Jennifer had barely entered the garage when the phone rang. She walked toward the front office and answered, willing herself to concentrate. It was Evelyn.
“Hi Evelyn.”
“Greg is gone. He just slipped away, it was so peaceful.”
“How is Linda?”
“She says that Greg let her know he was warm and safe. It was odd, it was like he lingered for a while.”
Jennifer had experienced that herself and many of her families had told her the same thing. It had nothing to do with specific religion or belief system, sometimes it just seemed to be part of what happened when a person died.
“I’m glad you and Linda had the experience of knowing Greg is safe and well. How are his parents?”
“They walked out without a word the second the nurse told them he was gone. We haven’t seen them since. The staff let us sit here until we felt Greg leave. One of the nurses said the same thing you did. I have never experienced it before, it was beautiful. Anyway, Linda and I were wondering if we could have the service the day after tomorrow.”
“Certainly. Morning or afternoon?”
“Early afternoon, around one?”
“I’ll put the notice in the paper for tomorrow and will be in touch once I have finalized the details with the celebrant and the custodian. In the meantime, you and Linda call me if you need anything.”
“We will, thank you Jennifer.”
Jennifer hung up and closed her eyes. Exhaustion pulled at every muscle as if compelling her to go lie down.
But she went to her office instead, put the notice in the paper, and called the custodian and celebrant. Standing up nearly fifteen minutes later, she felt light headed and woozy. She’d passed the limited of her endurance.
Jennifer sought out Officer Stuart to let him know she’d be upstairs.
“I’ll be off-duty shortly. Warren is replacing me.”
“OK. Thanks.”
The stairs were wavy and blurry as she climbed them, using the rail for balance. Her feet throbbed. She took her suit jacket off and lay down on the couch. She didn’t hear a thing until five hours later when Gwen texted to tell her she was on her way.
Jennifer stumbled to her feet and went to the bathroom. Her face was puffy, hair disheveled. She felt like she was detached from her body. She looked down at her feet, one shoe had fallen off while she slept, her sock bloody. She picked up her brush, it felt heavy, and pulling it through her hair was an effort. She went to her bedroom to look for slippers. It was comforting to put them on. She took off her crumpled blouse and skirt, letting them fall to the floor, and wrapped herself in her housecoat.
As she walked down the stairs to open the garage door when she remembered she had to tell the officer what she was doing. She couldn’t remember his name. He heard her coming and met her at the bottom of the stairs, one eyebrow raised.
“I’m sorry, I forgot your name,” Jennifer said dully.
“Warren. What can I do for you?”
“My friend Gwen will be at the back door in a few minutes.”
“Then back up you go. I ‘ll make sure she finds you.” He looked down at her feet and scowled.
“You’re bleeding.”
“Yeah. Have to change the dressings.” Her tongue felt thick and her words slurred.
Warren climbed the few steps to her. “There,” he said as he helped her to her apartment door. “Has Grimsby been fed today?”
“Not yet. I need to clean his litter.”
“Go sit down. With your permission, I will take care of Grimsby for you.”
Jennifer looked at him. His voice seemed far away. She blinked. “OK.”
Gwen came in a few minutes later, dropped the lattes on the table and came over to her.
“Are you OK? The officer is concerned about you.” Gwen put her hand on Jennifer’s forehead. “You’re burning up. I’ll be right back.”
“No. I’m fine. Just tired. I have to feed Grimsby.”
Gwen disappeared. Jennifer lay back down on the couch. She barely noticed the paramedics. She didn’t feel the IV or notice the ride to the hospital. She was just too tired.
She woke up in the emergency room, feeling much better. A man sat in a chair next to the stretcher. He looked up as she stirred.
“Officer Warren, right?”
He smiled. “Nope, I’m Jim. You pulled a sleeping beauty and slept for almost 16 hours. ‘Course, the sedation didn’t hurt. Stuart will be taking the next shift.”
A nurse heard them talking and poked her head around the corner of the curtain.
“Hello Jennifer, feeling better?”
“Much better, thank you.”
“Then let’s see if we can get you out of here. The doctor will be here shortly to discharge you.” She came back a few minutes later. “Let me check your dressings,” she said as she lifted the sheet. “All clean and dry. You should try to stay off your feet as much as possible for a few days.” She left the cubicle.
Jennifer lay back and shut her eyes, fully awake but wanting to be in her own head space. She heard the swish of the curtain and opened her eyes.
“Hello Ms. Spencer, I’m Dr. Joseph. We are sending you home. You have a bit of infection starting on your left foot and we found a tick bite with the tick still in. As a precaution we will be treating you for Lyme disease. I understand from your, um, the officer, that you were in the bush up north recently. It’s too early to tell if you have a bull-eye rash and too early for symptoms, but it’s looking suspicious. I think you collapsed from exhaustion and dehydration. You did have a fever, but it’s gone now. I can’t find anything else. Your blood work is normal.” He turned to leave. “Your prescription will be at the nursing station. Take the antibiotics for three weeks. Finish them. Follow up with your regular doctor if there’s any change.” He disappeared. She watched the curtain floated shut behind him.
