Chapter Fifteen
“How ya feeling today, Pops?” Jeffrey asks as he settles into the chair next to me.
“I’m doing okay I suppose,” I reply, my mind still in the clouds from Darla’s visit. “Doctor says we can take a look at how the incision is healing today, and hopefully I won’t have to have these mummy bandages on anymore.”
“Annoying, aren’t they?” Jeffrey asks.
“Very,” I say with a sigh. “But being in the hospital in general isn’t exactly a party either.”
“Amen to that,” Jeffrey says as the door opens, and like she’s read my mind, in comes Darla—the beautiful woman that’s been running through my thoughts since we’d met. Well, met for the. . . well, I don’t know how many times we’ve met honestly. But, since the first time that I can remember.
I’m excited to see her, to be honest. This time she’s dressed in neon pink scrubs instead of the minty green ones I’d seen her in earlier, and the color seems to better suit her bubbly personality.
I remember hearing that she was a nurse, but I didn’t expect to see her up here in the ICU.“You miss me or something?” I tease as she goes around and checks all the flowers like she did the other day.
“You could say that,” she says with a little giggle and a wink that pills my skin. “I’m actually here for work this time though.”
“You’re my nurse?”
“Yep!” Darla says with a grin. “I work the ICU.”
“Well, I’ll be dipped,” I reply. “I guess I lucked out.”
“Guess so,” she says as she shuffles past Jeff and messes around with my IV bag. “How’s your pain?”
“Better now that you’re here,” I say in an attempt to flirt. At first, I think it falls flat, but she smiles and lets out a snort.
“I’m glad I could help,” she says as she changes out the bag. “Mind if I get your vitals?”
“Sure,” I reply, and she walks out to the hall for a moment and comes in with a little machine, pulling it behind her.
“What’s all that for? I’m already hooked to this EKG machine.”
“I use the pulse tool for your oxygen levels, not just your pulse,” she says as she starts pulling things out. “I’ll need to check your temperature as well. Open wide!”
I obey, opening my mouth, but when she leans in close, I’m hit with a whiff of her lovely perfume. Moving to check my pulse, she puts the monitor on my finger, and the machine starts to beep—my heart is racing from her being so close.
“Are you feeling okay?” she asks as she sees the number, and immediately I feel embarrassed as I had set off both the vitals card and the heart monitor.
“Yeah, yeah,” I reply. “Just excited to maybe get these bandages off today.”
“Ooh! Then we’ll be able to see your handsome face,” she says with a smile as the blood pressure cuff pumps up. She waits, watching the screen until it deflates, and the numbers show. She then pulls a notepad out of her pocket and appears to write it all down.
“You know, I keep trying to remember where I know you from,” I say as I stare at her, trying desperately to put the pieces together. But once again, nothing is coming. “Where did we meet?”
She stops writing and looks up at me; I can see tears start to form in her eyes.
Shoot, I didn’t mean to make her upset.
“Well, that’s it for me,” she says, seeming to dodge my question. It’s so odd. It’s okay that I see Darla, and that I talk to her, but everyone’s keeping quiet about who she is. She’s obviously someone important to me if Zack and Noah brought her in to see me, I think to myself as she slips the notepad into her scrubs pocket. I just wish I knew why. . .
“I’ll be back around later, okay?” she says.
“I’ll look forward to it,” I reply, and the smile returns to her face as she grabs the vitals cart and pulls it out the door.
“The way you flirt with her, you’d think you’d remember her,” Noah teases as he walks in.
“I wish,” I reply with a sigh. “She does seem familiar though, I just can’t quite put my finger on it.”
“Like the doctor said, it’ll all come back in time he thinks,” Jeffrey says. “Try not to sweat it, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah, relax a bit,” Zack insists as he walks in and stands next to Noah. “You’ll get it, I’m sure of it.”
“Get what?” I ask, and the room goes quiet. “What is it that I’m not remembering?”
“I think we should tell him,” Noah says.
“No!” Jeffrey growls. “The doctor says he needs his rest, and to let it all come naturally!”
“Now that’s enough,” I say, getting frustrated and slightly raising my voice, causing the boys to all snap to attention. “I know what that doctor says, but it’s ridiculous that you three are constantly talking in code about this woman. I want to know what the deal is!”
Everyone goes silent again. Dead silent. The only sounds are the quiet beeps from the heart monitor.
“Dad, Darla isn’t just anyone,” Zack replies, “she’s your girlfriend.”
“What?” I ask, my jaw dropping in surprise. “I’m dating someone?”
