Death Perception

by Victoria Laurie

  ‘‘Just don’t overdo it,’’ I advised.

  ‘‘Oh, please,’’ she said with a wave. ‘‘I took theater in college. I can totally pull this off!’’

  Nora met us at the front and handed us two hospital badges. ‘‘I’ve had those for years,’’ she said as we snapped them to our shirts.

  ‘‘The hospital never asked for these back?’’ I said, flipping the badge over so that the back faced out and hid Nora’s picture.

  She laughed. ‘‘We’re not as big on security as you would think,’’ she said. ‘‘Those will be good enough to have you go anywhere in the hospital. Now, Trina will be escorting Jane to obstetrics and she’ll tell Charlie that she’ll sit with Jane through the gyno exam—’’

  ‘‘There’s going to be an exam?’’ Cat asked.

  Nora grinned. ‘‘No, no exam, just an empty room for Jane to sit in while you guys talk to her and see if you can convince her to leave with you.’’

  ‘‘What if she doesn’t want to go with us?’’ Cat asked me.

  I looked sternly at Candice, who was about to answer, so I cut in with, ‘‘We leave her there. And that’s not open for discussion, Candice. I will not have you guys convicted of kidnapping. Either Jane comes with us willingly, or we leave her there.’’

  Candice shrugged her shoulders, giving in. ‘‘Okay, Abs,’’ she agreed.

  Nora listened to our discussion closely and when we’d come to an agreement, she continued with, ‘‘Trina and Jane will be in room three fifteen at exactly two thirty. I’m going to have Trina paged at two thirty-five. You’ll have fifteen minutes to convince Jane to leave with you and exit the hospital. Trina will walk back into the room at exactly two fifty, and when she discovers Jane missing, she’s going to alert the staff.’’

  ‘‘She’ll be covered that way,’’ I said. ‘‘No one will suspect she had anything to do with this.’’

  ‘‘Exactly.’’

  ‘‘Awesome. We’ve parked in the lower level of the parking garage, so all we have to do is make our way back there.’’

  ‘‘You’ll want to take the west-end elevator,’’ said Nora. ‘‘You’ll have to pass through the waiting area, so your distraction for Charlie better be good.’’

  ‘‘It will be,’’ I said, eyeing Cat.

  ‘‘Piece of cake,’’ she said, waving her hand easily. ‘‘Leave it to me.’’

  ‘‘Do you have the street clothes for Jane?’’ Nora asked.

  I held up the small white garbage bag. ‘‘I thought it would look a little suspicious if I was carrying a purse or a duffel bag,’’ I said.

  ‘‘It would. Garbage bag works,’’ said Nora. ‘‘I used to clean out a lot of trash when I was a nurse.’’

  Candice glanced at her watch. ‘‘We’d better roll,’’ she said.

  Nora gave us each a hug and said, ‘‘I’ll call you around three to see how it went, okay?’’

  ‘‘You’ve got my number,’’ Candice said. ‘‘And thanks, Nora, this plan is great.’’

  Nora beamed and we walked into the hospital and made our way to the elevators. We were alone in the car and Candice pressed three. ‘‘I’ll admit, I’m really nervous,’’ I said.

  Candice gave me a pat on the shoulder. ‘‘It’s good to be nervous. Keeps you thinking.’’

  The doors opened at the second floor, and in walked a nurse with purple scrubs and a security guard who looked tired and grouchy as he pushed a woman I recognized in a wheelchair. Jane sat stiffly in the chair as the man who must have been Charlie wheeled her around to face the doors. ‘‘Where am I going again?’’ she asked.

  ‘‘Obstetrics,’’ the nurse, who I assumed was Trina, answered. ‘‘They want to do another ultrasound and make sure the baby is still doing well.’’

  Jane put her hand over her stomach. ‘‘I hope it’s a boy,’’ she said. ‘‘And I hope he looks like his father.’’

  ‘‘You remember the father?’’ Trina asked as the doors closed.

  ‘‘No. That’s why I’m hoping he looks like him. Maybe after the baby’s born, I’ll be able to remember his dad.’’

  Trina looked at her sadly and the elevator doors opened again, revealing the third floor. We waited for Trina, Charlie, and Jane to get off before we stepped off ourselves. ‘‘This way,’’ Candice whispered, pulling us away from them and down the hall.

