by Adrianne Lee
“Beth is down in the transplant wing,” David answered. “Might have a kidney for her.”
“Hooray.” Impossibly Lynzy’s face became more animated. “I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Well, I’d better get home. I’ve got a dinner date.” She started for the door, then spun around. “Oh, Doc, I passed Colleen on my way in. She said she’s been trying to reach you on your cell phone.”
“It’s in my car, which, I’m afraid, is at the Prescotts’. I haven’t listened to my voice mail yet, either. Do you know what Colleen wanted?”
“Apparently she left some letters on your desk that need signing.”
“I’ve seen them.”
“And to know about your schedule for tomorrow.”
“If Beth has surgery, I’ll probably be here until she’s out of recovery. Kenneth Levy will cover my classes, and I’ve left Colleen a note to reschedule patients.”
Lynzy shrugged. “Looks like you’ve thought of everything.”
When Lynzy left, her energy seemed to desert the room with her, leaving Eden spent. “I wish I had her stamina.”
David noticed how worn-out she looked. “It’s been a long day. Come and sit down while I check my voice mail.”
He led her back into his private office. As he reached for his telephone, Eden gladly sank into the thick leather chair across from his desk. Her eyelids felt heavy, as if she could close them for a week. She was too young to be this bone tired. Maybe a week in her own bed...
The thought broke off as she realized she could no more spend another week in that house than she could willingly go back to jail. Maybe it was time she told David about her suspicions concerning Valerie. She needed his opinion.
The moment he hung up the telephone, she said, “There’s something I want to discuss with you.”
“About Beth?”
“This is about my sister-in-law, your former patient. I know you can’t divulge the root of her problems—why she was seeing you professionally—but I suspect it had something to do with Peter. You don’t have to say yes or no, just hear me out.”
She explained the conclusions she’d reached. He listened thoughtfully. It was one of those things she adored about him, that wonderful ability to really listen; his job notwithstanding, few people learned that talent. “Do you think Valerie is obsessed with you?” she concluded.
He looked bemused. “As is usual with a lot of patients, I’d say Valerie suffered some transference dependency, but she’d worked it out by the end of our sessions.”
“Are you certain?”
The question blindsided him, rousing his self-doubts. He had thought he’d read Rose Hatcher correctly and missed by miles. Could he be wrong about Valerie? Dare he dismiss Eden’s suspicions out of hand? He considered for a long moment, then made up his mind. “Maybe we should suspect everyone.”
“Maybe we should start compiling a list.”
“Yeah.” David liked the idea. He’d been floundering for some course of action that might actually lead to unmasking the real killer. “Colleen has paper and pencils in her desk.”
“I’ve got a tablet and a pen in my purse.” Eden reached beside the chair for her purse but came away with a handful of air. She leaned over and scanned the floor on all sides of the chair and around the desk. “David, I can’t find my purse.”
“Did you leave it in the van?”
She considered. “No, I had it in Emergency. I took out my insurance card to show the nurse when Beth was admitted.”
“Where else were we?”
It hit them at the same time. “The solarium.”
“Oh, dear. I remember now. I set it down beneath the table while I waited for you. Then I had that weird feeling of being watched and I forgot all about it.”
They hurried back to the third floor. As they approached the solarium, Eden caught sight of a small swatch of tanned leather. “It’s still there. Shoved against the wall now.”
She grabbed the purse and, with her heart thumping, wrenched the clasp open. One look inside chilled her to the bone. Everything seemed in the same neat order she’d left it, with one exception: on top of her wallet lay a single white rose.
She let out a rush of air and dropped the purse as if it contained a huge spider.
David picked it up gingerly between his fingers. Spotting the rose, he swore. “Who the hell could have done this?”
“Whoever was watching me earlier.”
Fear stole through David. Something dark and evil lurked within this place that represented life and hope. “The police—”
“Forget it. You said Kollecki didn’t believe the roses meant anything. This won’t change his mind. Besides, the hospital is out of his jurisdiction.” Her mind raced. “You realize this blows my theory on Val.”
