11:00 I grabbed my phone and hit voicemail. “Cleo, what’s going on?” Tim sounded seriously angry. “Faye’s in jail and she says it’s your fault.”
That’s right. Tim and Faye had a thing going on. He must be devastated at what she’d done. But all my fault?
The message went on. “She said she took you and Angelica out to her storage room to show you some art and you demanded that she give you the money you need for your grandmother and threatened to create big trouble for her if she didn’t. When she refused, you attacked her and then set it up to look like she kidnapped Angelica and hurt her. Why would you do that to Faye when she’s been so good to your grandmother all these years?”
Whoa, could Faye get away with this spin? I needed to talk to Pablo right away. But his phone went right to voicemail. Oh, right—I’d forgotten he was in training and unavailable for the rest of the day. His voicemail said to either leave a message he could return tomorrow or call another detective for immediate help.
I couldn’t think what else to do, and my next client was waiting, so I went back to work. I kept on like that—seeing clients and checking phone messages in between—until my last client left at 4:00. I was proud of myself for keeping my anxiety at bay long enough to make it through the day, but once I was done, despair hit me hard. How could I have gotten myself into such a mess?
My phone rang. I decided that if it was Tim, I wouldn’t answer. But it was Lacey. I picked up apprehensively. What if she also believed Faye’s story?
But this call was good news. Lacey sounded relieved and cheerful. “Cleo, Angelica’s doing much better. They’re just keeping her here one more night to be on the safe side. She told us everything that happened. My dad is so sorry he blamed you and yelled at you. Angelica really wants to see you. Can you get away and come over to the hospital?”
Whew! Could I! I was on my way in less than five minutes.
Lacey, Shane and Derrick were all sitting around Angelica’s bedside when I arrived. They looked tired, but very, very happy. Angelica looked pale and exhausted, but much better than she had last night. I went straight to her bedside, gave her a gentle hug, and said, “I’m so sorry Angelica that you got hurt. I wish I could have done more to save you from that.”
She squeezed my arm. “You shouldn’t feel bad, Cleo. It was my fault, not yours. I never should have gone to tell Faye about the will. If you hadn’t showed up, who knows what she would have done to me.”
I teared up a little as I moved back from the bed a little to face the others. “I’m so glad she’s alright,” I said. “I was so scared for her.”
Derrick shifted in his chair, looking ill at ease. “Cleo, can you accept my apology?” he asked, awkwardly. “I know none of this was your fault and you probably saved Angelica’s life. She doesn’t know what happened after Faye hit her with the gun, but the police said you texted your boyfriend and he got them out there. Can you fill in the details for us?”
Shane went out a
nd came back with a chair for me. I sat down and went through the whole story, ending with Tim’s phone message about the story Faye was putting out.
“She’ll never get away with that,” Angelica said. “I can tell the police that what you said is what really happened.”
“I just hope they believe us,” I said. “I want Faye to pay big time for what she did.
“She killed my mom and tried to kill my sister,” Lacey said, her voice rising. “She will pay. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Me too,” Shane agreed. “And I can collect up the evidence of her financial mismanagement of the gallery and her Internet art scam.”
“We’ll all be there to back up your story against Faye. You have my word on that,” Derrick said firmly. “We owe you so much. I hope you understand how grateful I am.” He smiled. “And now that we have Mirabel’s new will leaving our family all her money, with nothing to Faye or the Scientologists, I’m in a position to offer you a more tangible expression of our thanks. I know you want your grandmother to move into the new assisted living house now that Shady Terrace is closing. My dad is going to move there too, so I know about the $50,000 investment each family has to put up. Lacey says you’re having a hard time coming up with the money for your grandmother’s down payment. I’m going to call Mary Ellen at Shady Terrace today and tell her I’ll invest the $50,000 for your grandmother as well as the $50,000 for my dad. I think it’s a win-win. Your grandmother and my dad will be able to live in a new homelike group home, you won’t be stressing about the down payment, and I’ll be a partner in the venture and a co-owner of the house.”
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