Chapter 54

The Loading Dock

Theo grabbed his phone from his back pocket and hit the only number he had on speed dial. While the phone rang, he ran down the hall, looking in room after room. Nothing. The hospital was six stories high with hundreds of beds, he couldn’t cover all that ground alone.

Ellen answered. “How is she?” she asked brusquely.

“Gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?” she said, the undeniable sound of panic in her voice.

“The officer was handcuffed to her bed, unconscious, and Sheila was nowhere in sight.”

“Was it Victor? Did he take her?”

He paused mid-stride, remembering the open carton of cigarettes with one pack missing. “You know. I don’t think it was Victor. I have a hunch. Let me check something and I’ll call you right back.”

“Fine. Hurry. I’ll alert security immediately.”

He hung up and ran back to Sheila’s room, then looked for the nearest stairwell. He realized, with the officer out of commission, she could have easily made it to the stairs without the nurse seeing. He followed what he hoped were Sheila’s footsteps down three flights to an emergency exit door. He pushed it expecting to hear an alarm. There was none. Probably still damaged from the quake, he thought. He opened the door and found it led onto the sidewalk on Lovejoy between Twenty-Third and Twenty-Second. He took a chance and walked east.

Just ahead, he heard a laugh and a cough. A smoker’s cough. He could see a narrow driveway carved into the sidewalk curb ahead. He peeked around the corner. It was Sheila. Dressed in a hospital gown and a white robe, she sat on the loading dock sharing a cigarette with Victor Smith.

He ducked out of sight, rapidly sent a text, then casually walked around the corner. With a smile he asked, “Can I bum a smoke?”