by Bruce, Lila
Samuels bent down, grabbed Reynolds by the shirt and pulled him off the floor. Jamie stepped between them and shook her head at Samuels as she took hold of the other man’s arm.
“I got him. Do something about that,” she said, motioning to the steady stream of blood flowing from his nose.
Samuels nodded and accepted a white bath towel that the nurse named Lisa handed him as she walked out of the nearest room. “I think the bastard broke my nose,” he grumbled as he held the towel to his face.
“This way,” Brenda said. “I’ll go unlock the administrator’s office. It’ll be a lot more…private.”
Jamie pushed aside the ache in her ribs as she tightened her grip on Reynolds’ arm and leaned in close. “So help me, if you try to run or do anything stupid from here on out, I will jerk a knot in your ass,” she whispered, repeating the phrase she’d heard earlier in the day.
Reynolds grunted but made no other response as he walked forward, following in between Jamie and Samuels. As they strode through the hallways, bypassing more than a few curious residents, Jamie saw Samuels reach for the radio that was surprisingly still firmly attached to his thick, brown leather belt and call in to dispatch.
“Here we go,” Brenda said, opening an office door and waving them in. “Now, would someone like to tell me what the hell just happened?”
Jamie sat Reynolds in a floral-patterned high-back chair and then held a hand to the throbbing pain in her left side as she looked apologetically at the charge nurse.
“I’m sorry for all this. We simply stopped in to ask Mr. Reynolds here a few questions about his brother. If I had any idea that this was going to happen, we would have gone about it a different way.”
Brenda briefly made eye contact with a sullen Reynolds and then glanced back at Jamie.
“I would think so,” she huffed. “I know you, don’t I?”
Jamie nodded.
“I’ve been here a few times before to see—”
“Mrs. Parker’s gone,” Nurse Lisa exclaimed, rushing into the office.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Brenda asked.
“She’s gone,” Lisa answered, shaking her head. “We’ve checked all the halls. We can’t find her anywhere.”
“Wait,” Jamie said, feeling her mouth go dry as she stepped away from the chair. “Mrs. Parker? In room two hundred?”
The two nurses both nodded at the same time.
“Yes, that’s right. Do you know her?”
“She’s my girlfr…my friend’s grandmother,” Jamie answered, casting a glance at Samuels. “We just saw her. She was in her room.”
“Well, she’s gone now,” Lisa said. “She must have found a way out somehow while all this was happening. She’s a runner, you know.”
“No,” Jamie said, shaking her head. “I didn’t know. Nicole hadn’t mentioned that to me.”
Nicole. Fuck, Jamie thought, she’s going to kill me.
“We need to get the alert out,” Brenda said. “Can you…”
“Already on it,” Samuels said, pulling his radio out. He gestured toward the blue lights flashing outside the office window. “Here’s patrol rolling in. We can get them going as well.”
“Give me the keys.”
“What?” Samuels said, lowering the towel from his bleeding face to scowl at Jamie. “Have you lost your mind? I saw him hit you and the way you’ve been holding to your side. You’re in no better shape than I am to go traipsing about out there.”
“Give me the damn keys, Greg,” Jamie repeated in a low voice. “I’m fine. It’s freezing outside. You saw what she was wearing, we don’t have time to stand around and argue about this.”
Samuels swore under his breath as he reached a hand in his pocket and then tossed Jamie the car keys. “Here. Go on, then.”
Jamie caught the keys and turned toward the door. She paused just as she stepped into the hallway and turned back to Samuels.
“Samuels, someone needs to—”
“We’ll call Nicole and let her know what’s going on,” he finished for her. “You just go.”
Jamie gave a small nod and hurried toward the exit, stopping briefly to punch in the code on the door’s electronic key lock. A slap of cold air hit her in the face as she threw open the door. “Damn it,” she muttered, zipping up her jacket as she saw snow flurries beginning to fall.
Shivering, Jamie strode toward the two patrol cars parked by the front entrance, hailing the uniformed officers stepping out of the vehicles. She frowned as she approached them, recognizing both but unable to think of either man’s name.
