Beauty and the Beast

by Laurel Cain Haws

  he hurried as fast as his damaged leg and cane would allow him to down the tunnels in search of his poor son, Vincent. He finally found him sitting at the table in his chamber alone. Vincent was obviously in shock. He told Father that he had found Catherine too late. He had carried her back to her apartment, had stayed with her body until the dawn threatened to expose him, and then he had returned to the tunnels.

  It was with a very heavy heart that Father left Vincent alone with his grief to go answer Dr. Marx’s urgent summons. When he got back to his chamber, he quickly dressed, put on his lab coat, and grabbed the blanket and his medical bag with the requested medicines in it. He started to leave but then went quickly to his dresser, opened one of the drawers, took Catherine’s crystal wedding rings out, and put them into his pocket.

  When Father finally arrived at the coroner’s van, he found one of their Helpers, a cabby named Chuck Johnson, in the driver’s seat. Chuck was stocky with a round very friendly face. Chuck could be quite formidable, though, with a no-nonsense attitude when it was necessary. He looked relieved when he saw Father and said, “I am so glad to see you, Father. I’m not sure what’s going on here. All I know is that I got a frantic call from Dr. Marx telling me that I needed to come here immediately to drive his coroner’s van, that I was to keep it running and not ask any questions. Here I am, and the motor is running. All hell is breaking loose in that

  building! There are police, reporters, medical people, and tenants, all running around like chickens with their heads off!”

  Father got into the passenger seat with his bag and the blanket on his lap. “I guess all we can do is wait until David can explain what he needs from us. His note said that Vincent had called him to collect Catherine’s body. Vincent told me himself that he found her last night, but that it had been too late. I’m a little confused by what David asked me to bring.”

  Chuck stared at Father in shock with tears welling in his eyes. “Are you telling me that Cathy is dead?”

  Just then the back door of the van swung open, and they heard David Marx’s voice in an urgent tone, “She is not! We just have to make sure that no one else knows she’s not, because the murdering animal that did this to her is still at large, and no one knows who it is. Chuck, come around here quickly, and help me get her into the van. You wouldn’t believe what I had to do to ditch those two assistants of mine! They mustn’t show up and find us still here.” Dr. David Marx was solidly built, with thinning hair, and an imposing bearing. He wasn’t accustomed to socializing with the living and was usually rather testy with them. Father’s people were easier for him to relate to, and his guard always came down when he was with them. Father hurried to the back of the van to help pull the gurney in. The body bag she was in was zipped closed, and he felt a pang of anxiety over what he would

  see when they opened it. As soon as she was in, Dr. Marx turned to Chuck. “Make like a New York cabby, and get us out of here quick!” Then he climbed into the back of the van.

  Chuck exclaimed, “Yes Sir!” and slammed the back door closed. He raced around to the front, jumped in, put the van in gear, and took off out of the alley. “Where are we headed?”

  Dr. Marx answered as he was unzipping Catherine’s body bag, and covering her with the thermal blanket Father had brought. “I called Peter Wellington and told him to meet Father in the tunnels, at the back of the City Morgue refrigerated body unit that we always use. I told him that Catherine was in critical condition, and that he needed to bring an heated saline I.V. bag, with glucose and vitamins in it. We need to stop at the manhole cover in the alley two blocks from the hospital to send Father down to meet him. You know the one, don’t you, Chuck?”

  Chuck answered, “Yes, I do. Usually, we are sending deceased members of Father’s world the other direction through the morgue body refrigerator from the tunnels, to be embalmed or cremated, before being buried in the deep catacombs. This is a first, to send a living person through the morgue to the tunnels to keep her safe. I sure hope we can pull this off without someone catching on.”

  Father already had his stethoscope out of his bag, and was listening to Catherine’s chest. She had an heart beat, extremely slow, but steady, and he breathed a sigh of

  relief. Her respiration was so slow as to be undetectable. “She really does appear dead. How on earth did you realize she was still alive, David?

