Day 6 – Wednesday morning
Hillcrest Hospital
Where another might have pictures of family, Marjorie Hawkins had portraits of herself, in SCUBA gear, holding up rare, exotic seashells.
“Is this new?” Ginny asked, admiring a delicate specimen, brilliant in pinks and golds.
Her boss nodded, smiling. “It’s a Calico Scallop. I picked it up just off Bunkum Bay.”
“Monserrat?”
She nodded. “On the Caribbean side.”
Ginny sighed, wishing she had the resources to go sailing in the Caribbean. Someday, maybe.
Ms. Hawkins motioned to a chair, then settled down behind her desk and faced Ginny. “I’m sending you to Austin.”
Ginny nodded. The two of them had been talking about the need for more preceptors and how it would be cost-effective to have someone in-house to train them. Ginny was the obvious choice. She’d been helping new nurses (those just out of school) and new recruits (experienced nurses just hired on) to get up to speed in the Medical ICU for two years.
“It will mean a rotating schedule for you, so you can work with nurses on both shifts, and more money, of course.”
“I don’t mind rotating, as long as I get Friday evenings off.”
Ms. Hawkins smiled ruefully. “Not this week, I’m afraid. The conference starts on Friday morning and runs through Sunday noon.”
Ginny wrinkled her nose. It was not possible to drive from Austin to Dallas during rush hour on a Friday. The traffic would make the entire I-35 corridor a parking lot.
“Okay, maybe not this Friday.”
“Here’s the conference schedule.” The Head Nurse handed over a sheaf of papers with yellow highlighting on the pages. “Network where you can and make nice.”
Ginny nodded. She understood how the industry worked.
“Thank you for staying late to talk with me. I appreciate your flexibility.”
“I’m happy to help in any way I can.”
“I know it.” She paused, eyeing Ginny. “You and Phyllis were friends, weren’t you?”
“In school, and we got along well here. I feel really bad for her family.” Ginny sighed. “It’s a good thing she had a sister in town. Her husband isn’t coping well.”
“You’ve seen him?”
Ginny nodded, explaining about the condolence call. “And I have no idea who it was that upset him so much.”
The other woman sighed. “I’m afraid I did that.”
“You?” Ginny’s eyebrows rose.
“I went over on Friday to see if I could pick up some files Phyllis had taken home with her. I wanted to make sure there were no HIPAA violations.”
Ginny nodded. Those could be expensive.
“But he wouldn’t let me look.” Ms. Hawkins’ eyes narrowed. “I wonder if you could pick them up for me.”
Ginny blinked. “I suppose so, if I knew what to ask for.”
The Head Nurse leaned forward. “Anything that has a Hillcrest identifier on it, paper and electronic versions. And anything that looks like it might be a legal issue. It would be a kindness to take them off that poor man’s shoulders.”
Ginny nodded. “I can try. How soon do you need them?”
“Today would be best. Just put them all in a box and bring them to me. I’ll sort through them here.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
The Head Nurse rose and Ginny recognized her cue, happy to be dismissed promptly. Rose MacGregor was expecting her and she wanted to make a quick stop before going over to the shelter.
* * *
Wednesday morning
Loch Lonach Children’s Shelter
Ginny sat beside Luis at the kitchen table and watched him eat cereal. Seymour rested on a rock in his terrarium, apparently enjoying the spectacle.
“Do you know why I’m here, Luis?” she asked.
He shook his head and kept on eating.
“Those stickers Mrs. McGregor found on you, they didn’t belong to you, did they?”
He looked at her sidelong, then shook his head, then went back to his cereal.
“You’re not in trouble, but I would like to know where you got them. Will you tell me?”
Mrs. McGregor had searched Luis’ belongings and found nothing.
Luis reached for his milk, finishing it with a minimum of fuss. Ginny was glad to see he had a good appetite. She reached into her bag and pulled out the gift she’d brought. She showed the sticker book to Luis and saw his eyes light up.
“I like stickers,” Ginny said, then started to flip through the book. “They’re shiny and have bright colors and clever pictures.” She showed him the page she was looking at, full of dinosaurs.
“Roaaar!” She lunged toward the child and he responded by giggling.
Ginny went back to flipping through the pages. “Here are some about Santa Claus. It looks like someone went up to the North Pole and took pictures of his elves. That’s probably because Christmas is coming.” She saw Luis’ eyes focus on the page and held it out so he could see.
“Here’s Santa’s sleigh. See the reindeer? They have names.”
Luis looked at her.
She pointed to each animal as she ticked them off the list. “Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen and Comet and—”
“Cupid and Donner and Blitzen!” Luis finished triumphantly.
“That’s right!” Ginny smiled at him. “Would you like to have this book of stickers?”
He nodded, but made no move to take it from her.
“I brought it for you, because of the other stickers, because we had to take those stickers away, and I wanted you to have some stickers you can keep.”
“For me?”
“Yes.” Ginny set the book down and pushed it toward him.
Luis reached over and picked it up.
“Will you sit in my lap, Luis?” Ginny asked.
