Chapter 11
Chelsea picked up the phone conversation with Joel later that evening when she got a break. “Sorry for cutting you off earlier,” she told him. “They called me back for another partial shift tonight.”
“I understand,” he said. “That’s the way things work sometimes.”
“It really does,” she murmured. “Anyway, I have already reported all of Gladys’s abuses to Richard and Scott and even Timber. Not sure how far any of that with Richard will go, as Gladys was his damn aunt. Did you know that?”
“I did not,” Joel declared in that angry tone of his.
Chelsea continued. “I do feel Scott will do what’s right for me and other future victims and the hospital.
I believe Gladys will just persist with this kind of behavior, so I hope the hospital board cans her ass.
Regardless, we’ll go from there. She supposedly has given me a good reference for the hospital, which was probably something she struggled with.
Still, I have yet to see a contract or a letter from the hospital, so we’ll see if she did what she said she did.
From the looks of it, Scott was happy with me and my performance, so I should still have a job offer coming, and things are looking up,” she added in a much happier voice.
“I am at work on a break, but I could get called away again. So, I’ll take whatever break I can get. ”
“And you need that break.”
“Sure, we all do,” she noted, “but I won’t necessarily get it. It depends on how busy everybody is.”
“So, you’re just waiting on the formal offer then, is that it?”
“I’m waiting on the legal contract, as I don’t feel any letter is as binding,” she explained. “I don’t have a clue how much money they’ll offer, but honestly, I have student loans to repay, and I need to get things moving in that direction.”
“Of course,” he agreed, “but it’s huge that you’ll have a job offer to stay local.”
“And that was what I was hoping for,” she shared excitedly.
“I mean, it’s really nice to have Sterling in my life, to have Grandpa on the farm again.
And the fact that Sterling’s been generous enough to let me stay at his place has been huge.
I’m really hoping to make some gains on my financial situation and get on top of it as fast as I can. ”
“I’m sure you will,” he declared. “So how late are you working tonight?”
She groaned. “I have no idea. I’m hoping I can get out of here before ten. However, if we get a multicar pileup on the interstate near us, I could be here until morning. It’s hard to tell. Yet I’ll get out of here as fast as I can. We’re so short-handed here.”
“So they are wise to offer you the job from two perspectives,” Joel noted.
She laughed at that. “Have you heard any updates on the man found in the abandoned truck?”
“Not yet. Any particular reason why you’re asking about it?”
“Well, for one, I don’t trust Richard to do his damn job.
I’ll tell you that story when I have more time.
We should all report him to his higher-ups, in my opinion—you, me, Timber, Sterling.
Also I asked one of the women who worked with me that night, when Peacock was still here?
She remembered him too but didn’t realize he was the dead guy. ”
“Yeah, when you see patients all day long at work like you do,” he acknowledged, “you see an awful lot of people but not necessarily long enough to remember every single one of them.”
“And, while we see them, we don’t know the outcome until they come back again, if they ever do.”
“Right.”
“Anyway, my coworker remembered Peacock, and thought there was—” Just then a head poked through the door asking her to come help. “Got to go,” Chelsea said and ended the call, as she bolted to her feet, heading toward the ER.
She smiled all around at her soon-to-be permanent workspace.
Now that she had a potential job offer with the chance to stay local, she was really looking forward to doing this kind of work.
Helping people and realizing she could do something for these patients had her future looking incredibly bright right now. Still, she had quite a way to go.
As she finally walked back to the ER area, into a patient room, one of the staff members looked over at her and shared, “I hear you’re joining us.”
“I haven’t seen the contract yet,” she clarified, with a laugh, “but I have been offered a job.”
“That’s awesome,” she declared. “We’re really glad to have you.”
Chelsea smiled, absolutely loving the acceptance from her peers.
One of the other women asked her, “Have you been offered a job already?”
She shrugged. “Verbally yes, I haven’t seen anything in writing yet.”
“Wow, I didn’t think that was happening already,” she noted enviously.
“I’m just glad it’s happening,” she muttered. “I’ve got ugly student loans that I need to get on top of.”
“You and me both,” she stated.
Chelsea added, “I don’t imagine they’re only hiring one, so hang tight. I’m sure more offers will be coming.”
