She sighed again. “Okay, look; you tell Hiram that I will be there just as soon as I can. And Maureen? If he starts having pain, could you . . . oh, never mind. I’ll try to find a way to get there,” she finished, closing the phone.
She simply couldn’t bring herself to ask Maureen to dispense that kind of medication without a written order. Maddy dropped her head into her hands and quietly started sobbing again. What in hell was she supposed to do now?
She’d given her word to be there for Hiram, but she was stuck in this stupid truck with a stupid tiger, abandoned by a man who’d promised to be there for her.
Oh God, she didn’t want Hiram to die!
She wanted all of her residents to live forever, so they could keep badgering her into being a better person. Every day she went to work was an adventure; somebody would do or say something outrageous that would make her keel over in laughter, all of them worse than Sarah when it came to making her stay one step ahead of them.
They kept her sharp and grounded; and like William, she valued their wisdom.
And, by God, she’d promised Mr. Man, and no stupid wolves or stupid tiger were going to stop her from keeping her word. And if William Killkenny thought she was going to just sit here in his stupid smashed truck while he ran off to battle evil forces . . . well, he was about to discover there was a wee bit more to the woman he wanted to have an affair with than just a bunch of horny hormones.
Maddy started looking around for her sandals, and thanks to the eerie green light she found them on the backseat. She slipped them on, crawled over the console into the passenger seat, and opened the door a crack—all the time watching the tiger.
It immediately sat up.
She just as immediately pulled the door shut.
The truck rocked when the big cat jumped out of the bed on the passenger side, and Maddy hit the button to lock the door.
Standing on the ground now, its head level with the window, the tiger stared at her; its ears perked forward, its breath fogging the window, and the tip of its pink tongue lolling out between its monstrous fangs.
Well, shit. How come it let William walk right by without paying him any mind, but when she tried to get out, the damn cat decided to get out of the truck, too?
“Go away. Shoo,” she said, waving it away, her voice sounding unusually loud in the eerie silence. “Go haunt someone else’s nightmare.”
It started licking the glass.
Maddy hung her head to stare down at the gun in her hand. Don’t shoot the tiger, William had said.
But the tiger was stopping her from getting to Hiram.
Well, it and a bunch of demon wolves.
The passenger door suddenly opened—even though she honest to God had locked it—and Maddy scrambled back across the console with a frantic yelp, hitting her hip on the steering wheel and banging her head into the driver’s window. She brought her gun up even before she’d finished righting herself, but the tiger was gone.
And now she didn’t know if she was relieved or even more terrified.
The leaves rustled just outside the door, and she could see its fat tail sticking out between the branches, and just barely make out its sharp green eyes staring back over its shoulder at her. It made a soft snuffling sound and moved slightly deeper into the tree—taking the eerie green light with it.
“No, come back! I promise I won’t shoot you. Just don’t abandon me, too!”
It made that gentle sound again—half purr, half woof, and sort of . . . encouraging.
Maddy climbed back over the console and slid her feet to the ground. Keeping her gun raised, she looked around the dark foliage and tangle of tree branches and took a shuddering breath just as she heard a few drops of rain hit the roof of the truck.
The nursing home was less than a quarter-mile away, across the library lawn and just up the side road. “Wait!” she called to the cat, turning to get her purse. “I have to leave William a note, or I’ll never hear the end of it,” she muttered, deciding that talking to a tiger had to be less insane than talking to herself. “But please don’t start talking back to me,” she whispered as she dug in her purse for something to write on.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Don’t leave,” she pleaded, actually holding up the pen and a paycheck stub. “I’ll just be a second, I promise.”
Seeing that the cat was still standing there, its eerie green glow illuminating her side of the truck—the driver’s side being pelted with wind-blown rain now—Maddy quickly scribbled her note: “Gone to nursing home.”
She leaned in and set it on the console, slung her purse over her shoulder, and turned to the tiger. After checking to make sure the safety on her gun was on, she took a deep breath and started fighting her way through the branches toward the library.
