by Lia Kane
Blue Sky Mayor Victor Drake gives a thumbs-up to the excellent care provided by nurse Lucille Matlin and certified nursing assistant Patricia Dennings.
Trish.
I started thinking about the new connections that I had discovered between all of these people and wondered if they meant anything, but quickly stopped myself. Blue Sky had a population of a little more than 24,000 people. Having lived in Raleigh for the past seven years, I had forgotten what life in a small town was like. Everyone knew each other here, and all were connected in one way or another. It made sense that young professional women like Alyssa and Kelly would have been involved in the Junior League and other community activities together, and it wasn’t so hard to imagine that Lucy and Trish, both nursing professionals, would have worked together at some point, including as caregivers in the hospital while Victor had been a patient there.
I closed the article and continued to scan through the hits on Alyssa’s name. Then I found a story addressing her disappearance. Quoting Victor, Alyssa was last seen in their home one morning when he left for work, but wasn’t there when he had returned at the end of the day. There were no signs of a forced entry or a struggle. No note had been left, and none of Alyssa’s personal items or property had been taken. A police investigation was conducted in the home. No fingerprints had been found other than Victor’s and Alyssa’s, no strange searches were stored in their personal computer, and nothing else had emerged in the investigation that aroused any suspicion. She had vanished, it seemed, into thin air.
Glancing at the date, I realized that her disappearance was exactly seven years ago to the day. Alyssa was now officially declared dead and Victor was a widower. I wondered how he felt about it, and what the day had brought for him. Sadness? Closure? Or had he been so preoccupied with his post-fire relief efforts that he had forgotten about it? Would he have put so much effort into providing for the orphans anyway, had it not been for his interest in me?
And once again, I was right back at the same line of thought where I’d left off that morning – what was it Victor saw in me? What was in it for him?
I left the library, disgruntled that my search for answers had only led to more questions. As I started my walk back to the Holiday Inn, I took a deep breath and was seized with another coughing fit, which filled my mouth full of smoky mucous. I made sure that no one was looking when I spit it on the sidewalk. Then my stomach rumbled with hunger, just as I passed by Paolo’s pizza. Free slice of cheese pizza just for stopping in! was the invitation scribbled in chalk on a small blackboard on the front door.
I wished.
I stepped inside, hoping that I might find Whitney there on a mission to score another free slice. No sign of my estranged best friend, but I found Naz leaning against the counter, batting her eyelashes and giggling at the long-haired twenty-something boy working behind the counter.
“Naz!”
She startled at the sound of my voice. “Miss Rand,” she said as she faced me. “Oh my gosh, you scared me.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I was just getting ready to head back to the hotel. I just needed to get out for a minute. Get some fresh air, ya know?”
“In a pizza parlor?”
“Well, yeah.” She smiled at the boy behind the counter.
I took her by the wrist and led her outside. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.”
“What?” she whined.
“I told those police officers that I was responsible for you, which means that I need to know where you are at all times. You don’t just leave and not tell anyone.”
“Jeez,” she growled, tearing her wrist free from my hand. “Now you sound like a parent or something.”
“If you don’t like it, then I’ll gladly take you back home to your father.”
Her face paled. “But he kicked me out!”
“Then I guess you’d better learn to live with my rules, right?”
She sighed with defeat. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stay out that long, but that guy in Paolo’s was way cute, and we were really hitting it off. He said he wants to see me when he gets off work at five.”
“And is he a VAMP?”
“What? I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”
“Does he know that you’re a VAMP?”
“No. Why?”
“Because anything you do with him is going to put him at risk for getting VAM. Is that what you want to do? Infect someone else?”
“No!” She cried. “We don’t have to do anything physical. We can just keep talking. That’s all I was planning to do.”
“I bet that’s not all that he was planning to do.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m a girl too, Naz. And I know what guys his age want from girls your age. Trust me, it’s not someone to talk to.”
“So what… does being a VAMP mean that I can’t date anyone ever again? That I can’t have a boyfriend? That I’ll never fall in love? Never get married?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“You may as well say it. If I have to avoid boys altogether, then that’s what it means.”
“No,” I told her, “I just mean you have to be careful, Naz. It’s not all about you. The guy who gave you VAM – did you really think he was thinking about how it would affect your life when he kissed you?”
“No.”
“So you’ve got to be a better person that he was. I know it’s hard, but you have to show a little restraint and use your head.”
She pouted. “It’s not fair.”
“I know it’s not. None of us asked for this, not a one. But at the same time, it wouldn’t be fair to keep passing this disease on to other people.”
Naz frowned. “How long have you had VAM?”
“About seven years.”
“Does it get any easier?”
I hesitated before answering. “Yeah. It does.”
“You’re lying,” she said. “Since you got your chance to fuss at me, now it’s my turn to fuss at you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“I like you, Miss Rand. I think you’re a good person, and I want to stay with you because I trust you. Don’t make me not trust you by being dishonest with me.”