  Dr. Marx frowned. “Corpses don’t sweat! I saw the sweat at her hairline, and realized that in spite of all appearances to the contrary, she was still alive. Unfortunately, I had called in the troops when Vincent called me, because I had no reason to believe he could be mistaken about her condition. I told my assistants to bag her hands to collect evidence, and while they were busy doing that, I ran out to nab Tony, because I had seen him hanging around the hallway. I sent a note with him to you through Catherine’s tunnel access in the basement. That poor boy was devastated over the report that she was dead, and I didn’t have time to explain to him that she wasn’t. It probably wouldn’t have been wise to tell him anyway. He took off like a shot, and obviously you got the message. We’ve got to do what essentially amounts to a living autopsy on Catherine right now, as fast as possible, so I’ve got the evidence the DA needs to try and find the murderer who did this to her. Father, grab an evidence collection kit from the cabinet right behind you there.”

  Father got up and went to the cabinet. When he opened it to get the kit, he found Tony crunched up on the bottom shelf with tears streaming down his face. “Is Cathy going to be all right?” He sobbed.

  The boy was so stricken Father couldn’t bring himself to scold him for stowing away in the van. “We are going to

  do everything we can to save her. For now, you just stay right where you are while we work on her, OK?” Tony nodded and stayed quiet after that.

  Father found the kit and went back to Catherine with it. “What do you need for me to do, David?”

  “Before we give her any shots to stabilize her, we need a blood sample, so I can determine what she was given to put her in this condition. I have a good idea what I’m going to find, but I need to be sure. Take the blood sample and bag it. Then, I need for you to swab under her fingernails for any evidence there, and bag the swabs while I do a thorough examination. We’ll give her the shots before we drop you off in the manhole.”

  Father went to work on the blood sample and her bagged hands. As Dr. Marx examined her from head to toe with a magnifying glass, he paused at her upper left arm. “Look here, Father, there is a needle puncture.” Father looked, and nodded his head. Dr. Marx went on with his examination and finished with a pelvic exam. His face fell as he looked at Father and said, “Catherine has given birth within the last twenty-four hours. Whoever tried to kill her must have given her what they thought was a fatal dose of morphine. That is the only thing that makes any sense.”

  Father looked at him in horror. “Oh, David, poor Catherine had a baby?” Dr. Marx nodded. Father spoke vehemently, “Some unspeakable devil must have violated her!” After recovering his composure somewhat he said, “I had better give her just a small dose of epinephrine. We don’t want to shock her system, but we do need to stimulate her heart and respiration until we can do a brain scan to determine just how deep this coma is. Catherine is sweating because they tried to kill her rather than properly caring for her after the birth. Ill give her a full dose of the penicillin to stem infection.”

  Dr. Marx spoke while Father was administering the shots, “I’m sorry I had to have you bring your precious supplies of those things, Father. When I figured out that she was alive, I couldn’t very well send for the medicines without everyone wondering why, and we don’t keep anything for the living in the coroner’s van.”

  After giving Catherine the shots, Father went to the supply cabinet and pulled Tony out of it. Tony had typical Gypsy good looks, with dark hair and eyes. Father sat down facing Tony, and asked, “Now, son, why don’t you explain what you were doing here.”

&
nbsp; Tony exclaimed emphatically, “Repaying a debt! Vincent and Catherine gave me back my life when they helped me prove that it was my uncle and not my father who stole from our clan. By Gypsy law, I must repay that debt! I owe them my life, and I must help save Cathy’s.” Father responded gently, “Tony, you must understand that this is as important a secret as the tunnels are. This one will be even harder to keep, though, because you mustn’t tell even Vincent that Catherine is alive. Chuck, can you hear me? I need for you to understand this too.”

  Chuck spoke up, “I hear you, Father. I can keep any secret you tell me to.”

  Tony also spoke up, “Father, Gypsies always keep their word, and we know how to keep secrets. If you say that staying silent is the best thing for Cathy and Vincent, I won’t say anything to anyone about this. You have to let me help!”

