The Complete Arms of Grace Series

by Eleanor Chance

  Without looking up from the stack of papers in his hand, the doctor said, “I have the results of Kyle’s tests. The x-rays show no skull fractures, so that’s excellent news. Kyle’s CBC and chemical levels are all within normal range.” He turned to Johnny. “Do you usually have seizures when your levels are normal, Kyle?”

  Johnny squinted at the doctor. “Why do you keep calling me Kyle?”

  The doctor flipped through the papers. “Isn’t that your name?”

  Mara stepped between Johnny and the doctor. “He goes by a nickname. Long story. To answer your question, he does have the occasional seizure when his levels are good. The stress of traveling probably caused it. Can I take him home?”

  The doctor looked skeptical at Mara’s explanation, but he said, “Oh no. I’m admitting him. He didn’t have any fractures, but he has a serious concussion. We need to keep him one night at least for observation. They’re getting a room ready for him now. The nurse will be in shortly with the forms.”

  Johnny groaned. “I have to stay? I want to go home.”

  “I’m sorry, son. I can’t release you. You might be able to go home tomorrow.” The doctor started to leave but turned before he reached the door. “What do you want us to call you?”

  “He goes by Scout,” Mara said before Johnny could answer. “It’s what his father always called him.”

  The doctor wrote the name on the top paper. “I’ll pass that long.”

  As soon as the doctor was out of the room, Mara grabbed Johnny’s clothes and threw back his blankets. “Get dressed. We’re getting out of here.”

  Johnny raised his eyebrows. “But the doctor said I can’t leave. My head is killing me, and the nurse said the doctor would give me something for pain.”

  “I have pain meds in the car. I’m a nurse. I know how to take care of you. Get dressed before the nurse comes. Do you think you can walk now?”

  Johnny stared at her for a second before saying, “I think so.”

  “If not, I’ll get a wheelchair.”

  She pulled the curtain around the bed and turned her back while Johnny dressed. She wasn’t as confident about taking care of him as she’d acted, but there was no question of letting them admit him. All it would take was one person recognizing either one of them for all her plans to be shot.

  “I’m ready,” Johnny whispered.

  Mara lowered the bed rails and handed him his crutches. She helped him slowly raise off the bed. He swayed slightly before steadying himself. She kept a hand on his back until she was sure he wouldn’t fall.

  “Take a few steps before we leave the room to make sure you can handle it. We’ll have to move fast once we get in the hallway.”

  Johnny walked to the back wall and came back toward Mara without trouble even though he was going slower than she liked.

  “Why did you tell the doctor to call me Scout?”

  Mara stopped gathering their belongings and stared at him. “That’s what Rick always called you. I don’t remember why.”

  “Weird name. I need to pee.”

  “No time for that. You’ll have to hold it.”

  Mara checked to see if the hallway was clear. There was lots of activity, but no one was near Johnny’s room. She motioned for him to go and walked beside him.

  They only made it twenty feet when someone behind them said, “Ma’am, where are you going? The doctor is admitting your son.” The nurse ran up behind them waving the forms. Mara ignored her and kept walking, but the nurse caught up to them and blocked their path. “Did you not understand that the doctor wants Kyle to stay? He has a concussion that needs to be monitored.”

  “I understood,” Mara said. “I’m a nurse and can look after him. I’m taking care of my sick mother, too. I can’t leave her alone. We need to go.”

  Mara pushed the nurse out of the way and squeezed Johnny’s elbow to get him moving.

  The nurse didn’t follow but called out to them. “You’ll need to sign forms saying that you’re checking him out against medical advice.”

  “Keep moving,” Mara hissed at Johnny.

  They went as fast as Johnny could manage but didn’t make it through the door before the doctor came running after them and blocked their exit. He was a large man. Mara wouldn’t be able to shove him out of the way as she had done with the nurse.

  “Where are you taking your son? He needs a hospital.”

  Mara crossed her arms and stood as tall as she could manage. “I’m a nurse and can take care of my son. You can’t force us to stay. Please get out of our way.”