As soon as she broke free of the tree and stepped onto the soggy lawn, she immediately thought of the very first time she’d met William. It had been raining then, too, and he’d walked out of the library with Eve’s mother in his arms, right after a blinding flash of white light had lit up every window in the three-story building.
The same building everyone had been pointing rifles at because they claimed a dragon had been seen carrying Mabel inside.
A dragon no one had seen since.
Rain started pelting Maddy’s back, and the wind lifted her skirt. “Dammit, wait up,” she called out, running to catch up to the tiger ambling across the library lawn as if it knew where she was going. She peered into the darkness surrounding them, able to see the wind was still blowing and that it was still raining buckets—except inside the bubble of green light.
“N-nice cat,” she whispered, following it. “You’re a really big fellow, aren’t you?”
The damn cat had to weigh as much as a moose, and she guessed that if it decided to eat her, she’d be gone in one gulp. “M-my little girl, Sarah, would love to meet you,” she said, needing to fill the silence so she wouldn’t hear her mind screaming that she was crazy. “We’ve been reading The Chronicles of Narnia, and you sort of remind me of one of the main characters, Aslan. Only he’s a lion, not a tiger.”
Maybe that was why she had panthers and tigers and wolves in her nightmare; she’d been reading a book about talking animals. “But Aslan could talk,” she added.
The tiger suddenly stopped. Maddy actually bumped into its tail and immediately scurried back with a squeak. It turned its massive head, and honest to God, it looked as if it was scowling at her.
She backed all the way to the edge of the light, until she felt raindrops hitting her shoulders. “Hey, I didn’t write the book, C. S. Lewis did. I’m just telling you what Lewis did in his . . . story. I really don’t mind that you can’t talk in my dream. In fact, I’d probably freak out if you did.” She smiled. “You have really beautiful eyes, you know that?” she said, figuring a little flattery wouldn’t hurt. “And the prettiest stripes I’ve ever seen on a tiger.”
Not that she’d ever seen a real live tiger before.
“Um . . . do you think we could get going? Hiram’s dying,” she said, taking a hesitant step forward.
The cat made that snuffling sound again and started walking toward the street. Maddy ran to catch up but suddenly stopped when the tiger leaped over the ditch separating the lawn from the road. Water was gushing from the torrential rain, and seeing that it had to be at least two feet deep and four feet across, she decided there was no way she’d be able to jump it.
“Wait!” she shouted when the cat started walking up the street.
It stopped and looked back at her.
“I can’t make it.”
Honest to God, she’d swear the tiger sighed. It finally walked back to her, turned around, and stuck its tail across the ditch.
“You expect me to grab a tiger by the tail?” she said somewhat hysterically, even as she slowly reached out and touched it.
The end of the thick tail suddenly curled around her wrist and gave her a gentle tug toward the ditch.
<
br /> “Wait!” she cried again, groping to shove her gun in her purse. She took hold of the tail with both hands. “Okay. On the count of three, I’m going to jump and—”
She hadn’t even finished giving her instructions when she suddenly went sailing across the ditch, landing halfway into the street on the other side. “Holy shit!” she yelped, untangling the tail from around her wrist. “Th-thank you.”
The tiger started trotting up the street, and Maddy ran to keep up, weaving her way around large fallen branches, being careful not to slip on the wet leaves littering the pavement. “Just as soon as I wake up, I’m going to write all this down,” she told him. “I’m sure this would make a best-selling book!”
They reached the nursing home, jogged side by side across the parking lot and stopped at the entrance. “Okay, as much as I would love to bring you inside,” she said, pulling her gun out of her purse, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” She dropped the magazine of bullets out of the handle and tucked it in her purse. “I know, maybe you could go help William and that panther, seeing how I’ll be all safe inside.” She worked the action, popping the bullet out of the chamber, but it fell onto the ground and rolled right between the tiger’s massive front paws.