“Yes,” Noah replies. “It’s sort of new but I mean, Mom’s been gone ten years. You said you felt it was time.”
Wow,I think to myself. I can’t believe that I’d start dating again after Mel. I’d been heartbroken for so long, hung up on her. What changed?
“How did I meet her?” I ask, and the two boys start to chuckle a bit.
“The first time, or when you started dating?” Zack asks with a grin and Noah nudges him in the ribs.
“Let him try to remember that part on his own,” Noah replies.
“Mitch told you about this dating app, and y’all started talking,” Zack says. “Then you guys went out on some dates, and the day of the accident you made it official.”
“The ranch hand told me about it?” I ask.
“Mm-hmm,” Noah agrees.
“Wow. . . me, on a dating app?” I say with a laugh. “That’s so weird.”
“A bit,” Noah says with a nod. “But whatever makes you happy is fine with us.”
I’m absolutely blown away. I have a girlfriend, of all things, I think to myself, and then I suddenly feel a gnawing at the pit of my stomach.
Guilt.
It’s no wonder why that poor woman is on the verge of tears half the time she’s around me,I think to myself. I mean, honestly, that has to be so hard, being with someone who doesn’t remember you. It’s even worse because she seems so nice, on top of being a total babe.
My brain really needs to kick into gear. Losing a woman like her would be tragic.
I ran into the bathroom after leaving Eli’s room, closed myself into the stall, and started to cry. It’s hard hearing him flirt with me when I feel so deeply for him, and he doesn’t even recall what we have. As if what we had wasn’t ever real, only my imagination.
However, I don’t have time to sit around and mope, I have work to do. Both with my other patients and snooping on the hospital computer.
Oddly enough, my friend in the IT department at the hospital back home had taught me how to hack into the systems to look at things if I needed to. Mostly because I’d had a sneaking suspicion before I found the beast and the harlot together that something may have been amiss. However, it helped with other things too—like seeing schedules or peeking at patient records. It wasn’t something I would normally do, but I needed to know what was going on with the Eli debacle. Because the more I thought about it, the more it just didn’t make sense.
I’m not sure if my little skillset will work at Thistleberry Medical, but they use the same system as back home. So, it’s safe to assume that it will. And when I finally get a free moment and the other girls are busy, I pounce at the chance to dig up some information.
I steal a cautionary glance around the ward before I sink my teeth into it, tinkering around with the computer. At first, I was unsure if I could get the access I needed, but then I entered the repair tech’s login that I remembered.
Bingo.
We are in baby.
Okay, Elijah Garcia. . . edited two days ago, deceased. Editing was done by. . . Doctor Trachner. That tracks. But there’s no trail leading back to the prior edit.
Strange, there should be.
I switch to Eli’s record, and I root around like a pig looking for truffles in the dirt. Once again, I can see the edit from Doctor Trachner, this time approved by the head of the hospital, Doctor Joseph Harrison. . . and then my eyes pop open when I see it.
Doctor Joseph Harrison was the one to override the edit and switch Eli and Elijah.
But why? Why would the head of the hospital do such a thing, and intentionally?I need to speak to Doctor Harrison and see what the deal is.
“Hey, Rosita?” I call out as she passes by.
“Yes?”
“I need like half an hour, I have to talk to HR about an issue,” I say. “Are you and Heather okay?”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” she replies. “Just try to be back before rounds. Ms. Keenan is really testy and demanding.”
“Sure, of course,” I say as I log out of the computer and hurry to the elevator. Something about this stinks like a scared polecat, and I want to know why.
As the metal box lurches to a halt at the top floor, every muscle in my body feels so tense it’s like I’m on fire. The door slowly slides open, and I exit. Even though I know this is the only way to figure this thing out, I’m scared to death of taking it head-on.
As much as I love Eli, I really need this job. It’s what’s keeping my house afloat and food on my table. So, as I walk to the receptionist’s desk, I’m already trying to come up with a scheme as to how I can be both sweet and direct at the same time. One false move that the director doesn’t like, and that could mean the unemployment line.
“Can I help you?” the young lady at the desk asks.
“Yes, I’m Darla from the ICU,” I say. “I’m here to see Doctor Harrison about an important matter.”
“Do you have an appointment?” she asks as she sifts through the paperwork on her desk.
“It’s an emergency situation so, no, I can’t say that I do,” I reply.
