Chapter 2 #2
“Good enough.” With that, Burton headed out, but, for some reason, he couldn’t quite leave without telling Sammy personally, even though he knew that she would see Leland as soon as she got up to the fourth floor for the next check on Talia.
He headed down, wondering where and what department Sammy was working in. As he got near a nursing station, he asked where he could find her. One of the nurses shrugged. “Good question. She’s kind of floating right now, so she’ll be all over the place.”
“Okay, never mind then,” he said, with a small smile. As he headed out to the parking lot, he sent her a text instead and let her know that he had been replaced by Leland, just not to be surprised the next time she pops in. He got a text back immediately.
Thanks for the heads-up. Sorry for worrying you earlier.
He stopped and took a moment to answer her in detail, telling her that she should always listen to her instincts, and it was not a problem at all.
He got a laugh emoji back, and he smiled as he stepped outside, looking for his vehicle. He walked across the parking lot, and another vehicle came flying out in his direction. As it came around the corner, he heard the vehicle shift, almost like it was gunning for him.
He immediately stepped back onto the curb, but the driver just changed direction and still headed right for him, picking up speed.
Burton threw himself behind a great big streetlamp with a huge concrete base, knowing that the car’s front end would smash into that before it got to him.
And, sure enough, at the last minute, it swerved out of the way and took off down the parking lot.
It was a small black truck, with, of course, no license plate.
Swearing at that, he immediately contacted Leland, and, when he picked up, he explained what had just happened.
“That’s not cool. Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. Just a heads-up for you.”
“I’ll keep her safe, but, now that someone has you pegged, you need to be extra careful.”
On that note Burton headed home to Anderson. As soon as he walked in, all he heard were angry cries from the little ones. He walked upstairs into the nursery, multiple faces turning his way, and Anderson sat on the floor, rather desperately trying to change one baby right in front of him.
Anderson turned to him and sighed. “At least you got good timing. Would you mind—”
Burton needed no explanation and scooped up one of the crying babies. She sniffled and immediately stopped crying and looked up at him, patting his face. “I got one. You feel free to grab the other one when you can.”
Anderson stood, picked up the one he had just changed and tossed her gently into Burton’s other arm. “Here’s Lisa two.”
“We really have to do something about their names,” Burton muttered.
“Yeah, we really do,” Anderson acknowledged, “but it sure isn’t happening today. Right about now, I’m happy to have anything to call them.”
Burton smiled and struggled with the two babies in his arms and asked, “How has it been?” Then Lisa one, the first one Burton had picked up, started crying again. “She’s definitely not a happy camper.”
“No, she’s wet, and I need to get her into a dry diaper,” Anderson shared. “Unless, of course, you want to put Lisa one down, come over here and give me a hand.”
Together the two of them very quickly had both babies changed, while the one Anderson had changed already sat there, bawling like a maniac. All three babies with clean diapers were put on the floor.
Anderson sat back on the floor as they started to climb all over him.
Then he lay all the way down so they had more space to climb and to just relax.
“I guess it really doesn’t feel very good when they have wet bottoms. I was trying to Google that, and apparently some babies are totally okay with it, at least for a while, and other babies are like No, fix this and fix it now. ”
Burton burst out laughing. “Figures your sister would have three of the fix it and fix it now kind. I suspect they’re that way because she’s always fixed it right away.”
Anderson smiled. “I can’t imagine her not doing it that way.”
“Nope, I can’t either.” Burton smiled. “Other than wet or dirty diapers, which is a given, how have they been this morning?”
“They seem a little more tired, a little crankier, a little more … I don’t know,” he muttered, turning to Burton. “They’re just to this point of, Okay, we’re so done with this. We want Mom back.”
“I was wondering when that would hit.”
“It never even occurred to me,” Anderson admitted, sadness in his tone and misery in his expression. “Believe me that I wasn’t thinking they would have that kind of recognition.”
“But of course they would.”
“I get it now,” Anderson said. “I get that they’re not fools, and they’re very well-loved children. So, for them, this is likely even more of a hardship.”
“I would think so, yes,” Burton replied. “Your sister is doing fine though.”
“How can they tell if she’s not awake?”
“I think they can. Her vitals are stable. They didn’t want her to wake up just yet and come out too quickly because of the pain, which they would have trouble managing without the drugs.”
“Right,” Anderson muttered. “We want her conscious enough that she’s not hurting, but we want her to stay calm and quiet and to not relive the attack or jerk up to go run to her babies.”
“Exactly, but she’s doing better. I felt like she was doing better. Thought you should know.”
“Good, I’ll take that,” he said quietly. “It’s certainly been an interesting challenge.” He pointed to the kids, scooting around on the floor.
“Yeah, you’re not kidding.” Burton eyed his friend. “I can’t say this is what I thought I was getting into.”
“Yep, neither did I,” Anderson admitted, as he ran his fingers through his hair. “In here we have like literally five minutes of peace and quiet. So, is there any discussion we need to have, anything new?”
“Yeah.” Burton told Anderson how Sammy was concerned about Talia being all alone on that fourth floor, wondering why she had been put up there to begin with.
Anderson nodded. “I don’t think that’s such an issue, more so because we were talking with the sheriff about keeping her safe. I’m sure that just seemed like an easy answer for now. Plus, we didn’t know that we would be running security.”
“The hospital is short on staffing, so I don’t think they would have changed anything even if we weren’t keeping an eye on Talia,” Burton added.
“The sheriff’s department doesn’t have anywhere near enough resources either, and people like Talia just fall through the cracks. I wonder if her husband was hoping that she wouldn’t make it.” Anderson turned to Burton.
“I’ve thought about that a couple times, and I would suspect that was exactly what that asshole Tim was hoping for. But she’s stronger than she looks, and now that we’re pretty sure she will make it, I hope he gets to see the inside of a jail cell for a very long time.”
“I kind of like forever myself.”
Burton laughed. “You’re right. Forever sounds pretty damn good. On the other hand, we’re supposed to be, you know, good people.”
“We are good people,” he declared. “That’s why we’re here.”
“True enough,” Burton muttered. “I also was looking at the files Levi sent me, and I found a name that was connecting, over and over. Roger Colbert. Every time I tugged a line, he was involved, one way or another.”
“What more did you find?”
“I admit that I couldn’t get very far. The internet is absolute crap at the hospital.”
“The name sounds familiar.”
“That’s what Leland said too.” He stared at Anderson, curiosity in his eyes. “Possibly because he was a politician.”
“That’s it,” Anderson snapped. “Damn, I knew I’d heard of him. I don’t know if he quit or if his term was over. … I remember him from way back when. Supposedly something about him starting out as a bad boy but made significant life changes, and he was voted in based on that premise.”
“Interesting. So, it might be nothing. Yet it might be something.”
“Always.” He picked up one of the Lisas and moved her toward her sisters. “Our parents used to know Colbert way back when too.”
“Any business connections?” Burton asked.