  The doctor shifted his gaze to Johnny and searched his face. “Do you want to leave?”

  “Yes. She’ll take care of me. I want my own bed.”

  The doctor turned back to Mara. “Can you at least give us a local address so we have it on record? Did you leave a contact number so we can call and check on Scout?”

  Mara hesitated before nodding. The doctor handed her Johnny’s forms. She scribbled the address for the rental house and her old cell number on the back. She knew he wanted the info to send social services. She’d done it enough times with patients herself to know the drill. He wasn’t buying her story. Fortunately, the info she gave him was bogus.

  She handed him the paper, and he stepped aside to let them pass. She straightened her shoulders and did her best to hide her shaking hands as she got Johnny moving toward the door. She hardly breathed until she was driving out of the parking lot. She glanced at Johnny, but his eyes were closed, and he didn’t seem to care about what had just happened. She’d have answers ready when he had the strength to ask.

  From the way Johnny’s head pounded, he could guess what it felt like to get struck by lightning.

  “Open your eyes,” a voice that was muffled and distant said. Was he underwater? His shoulder shook which sent another lightning bolt through his brain. “Johnny, wake up. We’re here,” the voice said. It was louder and clearer.

  He opened his eyes for a second before slamming them shut. He was facing directly into the sun. The pain went from a lightning bolt to an electrical storm. Why was this person torturing him? He rotated his head to face her and concentrated hard to focus on her face. His heart sank when he realized it was Mara.

  Before she woke him, he’d been dreaming that he was hanging out at Darnell’s and had a headache from too many hours staring at video games. He lowered his eyelids hoping to slip back into his dream-world, but Mara unhooked his seatbelt and leaned his seat forward.

  “You have to stay awake. I need you to get out of the car. I’ll walk you to the door and let you lie down once we’re in the house.”

  Johnny squinted at her. “House?”

  She glanced away and said, “Well, sort of.”

  Johnny craned his neck to look beyond her. They were in a place he didn’t recognize. “Is this a trailer park? Where are we?”

  “It’s our new temporary home. I had to find it online in a hurry. No one will ask questions here.”

  She put Johnny’s crutches in his hand and lifted his elbow to get him moving. He moaned and took three attempts to get on his feet. Mara kept her hands on his waist and steered him toward the house. The trailer-home was the ugliest one Johnny had ever seen.

  He stopped before they reached the three rickety wooden steps leading to the door. “You expect me to live here? This thing looks like it will tip over any second.”

  “I came here and checked it out while they were running tests on you. It’s more stable than it looks. The inside isn’t too bad and it’s clean.” She swiveled her head to see if anyone was watching. “Come on, you’re almost there.”

  Johnny was shocked that he made it up the steps without keeling over. He noticed the padlock on the outside of the door as he passed. Why would anyone have a lock on the outside? he wondered.

  When his eyes adjusted to the darkness inside, he almost turned and went back to the car. “You and I have very different ideas of what ‘not too bad’ means.” He dropped o
nto a worn and dusty couch with sunken cushions. He felt the springs poking through the seat of his jeans.

  “Quit complaining. This was the best I could do with short notice. If you’d obeyed me and not gone to the hotel lobby, you could still be there in your comfy bed.” She handed him two pills and bottled water. “Take these.”

  Johnny eagerly swallowed the pills, anxious for the sweet relief from his pain. “Where’s my room? I do have a bed, don’t I?”

  Mara pointed to the far end of the trailer. “Over there. After I rented this place, I bought clean bedding and towels while you were knocked out at the hospital. Go lie down while I get our stuff out of the car.”

  “You left me alone at the hospital? What kind of mother are you?”

  “The kind that wants to get you out of this city as soon as she can. A week’s rent here is cheaper than one night at that hotel. You left me no choice.”

  “Sure, blame it on me,” he mumbled. “Are you running out of money?”