“Well then you’ll have to try to make an appointment,” she says. “I’m sure we have some openings next week—”
“I don’t think I made myself clear enough,” I say, taking some of the syrupy sweetness out of my voice. “It’s urgent.”
“So are all of the other staff’s problems Ms.. . .”
“Darla Middleton,” I reply dryly, getting irritated with her attitude. “And I don’t think that their problems are the intentional switching of two patients under the director’s name, are they?”
The lady at the desk gets really quiet. I can tell she’s shocked but trying hard not to show it. “Have a seat, Ms. Middleton, I’ll let him know you’re here.”
I do just that, flopping down in the armchair closest to me, if you could call it that. It feels like I’m sitting on the floor, and the minutes that tick by seem to drag on until a man comes out in a suit and smiles at me.
Immediately, I recognize him, and it takes me back a bit when I realize that I recognize him from Moonshine and Music. He’d been hanging with Joseph, my ex, the night that Eli had told him off.
“You’re Ms. Darla, I take it?” he asks, his hands shaking a bit as he adjusts his tie.
“Yes sir,” I reply as I stand up. Much to my surprise, he doesn’t waste time, strolling over to shake my hand. His palm is surprisingly clammy with perspiration.
It’s obvious he’s just as nervous as I am, which makes me feel a lot better about coming to him. It’s possible he’s just as in the dark as I am about the whole thing. I’m just hoping that I won’t be seen as a troublemaker.
“Shall we step into my office?” he says as he waves me toward the door he came out of, and I file in after him.
“Have a seat,” he says, motioning to the chairs in front of his gigantic, cherry-wood desk.
“Thank you,” I reply.
“Now, Tessa tells me that you’re here about the Garcia debacle,” Doctor Harrison says as he takes a seat in his high-backed, cushioned seat.
“Yes actually, I am,” I say as I sit up straight in my seat, hoping that I am exuding the confidence my voice feigns. “Something is truly bothering me about this situation.”
“Same here,” Doctor Harrison says with a sigh. “I’ve been investigating the situation all day, and I’ve done all I can to figure out who accessed my credentials. I even brought in the technician, and we are all stumped.”
“When I looked, you were the only login,” I say, and I half expect him to ask how I know that.
“Well, I can assure you I certainly wouldn’t do anything like that,” Doctor Harrison insists, surprising me when he doesn’t question what I know. “This is my career we are talking about. If Elijah’s family decides to sue, I’m in a heap of trouble. I really feel terrible for them, no one should be put through that.”
I can sense from the panic and sorrow in his voice that he’s being sincere. It wouldn’t make sense for him to do something so foolish. But he is friends with Joseph. . .
“How long have you known Joseph Middleton?” I ask.
“Joe? You related?” he asks.
“You could say that,” I say as I force a smile.
“Since college, actually,” he says. “We used to be very close, but once I moved down here, we lost touch.”
I don’t remember him from college, but I suppose that doesn’t mean much. I mean, I thought I knew the man I married, and I clearly didn’t. So, it’s not too farfetched that I’d never met him.
“I see,” I say. “He’s my ex-husband.”“He had a wife?” Doctor Harrison says, seeming to be genuinely shocked. “News to me. I remember a girlfriend, but I never met her.”
“That would be me,” I say, trying to be careful of what I reveal. I can’t entirely trust this man, not yet. “But we are divorced now.”
“So weird,” he says, and we sit there for a moment in awkward, uncomfortable silence. Until finally, another idea wafts through my head. A horrible realization. Joseph had said that he would make me regret not taking him back. . . Would he be capable of doing something to the records?
“Doctor Harrison, can you access the hospital”s records and system from home?” I ask.
“Yes, actually,” he replies. “But it’s supposed to be safe.”
Not if you know how to crack it. And if I do, then maybe Joseph does too.
“Where do you keep the computer?” I ask.
“In my office,” he replies. “Locked up at all times.”
“And no one in your home or anyone that may have visited would have had access to it?” I ask, and his face sours.
“Listen, Ms. Middleton, I appreciate you trying to help, but what we really need at this time is to keep this quiet until it’s sorted,” Doctor Harrison insists, not even bothering to answer my question. “But if you hear anything more, please let me know.”
“Of course,” I say. “You have my utmost cooperation. I wouldn’t want something like this to happen again.”
“I appreciate it,” he says as I get up to leave. It’s obvious from his reaction that he knows it might not have been kept as secure as he claims, I think to myself. So, now it really is on me to get to the bottom of it. Like Nancy Drew, I’m going to crack the case no matter what. Both Eli and Elijah deserve justice.