“Not necessarily. We don’t know that she’s home.”
“Good point.” She caught his arm and dragged him to the nearest bank of pay phones. “There’s one way of proving it.”
A minute and a half later, Eden had dialed and was listening to the phone ring and ring. She pressed her lips together and started to replace the receiver. Valerie’s voice resounded from the earpiece. “Hello! Hello?”
Eden didn’t speak. She hung up and turned to David. “She answered.”
“The first one on our list and the first one off. Don’t look so disappointed. We’ll find others and start a new list.” He ached to hold her. With an effort, he curbed the urge and, settling for her elbow, guided her toward an elevator. “Beth ought to be upstairs. She’ll be wondering if we’ve forgotten her.”
They emerged on the fourth floor and started down the hall. Eden stopped dead in her tracks. David pulled up short, too. She couldn’t believe her eyes. In the designated waiting area outside the transplant wing, two women reposed on the decorative chairs situated near the ladies’ room.
One of the women was Valerie. Apparently she was having her calls forwarded to her cell phone.
David leaned toward Eden and whispered, “The list lives.”
She nodded and strode to her sister-in-law’s side. Valerie stood, wringing her hankie in her fingers. Eden kept her voice level. “Val, I told you I’d call as soon as we knew something.”
“Ariel said she might be needed here.”
Eden glanced at the woman beside Val. It was not Ariel Bell. “That doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
Valerie drew in a noisy breath, and her voice took on a plaintive tone. “I couldn’t stand waiting alone, so I came with her. Beth has been in my care these past weeks, you know, and I’m just as concerned for her welfare as you are.”
The tiny declaration rang with sincerity, shaking Eden’s confidence in Valerie’s guilt. Admittedly Val had always treated Beth decently and with concern ever since she’d fallen ill. Was the thought of perhaps losing Beth so soon after losing Peter tearing Val up inside? Or was this just a clever performance by a cold-blooded murderer?
Eden felt the woman next to Val staring at her and, when she glanced at her again, her stomach dipped to her toes. She knew this face from the local six-o’clock news.
The woman stood and thrust a microphone she’d held out of view beneath her full skirt toward Eden. “Mrs. Prescott, perhaps you’d give me an exclusive?”
“Go away.” David stepped in front of Eden. “Or I’ll call security and have you escorted out.”
A scruffy-looking female stepped from the ladies’ room hefting a news camera on one shoulder, the lens scanning Eden and David. Eden turned back to Valerie. “How did they know to come here?”
“I guess they followed Ariel and me.”
As if she hadn’t heard David, the reporter continued. “Eden, Ms. Prescott generously shared the good news about the kidney donor for your sister. It’s been quite a day for you. Won’t you tell our watchers how you’re coping?”
Eden tamped down her anger at Valerie, lifted her chin, squared her shoulders and said into the camera, “No comment.”
She skirted th
e reporter and moved into the transplant wing. David escorted her to the nurses’ station, found out which room Beth occupied and received two isolation masks. Handing one to Eden, he said, “Room’s halfway down.”
As they approached, two doors on opposite sides of the hall opened at the same time and a nurse wearing a mask emerged from each room. The first slipped hers off. It was Ariel Bell, whom Eden would have recognized regardless, thanks to her hot-pink pants uniform.
The second nurse stopped Ariel, and as they started chatting, removed her own mask. Eden’s pulse wobbled. The second nurse was Denise Smalley.
Anel turned and greeted them. Denise smiled at David, then glared at Eden. “Well, isn’t this my lucky day?”
Eden let the sarcasm roll over her. “Ariel probably told you my sister has been admitted for her transplant.”
“So has my patient—the backup recipient.”
Eden knew a backup recipient was always notified in case the final cross-matching showed that the primary recipient, in this case Beth, had any preformed immunity to the donor, which would make her ineligible for the donated kidney.