Without even thinking about what she was doing, Maddy bent down, and using her shoulder to nudge the big cat out of her way, she scoffed up the bullet—only to jump back in surprise when she felt a rough, warm tongue lick the side of her face.
“Omigod! Was that a kiss or a taste?”
The cat made that feline woofing sound again, and turned around and sat down facing the parking lot.
“Okay,” she said, inconspicuously wiping the side of her face. “You just sit right here until William comes looking for me, if you want.” She shoved her gun into her purse. “I have to go now. Thank you for bringing me here . . . Mr. Tiger.” She put her hand on the door but hesitated. “If you ever find yourself on Back Ridge Road, you stop by my house and I’ll give you some . . . meat or something. Good-bye, now,” she said when he didn’t even bother to turn around.
She went inside and ran down the softly lit hall, stopping at Hiram’s open door and taking a steadying breath before she stepped inside.
Maureen turned in her chair and immediately stood up when she saw Maddy. “He’s napping right now,” she said, walking to the door and leading Maddy back into the hall. “His pulse is weak, and his breathing is shallow, but he doesn’t seem to be in any pain.”
Maddy took a relieved breath and wiped her hand over her face. “Okay; I’m going to change into my spare set of scrubs, and then I’ll sit with him. Does . . . is everyone else still asleep?” she whispered.
“Yes. And I called Doris to let her know, though I ended up having to call her cell phone like I did you, because it appears this section of town is the only part with power. But she called back and said she couldn’t come in because the storm’s knocked trees down all over, and the electricity’s out in most of town.”
“What about Dr. Petty? Were you able to get hold of him?”
Maureen shook her head. “No. The main line to Ellsworth must be down. I couldn’t even get his answering service. I tried the hospital but couldn’t get through to them, either.” Her eyes worried, Maureen hugged herself. “It’s like Midnight Bay is cut off from the rest of the world.”
Maddy patted her arm. “At least you’re not alone anymore. You go in and sit with Hiram in case he wakes up, and I’ll relieve you as soon as I change.”
“But how did you get through the storm?”
“I . . . um, I made it as far as the library and ran the rest of the way.”
“Then why aren’t you soaked? It’s raining cats and dogs out.”
Maddy blinked at her, then merely shrugged and headed down the hall. More like wolves and tigers and panthers, she was tempted to say. “I’ll be right back. If he wakes up, tell him I’m here,” she called softly over her shoulder.
She went into the room behind the nurses’ station and opened a cabinet where she kept an entire change of clothes, including sneakers. She pulled her panties up under her skirt, then her scrub pants, and then stepped out of the skirt. Turning her back to the door, she slipped out of her blouse and put on her bra, then pulled her top down over her head as she turned back to the cabinet—giving a quiet shriek when she saw a man standing at her nurses’ station, smiling at her.
He looked to be in his early forties; tall, broad-shouldered, and casually dressed in a rich golden polo shirt. His hair was deep auburn and quite short, and his sharp green eyes were crinkled at the corners of his tanned, chiseled face.
“Can I help you?” Maddy asked, wondering how long he’d been watching her.
“My car is in the ditch down the street,” he said with a slight accent she couldn’t place, “and this was the only building with lights on.” He looked up and down the hall, then at her. “Is this a home for the elderly?”
“Yes.” She stuffed her purse in the cabinet, then grabbed her socks and sneakers and walked out to the station. “It’s the River Run Nursing Home.”
He nodded. “Would you mind if I hung out here with you folks until the storm eases, or at least until morning when I can get a tow truck?”
Maddy sat down and started dressing her feet. “Sure, we don’t mind. We can even scare you up a cup of coffee if you’d like.” She nodded across the hall. “We have a sitting room and a television, so just make yourself at home.”
He thrust his hand across the counter when she stood up. “Dr. Lewis.”
Instead of shaking his hand, Maddy grabbed it like a lifeline. “As in a medical doctor who’s able to write prescriptions?”