“Fair enough,” I relented. “It doesn’t get any easier.”
“That sucks,” she said softly.
“Yes it does. But you do get used to it after a while.”
She teared up and reached for me. I hugged her.
“I’m just glad I’m not alone,” she said.
“You’re definitely not alone. Now come on, girlfriend,” I said with a sigh. “Let’s get back to the hotel.”
Chapter Fourteen
WHEN WE ARRIVED back at our suite at the Holiday Inn, Sarah and Claudia were bouncing fussy babies and toddlers on their knees while the school-age kids clustered around the television to watch Sesame Street. The Count was singing the praises of number seven as he counted off the puppet bats dangling on fishing wire above his head. Naz flopped on the couch, oblivious to everything and everyone else around her, clicking her thumbs noisily over the keypad of her cell phone.
Lucy was in the kitchen, filling bottles and sippy cups with blood. She offered me a mug. “You look hungry,” she observed.
“I am,” I said, “but I’ll wait until I can sit with the kids. Thanks, though.”
“No problem.”
“Hey Lucy?”
She twisted the lid onto a sippy cup and looked up at me. “Yeah?”
“Did you know Alyssa Drake very well?”
Her eyes bulged for a split second. “Why do you ask?”
“Just curious. I heard that she’s been missing for seven years as of today.”
“Who told you about that?” Lucy blurted out a little too quickly.
Her tone caught me off guard. “Well… Mayor Drake mentioned it a time or two, but I was actually in the library today and saw an article with the exact
date of her disappearance.”
“There’s something in today’s paper about her?”
“No,” I shook my head, “I saw it when I was searching through archives of the Blue Sky Daily.”
“What exactly were you searching for?” Lucy asked, her tone suddenly defensive.
“Nothing in particular, I was just curious. That’s all.”
Her brow furrowed. “I knew Alyssa,” she said. “We were friends.”
I thought carefully before speaking again. “I’m sorry to bring it up, Lucy. It’s never easy to lose a friend.”
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “Alyssa was a really good person.”
“I’m sure she’s missed very much.”
Lucy’s eyes began to water. She turned her back to me, hoping I wouldn’t see. She shuffled the cups and bottles around on the counter, pretending to be busy. “I was working at the hospital when she and Victor had that really bad car accident. Victor was my patient for a solid month, and Alyssa was a permanent fixture in the visitor’s chair in his room while he was recovering. Thing is, nurses don’t just take care of their patients; they take care of the family members too. It was a stressful time and Alyssa needed a lot of support, so I was there for her. We grew close and stayed that way, even after he was discharged and went home.”
“Do you have any clue what could have happened to her?”
Lucy shook her head. She moved the bottles and cups to a tray and turned around. “Dinner is ready.” She brushed past me and made her way to the table in the dining room where Sarah and Claudia were assembling the children.
“Hi Miss Jerrika!” The school-age kids called out in unison.
“Hi guys, how was school today?”
“It was fine,” Haley answered for all of them. “Sit next to me, Miss Jerrika? Please please pretty please?” She patted her hand on the seat to her right.
“I’d be delighted to.” I motioned for Naz to come join us and introduced her to the children. Haley smiled at the sight of another girl in our midst and patted the seat to her left as an invitation to the teen. Sarah and Claudia took their seats with babies in their laps.
Lucy stepped outside to smoke after delivering mugs to Sarah, Naz and I, while Claudia opened a pack of crackers from the hotel vending machine. We bowed our heads as Jonathan said grace.
After we fed, we gathered in the living room for a story night. Instead of making up fairy tales, the children chose to talk through what they experienced the night before. Haley remembered a firefighter entering through the window and pulling her out of bed to safety. Jermaine and Jervonne gave a joint performance, recalling how cool it was to ride in an ambulance. Jonathan spoke about all of the sights and sounds in the emergency room. He shared that he was thinking about becoming a doctor when he grew up.
Dr. Miles stopped by just as the kids were finishing their stories, greeting them with hugs and high-fives. He checked their lungs with his stethoscope, then let each child listen to the sound of their own hearts beating in their chests. I watched his every move with fascination. He was good with the children, and I could see that he genuinely cared about them.
Dammit, I thought to myself once more as I fixated on the gold band on his left ring finger.
When he was finished with the children, he gave me a thumbs-up. Then he checked Sarah and Claudia, confirming that both of them were fine as well. Lastly, Dr. Miles sat down next to me on the sofa. He placed the stethoscope on my chest to hear my breathing sounds, then listened to my heartbeat.
“You’re just fine, Jerrika,” he said. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m good,” I said with a smile. “I mean, other than coughing up the occasional loogie full of smoke, I’m feeling okay.”
“I mean, about all of this,” he interrupted. “About the fire. How are you holding up?”
That was a loaded question.