  ‘‘Why aren’t we following them?’’ Cat asked.

  ‘‘We have to wait five minutes so Trina can leave Jane alone in the room,’’ Candice explained. ‘‘And in the meantime, I’d rather not have Charlie get a really good description of us while we stand around waiting for the time to pass.’’

  We ducked into the ladies’ room and paced the floor until two thirty-five. ‘‘Time to move,’’ Candice said. ‘‘Cat, do you remember what to do?’’

  Cat gave a firm nod. ‘‘I do,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m waiting exactly ten minutes and then it’s showtime!’’

  I looked skeptically at Candice. ‘‘A time to worry.’’

  Cat was undaunted. ‘‘You wait—you’ll see. I should have gone into show business. I’m a natural.’’

  ‘‘Okay, Meg Ryan,’’ Candice said. ‘‘I’ll make sure to send you a little gold statue if you pull this off. In the meantime, stay here for a minute or two after Abby and I leave. Give us time to go into Jane’s room.’’

  ‘‘Got it,’’ Cat said, and we boogied out of the ladies’ room.

  Just as Nora had predicted, Charlie was sitting in the waiting area just outside a set of double doors, reading a magazine. I followed right behind Candice, carrying my little trash bag, and tried to look casual.

  With all her confidence, Candice could have easily passed for a doctor. She pushed through the double doors like she owned the place and I was close on her heels. We made it down the corridor and counted off the room numbers, stopping just outside of room 315. ‘‘Fingers crossed,’’ whispered Candice. Then she opened the door and we stepped inside.

  Jane was sitting on the edge of the examination table. Her thin legs were poking out of the hospital gown and her pale skin was turning pink in the coolness of the air-conditioned room. ‘‘Good afternoon,’’ Candice said, pulling up the small stool on rollers and taking a seat.

  ‘‘Hey,’’ said Jane. ‘‘Is this going to take long? I wanna get back to my room and watch my soap opera.’’

  Candice regarded her with steely gray eyes and a long pause. ‘‘What if you missed your show today?’’ she asked Jane softly.

  ‘‘This is going to take a while?’’ Jane asked, and I could tell she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable under Candice’s scrutiny.

  ‘‘Only if you say yes,’’ Candice said.

  ‘‘Huh?’’ Jane said. ‘‘Say yes to what?’’

  Candice looked to me and I leaned against the wall and said, ‘‘Jane, we’re not here to examine you. We’re here to offer you an alternative to being cooped up in a hospital room against your free will.’’

  Jane blinked at me for several seconds before saying, ‘‘I don’t understand.’’

  ‘‘We’re not employees here,’’ Candice said. ‘‘I’m not a doctor, and she’s not a nurse. We’re here to help you leave, if you want to.’’

  Jane crossed her arms protectively and seemed to lean away from us. ‘‘Why would you help me?’’ she asked nervously.

  ‘‘Because we need your help,’’ I said simply. ‘‘The car you had the accident in was my boyfriend’s. You were holding his cell phone when the paramedics found you. I know you don’t remember what happened that night, Jane, but I believe that you hold the key to finding him. I think he’s in terrible danger, and I don’t believe he has long to live.’’ As I finished my sentence, my voice shook with emotion and my eyes began to water. I swallowed hard and worked to compose myself.

  ‘‘Abby is a psychic,’’ Candice said, realizing that I couldn’t continue. ‘‘She’s one of the best I’ve ever met, and
we think that by using her abilities, we might be able to help you get your memory back.’’

  Jane seemed to take this in stride, which said a lot for her. ‘‘How would that work?’’ she asked. ‘‘I mean, would she read my palm or something?’’

  I smiled. ‘‘Not exactly. The way I work is to focus on your energy, and by that, I mean that I will be homing in on what most people think of as an aura. It’s the area around us that surrounds us like the branches on a Christmas tree. And it’s by concentrating on those branches that I’m able to describe the events that have affected and will affect you, a bit like describing the ornaments on your particular tree.’’

  ‘‘How will I know if you’re right?’’ she said.

  I sighed. ‘‘That’s the tricky part,’’ I admitted. ‘‘Without a memory of who you are and how these events relate to you, it will be a difficult session. But Candice and I were hoping that with enough clues brought out during the session, it might trigger something memorable for you. It might even be the key to unlocking all of your memories and finding out who you are and how you ended up in my boyfriend’s car.’’