  “It’s getting low, but we’ll survive. I’d paid for two more nights at the hotel, so that money’s down the toilet, not to mention the rest of the month’s rent at my house. I’ve been thinking of sneaking my mail out of the box at the rental house. The feds must know I’m not going back there by now. They might not be watching the place. If I can get my last paycheck, we’ll leave for Portland as soon as you’re well.”

  Johnny’s heart sank further. He needed a get-away plan from this nut job before she either killed him or carted him off to Portland, but he smiled and said, “Sounds good. Can you help me up?”

  Mara rushed to his side like a caring mother. The memory of what had really happened that morning had come back to him during the drive from the hospital. It made Johnny sick to see her act that way after what she’d done to him.

  She got him to his room and eased him onto the bed. He scooted to the headboard, and she propped him up on pillows.

  “Don’t lie flat. Let me know if you get nauseated or dizzy. Those pain meds should start working soon. You’ll need to eat and take your other meds, so you don’t have another seizure.”

  “Fine.”

  Johnny closed his eyes hoping it would coax her to leave and smiled when it worked. When he heard her footsteps retreating down the hallway, he opened his eyes to check out his fourth bedroom in less than a week. The windows had thick plaid curtains that blocked most of the light but left enough for him to see the small room. The bed was a twin, but at least it was long enough for his legs. There was a small, banged-up dresser against one wall and an ancient looking trunk against the other. He shuddered to think of what might be hiding in it. The only other fixture in the room was a tiny closet. He wasn’t any more excited to look in there.

  The vinyl floor was faded and creaked in places. Johnny worried the floorboards wouldn’t support his weight, and he’d end up in the dirt and weeds under the trailer. As much as he didn’t want to go to Portland, he didn’t want to stay in that disgusting place a minute longer than he had to. If his bedroom was that bad, he could only imagine the horrors that awaited him in the bathroom.

  Mara came in with his belongings and piled them on the dresser. “Feeling any better?”

  “Not yet. I need food. Pain meds make me sick on an empty stomach. I also need to pee.” He ignored the pounding in his head as he swung his feet to the floor and picked up his crutches. “Please tell me I don’t have to go in an outhouse.”

  Mara put her hands on her hips. “Seriously, princess? We have indoor plumbing. Haven’t you ever been camping?”

  He braced his weight on the crutches and lifted himself off the bed. “Lots of times, but I’m not exactly in a condition to rough it.”

  While Mara guided him down the hall, she said, “The bathroom is fine. I think the owner must have refurbished recently. We don’t have much food. There are some crackers and cheese packs left. I’ll get settled and try to find a store nearby. I’m not familiar with this part of Richmond.”

  “Which part of Richmond?”

  Mara’s lips tightened into a straight line. Johnny would have to find a way to figure that out on his own.

  When they got to the bathroom, Mara reached around him and switched on the light. Johnny had been dreading the condition of the bathroom but was pleasantly surprised by what he saw. The shower was tiny like the closet in his room, but it looked new and shiny like the rest of the fixtures. He wondered why the owner had fixed up the bathroom and left the rest of the place like a dump. Maybe he’d run out of money halfway through renovations.

  “Can you manage on your own?”

  Johnny pointed a crutch at the hallway. When Mara backed out, he slammed the door in her face. He’d expected to find her waiting outside when he was finished but heard sounds coming from his bedroom instead. He shuffled down the hall and watched from the doorway as Mara unpack his backpack. She turned and handed him two packets of cheese and crackers with his water bottle.

  “You’ve perked up a bit. How’s the head?”

  He moved to his bed and laid down. “Better. The pills are kicking in.”

  “Will you be all right alone while I get groceries?”

  “I’m hoping to sleep, but if not, I promise to stay on this bed.”

  Mara nodded and crossed her arms. “Make sure you do. With that concussion, you need to stay as still and calm as possible. I shouldn’t be gone for more than thirty minutes.” She stepped to the bed and shined her phone light in each of his eyes. “Your pupils are equal and responsive. That’s a good sign, but we have to be careful. Be back soon.”

