“Yes it is,” I said, reaching for his hand.
Tony saw my hand coming out of the corner of his eye and moved his arm to the back of the bench. “Peaceful here and a good place to gather your thoughts,” he said, looking out across the pond.
“It sure is. I come here often when the weather allows.”
“I have a place I used to go to when I was growing up which reminds me of here.”
“What place is that?” I asked.
“It’s in England on the property where my parents live. You can’t get to it except by boat.”
“Is it a park?”
“Not really, but I think of it as one.”
“What is it then?” I asked, curious.
Avoiding my question, Tony continued, “My father built a lake around some land about a hundred yards from the house and placed a bench by the water because he knew I loved spending time alone. That’s why he had it built.”
“It sounds wonderful. You’re own personal park.”
Tony smiled his half smile when I said that, got up from the bench and walked over to stand beside one of the trees and I followed.
“Where does that trail lead?” Tony asked, nodding toward the bridge.
“To some cages with animals, would you like to see if any are out?”
Tony and I walked across the bridge toward the trail. I stopped at the bear cage, but Tony walked on toward the trail. “Tony, the bear cubs are out,” I said, looking at them. “Tony?” I turned around to see Tony leaning against a tree by the prairie dog cage. “Don’t you want to see the bears?”
“If you’ve seen one bear, you’ve seen them all,” he said.
Looking at the tiger cage it was empty. Walking back to Tony, I noticed he was beginning to fidget. “Are you ready to leave?”
“Sure.”
Tony and I walked back to my car. “I noticed you wear a lot of blue. Is that your favorite color?” Tony asked.
“It’s one of my favorite colors.”
“You’re very pretty in blue,” he said. “It makes your brown eyes stand out.”
“Hum, I hadn’t noticed.”
“I did notice, however, you looking at the bouquet I had on the table the other night. Do you like yellow roses?” he asked.
“They’re my favorite flower in the whole world.”
“You don’t have any in your yard.”
“I don’t have the time to care for any flowers.”
Tony smiled and turned back toward the window.
“That peacock took off in such a hurry. I wonder what scared it.”
“I haven’t the foggiest idea. Maybe it was ready to go back inside its home.”
“Maybe, but the ducks acted the exact same way.”
“Who knows?” Tony shrugged.
Tony didn’t give a hint about the animals behaving strangely around him today. Surely, I wasn’t crazy and the different animals acted the exact same way.
Dropping Tony off at his house, I watched him walk to the door and enter before I drove off. Before going into my house, I looked back at his remembering Malinda’s words, “small steps” and with that I went inside.
Why did the animals act strange when Tony was around? Getting my laptop from my spare bedroom closet and the charger from a box on the floor, I took it to the kitchen table and plugged it in. Letting it charge up while I was at work tomorrow, I headed to bed. I would search for animal behavior when I got home from work.
As I lie in bed I wondered if the animals at the park knew something about Tony I didn’t. Forgetting about the animals I finally fell asleep.
Deep in the woods a cougar was prowling for its prey. In the distance, I heard a faint cry for help and followed it. Crouching against a rock was Tony looking around for the cougar, hoping that it was far away. Clothes torn and tattered, eyes with fright, Tony shivered against the cold wind. The cougar inched its way closer toward him. Afraid to move, Tony knew it wouldn’t be long before the cougar found him. Appearing on the rock above, the cougar searched. Hearing the cougar he knew there was no escape. Chancing it—Tony took off toward the trees, the cougar pounced….
My eyes flew open and I played the dream over and over in my mind. The only thing it could have been was the park and the animals. Sure, I wanted to know about Tony, but to dream a strange dream had to come from my worrying too much about his statement, ‘Animals and I don’t get along’, and Tony has never showed any signs of being afraid, especially of an animal.
Chapter Four
A call came into the police department around ten in the evening as Detective Cooke was finishing up his paperwork. The day had been long, drawn out and boring. The burglaries weren’t decreasing as he’d hoped, but a week had gone by without an incident. It was all about to change.
