Killer Cupid (The Redemption Series: Book 1)

by Maeve Christopher

  “So that’s what happened.” I tried to exhale the emotion, and blot my eyes. “Cat was in the hospital a long time – she had severe internal injuries. The doctors told Maria and Frederick that Cat probably wouldn’t ever have children. And Frederick was also in the hospital for awhile – it took him a long time to recover. Maria was beside herself. Well, they never will get over the loss of their son. And Eduardo says David’s been trying to kill himself ever since. I think he’s right. I mean I know Eduardo is always taking crazy risks, but David is even crazier.”

  I attempted to encourage Debbie. “Anyway, honey, I think if – when – David survives this, you’ll have a calming effect on him. Eduardo said the way he talked about you – well he took on a whole different demeanor. I think maybe you’ve given him a reason to live.”

  Debbie sat silently for a long while, still snuggled in the chair with me. “David is a hero, and he was only seven years old?”

  “Yes, a hero at age seven, but I don’t think he felt like one. I think he felt guilty he survived and his brother did not.”

  “Oh! He shouldn’t feel that way.”

  “I know, honey. But people’s feelings aren’t always logical.”

  “Cat’s ‘spells’ began then, too, didn’t they? It’s all related, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, you’re right.” I was surprised she had the presence of mind to figure that out.

  “I bet she talks to God when that happens. And He talks to her.”

  I didn’t know what to say. When did Debbie become so insightful?

  “She knows things, doesn’t she?”

  Taken aback, I could only say, “Yes.”

  ***

  It was the next afternoon when Dr. Earle confronted General Pearson over his frustration with Cat’s mysterious sleep. As Pearson used his well-practiced, “I’m terribly sorry,” Camellia looked out from Cat’s room, “She’s awake!”

  We rushed to her side.

  “I’m fine, really,” she said weakly.

  Cisco gripped her, prompting Eduardo to joke, “Hold her hand any tighter and she’ll pass out again.”

  “I’m fine, Auntie.” She accepted a glass of water from Maria.

  “Thank God you’re back with us again, my darling,” Maria said.

  “Just get some rest,” Frederick whispered as he kissed her forehead. “Let’s give her some peace and quiet.”

  With that the family cleared the room, and Cisco and I stayed by her side.

  Cat was still dazed. “Cisco,” she whispered. “It’s important, Cisco.” She started to get up. “David is in grave danger. I don’t know who we can trust right now. I just know it is a man who will betray him. That’s all I know.”

  “Honey, someone is with him almost all the time. I don’t know who could betray him now. Not now.” Cisco held her on the bed.

  “We’ll have to stay with him, guard the door, until we know more.” She tried to push through her fiancé.

  Cat was so distraught we were compelled to bring her to David’s room. She refused to go to dinner in the conference room and didn’t touch the tray they brought her.

  Though she didn’t let on her concern to Debbie, I know she picked up her distress. I felt like a nutrition coach trying to get the two of them to eat something. I had only mild success – and no appetite myself. David slept through everything.

  ***

  It was almost four in the morning when Cat screamed in my ear to wake me up. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, and overwhelming grogginess.

  “Nita! It’s David! Come now!”

  I pulled on scrubs and ran after her down the hall.

  Cisco and Debbie slept in the chairs.

  Horror and rage filled me. The flow of oxygen-enriched air had been stopped. The IV pump had been adjusted to deliver a lethal dose of the drugs intended to save David. I screamed for help and pushed the alarm as I began to readjust the equipment. Cat showed me the tubing to the alarm button had been severed.

  Cisco roused himself laboriously; Debbie fell to the floor attempting to get out of her chair. Cat ran to the hallway, and discovered one nurse asleep at his station. The other was nowhere in sight. She picked up the phone to page the doctor. The cord had been ripped from the wall.

  Eduardo

  The General handed the report to Colonel Johnson with a frustrated grunt. Eduardo watched the Colonel narrow his eyes and shake his head in disbelief as he read the page.

  Colonel Johnson spoke in a deliberate voice. “John we’ve got our hands full now. Seems to me there’s someone that wants all those sixteen men gone.” He looked up at Eduardo, a strange glint in his eye. “I’d say you better watch your ass, son.”

  General Pearson ranted. “I can’t stomach this – it’s someone so close… Did we get any information on Gilbert yet?”

  “Not yet.” Johnson rummaged for a beer from his briefcase on the floor. “He was a smart one – least he thought he was. Spent most of his time in Washington. Betcha it was one of Everett’s people behind all this. We got to re-trace his every move. We’ll figure it out.”

  Pearson was in his own little hole. “Poisoning the food! Everyone who ate anything on that third floor last night was out cold. It’s nothing short of a miracle that Cat Connors woke up in time to, to, at least hopefully, save Lambrecht’s life. She seemed awful strange yesterday, didn’t she? She must’ve been so worked up over that spell she had, she barely touched the dinner. And that’s probably the only thing that saved them all.”

  He stopped to take a breath. “Earle told me the overdose of the drug that was supposed to stop the clotting caused him to start bleeding. It doesn’t look too promising, I’m afraid.”