“Bowman, Detective Samuels has a suspect inside that needs transport to the jail,” Jamie said, finally placing a name with a face. “I need you with me,” she stated to the other officer. “One of the dementia patients has gotten out. She’s approximately eighty years-old, black hair, wearing a yellow nightgown. She can’t have gotten too far in this weather. I’ll take the road west, you go east.”
“Gotcha,” the officer said and sprinted back to his patrol car.
Jamie crossed the parking lot to the dark blue Ford, pressing the faded red button on the key fob to unlock it. Her hand froze on the handle as her cell phone began to buzz. She pulled the phone from its holder on her belt and then swore when she read the name displayed on the caller ID.
“Now you call,” she muttered and slid behind the wheel of the car, wincing as the movement caused the pain in her left side to flare once again. Jamie shoved the phone into her jacket pocket and pulled the Ford out of the parking lot, cursing her luck as heavy snow flakes began to fall on the windshield.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Damn, Nicole, can you try not to kill us? Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?”
“I’m fine.”
“Well, slow down at least.”
“Give me a break,” Nicole said, ignoring Julie as the other woman gripped tightly on the passenger door handle. “Besides, we’re here.”
“Thank God,” Julie muttered. She straightened up in the seat as Nicole turned the Honda into Golden Meadows’ parking lot. “Are those police cars?”
Nicole swallowed and tried to ignore the sinking feeling beginning to build in the pit of her stomach. The call she’d gotten from Golden Meadows had been vague, just that there was an incident involving her grandmother and she needed to come to the retirement home as soon as possible.
“Damn it, Nana. What have you done?” Nicole said as she pulled into a vacant spot at the front of the building. She took a deep breath and climbed out of the Honda, trying not to make eye contact with the two uniformed police officers standing at the sidewalk. Nicole could hear Julie speaking as she bent over to punch in the entrance code at the front door, but the words weren’t registering.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Nicole asked as they stepped out of the cold and into the lobby.
“I said, you need to settle down. I know this is the last thing you need tonight after getting that package from Jamie, but you don’t…” Julie put a hand on Nicole’s shoulder and turned her so that they were face to face. “Hey,” she said in a surprisingly calm voice. “I know what you’re thinking. Nana is fine, you gotta believe that.”
“Julie, there’s only one reason they would have called me to come here and not tell me why over the phone. If she were just sick, then we’d be at the hospital right now,” Nicole said, her voice breaking.
“We’re not thinking that way,” Julie said, tightening her grasp on Nicole’s shoulder. “Nana is fine. And…if she’s not, then I’m here with you.”
Nicole smiled and gave Julie a quick hug.
“Thank you,” she said.
Julie nodded and fell into step beside Nicole as they moved from the lobby back toward Nana’s room. Nicole couldn’t help but notice how quiet it was. It was barely seven o’clock and there was no one in sight. At that time of night, there should be residents milling around, staff making the rounds and cleaning up from dinner. Sh
e was about to say as much to Julie when she saw Brenda standing in the aisle by the nurse’s station, looking anxiously back and forth down the hallway.
“Nicole,” the nurse said as she saw her approaching. “This way honey.” She gestured for Nicole to follow and turned away from the nurse’s station and down one of the side hallways. Nicole began to feel clammy as she realized that they were heading away from Nana’s room and toward a part of the retirement home that she was unfamiliar with. She glanced back at Julie, who took a step forward and wrapped an arm around Nicole while they followed Brenda into a small office at the end of the hall.
Nicole didn’t know what to expect when she entered the office, but it sure as hell wasn’t a bruised and bloodied Greg Samuels leaning against a desk texting on an iPhone.
“Detective Samuels?” she said questioningly. He raised his head as she spoke and she was shocked to see him stare back at her with two black eyes. He had a small, jagged cut across the bridge of his nose that was slowly seeping blood and what looked to be a cotton ball shoved into one nostril.
Samuels glanced at Brenda, who shook her head.