“Police Department, Detective Cooke. May I help you?”
“Hurry, please hurry! He’s in the house!”
“Ma’am, calm down. You need to tell me your name.”
“Sharon, Sharon Wilson,” she whispered. “Please hurry.”
“What’s the address, Ms. Wilson?”
“I’m at twelve-o-one West Kentucky. Please hurry!” she said, crying.
Detective Cooke heard banging and the sound of glass breaking in the background. Sharon screamed, and the phone went dead.
Officer Sean sat down on the edge of his bed from a long day, glad it was over when the phone rang. “Hello,” he said into the receiver.
“Detective Cooke here, meet me at twelve-o-one West Kentucky, burglary in progress, intruder in the house,” he said and hung up the phone.
Officer Sean dressed, and drove to Sharon’s house. Detective Cooke pulled up as Officer Sean was getting out of his patrol car. Drawing their guns, cautiously, they walked to the front door which was open from being kicked in. Checking each room one by one, they found Ms. Wilson in the back bedroom on the floor barely breathing. Officer Sean radioed for an ambulance, and then went outside to secure the crime scene with caution tape.
Securing the last of the caution tape around the mail box, he noticed a woman, Mrs. Andrea Parker, waving hysterically from across the street at him.
“What can I do for you, Mrs. Parker?” Officer Sean asked, as he approached her.
“I saw a dark figure coming from Sharon’s window. I called the police department, but the dispatcher said you were on your way. Is Sharon okay?” she asked, looking up and down the street.
“Can you tell me exactly what you saw?” he asked, taking his notepad and pen out of his front pocket.
“Closing my front door, I noticed a dark figure appear from the side of the house, walk up on the porch, look around, and then kick the door in. In shock, I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. He went inside Sharon’s house. I stepped outside to make sure that my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. He put a television on the ground beside the house from the window, disappeared back into the house, and then I heard Sharon scream. In the distance, I heard the police sirens and the dark figure climbing out the window, pick up the television and went toward the back of the house.
“Poor Sharon, she wasn’t due back until tomorrow. She had caught an earlier flight because she finished her presentation early. I do hope she’s okay.”
“Did you see their face? What were they wearing?” Officer Sean asked.
“No, they were dressed in black from head to toe,” Andrea recalled.
“Thank you, Mrs. Parker. If you remember anything else, give us a call,” Officer Sean said.
Mrs. Parker nodded her head, looked up and down the street, and then went to sit on her porch and watch.
Officer Sean went to his patrol car, opened the trunk, and retrieved his police bag when the ambulance pulled up to Sharon’s house. The EMTs took the stretcher out of the back and he led them to the bedroom where Sharon was lying on the floor. Turning to leave, he noticed a bloody footprint by the bathroom door. Getting the camera from the bag, along with evidence markers, he placed one by the
bloody footprint and took a picture, also a hole in the bedroom door with the door jamb torn from the wall and everything which looked out of place in the bedroom, bathroom, and hall.
Entering the living room, Officer Sean noticed a stereo by the open window. The stand that held the stereo was across the room. Looking the window over, he found a bloody fingerprint on the sill, placed an evidence marker by it, and took a picture. Reaching into his bag, he retrieved packing tape, tore off a piece, placed it on the fingerprint and lifted the print. Upon his investigation, the only item missing from the house appeared to be the television.
Sharon, being home, surprised the burglar. Officer Sean would talk to Sharon at the hospital when she was able. Little did he know he would never get the chance? Sharon would not live through the night.
Wrapping up the crime scene had taken most of the night. The evidence needed to be driven over to the lab in Portland for faster processing. It would be approximately two weeks before the results were ready. Officer Sean dreaded having to make the drive back to Portland because he had been there earlier in the day. The crimes were getting out of hand. They started out as breaking and entering which now was escalating into breaking and entering with intent to harm.