  Eduardo stared into space, wondering if his little brother’s factor VIII therapy would work on David. He barely heard the General’s explanation of the armed guards and enhanced security measures for the hospital’s third floor.

  There was a commotion in the outer office as Betty tried in vain to block George Aldridge as he barreled through the General’s door. “Pearson! I need to speak to you!” His face glowered brilliant red.

  The General stood behind his desk. “Yes, Mr. Aldridge.”

  “My daughter has been poisoned! The doctors had to sedate her just to treat her, just to get that poison out of her system! She’s hysterical! Crying, wailing that her so-called boyfriend is going to die. She’s as weak as water from all this! I’m afraid she’s going to have a heart attack! And just what are you going to do about this?”

  General Pearson let out a mournful sigh as he slumped into his chair.

  Nita

  The next morning, to everyone’s astonishment, Dr. Earle reported an improvement in David’s condition. The test results were going in the right direction. Eduardo offered an orange juice toast at breakfast to celebrate the good news.

  “I know he’s going to wake up soon.” Debbie told her mother.

  Cat took a seat beside Debbie and put her arm around her. “Are you feeling better today?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Your father has been very concerned for your health. I hope you’ll be able to eat properly and rest today. You know when David wakes up he’s going to need you to be healthy and strong, so you’ll be able to help him regain his strength.”

  Debbie seemed to like the idea of helping him regain strength, though she had precious little herself. She nodded in her usual pledge. “Oh yes! I’m eating properly.”

  ***

  As the days wore on the lab results improved, and David continued his long sleep.

  General Pearson probably regretted his appearance at lunch out on the deck.

  George Aldridge hovered over him, appearing to be at wit’s end. “I must say, we’ve appreciated your hospitality, but we cannot stay here forever.”

  “I understand, Mr. Aldridge. You are free to go. I know you’ve arranged for guards. Just… please… you know the rules—no discussion of the details.”

  “Yes, y
es, of course I understand, General.”

  “I’m surprised to hear Debbie is willing to leave David’s side.”

  “Well, I don’t know that she is, General, but I’ve had enough! I don’t have any more animosity toward him, but my daughter should not be in a relationship with anyone, never mind a man seven years older than she is. And not to mention one with a killer after him. It’s a miracle my daughter wasn’t killed too! She’s still not completely recovered from the drugs in her food.” George started pacing.

  The General shook his head. “Very well Mr. Aldridge.”

  “Pack the bags Marion! It’s time to go home.”

  “Whatever do you mean, George?” Marion looked dumbfounded.

  “Just what I said, Marion. It’s time we got back to normal again. We’re going home.”

  “George, Debbie will never agree to that. You know she won’t leave that hospital room.”

  “Well damn it, Marion, who is the boss around here?”

  “George!”

  Chapter Ten

  Debbie

  I stayed by David’s bed while everyone had their lunch. Softly stroking his hand, I remembered the way he massaged my hands that day so long ago in the Beverly Hills hospital. I giggled to myself, thinking we’d never seen each other outside of a hospital, and I practiced massaging his hand the same way.

  I looked up and saw him watching me. “David!”

  “I’m so glad you’re here, Sweetheart,” he whispered. And he fell silent watching me.

  Sweetheart! I was still “Sweetheart.”

  “Are, are you okay? Do you feel okay?” I watched his lips curl into a familiar smile. “Can I get you anything?”

  “I’m fine Sweetheart, just sit with me awhile.”

  My parents burst into the room—I could hear Daddy’s loud voice even before he came through the door. “Debbie, we need to…” He stopped short when he noticed David, turned on his heel and marched my mother back out the door.

  ***

  David slept most of the day, but woke up periodically to visit with people. The entire family was in and out of the room to check on him. Spirits were high. Cat offered prayers through the day, but she was also more informal as everyone began to relax.

  “I think it’s so sweet, the way David looks for you, and takes your hand every time he wakes up,” Cat said.

  My stress was leaving, and I felt lighthearted. I kept thanking God in silent prayers, and I asked Grammy to keep helping us from heaven.

  My parents had other feelings. I listened at their door on my way back from the restroom. Daddy was almost yelling again. “I’m downright worried, Marion.”

  “George, dear, we haven’t even had a chance to be introduced to him, or speak with him yet.” I knew Mama was beginning to enjoy being a part of this new family. They were all so nice.

  “And what is that going to change, Marion? He’s still seven years older than Debbie.”

  “Six and a half,” she said. I smiled at the door. Mama was finally sticking up for me. “Well Dear, it might be good for Debbie to have an older husband. An older man is more established, more mature.”

  “Established? Established what? Established spy? Established drug enforcement agent? We really don’t know what he’s established at this point, Marion, except bullet holes through his body, infection in his blood, and some hypnotic spell over our daughter.”

  “Well George, General Pearson seems to think very highly of him.”

  “Give me a break, Marion. What would he say?”

  “And you’ve got to agree, Debbie has never been happier. She’s actually eating again, she’s gaining weight, and she’s smiling.”

  “She’s in a fantasy world! And when it crashes down, it’ll be a terrible fall!”