  ‘‘And if I can remember that, you think you’ll be able to find your boyfriend,’’ she said.

  ‘‘Yes.’’

  Jane was quiet for a few seconds as she thought about what we were suggesting. I noticed Candice glancing at her watch, and the thin line her mouth settled into told me we had very little time. ‘‘What would I have to do?’’ Jane said.

  ‘‘We won’t be able to hold the session here,’’ I said. ‘‘There are too many eyes and ears around, and I don’t think the FBI is interested in my psychic impressions right now. We’d have to sneak you out of the hospital, and, Jane, we’d have to go now or not at all.’’

  Jane looked down at her gown. ‘‘I don’t have any street clothes,’’ she said.

  I held up the white garbage bag. ‘‘We brought you some new ones. I had to guess at your size, but I figured some medium-sized sweatpants and hoodie would fit?’’

  Jane smiled and reached for the bag. ‘‘They’ll be fine.’’ She changed immediately and we put her gown in the garbage bag to take with us. When the alert went out, I wanted to make sure the description fit a woman in a hospital gown.

  ‘‘Here,’’ I said, pulling up the hood. ‘‘Tuck your hair up so that it hides as much of it as possible.’’

  As she did that, Candice went to the door and opened it a crack. Peering out, she hesitated, then opened it wide and waved us forward. ‘‘Stick close to us, Jane, and try to act casual.’’

  We walked down the corridor and in the direction of the double doors. Off to the left of us I could see the back of Trina, as she faced away from us and talked on the phone. To the right lay my sister on the ground sipping some water and fanning herself while Charlie hovered over her along with another nurse who was taking her pulse. ‘‘Oh, I’m just so dizzy!’’ she said when she saw us approaching. ‘‘Charlie!’’ she said, grabbing his shirt and pulling him close to her. ‘‘Stay with me, won’t you? Oh, why is everything going so dark?!’’

  ‘‘I’m right here, Belinda,’’ he said, patting nervously at the hand clutching his shirt.

  We scooted by the little scene and hurried to the elevators, which opened almost immediately, thank God. Jane got in first and hid in the corner, Candice and I stepped in front of her to block her from the hallway, and Candice pushed hard on the CLOSE DOOR button. As the doors were closing, we heard Cat say, ‘‘Oh, my goodness! I suddenly feel so much better!’’

  The elevator could not move fast enough for my thudding heart. Sweat broke out along my hairline and I struggled not to fidget nervously. The doors opened up to the lobby and we hustled out and down the corridor and turned left. Candice had scoped out the hospital before we met Nora, so our route was direct and quick.

  At the end of the corridor we took yet another left, walked about halfway down, and pushed open a door that said STAIRS TO LOWER-LEVEL PARKING.

  Candice went first down the stairs, then Jane, then me, my ears pricked for the sound of an alarm, or pounding feet or someone giving chase behind us.

  We made it to the bottom of the stairwell without incident and pushed open the double doors to the nearly empty bottom level of the hospital’s five-level underground parking garage. Candice had felt the fewer witnesses to our departure, the better.

  Our car was parked about fifty yards away, between a pylon and the corner of the parking garage, a tight fit even for the Mini, and it was parked butt to the wall so that if we needed to, we could bolt out of the space without having to back up.

  Candice hit the automatic locks and she got into the driver’s side, while I got into the front passenger seat and Jane got into the back behind me. Candice started the engine and glanced at her watch. ‘‘She’d better be on time,’’ she said.

  I glanced at my own watch. ‘‘She’s still got two minutes,’’ I said nervously. ‘‘She’ll make it.’’

  My foot tapped on the floor of the car and I craned my neck to watch the door to the garage, waiting for Cat to push through. But the seconds continued to tick on and still there was no sign of my sister.

  ‘‘Shit!’’ Candice swore as time ran out. ‘‘Abby, I can wait sixty more seconds. Then we’ll have to assume something’s gone wrong.’’

  I didn’t say anything. I just stared hard at that door and prayed for the sight of my sister.

  My heart sank when Candice said, ‘‘Time’s up. We’ll have to go to plan B.’’

  Pulling out of the space, Candice pumped the gas and we drove to the ramp that led to the surface. Just then, Candice’s cell bleeped.