My alarm went off. Sitting up in bed, I stretched, flinging my legs off the edge of the bed. Today, I thought, is going to be a great day. I showered, dressed, made my bed and put my dirty clothes from yesterday in the hamper. Although I wasn’t hungry, I made my way to the kitchen finding a Quaker fruit bar and drank a glass of milk. Glancing at the clock on the microwave, ten-thirty; it was time to head to work.
Fall was only a week away, but the days were getting cooler, and the leaves were starting to change color. As I backed out of the driveway a deer stopped in my yard sniffing the grass. As soon as it saw my car, it ran off into the forest.
I drove happily to work.
As I entered the hospital, Vanessa walked over to me. “Jess, have you heard?”
“Heard what? Is something wrong?” I asked with a worried look.
“The burglar attacked Sharon Wilson last night, she didn’t make it,” she told me with a frown. “She’s in the basement.”
“Thank you,” I said, heading for the elevator.
The basement at County Hospital was the morgue for the town.
Monique, sitting at the nurse’s desk, looked up as I came around the corner. From the look on my face, she could tell I already knew about Sharon. Putting my purse and jacket away, I said, “Not safe to be home alone anymore.”
“Nope, it isn’t. The burglar’s getting braver and braver,” Monique said. “Be careful heading home tonight.” She went to the elevator.
“Thanks, I will.”
Before I sat down, Mrs. Johnson’s light came on. Her nephew Tim ran down the hall yelling, “Nurse, nurse, my aunt, please hurry!”
Immediately running to her room the heart monitor showed a flat line and I started CPR. Pumping on her chest, I told Tim to go to the nurse’s station. “Dial star ninety-nine, say code blue, then code blue again, tenth, one-o-four, stat.”
Tim stood in the doorway with wide eyes and no signs of moving.
“Tim, go now! There’s no time to waste,” I said, raising my voice.
Tim took off down the hall and I heard him on the phone calling for help. CPR wasn’t doing any good, but I never stopped the compressions on her chest because if I had Mrs. Johnson wouldn’t have a chance. A few minutes later, I heard the crash cart rolling down the hall.
Doctor Lucas fired up the defibrillator, grabbed the paddles, said “Clear,” and shocked Mrs. Johnson. The heart monitor continued to show a flat line. Several times he used the defibrillator and CPR; Mrs. Johnson’s heart line remained flat. Doctor Lucas covered her with a sheet saying, “Time of death, 11:15a.m.”
Tim stood in the doorway crying.
“Tim, let’s go to the nurse’s lounge.” He looked over at his aunt and then back to me. Putting my arm around him, we walked to the lounge. He sat on the sofa with both hands over his face. I took him a cup of coffee and sat beside him.
“Here you go,” I said, handing him the cup. “I’m so sorry. Is there anyone I can call?”
Looking up at me with tears flowing down his cheeks he said, “There’s no one else. I’m her only living relative. What do I do now? She’s all I had,” with the tears starting again.
Putting my arm around him to console him, to comfort him the best I could, he cried harder. Doctor Lucas came into the lounge. “Tim, I’m sorry about your aunt. I called Reverend Coplen, he’ll be here shortly.”
“Thanks, Doc. I appreciate it,” he said, between tears.
“Tim, you’re welcome to stay as long as you want. I’ll be at the nurse’s station if you need me,” I said, getting up.
“Thank you Jessica,” he said.
“I’ll stay with him until Reverend Coplen gets here,” Doctor Lucas offered.
I nodded, left the room, returned to the nurse’s desk and turned on the computer screen. Running through the list of patients, I clicked on Mrs. Johnson’s name. When her chart appeared, I typed “Deceased” by her name.
Leslie came around the corner to relieve me for lunch. With no desire to eat, I went to the cafeteria anyway. Today I sat by the window watching the clouds roll in for another evening of rain.