But it was unnecessarily cruel of Denise to remind her. An intended spite. Eden restrained the urge to lash back at her. Since she’d been a small child, her mother had always told her the best wars were the ones walked away from with your dignity intact. “Don’t cast the first stone, do defend your convictions and always be a lady,” her mother had always said.
“Ariel, how is Beth doing?” Eden asked, ignoring the scathing look Denise cast her, but not missing the longing glance she sent David.
Ariel ran her hands through her unkempt hairdo, mussing it worse than usual, which perversely enhanced her adorable face. Her gaze shifted between David and Eden. “She’s optimistic. But I think she’ll be glad to see you.”
David and Eden donned their masks and entered the room.
Beth was stretched out on the bed, her eyes closed. She had undergone a second set of testing, seen a second round of doctors and showered with a special antiseptic soap. Now she had to wait for the final cross-match. Once the call came that she was going for the transplant, antibiotics would be given intravenously just before she left for the operating room.
She opened her eyes. “Hi.”
“How are you feeling?”
“I hate this waiting.”
“Waiting is always the hardest part,” David assured her. “But today has been a day of miracles for the Montgomery sisters. Eden’s out of jail, and you’re going to get your new kidney.”
Eden said a silent prayer that he was right, that this donor would be the one who saved her sister’s life. She added another prayer for people who marked their driver’s licenses to be a donor, one for the miracle of modern medicine and one last prayer for the family whose loved one had lost his or her life.
Beth closed her eyes again.
Eden led David over to the window. The night pressed down against the glass, as dark as her thoughts. “Did you notice the way Denise Smalley looked at you?”
“Not really.”
“Well, you should have. I think she has some kind of major crush on you.”
David grinned. “No way.”
Eden nodded. “I think we should add her to the list.”
“But Shannon was her sister.”
“Valerie being Peter’s sister hasn’t exempted her from suspicion.”
He sighed. “Point taken.”
“At least consider it. She and Shannon might have hated each other. And we should find out how long she’s been on duty tonight. Maybe she was the one who put the rose into my purse.”
“Okay. I’ll meander down to the nurses’ station and strike up a conversation with her.” Above the mask, his green eyes shone with mischief. “See what kind of detective I am.”
Eden smiled. “Be discreet, Sherlock.”
“Certainly, my dear Watson.” David left Eden sitting beside Beth’s bed.
But Denise was not at the nurses’ station. Valerie lurched out of the chair beside Ariel and rushed to him, making him wonder if Eden’s prediction that Val still had tender feelings for him held some validity.
“How’s Beth doing?” Valerie asked.
“I’m sure Ariel told you.” He was not happy to see the reporter still hanging around and wasn’t about to divulge information on Beth’s condition to the press. He hoped Valerie started using some discretion in that area.
The news reporter was on him in a wink. “Dr. Coulter, could you spare me a moment?”
He waved her off. “As I stated earlier, I have nothing to say.”
“Not even about Rose Hatcher’s escape from prison?”
Chapter Seven
“Escaped?” David felt a shock jolt through his body with the force of a lightning bolt. “When?”
The reporter blinked at his raised voice. “About a month and a half ago.”
“A month and a... That’s not possible. If there’d been an escape from Purdy, every news network west of the Cascades would have covered the story.”
Visibly regaining her practiced composure, the porter spoke into her microphone. “Rose Hatcher didn’t escape from Purdy. Apparently she caused some trouble up there in March and again in April, and they contracted with Oregon Women’s Correctional Center in Salem to take her.”
She shifted the microphone under his nose.
David growled, “How long have you known about this?”
“It was brought to my attention last week.”
He blanched, suspecting his face was as white as the collar of the reporter’s blouse. She frowned at him. “I’ve also heard rumors that she was recanting her confession. What do you think? Did she kill Marianne DePaul?”
“I—I have no thoughts about that.” But he did. God help him, he did. Hanging on to what little remained of his composure, he wheeled around and headed back down the hall to Beth’s room, but he stayed outside. He needed to catch his breath, to sort out what it all meant.