“I haven’t told her anything yet,” the nurse advised him.
“Tell me what?” Nicole asked, looking back and forth between them. “What the hell’s going on?”
Samuels stood from the desk and stretched his neck as if it were sore.
“Nicole, your grandmother is missing.”
“What? What do you mean she’s missing?” Nicole turned to Julie and then back to the detective.
“There was a…situation,” Samuels began, sounding to Nicole very police-like in his tone. “We think your grandmother picked up a set of staff keys and used them to unlock a rear exit…”
He continued to speak, but all Nicole could hear was a buzz. Her thoughts raced as she tried to absorb what Samuels had said. Nicole’s mind fixated on the snow that was falling outside, the near freezing temperature. What had Nana been wearing when she—
“What did you say about Jamie?” Nicole asked sharply, Samuels’ words suddenly registering.
“I said Jamie is out with patrol looking for her. Also, we’ve issued a Silver Alert, so her description has gone out to all the media outlets.”
Nicole gazed up at Samuels’s battered face and frowned.
“There’s something that’s not making sense here. What did you mean by ‘situation’? What the hell happened to your face?”
“My partner and I came here to—”
“Your partner? You mean Jamie, right?”
“Yes,” Samuels said and then cleared his throat. “We, uh, came here to question a potential witness in a case we’ve been working, the brother of a suspect. I was in the process of identifying who we were when the witness, for lack of a better word, attacked us and then tried to flee. There was a small struggle—”
“Stop,” Nicole interrupted. “I don’t want to hear any more. I can fill in the blanks.” She closed her eyes as she felt a stir of anger. Nicole took a deep breath and then glared at Samuels. “So basically, you fucked up and now my grandmother is out there somewhere,” she snarled, pointing to the office window.
“Nicole…”
“Don’t, Samuels. Good God, what were you two thinking?” She began to pace around the room, rubbing at her eyes. Nicole stopped and held a hand out to Samuels. “Give me your phone.”
“What?”
“Your phone. Give it to me. I tried to call Jamie earlier and she didn’t answer. Now I know why. Give me your phone. She’ll pick up for you.”
Samuels looked for a moment as if he was going to say no, but then nodded and handed Nicole the iPhone. She quickly punched in Jamie’s number and then put the call on speaker. After two rings the line picked up.
“Jamie,” Nicole said, launching into the tirade she felt coming on. “I don’t know what the hell—”
“Nicole?”
Nicole stopped in mid-sentence as she heard her grandmother’s voice on the other end of the line. She looked to Julie and then to Samuels.
“Nana? Is that you?” she asked in a strangled voice, her anger suddenly forgotten.
“Nicole, that is you, isn’t it, honey?”
“Thank God,” Nicole said under her breath. “Nana, everyone’s been worried sick about you. Where have you been?”
“Oh, here and there,” Nana answered, as if she had just been out for a leisurely stroll.
Samuels touched Nicole on the arm.
“Where’s Jamie?” he asked, frowning.
“Nana, where’s Jamie?” Nicole repeated into the phone.
“I don’t think I know anyone named Jamie, honey.”
Jesus.
“Nana, you know Jamie. You’re talking on her phone right now. Jamie—she’s brought you flowers before. Tall…”
“Brown jacket,” Samuels supplied.
“She’s wearing a brown jacket.”
“Oh,” Nana drawled. “The Amazon.”
Nicole sighed and glanced over at a grinning Julie.
“Yes, Nana, the Amazon. Where is she?”
“Oh, she’s right here next to me.”
“Is every conversation with her like this?” Samuels asked, shaking his head.
“Pretty much,” Brenda answered from the doorway. Nicole cut her eyes to the nurse and realized that she’d almost forgotten the woman was there.
“Nana, can you put Jamie on the phone so I can talk to her?” Nicole said, speaking louder than she really needed to, hoping if nothing else that Jamie would hear and take the phone away from Nana.
“No, honey, I can’t do that. I’m pretty sure she’s dead.”