  She looked at the caller ID. ‘‘It’s from inside the hospital,’’ she said, handing the phone to me so that she could focus on the garage’s tight turns.

  ‘‘Hello?’’ I asked tentatively.

  ‘‘I got stuck!’’ Cat said, almost in a panic. ‘‘It was the nurse—she wouldn’t let go of my hand!’’

  ‘‘Where are you?’’

  ‘‘I’m in some corner of the hospital, and I have no idea where I am. I think the alarm went out on Jane, ’cuz there are people running around like crazy!’’

  ‘‘What floor are you on?’’

  ‘‘The fifth,’’ she said. ‘‘I just jumped into the first available elevator and it took me up instead of down.’’

  ‘‘Stay put, Cat, and call me back in exactly two minutes, okay?’’

  ‘‘Okay,’’ she said, and I could hear the fear in her voice.

  I quickly relayed to Candice what had happened. ‘‘We can’t go back for her, Abby,’’ Candice said. ‘‘If we get caught with Jane, we’re toast.’’

  ‘‘I have an idea,’’ I said, thinking quickly. I pushed the redial number and after two anxious rings I heard Nora say, ‘‘How’d it go?’’

  ‘‘We got separated from Cat,’’ I said. ‘‘We’re about to get out of the parking garage, but we can’t risk going back for her!’’

  ‘‘Is she still inside the hospital?’’

  ‘‘Yes. She’s stuck somewhere on the fifth floor.’’

  ‘‘Can you call her back?’’

  ‘‘She’s going to call me in less than a minute.’’

  ‘‘Tell her to make her way down to the basement. That’s where the laundry is and there’s this little tiny parking lot that nobody ever uses. Have her meet me in that parking lot and I’ll pick her up. Then call me and let me know where you want me to drop her off.’’

  I thanked Nora and closed the phone, waiting the last twenty seconds for the phone to ring. By this time we had pulled up to the garage entrance and were stuck waiting behind two other cars in line. ‘‘Come on,’’ Candice muttered. ‘‘Move!’’

  Her phone rang and I answered it quickly. I gave Cat a quick set of instructions and told her to hustle. ‘‘I’ll find it,’’ she promised, and hung up.

  We inched forward to our turn and Candice whipped her ar
m out the window holding a five-dollar bill. ‘‘We’re in a bit of a hurry,’’ she said to the man who took her money and punched some keys on the register to give her change.

  Just then my radar gave me a loud jolt and I turned my head to look out my window. At that exact moment a black sedan right next to us was rolling down its tinted window and Raymond Robillard was reaching to take the ticket the mechanical box had pushed out. Our eyes met and I felt my blood run cold as I realized who I was looking at. ‘‘Shit!’’ I yelled, tugging on Candice’s arm.

  Robillard’s jaw fell open and he blinked, right before he began yelling. Candice gunned the engine just as the arm on the gate swung up, and she punched the gas. We shot forward and raced away from the gate. Behind us I heard the squealing of tires and I turned my head to look. Robillard’s car was backing up when suddenly there was a loud crunching sound. He’d hit the car behind him.

  ‘‘Go! Go! Goooooo!’’ I begged Candice, whose face was set and firm with determination.

  ‘‘I’m moving as fast as I can, Abs!’’ she yelled back.

  We bolted out onto the street, narrowly missing an oncoming car. ‘‘Hey!’’ Jane yelled from the backseat. ‘‘Pregnant lady in the back here!’’

  ‘‘Pregnant lady better buckle up and hold on tight!’’ Candice shouted as she made a right turn tight enough for two of our tires to leave the ground.

  I kept looking back for Robillard as we zipped down a busy four-lane road, weaving in and out of traffic. We got stuck at a red light and I watched Candice stare into the rearview mirror hard. ‘‘You son of a bitch!’’ she said, and I turned my head again to look behind us.

  In the distance we could see Robillard, doing his best to catch up to us. Our light turned green and Candice came close to driving into the car in front of us. ‘‘Go!’’ she screamed at the driver. ‘‘Move your ass!’’

  We finally got enough room to zip around him and wove in and out of the traffic around us, nearly clipping a few vehicles in the process. Robillard was several car lengths behind us, stuck in the congestion himself, but he wasn’t letting us get away so easily.