Sarah and Claudia were rounding up the children to get them to bed. Naz was perched on the sofa, her thumbs flicking texts away on her cell phone. I didn’t want to delve into any serious conversations in front of them.
“Can we step outside?” I asked him. “For a little privacy?”
“Oh, sure.” He gathered his stethoscope and the notepad he had used to jot down all of our vital signs for medical recordkeeping, then followed me out the door.
I led him down the hallway past the lobby to the Holiday Inn’s sad little excuse for a lounge. We passed by a few traveling businessmen who had gathered at the bar to drink draft beer and cheap house wine while they competed for the attention of the cute female bartender, and settled at a small table in the back of the room. The lighting was low, but the hurricane lamp that served as the centerpiece of the table cast just enough light for us to see each other.
“Sorry,” I apologized, “I normally don’t hold meetings with colleagues in bars, but…”
“Don’t worry about it,” he laughed.
“Dr. Miles –”
“Paul,” he stopped me, “Just call me Paul.”
I raised an eyebrow, wondering what warranted the switch to first-name basis. “Okay, Paul,” I began, “First – thank you so much for coming out here to check on me and the kids. I really appreciate you going out of your way to be here this evening.”
“It’s my job,” he smiled.
A cocktail waitress approached our table. “Can I get you two something to drink?”
“A ginger ale would be great,” said Paul.
I held up my hand. “Nothing for me, thanks.” I waited for her to leave before resuming our conversation. “So are house calls – or hotel calls in this case – a regular part of your work?”
“Not really,” he confessed, “but with so many of my patients in one place, it just made sense for me to do the follow-up here rather than have you bring everyone into the office.”
I smiled. “Well, I certainly thank you.”
“No thanks necessary.” He leaned forward in his seat. “Now, let’s talk about you. I asked you how you were doing?”
“Oh, yeah.” I looked away. “Honestly, I’m a little bit freaked out right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m worried. Nervous. Someone just tried to kill us, for crying out loud. How would you feel, if you were in my situation?”
“Freaked out,” he said.
“I thought so.”
“Are you sleeping alright? Feeding regularly?”
“Yes and yes.”
“Good,” he nodded. “If I may ask about your living arrangements, do you have anything lined up after you leave the Holiday Inn?”
I shook my head. “Living arrangements? No clue. You’re speaking gibberish to me. I haven’t even had an orientation to my job yet. I’m the greenest of the green. The rookiest of the rookies – if there is such a thing. I have no idea where we go from here.”
He smiled at me from across the table. “I know you’re discouraged. Don’t be. Everything will work itself out, Jerrika.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“I want to help you.”
“How?”
“I want to offer you a place to stay until the orphanage is rebuilt, or until you can relocate to a different facility.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Where, then?”
“My house. It’s 45 minutes away in a neighboring town, but I’ve got plenty of room to accommodate all of you.”
“What neighboring town?”
“You know where Hendersonville is, don’t you?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“It’s a small unincorporated community in the Hendersonville area.”
“What’s the name of it?”
He blinked. “Bat Cave.”
My jaw dropped. “Really? Bat Cave? You want to take nearly a dozen women and children with the VAM disease and move them to a town named Bat Cave?” I sank my face into my hands. “The world already call us vampires.
Talk about reinforcing a stereotype.”
“I know. It is… ironic,” he admitted.
“I’ll say.”
“I wish I could change that, but I can’t. I can, however, offer you a perfectly good home that’s big enough to accommodate all of you.”
“All eleven of us? Eight children and three women? Actually, make that twelve total, counting our new teenage addition – Naz Jeffries.”
He nodded. “It’s no Holiday Inn, of course. I don’t have a lounge or an outdoor swimming pool, but yes, my house could accommodate all of you.”
I pondered his proposal for a moment. “What about your wife? Does she agree with this?”
“I’m not married.”
The cocktail waitress arrived with his drink and placed it on the table. “Me neither, hon,” she said, inserting herself in our conversation. “My name is Darlene. You just shout if you need anything else. Refills, appetizers, my phone number – whatever you need, just let me know.” She giggled, tossed her hair over her shoulder and lingered a moment before strutting away.
Paul rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“That was painful to watch,” I told him.
He pointed to the ring. “This was my father’s wedding band. My mother died when I was young, and he never remarried, so this ring meant a lot to him. He left it to me when he died.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s alright,” he said.
“I feel like an idiot,” I said, covering my face with my hands. “I just saw the wedding band and assumed you were married. Especially after seeing that picture of the blonde lady on your desk.”
“That’s my sister, Maria,” he explained.
“Oh.” I let the information sink in. “I feel stupid.”
“Don’t,” he said. “I know what it makes people assume. When I first moved to Blue Sky, I spent more time fighting off women than I did treating patients. Every day was filled with Darlenes, if you know what I mean. It was counter-productive, so I pulled my dad’s wedding band out of storage and put the picture of my sister on my desk at work. If anyone made comments about my lovely wife, I just didn’t correct them.”