Thinking of Sharon brought back memories of last year’s vacation. I went to Las Vegas with a couple of girlfriends, Sharon and Malinda. We had the time of our lives sightseeing, gambling, and seeing several shows. We booked a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon and Sharon panicked for fear the helicopter would crash. Malinda and I coaxed her on the helicopter. She loved every minute. It wouldn’t be the same vacation without Sharon with us on vacation. Maybe I would stay home this year.
Back at the nurse desk, Mr. Wilcox’s buzzer went off. “Can I help you?” I asked.
“I hurt. Is it time for my pain medication?” he asked, groaning.
“I’ll be there in a minute, Mr. Wilcox,” I said, turning off the buzzer light. Checking his chart, he wasn’t due for his medication for thirty minutes. Calling Mr. Wilcox back on the speaker, I let him know. He groaned again and told me to hurry.
The afternoon was better because Mr. Wilcox was easy to care for. He didn’t need much, just his pain medication every two hours. Mattie, the nurse assistant, was taking care of the room Mrs. Johnson had been in when I got back from lunch.
Mike arrived thirty minutes before his shift was to start. We talked about the robberies and Sharon. She lived two doors down from him. He wasn’t home when the burglar attacked because he was on a date.
“Mrs. Johnson passed away this morning. Mr. Wilcox is the only patient here,” I said, sadly.
“I’m going to miss her,” Mike said. “She’d wake up during the night talking about her childhood, and she could tell a joke better than anyone.”
“I’m going to miss her, too. She was full of old stories, and I loved hearing them no matter how many times she told them.”
“Did you know she was from Kansas?” Mike asked.
“She mentioned it and the Indians, and how rough it was riding in a wagon, she preferred to walk,”—remembering how she told it. “Mike, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll go.”
“Go ahead, Jess. You’ve had a long day, and I don’t mind at all.”
“You sure you don’t mind?”
“Sure! Have a good night.”
“Good night, Mike.”
When I got home, I headed straight for the shower. The warm water running down my back eased the tension in my shoulders.
Turning on the television I muted it before going to the kitchen for a drink. Catching a green light from the corner of my eye, I remembered my laptop.
Setting my drink down, I opened the lid and turned it on. A movement outside my window caught my eye. Slowly going to the window I peeked out. The wind was picking up and a branch was swaying. Relieved, I went back to the laptop.
&n
bsp; In the search bar I typed: “Why are animals afraid of humans.” Scrolling through the list of contents, one article read: animals will flee a human if their instincts are that of being “prey.”
Glancing up from the screen, the little kitten, peacock and ducks came to mind. Did their instincts tell them to run when Tony was around? Maybe the animals thought Tony would harm them? Scrolling through various articles about animal behavior, I didn’t find any useful information so I wasn’t any closer to finding answers. Turning off the laptop, I thought of “some things are better left alone.” What could Tony be trying to tell me? As I looked towards the window I thought I saw a shadow disappear around the back of the house and my knees started shaking. Hurrying to the back door to try and see what it was. The wind was blowing harder, branches were swaying in all directions and it began to sprinkle. No wonder I thought it could be someone out there. Going back to the table I closed the laptop and headed to bed. Thunder sounded in the distance and lightening flashed. Mayville was the worst place to live, if you didn’t like rain.
Settled in bed three things came to mind about Tony. First—nothing “would” scare me away. Second—the animals acting strange could be a coincidence. Third—I wanted to know everything about him.
Mike was finishing up his paperwork when I arrived. “How are you today?” he asked, putting on his jacket.
“Good, thanks. Are there any patients today?” I asked.
“We have one coming up from surgery this afternoon, Mrs. Wanda Fairfax. She has stage three colon cancer and will be with us for a while.”
“Thanks, Mike, have a good evening.”
Sitting down at the computer, I went to the new patients charts to input Mrs. Fairfax’s information and didn’t realize Mark was standing at the desk.
“Hello, Jess,” he said.
Startled, I looked up. A grin covered his entire face. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. Why?”
“No reason. You looked deep in thought. Will you have lunch with me?”
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