  “George, what choice do we have? If we make her leave now, it will destroy her. And she’ll never forgive us. You just need to talk to him, George. After he’s out of the hospital, well you can set the guidelines. He can call on her at certain times and so on. I know she’s young to have a gentleman friend, George, but the world is a different place today, you know. They can have a proper courtship. You just need to set him straight, Dear.”

  “Right Marion, and if he doesn’t like what I have to say, he can just shoot me!”

  Eduardo

  It wasn’t easy, but Eduardo managed to get everyone out of David’s room, and shut the door. David looked more alert now, able to focus his eyes on him. He stood beside the bed and rested his hand on David’s arm. “Pearson’s determined to know what went on for those two days on the boat. Why were you there two days?”

  “Hmm. Christmas holiday?”

  Yeah, he just might be back to his old self. Eduardo couldn’t help but smile, and then wiped it away with his sleeve. “Okay?”

  David took a hard breath. “You can give him my itinerary if you like. After the long talk with Senator Everett, I buried him at sea.”

  Eduardo laughed out loud. “You buried him at sea? Let me write this down.”

  David rolled his eyes. “I dumped him in the ocean and watched some fish go after him.”

  “That sounds more like it.”

  He exhaled noisily and then drew in a breath. “I started to clean up some of the mess, and I noticed what looked like an old coin on the deck, but it was from a piece of jewelry. I don’t know who it belonged to, but I tossed it overboard and happened to notice a fish leaping out of the water. All of a sudden I was back at home nineteen years ago, standing near the fire you and Cisco were making, trying to fix my damn snowshoe. Danny came running over with a fish, and like he always said when he caught a fish –”

  “Open its mouth and you’ll find a four-drachma coin, just like Cat told us.” Eduardo’s eyes watered as they repeated the line in unison.

  “Yeah, Cat knew her Bible stories before she could talk.” He wiped his face with the back of his hand. “Is that why you never sent that Christmas audio home?”

  David looked overwhelmed. “I never even remembered the date this year. Not till that moment, and I sat there in the middle of the mess and relived the whole thing. The day before and that day. And I remembered Cat – trying to get her out of there, and all the blood. She was so tiny, and there was so much blood…” His breathing was more difficult, and Eduardo regretted getting him started on the topic.

  But David insisted on wheezing through the memory. “Danny was already dead. I knew it. I knew it. I wouldn’t let myself believe it. And she didn’t want to go with me. She kept pointing, kept saying, ‘Jesus. Jesus. Let the little children come to Jesus. Beautiful Jesus.”

  Tears rolled down his face, and Eduardo wiped them, afraid David was losing his breath and his mind. David had never confided all those details before. Maybe he never remembered them until now.

  He heaved, and Eduardo grabbed him to steady him.

  “Why didn’t He show himself to me? Why?”

  Eduardo felt his gut twisting as he tried to steady him. “I … I don’t know… David… I don’t know.”

  And he realized what must have happened in David’s head when he saw that painting. “But He did show himself to you! In Debbie’s painting. Wow. She painted that campground, and you show up in her hospital room to see it. Wow. That’s no coincidence.”

  David’s voice cracked through the congestion in his lungs. “I sat there on that boat, and I said if you’re real, then show yourself to me. Show yourself to me. Show yourself! And then three days later I heard Debbie telling some minister – Cat the Prayer Warrior has a job for her to do.”

  “Whoa.” Eduardo gulped.

  “I walked into her room and the painting was right there in front of me. Right there. And I knew God was real. Right then I knew God was real.”

  “Wow.” This was the craziest story he’d heard with Cat at the center. But he’d sure seen enough over the years to know God was real. And David had to have known too. But he was hard-headed.

  He watched David gasp for air. Before he
could summon the doctor, David found his voice. “I was going to kill myself after South America. Fuckin’ end it. I was so sick of all the sewers of the world. So sick of all this shit.” He collapsed in a coughing fit.

  “David! You can’t even think that.” His gut twisted tighter. “You don’t have to do this job anymore. Not if you don’t want to.”

  He took a cotton towel and wiped David’s face. His breathing improved, and tears subsided.

  He held David by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. “You gotta remember – those assholes deserved everything they got. You know that.”

  “I told myself that. But how do I know? I didn’t know those bodyguards. And maybe they were all rotten. But maybe they had a family that wasn’t.”

  “You can’t go there.” Eduardo tossed the cloth into the linen cart. “You can’t.”

  “I guess not.”

  “And you sat there for two days thinking all this shit?”

  “Maybe a day and a half.”

  Eduardo laughed. Yeah, David was still in there. He slammed back to reality. “Don’t… don’t dwell on it.”

  “There was a lot to think about. I’ve wreaked a lot of havoc. A lot of death and destruction. The only good thing I’ve ever done was get Cat out of that plane. And who knows if that was even the right thing to do. She suffered. She suffered so much. But she’s made a difference in the world. So I think it was a good thing.”

  Eduardo watched his eyes closing and gripped him by the shoulders before he could drift off. “David, listen to me. You’re making a difference – whether you know it or not. You’re here for a reason.”