  Johnny relaxed when he heard the sound of her car fading. He unwrapped his crackers and munched away while he started planning his exit strategy. He wanted to check out the rest of the trailer, but he’d meant what he said about staying in bed. He could feel the pain meds taking effect, and he’d been wobbly on his way back from the bathroom. He’d have to wait for the next time Mara left him alone to map out his surroundings the way his dad had taught him to do.

  Grace followed Agent Shepherd to the table where she’d sat the night before while viewing security footage. “Here we are again,” she said.

  Ryan took the chair next to her “What are we looking for this time? Grace has identified Mara.”

  “This won’t take long. We’ll start the playback at the point Mara approaches the hotel registration desk. The feed is much clearer this time. She doesn’t hide her face,” Agent Shepherd said. She glanced at the lab tech standing at the end of the table. “And there’s something more you need to see.”

  Shepherd nodded at the tech. He pressed play on the recording. Grace was glad to see that Mara had taken Johnny to a decent hotel. At least she was still taking care of him. Grace watched as a woman in a baseball cap approached the desk. When she smiled at the clerk, Grace had no doubt it was Mara.

  “It’s her. I’m sure,” Grace said.

  “She looks like an average mom on vacation. She could be anyone, but seeing her gives me chills,” Ryan said.

  Shepherd typed something into the tablet propped on the table behind them. “We wanted additional verification.” She motioned for the tech to pause the video and held up a photo for them to see. “This is the computer rendering of how she might look now.”

  Grace examined the image. It looked exactly as Mara had when Grace saw her for the first time fourteen years earlier. “Now I have shivers,” she said.

  “Switch to the next segment, please,” Shepherd told the tech.

  An ATM in a hotel hallway came up but no Mara. Ten seconds later, a teenage boy on crutches appeared on the monitor. Grace was confused. The boy was Johnny’s height, but he was wearing a hoodie she didn’t recognize, and he had short, black spikey hair. His ears were pierced, and he had a nose ring. Was he posing as Johnny to throw law enforcement off Mara’s trail?

  “Who are we looking at?” Ryan asked.

  “Just wait,” Shepherd said.

  The camera angle changed when the boy w
alked to the ATM. When he raised his eyes to read the screen, Grace gasped. It was her Johnny, but not her Johnny.

  She watched, mesmerized, while he withdrew cash. When he turned and walked away, the camera angle changed again, and Johnny appeared at a small hotel market. He chose various items that Grace recognized as his favorite snacks. He carried them to the small shop window and paid the desk clerk before shoving them in his pockets.

  Grace jumped out of her chair and backed away from the table. The tech paused the video, and he and Shepherd stared at her. Ryan came to her side and put his arm around her waist.

  “Start it over,” Grace ordered.

  The tech glanced at Shepherd, and she nodded, so he replayed the clip.

  As Grace watched, her breaths came faster and faster until she struggled to draw air and her legs gave out. Between gasps, she said, “What has that bitch done to my son?”

  Ryan offered his hand to help her up, but she brushed it aside and climbed to her feet. She leaned close to the monitor and stroked her fingers over the screen. “When was this?” she whispered.

  “Yesterday around noon. We estimate it was when Mara was in Waynesboro. As far as the hotel staff could tell, Johnny and Mara were there until this morning. Agent Reid’s team just missed them by hours,” Shepherd said.

  Grace dropped into her chair when the video ended. “Waynesboro was yesterday? Seems like days ago.” She pointed at the monitor. “Again, please.”

  Ryan moved close to the monitor as Grace had done. “If not for the crutches, I wouldn’t recognize him if I passed him on the street. It’s disturbing.”

  They watched the video through again. “One more time,” Grace said when it finished.

  “We can’t stay here all night replaying this,” Ryan said to Grace before turning to Shepherd. “Can we have a copy to take home?”

  “I’ll check on that, but it probably won’t be ready until tomorrow noon at the earliest. Most of the techs are gone for the night.” She gestured for Ryan to sit and took a chair facing them. “I have more to tell you. They found traces of blood in their hotel room. It was Johnny’s.”