The world tilted dangerously for a second and Nicole felt her stomach lurch. “W-What?”
“I said, I’m pretty sure she’s dead,” Nana shouted back into the phone.
Nicole stared down at the phone in her hands and suddenly realized she could hear the pounding of her own heartbeat. She swallowed and looked up at Samuels, who had gone deathly pale.
“Nana, what are you talking about? What do you mean, s-she’s dead?”
“Well, she hasn’t moved since the car went off into the woods and hit that tree, so I’d say she’s dead.”
Nicole opened her mouth, but found herself unable to speak. She looked helplessly to Samuels. He took the phone from her suddenly boneless hand and held it up close to his face.
“Miss—”
“Nana,” Nicole whispered. “Call her Nana.” She felt a hand on her arm and turned to see a worried Julie standing beside her.
“Nana,” Samuels continued, “can you tell me where you are?”
“Is that you, Steven?”
Nicole motioned to Samuels.
“Just say yes.”
“Yes, Nana, this is Steven. Can you tell me where you are?”
“I’m in a car,” Nana said sweetly.
This isn’t happening, Nicole thought. I’m in the middle of some crazy nightmare. She shook her head, trying to push away the buzzing sound that again threatened to drown out everything else.
“Oh, wait,” Nana said suddenly.
“What is it Nana?” Samuels asked, his eyes darting between Nicole and the phone.
“I don’t think…whatever her name is here…I don’t think she’s dead after all.”
“Oh, sweet Jesus,” Samuels muttered and then spoke loudly back at the phone. “Are you sure Nana?”
“I said so, didn’t I?” she snapped back. “Nope, she’s not dead. At least not yet, anyway. She’s making some kind of a gurgling sound. Here, let me poke her and she if she’ll stop.”
The buzzing in Nicole’s ears became a roar and she rather unexpectedly forgot how to stand. Julie tightened the grip on Nicole’s arm and caught her as she began to fall, pushing her toward a floral-patterned chair.
“Christ,” Samuels said and ran a hand over his head. “Nana, I need you to help me out now. I need you to take a real good look around you, okay? Let me know when you’ve
done that.”
“Okay,” Nana replied. There was a moment of silence. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Great. Now, real slowly, I need you to tell me exactly where you are.”
“I…am…in…a…car.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jamie bent over on the small wooden bench by the front door and finished lacing up her boots. One of her pants legs was bunched uncomfortably up around the top of the brown leather boot, so she quickly straightened it out. Jamie inhaled the heady scent of cinnamon and oak that permeated the cabin, and then stood from the bench.
She shivered slightly as she opened the back door and felt the cold mountain air creeping in. The sun had only just come up and the temperature was well below freezing. It had snowed again overnight and the tree-lined driveway of the rental house was completely covered in white. Had to be two or three inches, Jamie thought as she stepped out onto the front porch, if the snow on the hood of her Explorer was any indication. She briefly glanced around, but saw no one. Not that she expected to. The house—made to resemble a log cabin from the exterior—sat quietly surrounded by tall pines on either side.
Jamie rubbed her hands over her bare arms and made her way down the porch stairs. She thought about going back in for her coat, but she’d left it in the bedroom where Nicole was still sleeping and she didn’t want to disturb her. Jamie knew how hard Nicole had worked to ‘clear her plate’, as she called it, so that they could have a full week alone together. Cabin rentals in the Smoky Mountains were hard to come by this time of the year. Knowing how hard Nicole had worked to arrange this one so that they could spend some much needed time together, Jamie was determined to do everything she could to see that Nicole thoroughly enjoyed her week off from work.
The snow crunched beneath her boots as she quickly covered the distance between the cabin and the small lean-to that acted as a woodshed. They should have brought more wood in last night, Jamie supposed, but after a couple of glasses of that blackberry wine that Nicole had insisted they’d pickup in Sevierville, firewood had been the last thing on Jamie’s mind. She smiled softly as she thought about snuggling up in front of the large stone fireplace last night, the glow of the fire bringing out the subtle highlights in Nicole’s hair.