He leaned against the wall, disbelief and shock tumbling inside him. Rose Hatcher had been on the loose since before Peter and Shannon were murdered. He didn’t know whether to be relieved for Eden’s sake or terrified for all their sakes. Did Kollecki know about this? He must. Must have known for weeks. Damn his ornery hide.
Anger chased the chill from his blood and slowed his ragged breathing. David shoved away from the wall, opened the door and stepped into Beth’s room. Dr. Ingalls was there, a tall, rangy man with thick, wavy brown hair, who bore a striking resemblance to Elliott Gould.
He acknowledged David with a somber nod, then turned back to his patient. “I’m sorry, Beth. The cross-matching has ruled you ineligible for the available kidney.”
A breath shuddered from Beth, shaking her thin body, and her shoulders slumped as if the doctor’s words had stolen the very life from her. The silence that followed was painful, then Beth lifted her head and tried giving Eden a brave smile. It wobbled and died.
Helplessness descended on David like a slab of lead, robbing him of words and actions; he wanted to go to Beth but couldn’t move. Not even when tears streamed unchecked down her face. She emitted a cry of frustration and yanked the IV tube from her arm.
Dr. Ingalls lurched forward, alarm widening his eyes. “Please, Beth, don’t—”
“Leave me alone.” Beth flung herself off the bed with a surprising strength she hadn’t shown in months. She slammed open the closet, dragged her clothes off the hanger and began tugging off the hospital gown.
Eden rushed to assist her.
The hospital gown pooled at Beth’s feet, but she showed no sign of caring that she stood naked before everyone.
David caught Dr. Ingalls by the arm. “Let’s let them handle this.” The two men left the room.
Beth hauled her sweatshirt over her head, tossing her bra at the overnight bag, oblivious that it snagged on one of the Velcro fasteners to dangle on the outside.
Eden said softly, “Hey, slow down
, huh?”
“I can’t. I can’t.”
Eden leaned over, retrieved and packed the bra. “I understand the frustration you’re feeling, sweetie ... and the fury... and the injustice.”
Beth stopped at that. She stared long and hard at Eden, then nodded. She wiped her face on her sleeve, sniffled and exhaled loudly. “I just want to get out of here... as far away as possible.”
“We can do that.”
Beth’s surge of energy subsided, and she accepted Eden’s help getting into her sweatpants and loafers. Eden hoisted the overnight bag and offered Beth her free arm for support. As they reached the door, Beth said, “Oh, don’t forget your purse.”
Eden glanced at the offending object perched in the visitor’s chair, and her throat constricted. At least Beth had taken her mind off of the rose... for a while. But as she gathered her purse to her side, a delicate scent lifted from its depths, tickling the air with a noxious stench reminiscent of funereal flowers.
David waited in the hall for them. An ashen hue tinged his complexion as though he were somehow more upset about this than even Beth. How could that be? Granted, he was a caring doctor, but he wasn’t the one whose life hinged on a donor kidney, and although he knew Beth’s condition worsened daily, he believed in the power of positive thinking.
Yet he had not offered one encouraging maxim. Anxiety roiled through Eden’s empty stomach. Something was terribly amiss. Had he perhaps discovered Denise Smalley might be a candidate for their suspect list?
The walk to the waiting area felt as short as a walk off a gangplank into a sea of uncertainty, and gazing ahead, Eden saw the waters were full of predators. Both Valerie and Ariel wore concerned expressions and converged on Beth like a pair of curious crabs plucking at her with their verbal claws.
Valerie reached for Beth, then stayed her hand. “David told us the bad news.” Her voice was weepy. “Now, don’t you worry, dear. They’ll find another donor real soon.”
Eden wanted to tell Valerie to put a sock in it, but she noticed the reporter and her camera person circling nearby.
Ariel gave Beth a huge smile and snagged the hem of her sweatshirt in her thin fingers, straightening it. “Ah, you’ll feel better when you’re home in your own bed.”