Chapter Eight
Hazel glanced out the window behind her but didn’t see anything. It was especially dark tonight, and with the bright glow of the overhead light she could barely make out the rose bushes outside. She turned back and realized old Doc Lawrence had been speaking to her. “Sorry, Doc, I wasn’t paying attention. What did you say?”
Doc was standing next to an overstuffed filing cabinet, rifling through papers. “That’s the third time you’ve looked out the window. Something catch your attention?” His gaze shifted to the window as if to figure out what she was looking at.
“I don’t know, Doc. I just have this feeling…like someone is watching us.” She shook her head. “I’m probably just overtired. I’ve been working long hours this week. I guess burning the candle at both ends is catching up with me.”
Doc sat down in the chair in the middle of the room and took the file Hazel offered to him from where she was sitting on the floor. The paunch around his middle was encased in a loud Hawaiian shirt, and his gold wire-rimmed glasses along with his flowing white hair and beard made him look like a hippy version of Santa Claus. “Why are you working long hours this week? I thought you moved out already. Is young Aiden charging you too much rent?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.
She grinned. Doc always knew all the gossip in town, so she wasn’t surprised he knew she’d moved in with Aiden. “Aiden isn’t young. He’s over thirty! Actually, he’s not charging me any rent. I’d agreed to do all these extra shifts at the hospital before I moved in with Aiden. This is the last week of them. I’ll be sticking to my normal schedule after this.”
“Everyone is young when you’re my age.” He grinned. “But I’m glad to hear you are going to slow down and get a life. Why don’t you go close the blinds?”
Hazel got up off the floor and went over to the window. She hadn’t said anything about getting a life, but she took his point. She pulled the cord, and the blind clattered closed, releasing all kinds of dust into the air. She immediately sneezed and then sneezed again. Turning, she looked at Doc, and the two of them burst out laughing.
“I guess that blind hasn’t been closed in a long time,” Doc said with a sheepish grin.
Hazel wiped the dust off her face and shirt and sneezed once again. “I guess not.” She went over and sat back down on the floor in front of the file box they’d been working on. Glancing around the room, she wondered again why they were doing this. The old Victorian house Doc had worked out of for the last fifty years was in bad shape. The walls of this room were covered with faded pink rose vine wallpaper. The room itself was small, maybe ten by ten, and it was filled with file boxes and overstuffed cabinets. Patient histories, Doc had said.
She glanced at the elderly gentleman in front of her. Doc had been her physician as a child. Everyone in town had gone to him. He knew every citizen and all their business. Why was he rereading files now? Was it because he was retiring in a couple of months?
“Doc?” she said hesitantly, “why are we doing this?” There, she finally asked the question. He’d asked her several months ago to help with the project and offered to pay her. She’d assumed it was because he’d heard she wanted to raise money to move out, but she’d never asked him why he was looking at every single one of his old files.
He looked up from the file he’d just finished. “I was wondering if you were ever going to ask me. It’s why I asked for your help in the first place.”
She frowned in puzzlement. “I’m not following.”
He smiled. “Young lady, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we live in a very small town and there are lots of gossips about.”
Hazel burst into laughter. “Um, yes. I’ve noticed.”
“Not too many folks would be able to work on this project with me without telling the world about it. You haven’t said a word to anyone about our work. You didn’t ask me any questions and kept everything to yourself. You are discreet and smart. It’s a rare combination these days.”
“I see. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to then. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“Not at all,” he said. “You should know. The whole town thinks I’m getting nostalgic about retiring so I’m running through my old files as a way to relive my glory days.”
“Yes, that’s what most people seem to think,” she agreed. “But I’m not so sure.”
His eyes twinkled at her. “You’re right. Frankly, I couldn’t give a hoot about these old files. I’m so excited to retire; it can’t come soon enough. Since I lost my Helen, I’ve realized how precious life really is. And how short. I’m seventy-two. It’s time for me to go.” He gave a sad smile. “I loved Helen, but she wanted to stay here and work until we were both too old to move. Me”—his eyes brightened again—“I want to go on an adventure. When I leave here, I’m off to Hawaii. I want to learn to surf!”
She burst out laughing. “Oh, Doc, I think that’s wonderful. Good for you!”
“But before I go, I have to find something.” He glanced around the room. “Helen was the love of my life, and she was an amazing help with the patients, but her filing skills left much to be desired. She’d developed her own filing system, but not based on anything logical as far as I can tell. She always knew where everything was, so it didn’t matter when we were younger, but as she got older, she started losing track of things.” He paused and let out a sigh.
Hazel’s heart constricted, and a lump clogged her throat. Helen had died last year. She’d had dementia. Doc had looked after her until the very last moment.
Doc pushed up his glasses. “One of the things she lost track of was a bunch of bearer bonds. We bought them years ago, and they’re worth a packet now. The thing with bearer bonds is, they can be cashed in by whoever has them in hand. So, I have to find them before I leave. If not, whoever ends up going through the files will find my Hawaii money.”