“Man, I hope so.” She stared at Chelsea, then a frown crossed her face. “I’m surprised Gladys gave you a reference.”
“And a good one apparently, or at least that’s what she told me.” The other woman seemed startled. Chelsea shrugged. “I know. She’s apparently had a change of heart.”
“Well, good for you. You certainly put up with enough from her.” She looked around and whispered, “I only just heard about the dead man, the one found in the vehicle.”
“Right, did you know him?” she asked curiously.
“Yeah, I did, … kind of.”
That perked up Chelsea.
“He used to live close to my parents’ place in an apartment building nearby.
He liked to sit alone in the park near us.
Yet he was older, mostly homebound. I don’t really know what happened to him.
I understand that his body was failing badly, and it was a terminal situation.
So I don’t know that anybody would have killed him because he was already so close to death. ”
“That’s a good point too,” Chelsea noted. “I heard that he was to be released to hospice, but I haven’t heard anything further.”
“Hmm.” She shook her head. “It’s still kind of sad and all. He was a war vet.”
“Was he?” Chelsea asked, eyeing her with interest. “Any idea who came to see him here at the time?”
“There was somebody, but I didn’t recognize him,” she shared, with a shrug. “I’m sure the cops are on it anyway.”
“They are, but they’re also asking for anybody with info to talk to them.”
“Oh no, I’m not talking to the cops,” she stated, with a laugh. “That is not part of my mandate.”
“You mean, helping others isn’t?” she asked, with a wry look in her direction.
“We are not all like you. And it’s not like it’s helping, is it?” She rolled her eyes. “In a way it’ll be putting somebody else in trouble.”
“And what if he was killed by that somebody else in trouble?”
“Well, maybe it was a kindness. Maybe it was more of a mercy killing. A lot of people wrestle with the fact that their family members are struggling with so much pain,” she explained. “So I certainly wouldn’t want to judge anybody on that either.”
“That’s an interesting point,” she murmured.
“Otherwise I don’t know anything about it. I don’t want to either,” she added, with a groan. “I have enough nightmares growing up with my dad who had PTSD all the time. So, if somebody helped this other guy along, I can’t say I’m against it.”
“You are entitled to your opinion, but don’t let anybody in the hospital hear you say that,” Chelsea whispered. “You know how they are about stuff like that.”
“Right, it still probably isn’t legal yet either.
Sometimes I think people don’t want to wait for somebody to die, and they’re just looking for the property and all that other good stuff that comes with the death of a family member.
You would think that maybe the family members would have done something helpful for those people in the first place. ”
“What if they don’t get along with their family members?” Chelsea asked, with a grimace, thinking of her own mother. “I mean, people do all kinds of stuff that isn’t exactly nice.”
The other woman winced and nodded. “That’s not something I want to think about either.” She sighed, then added, “I’ve got to go.”
“Listen, if the police do contact you,” Chelsea suggested, “you should tell them if you know anything.”
“That’s the thing though… I don’t know anything,” she declared cheerfully. “I think his son was here, but I don’t remember what he looked like. Plus, it was a few days ago, and, if there’s anything I have learned here, a few days makes a ton of difference.” And, with that, she was gone.
Chelsea immediately picked up the phone, stepped outside, and called Joel. “Hey, I just talked to another nurse here. She doesn’t want to talk to the police or anything, but she thinks the dead man’s son was here visiting our dead guy.”
“Interesting,” he murmured.
“I still don’t understand why his body would have been dumped though.”
“I was thinking about that. I’m just wondering if it would have been a pauper’s burial because he had nobody come forward.”
“Maybe. Yet he was also apparently a veteran,” she shared. “And I know that’ll trigger some people.”
“In that case, his burial cost should have been covered. I’ll bring it up with Richard.”
“Yeah, better you than me,” she said, with a snort, “although I did speak to him earlier today, right before Gladys called me.” She snorted.
“Good, I think. Is everything okay?”
“Not with him, hell no. Not with her either. I’ll explain more later. Otherwise things are looking up finally.” She gave a big long exhale. “I mean, it is what it is, and I would just like to move on and have some peace, you know?”
“You and me both,” he agreed. “But I still don’t understand why somebody would try to run you down. That’s an entirely different matter.”
“I don’t know either. And did Richard mention anything about finding the big black truck yet?” she asked.