He looked at her curiously. “As in a doctor who would need a good reason to write one.”
“I have every hope you won’t have to, but we have a dying patient, and . . . well, I promised Hiram we could give him something if he starts feeling any pain.”
“Have you called an ambulance?”
She finally let go of his hand when she realized she was still clutching him and shook her head. “He has a DNR order; he’s ninety-one, and he seems to just be shutting down. Maureen tried calling our regular doctor but she couldn’t get through to anyone.”
“Would you mind if I see his chart? I would need to see the DNR, and I’d like to read up on him before I prescribe anything.”
Maddy looked in the stand, didn’t see Hiram’s chart, but then she found it open on the lower counter right in front of her. “His name is Hiram Fields, and other than occasional bouts of forgetfulness, he’s in amazingly good health,” she said, handing him the chart. “Or he had been until yesterday, when he complained of feeling unusually tired.”
Maddy started to ask Dr. Lewis to see his credentials but then suddenly changed her mind. She didn’t want to know if he was a certified doctor or not right now; that way she could always say she forgot in the heat of the moment later, if anyone asked. Just as long as he wrote the order on Hiram’s chart and was well on his way to wherever he was going before anyone checked, they would all be covered. And she was willing to do anything, even jeopardize her own license, to keep Hiram comfortable.
“Would you like to see my credentials?” he asked, setting the chart down and reaching toward his back pocket.
Dammit, had the guy read her mind? Maddy shook her head and walked around the counter into the hall. “There will be plenty of time for that later,” she said, heading toward Hiram’s room. “And hopefully, we won’t need an order from you.”
He fell into step beside her. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to meet Mr. Fields.”
“Oh, of course.” She stopped in the doorway and motioned to Maureen.
“Maureen, this is Dr. Lewis,” she said when the older woman approached, her expression curious. “His bad luck just happens to be our good luck. Dr. Lewis’s car is in the ditch, and he came here when he noticed we still had power. He’s a medical doctor, and he’d like to take a look a
t Hiram.”
Dr. Lewis gave Maureen a slight nod and then walked into the room.
Maureen stopped Maddy from following. “A stranded motorist walks in here, and he just happens to be a doctor?” she whispered. “Did you check his credentials?”
“Not yet, but I will if Hiram needs anything.”
“How come he isn’t soaked from the rain, either?” she asked, looking upward, where they could both hear the rain pounding the roof.
Maddy went perfectly still. More important, how did he get past the tiger?
“Wait right here,” she said, running down the hall to the entrance. She grabbed the corner to swing around it and came to a sliding stop at the door.
The tiger was gone.
Maddy opened the door and was blasted by gale-force winds and driving rain that blew under the wooden canopy. She immediately stepped back inside.
Where in hell had the tiger gone?
She walked down the hall, hoping it had gone to help William do . . . whatever William was doing.
“What were you looking for?” Maureen asked.
Maddy shrugged. “I thought I heard someone knocking on the door. Why don’t you go in the kitchen and see if you can’t find us a snack? Is there any coffee on?”
“No, but I’ll make a new pot while I’m at it.” Maureen hesitated and touched Maddy’s arm. “I know how much Hiram means to you, Maddy,” she said softly, her eyes sad. “Every weekend, all he does is talk about his Maddy girl, and tonight, as I tucked him into bed, he told me how your new hairdo made your eyes look as big as dinner plates. I . . . I’m sorry.”
Maddy patted Maureen’s hand. “We knew when we signed on for this job that we were going to fall in love with them, and then have to watch them leave us.”
“I’ll go make the coffee. How do you take yours?” Maureen asked, giving her a final pat and dropping her hand.
“Just wave some cream at the cup.” Taking a deep breath, Maddy walked into Hiram’s room. “Hey, Mr. Man,” she said, giving him a big frown. “What’s the idea of calling me out in the middle of a nor’easter at three in the morning?”
Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay) Page 23