She smiled. “Well, we can’t have that, can we? Let’s find those bonds. Now that I know what I’m looking for, we can move through this much faster.” She grabbed a file and then stopped. “Unless you feel that you should look at all the files, too.”
Doc let out a sigh. “This has been my life’s work. I should want to revisit them, but to be honest, I just find it a bit…depressing. It reminds me too much of my Helen. She loved her roses and her tea, and she loved being my assistant.”
“That’s okay, Doc. I get it. And I’ll keep your secret, too, about the bonds.”
“I know you will, Hazel.” He smiled at her. “Maybe a cup of tea would help the situation.”
“That sounds good, Doc. Would you like me to make it?” She started to get up.
He waved her back down. “No, I’ve got it. I find if I sit too long, I stiffen up.” He got up off the chair and started to shuffle out of the room but then turned back. “Oh, I do want to see certain files if you find them.” He reeled off a short list of names.
Hazel narrowed her eyes. “Those are the names of some of the elderly patients who died recently at the hospital.”
“Yes. You know, I’ve got a funny feeling in my gut about those deaths. They’re just not sitting right with me.”
Hazel pulled another file out of the box. “But they were all elderly and ill.”
“Yes, but being old doesn’t actually kill you, and none of their illnesses should have caused their deaths either.”
He disappeared around the corner, and then Hazel heard him puttering about in the kitchen, which was just behind the room she was currently in. She pushed out a breath. So, Doc wasn’t happy with the deaths. That made her feel better and worse all at the same time. Better because they’d been gnawing at her as well. Not all of them. Doc had listed off five people. She’d only caught three. Mrs. Fields, Mr. Groll, and Mrs. Levy.
But her belly roiled as she thought perhaps these people might not have met their end in a natural way. Her fingers stilled on the file she’d been rifling through. The idea of them dying unnaturally was just too horrible a thought to contemplate.
A few minutes later, Doc arrived with two cups of tea in antique China, complete with saucers. The cups had tiny pink roses on them. “Here now.” He handed one to her. There was a cookie on the side. She grinned and thanked him.
He sat back down. “Tell me your troubles. You’ve been so kind to listen to my ramblings.”
“Not at all, Doc.” She shifted back to lean on a filing cabinet and took a sip of tea.
“Come on. Out with it.” Doc waited, sipping his tea.
“What makes you think I have troubles?” She tried to look innocent.
Doc snorted. “I was in the room when you were born, young lady. I know a troubled soul when I see one.”
She sighed. “Well, I was worried about those deaths as well, or maybe puzzled by them is a better way to say it. At least three of them.” She glanced at Doc, but he was still silent. “Okay, there are a couple of things bothering me besides those deaths. I’m worried about Tommy Vincent.”
“Ah, yes. Young Mr. Vincent. He’s in trouble a lot these days.”
She nodded. “And I’m not sure how to help him. Did you know he’s on his own?”
Doc’s eyebrows shot upward in surprise. “Where’s his father?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know, and he wouldn’t say.”
“I know the boy was involved in the fight in the parking lot that got the game canceled last weekend, but what else is going on that’s brought him to your attention?”
“He was at the apartment fire on Saturday night.” She debated saying the next part aloud, but finally decided that she could trust Doc. “I think… I think he might be the person who’s been setting the fires.”
Doc took a sip of tea and cocked his head. “What makes you think so?”
She shook her head. “I’m not really sure. The way he reacted when he saw Mrs. Josephs on that stretcher. He looked guilty. And he had burns on his arms. He was the only one with any burns. Everyone else had smoke inhalation issues.”
“Tommy has always had a bit of a troubled existence. I cannot discuss his medical history with you, but I can say that starting fires wouldn’t be out of character for him. I hadn’t put two and two together, but now that you say it, I can see it is a possibility.”
She sighed and took a sip of tea. The cookie that had looked so appetizing before suddenly lost its appeal. “I don’t want to think it, Doc, but I can’t help myself.”
“My best advice to you is to speak with Phoenix. He’s a smart man, and he’ll listen to what you say with an open mind. If it is young Tommy, then the boy needs help. Phoenix is in the best position to make that happen.”
She nodded. “Okay, Doc. That’s sound advice.” She frowned. “Wait. Why didn’t you call him ‘Young Phoenix’ like you do with everyone else?”
Doc smiled. “My dear girl, Phoenix Halston is an old soul if I’ve ever met one. His body maybe young, but his spirit is well beyond even my own.” He set down his teacup. “Now, let’s get down to business.”
Hazel set aside her teacup and scooted across the floor to the box.
“What I’m really asking, Hazel…” Doc started then hesitated before he continued, “I mean, this business of you moving in with Aiden. How did that come about?” The twinkle was back in Doc’s eye, and Hazel had the immediate impression she wasn’t going to fool Doc one bit with her we’re just friends and I think of him as family line that she’d been feeding everyone else. She’d stopped believing it before it even left her mouth the first time.
Instead of answering, she took a bite of the cookie.