“Here are your clothes,” the nurse said, entering as Dr. Joseph left—he seemed to be in a hurry to get her out of there. The nurse pulled the IV and bandaged Jennifer’s hand. She closed the curtain and she left. Jennifer could see Officer Jim’s feet in stance just on the other side of the curtain.
She rolled her eyes, more disgusted with herself than she’d been in a while. She’d been too busy to pay attention to herself. How arrogant of me to assume I am invincible, she thought. She slid off the stretcher and quietly got dressed. Jennifer found her housecoat and slippers at the bottom of the bag. Gwen must have got her clothes ready. She’d only been in her house coat when Gwen arrived.
Jen looked around to see if she’d missed anything, then picked up the prescription at the desk and left the emergency department with Officer Jim. She let him lead the way out; she had no idea which way to go. He stopped at the edge of the sidewalk.
“You probably shouldn’t walk to the car. You could wait with the security guard while I go get it.”
Jennifer shot him a look and raised her eyebrows. She was having no part of his plan. “Let’s go,” she said and charged on ahead. Jim took a couple of large quick steps to catch up.
“Alrighty then,” he said pleasantly. “Sue warned us it would be like this.” His laugh was a deep happy sound that burst Jennifer’s self-important little bubble.
“Which way?” Officer Jim asked.
Jennifer stopped in her tracks, feeling very foolish. “I have no idea,” she said sheepishly. Officer Jim took her arm and steered her to the car. They laughed and talked all the way back to the funeral home.
Officer Stuart was waiting when they pulled up. He let them in and the two men chatted in the garage. Heading upstairs, she saw that Grimsby’s dishes were full and his litter clean. As she sat on the couch, Grimsby jumped up beside her to be petted. She readily complied.
Hungry, Jennifer checked the fridge. The groceries from a few days ago were on the shelves. Her throat constricted as she thought of Sue. She pulled out a couple of eggs, poached them in the microwave, then mashed them up and made herself an egg sandwich. She decided to go downstairs for tea, not wanting to be alone.
She found Officer Stuart in the lounge. He stood up as she entered.
“I’m sorry. I just came down for tea.” She looked around the room, then back at the officer. “I don’t want to be alone. I’m scared.”
To her embarrassment she started to cry.
“Jim will be here in a few minutes with your prescription,” said Stuart gently. “Sit down. I’ll make your tea and you can keep us company.”
Stuart handed her tea to her just as Officer Jim arrived. The tea was perfect.
“How did you know how I take my tea?”
“Sue made sure we knew,” said Stuart.
Officer Jim sat down beside her, studying her red eyes and tear-stained face. “The pharmacist told me you are to take your first pill right away. Having a rough time of it?” he asked gently as he opened the bottle and tipped the pill into her hand.
Jennifer nodded. “I’m so sorry, I don’t usually break down this much. It hit me so fast.” He watched as she swallowed the pill.
“Let me tell you a story,” he said, capping the bottle and sitting back in the chair. “It goes back to when I was a patrol officer. One night on duty I heard shouting and screaming and I went to investigate. I saw a little boy being threatened by a man. He had a knife to the child’s throat. I was terrified. I radioed for backup, but I knew I had to intervene—it was the look in the guy’s eyes. He was insane.
“I tried reasoning with him, he wasn’t listening. I walked closer, hoping to get him to understand and to free the little boy. The man let go of the child and we got into a violent fight. The boy ran away, but the man’s rage made him stronger than me and he stabbed me several times. I couldn’t get up. I saw the man raise the knife again and a split second later a shot from one of my colleague’s guns took the man down. I was in hospital for quite a while and off-duty for months.”
“I would cry at the drop of a hat. I would get really angry over little things,” Jim explained. “I still have flashbacks.” He paused. Jennifer was listening intently, studying his face. “It’ll take time to recover from the kidnapping and the trauma. There is no agenda, there is no right or wrong. You may cry, withdraw, get angry, you may not. It is what it is.” He grinned. “Besides, it gets lonely sitting in this lounge. I’m sure Stuart appreciates your company.”
“I do,” said Stuart. “Don’t hesitate to come to any of us. I heard from Sue that you proactively debrief your staff. Police and fire have been slow to accept the need for peer support. It’s now part of our training and I for one am in full support of honest and open feelings.”
“Thank you,” Jennifer said. She sat quietly for a minute. “May I ask you a question?”
“Of course,” responded Stuart.
“Sue was replaced by three of you. I don’t think she deserved the disciplinary action, do you? She did need a break from this. It was too much for one person. How do you think it’ll end?”
“That’s two questions,” said Jim, his contagious, deep laugh filling the room. “Did she deserve it? I don’t think so.”
“Neither do I,” said Stuart. “The DS really lost it. I wouldn’t be surprised if it all went away in time. Sue is a good cop. She’ll be moving up the ladder sooner rather than later. We all like her and we all trust her with our lives.”