He nodded, his eyes on the book. Ginny slid her arm around his waist and pulled him over, wrapping her arms around him.
They spent the next ten minutes turning pages and exclaiming over the pictures. As Luis relaxed, he became more vocal, pointing out items of particular interest.
“Do you want to wear a sticker?” Ginny asked.
The boy nodded.
“Okay. Which one do you want to start with?”
He flipped through several pages then pointed. “This one!”
Ginny carefully peeled off the T-Rex and applied it to his arm. “There!”
He grinned up at her. “Roooaarrr!”
Ginny laughed and gave him a quick hug. By the time they had been all the way through the collection, Luis was wearing stickers on both arms, both knees, his cheek, and he had put one on Ginny’s forehead. “There!” he said, smiling up at her.
“So where did those other stickers come from?”
“Envelope.”
“From the mail?”
He nodded. “A blue one.”
“Do you still have the envelope?”
“It was Mama’s.”
“It was something she sent to other people?”
He shook his head. “They were for her. I wasn’t supposed to touch them.” He had his eyes back on the sticker book now.
“Someone sent her the blue envelopes?”
He nodded.
“How did you get one of the blue envelopes?”
He gave her a sly look. “Took it.”
“Why did you do that?”
“It was for her, for Christmas.”
“You wanted to give her a present?”
He nodded.
“So you took one of the blue envelopes because they were special, just for her.”
He nodded again. “A special Christmas present.”
“When did you take the blue envelope?”
He shrugged.
“Where did you put it?”
“In my jacket.”
“Okay, then what happened?”
His face clouded. “Mama went away.” He dropped the book and turned in her arms. “Mama went away and left me.”
Ginny wrapped her arms around the stricken child and hugged him, murmuring that it was going to be all right, his mother would come home to him. She hoped it was true.
When he settled down, she stroked his hair. “Did you look inside the blue envelope, Luis?”
He shook his head.
“Then how did you find the stickers?”
“They fell out.”
“Why did they fall out?”
“It tore. I didn’t mean to. I wanted to show her the present so she’d come home.” He was crying again. “I didn’t mean to tear it.”
Ginny rocked him back and forth, soothing him. “So when you saw they were stickers, you decided to put them on you, to see if they would bring her home.” Ginny understood magical thinking.
He nodded, wiping his nose on her shoulder. He pulled back and looked up into her face, his eyes still brimming. “I’m sorry.” The tears spilled over. “I won’t do it again!”
She pulled him to her, her heart aching. “Oh, Luis! This isn’t your fault.”
“I wanna go home. I want my Mama!”
There was no way Ginny could tell this child her worst fears. “It’s going to be all right, Luis. We’ll find her and bring her home.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” Ginny looked up in time to see Rose MacGregor cross her fingers, but she couldn’t tell whether it was to invoke good luck or invalidate a promise they might not be able to keep.
* * *
Wednesday morning
Kyle residence
John Kyle looked better than he had when she’d last seen him, but the grief was evident in every line.
Ginny leaned toward him. “You asked me to make sure that woman from Hillcrest didn’t come back. I can do that.”
He looked at her, his eyes empty of tears. “I’d appreciate it.”
“She wanted to pick up some materials Phyllis brought home. If you’ll trust me with them, I can take them back to the hospital and you won’t have to think about it.”
He nodded. “Work stuff.”
“Yes.”
“She was always doing something. Never knew her to be still, not for a moment.” He swallowed. “She was working on something to do with getting enough nurses to fill in here in Texas. Something political.” His eyes filled with tears. “Could that be why she was—”
Ginny reached over and laid a hand on his arm. “The police are looking for a reason. If there’s anything you think they should know, tell us.”
John Kyle wiped his face with his hand, then dug around in his pocket, looking for a tissue. Ginny pulled a box over and handed it to him.
He blew his nose, then continued. “She said there was a vote coming up in the legislature. That it was going to be unpopular.” He controlled himself with an effort. “I didn’t care. I didn’t even listen. I should have been more supportive.”
It was a story Ginny had heard many times before. Too many people took the good things in their lives for granted, until it was too late. “Do you think I could look at those files?”
He nodded. “Take them. Take them all.” He rose and led her into a room set up as a home office. He moved swiftly, making a pile on the desk. Ginny let him work, knowing it was helping, even if only a little.
In the end, she needed a box to hold all of them. He carried them out to her car and put them on the back seat. Ginny turned to face him. “Thank you.”
“You find him, whoever did this. You find him.”
Ginny nodded soundlessly. That was two promises she’d made today she saw no way of keeping.
When she got home, Ginny collapsed into bed, promising herself she would look at both problems when she woke up. As she relaxed into her pillow, she found herself grieving for all of them. Poor little Luis and his friend, Joey, and Joey’s father.
The odds were seriously against her, but Ginny knew, whatever happened from here on out, there was no way her conscience would let her walk away. It wasn’t just her own self-respect anymore. She had given her word. She would have to keep it, or live with the guilt for the rest of her life.
* * *