  Father then continued, “As David was telling us, our primary reason to keep Cathy’s location and condition a secret from the world above is because the assailant who did this to her is unknown and still at large. Vincent can’t protect her in his current state, but we can. She has no living family now who need to know where she is, so this secret will not hurt anyone above.

  “Aside from that, I know what Cathy’s wishes were.

  She was in the process of wrapping up her life up top after she and Vincent were married. She had even written her letter of resignation to her boss in the District Attorney’s office, but she postponed tendering her resignation when Vincent became ill. She wanted to give Vincent time for his memories to return and his connection to her to be restored. She had discussed all of these things with me when she brought me their marriage certificate and their wedding rings to keep until that time.

  “There is another problem I have been thinking about since we picked Cathy up which makes it essential that Vincent not know right now that she is alive. Not only would it devastate him to lose her again if we can’t save

  her, but his own desperation to save her would even more severely impair his ability to become reconnected with her empathically. If we can stabilize her, and if he can work through this loss, then there is a much better chance that his link with her will be reestablished naturally. I am her father-in-law and Vincent is her husband. She also has a large extended family below, so I think it is pretty clear what we need to do for both Vincent and Catherine. Tony, do your grandparents know where you are?”

  Tony answered, “They know I am in your world,

  Father, so they aren’t worried about me. Before Cathy disappeared, she was teaching me to read when she got off work. You know that I’ve been coming below to go to school with the other children, and Vincent has been giving me reading lessons since Cathy was lost.”

  Father looked sternly at Tony and said, “And you put those reading lessons to good use when you read that note Dr. Marx gave you, didn’t you?”

  Tony gave him a sheepish grin. “How else was I going to know where to find Cathy?”

  Father took the boy by the shoulders, and looked him squarely in the eyes. “Then I have the perfect job for a Gypsy boy! You can keep track of Vincent for me, so I always know where he is while we are going through this crisis. That way, he won’t accidentally find out about Catherine before he figures it out on his own. Do you think you can handle that responsibility?”

  “I’m your Gypsy, Father!” Tony was beaming, his tears

  completely dried.

  Then Chuck spoke up, “We’re at the manhole cover. I’m going to stop over it while you climb down, Father.”

  Dr. Marx pulled up the trap door in the bottom of the van and then reached down and pulled open the manhole cover. He helped Father to start climbing down and handed him his medical bag. “Tony, you should come with me,” Father said.

  Dr. Marx grabbed Tony before he could start down. “Actually, I’ve got ajob for him here. Hell make an excellent hot water bottle to send Catherine through the refrigerated unit with,” and he smiled at Tony.

  Father called up, “I should have thought of that! Ill see Tony and Catherine in a little while then.” He disappeared down into the tunnel.

  Dr. Marx called forward to Chuck, “When we stop, I’ve got a New York City Morgue jacket for you to put on, so you can help me take Cathy through the hospital to the morgue in the basement. We have so many turnovers of employees no one will give you a second look. Tony, I guess you don’t get claustrophobic do you?” The boy looked puzzled. “You aren’t afraid of tight places that are dark are you?”

  Tony laughed, “Are you kidding? Those are the best kind of places to hide in! They don’t scare me.”

  Dr. Marx chuckled as he looked at the van’s supply cabinet where Tony had stowed away and nodded, “That’s good, because I need for you to climb into this bag with

  Catherine and stay very still. We are supposed to be wheeling one dead body through the hospital, not a bag full of living ones. Do you understand? I need for you to keep her warm but be very quiet and still.”

  Tony was sober, “Just put me in there, Doc. Ill take good care of her.” He climbed into the bag with Catherine, put his arm over her, and Dr. Marx zipped it up.

  By that time Chuck had backed up to the emergency room door. He put on the jacket Dr. Marx had laid on the passenger seat and got out to go around back and help Dr. Marx get the gurney out of the van. He left Dr. Marx with Tony and Catherine on the sidewalk and quickly parked the van. Then he ran back to them, and they began wheeling their “corpse” through the hospital. When they finally reached the morgue in the basement, Dr. Marx looked around to be sure no one else was there. His assistants hadn’t made it back yet, and he knew he was going to have some explaining to do when they did.