“As for your second question,” Jim said. “The team had a meeting today, Stuart gave me the details in the garage. Travis is nowhere to be found. It stinks. There are bad cops and a network of dealers and criminals and lawyers and businessmen. ‘Course, you didn’t hear that from me. Bad cops make me sick.”
“Once we cut into the organization and get some of the bigger players off the street we’re hoping Travis will be too busy to worry about you. Unless, of course, we find him first,” said Stuart. “Those notes he sent you, those are worrisome. Travis is the kind of guy who’d stop at nothing to get what he wants.”
“It doesn’t make sense. He was a decent enough funeral director, from what I heard,” Jennifer said.
“You took that away from him too,” said Jim. “That was his cover. He needed to hide behind that job. You really set him back. He’s at loose ends, adrift with no anchor.”
“Aren’t you off duty Officer Jim?” Jennifer said, realizing he should have left earlier.
“I’m in no hurry. You aren’t work. You are a handful, but there are worse jobs.” He laughed and Stuart joined in.
“Did I tell you what she said to me at the hospital on the way out, Stuart?” He shared the story about her stomping ahead of him. The two officers roared with laughter and Jennifer joined in. About half an hour later, after listening to their stories about work and some merriment she was ready to go upstairs.
“Before you go,” said Jim. “Did you know Sue had a date last night?”
“I did. Haney. He taught me self-defence.”
“That’s right too, I forgot. How did it go Stuart? You were in the office. Did she say anything?” Jim asked.
“I asked Haney, he just smiled. One of the guys asked Sue, she just smiled. Looks like it’s a match. Thought those two would never get together. That was one of the toughest match-making assignments I’ve had in a while.”
“You orchestrated it?” Jennifer said incredulously.
“Yep, been trying to get those two together for months. Subtly of course.” The two officers laughed.
“I hope it works out. Sue and Haney are the best,” Jennifer said. She stood. “I’m heading upstairs for the night. Thank you both.”
“Good night, Jennifer,” they said in unison.
Upstairs she picked up the receiver on the landline, put it down and picked it up again. She had a call to make and it wasn’t going to be easy. She looked at Mr. Wisener’s card lying on the table in front of her and dialed the number. Even though it was after business hours a pleasant female answered.
“Mr. Wisener’s office.”
“My name is Jennifer Spencer. Mr. Wisener and I met a few months ago. I have some information for him. It’s personal. Would you be so kind as to have him call at his convenience?”
She could hear the person typing.
“Yes, Ms. Spencer. This number or your cell number?”
“Either one.”
“I will pass on the information. Will there be anything else?”
“No, that will be all, thank you.”
“Good night, Ms. Spencer.”
Jennifer’s hands shook as she hung up the phone. The information she was going to give to Mr. Wisener could affect the rest of his life. With the pending birth of the baby he’d have an heir and a daughter-in-law. Did he want to know? Why hadn’t Aaron told him about his marriage? Maybe Mr. Wisener did know and was choosing to ignore it. She wondered how soon he would call.
If Winter had been able to, would she have tried contact her father-in-law or was there a reason she hadn’t reached out to him?
Am I doing the right thing or interfering?
Jennifer stared out the window at the setting sun. She’d have an answer soon enough.
There was another call she needed to make; the one she told herself to follow through on as she lay in the trunk of Travis’ car. She and her parents were not close, but she knew she couldn’t avoid it any longer.
Her mother answered.
“Hi Mom, it’s Jennifer. How are you?”
“Oh, Jennifer. Haven’t heard from you or Anne for a while.”
“Sorry Mom. I just wanted to see how you and Dad were and to give you a little news.”
“We’re fine. Your dad is sleeping.”
More like drunk and passed out, thought Jennifer. She shrugged it off. “Anne and I purchased a second funeral home this week.”
“That’s nice dear. Are you sure you can handle it?”
“We’ll see. I have a good staff.”
“You always did try to do more than you should, you both did.” Her words, though not unexpected, stung. She chose not to respond. Silence hung between them.
“Your dad needs me, goodnight dear.”
Jennifer didn’t even get a chance to say good night. Her mother hung up.
She slowly put the phone down. Her parents hadn’t changed, no surprise there—she hadn’t expected them to. Her dad was an alcoholic, her mother an enabler. Her mom didn’t even bring up the kidnapping. I’m so grateful Anne and I had the sense get out and get on with our lives, she thought. I’ll never understand why mom didn’t leave a long time ago. Jennifer’s counsellor had helped her work through some of the issues she had with her parents. Jennifer only felt pity for them now.
Having slept for so many hours at the hospital she wasn’t really tired. Jennifer pulled out the book she’d started weeks before and lost herself in the story until she finished the last page. It was 2 a.m. She got up, stretched, and walked to the window. Simon’s house was blissfully dark.
She put on her pyjamas and went to bed, setting the alarm for 6 a.m. She wanted to get up early to make sure her dressings were changed. No more hospital trips. Her health was her responsibility.