  He said to Chuck, “No one is here yet, so let’s hurry!” They quickly wheeled the gurney to the back of the morgue and into the room with the refrigerated body compartments and then went to the very last one in the corner. Dr. Marx pounded three times on the door and then opened it.

  Peter was looking through at him. “We are all ready on this end. Send them through!” Dr. Marx and Chuck lifted Tony and Catherine carefully and slid them through to Peter and Father, who had another gurney equipped

  with the I.V. waiting.

  Before they closed their respective doors Dr. Marx told them, “I’m going to test her blood to be sure it was morphine right now, and 111 call you with the results. Ill talk to your Helper at the Pine Hill Funeral Home, Marcus Brenner, and see if he can figure out a way to set up a funeral without a body. I know her family is dead, so I don’t know who is going to want to claim her body and make those arrangements. She is wealthy, though, so I know someone will.”

  Father stuck his head in the opening. “I really appreciate everything you are doing here, David. Thank you so much for saving her life!” Dr. Marx nodded, and then they shut their doors.

  Peter unzipped the bag, and Tony started to climb out, but Father stopped him. “No, Tony, these tunnels are quite cool. It would be better for Cathy if you just stayed where you are.” Tony smiled and stayed put.

  Then Peter and Father quickly started the I.V. Peter had kept it warm, in a small cooler with an hot water bottle in it under the gurney, while he was waiting for them to arrive. They hurried wordlessly up the tunnel to the access doorway into Peter’s basement of his home. They had installed that doorway many years ago, so that Father’s people could be hospitalized in Peter’s home, if they needed more care than the hospital chamber below could be equipped to provide. Peter had built an hospital wing onto his home for that purpose, and he was so very thankful now that he had it to provide care for his poor little Catherine. She was the only one of the babies he had delivered that he had always stayed close to, and he was heartbroken that she had been brutalized this way.

  They put her into the elevator in Peter’s basement which took them to the third floor of his palatial home. Then they went down the hall and into an huge beautifully furnished room, which was appointed with all of the latest hospital equipment, and
a very large adjustable bed.

  There was even a massive skylight which was pouring sunlight into the room. Tony’s eyes were huge with wonder, but he stayed quiet as they helped him out of the bag. Then between the three of them, with Tony holding her I.V. bag, they got Catherine into bed.

  Just then, Sarah and Peter’s wife, Susan, stepped into the room. Peter and Susan made a really handsome couple. Peter was Father’s age, but all of his hair was still brown. He was tall and very handsome, with a relaxed confidence about him. Susan was also tall and beautiful, with short, wavy dark hair. She was obviously in love with her husband and very happy. “Have you got her stabilized yet?” Susan asked.

  Peter answered, “We do for the moment. We need to do some tests and run a brain scan, but right now she would benefit more from a warm bath.”

  Sarah spoke up, “You men just leave her to us! Well get her bathed and dressed in a clean gown, and then you can run your tests.”

  Sarah’s most common function below was as a practical nurse, but she also took a keen interest in checking on some of the eccentric members of the community who chose to live apart from the others in more remote chambers. In her early forties, Sarah was also tall, with long brown hair and very pretty. She was in excellent shape, with good muscle tone, so she had the physical strength to handle sick people.

  Father asked Sarah, “Who sent for you?”

  Peter answered, “I sent a note below asking that Sarah come and help Susan with a project she was working on.” Father continued, “Do you know that this must be kept absolutely secret, especially from Vincent?”

  Sarah told him, “I figured that since Vincent wasn’t with you, you must have some really good reason why you don’t want him to know about this. You know I won’t tell him, Father, if you say I shouldn’t.”

  Father then explained to Sarah, Peter, and Susan what he had said earlier in the van to Tony, David, and Chuck. They all nodded in understanding and agreement. Before leaving Catherine with the women, Father took her rings out of his pocket and put them on her left ring finger.