Chapter Three
Wednesday 3:45 a.m.
Jimmy and Kate took the connecting elevator from OR to ER. They looked in the rooms as they went down the hall to the nurses’ desk. After 3 a.m. and empty. The board at the desk was blank also. Such news made both of them happy. It had been hectic enough. They really didn’t want to do too much more tonight. And with ER empty the chances of another case popping up were slim. Of course, that didn’t guarantee them that one couldn’t. Jimmy went out the ER doors and Kate stopped at the nurses’ desk.
“I worked with Dr. Martin tonight. Have you seen him recently?” Kate addressed Jessica Markham, RN, her best friend. Jessica was sitting behind the desk.
“Oh, I haven’t seen him this week, why?”
“I was just wondering if you had drug him into the utility closet yet.”
“Get out of here,” Jessica said. Both laughed.
“I couldn’t resist. Some around here would have body slammed him on a gurney in the hallway, if he stopped by and talked to them the way he does with you.”
“We are becoming friends. He’s nice.”
“Oh?”
Jessica ignored Kate’s probing. “Talk about body slamming, how’s your marriage counseling going?”
“Well, Rob hasn’t swung at me since the last session where he took exception to my criticizing him in front of the therapist. All I said was that I didn’t have the time or energy to take care of his mother now that she’s getting older and I didn’t appreciate him trying to guilt me into it. It’s okay for him to bring up all my faults but it’s not okay for me to do the same about him. I mean, if we don’t air our issues how are we going to work out our problems?” Kate shook her head.
“How do you put up with it? Never mind, I remember the desperate efforts Todd and I made to hold everything together to see if we could make the marriage work so many times for Ashley.”
“It’s been hard. I’m stressed and Izzy and Lilly are picking up on that, so we’ve entered a higher level of dysfunction.”
Jessica laughed at that. “Yes, the old dysfunctional family syndrome. The therapists’ answer to everything. I think it’s just a way for them to cop out when even they start getting confused with he said, she said and just what is every one talking about anyway?”
“I’m not sure how we got to this point. Our problems have taken on a life of their own. The house is chaotic from Rob and me overreacting to each other. I’m no longer aware of what else is going on in life. I’m not capable of handling much. I’m just glad Rob and I are on different shifts right now.”
“What do you do on the weekends?”
“When it gets too tense or hostile, I just pack up the girls and go to the library or park. The girls are reading much better now with all the trips to the library.”
“That’s great. Why don’t you come over and visit? You never do anymore.”
“I would but Rob has decided that since we are friends there is something going on between the two of us and you must be interfering.”
“What?”
“Yeah, you and I are plotting the end of my marriage and civilization as it is currently known.”
“When did this happen?”
“I’m not sure. I think it was after our argument over which way the toilet paper was supposed to go on the roller, the paper coming over the top or coming from behind at the bottom.”
“Well, of course over the top.”
“See, you are trying to overthrow civilization.” They both laughed until Kate started blinking back tears.
“You’re not kidding. This isn’t a joke? What kind of head games is Rob playing?”
“I don’t know. All I know is I am to blame for everything. And anyone that comes around is trying to wreck our marriage. I’m just looking for quiet from our yelling and every time it is quiet all the issues keep going around in my head without end. I’ve been waking up in a cold sweat, trembling in the middle of the night.”
Jessica noticed the dark circles under Kate’s eyes and the pallor of her skin. “You come over anyway. Ashley has been missing Izzy and Lilly and we both could use some laughs.”
The ambulance transmitter came alive behind Jessica. “Duty calls.” She turned and wrote down the time: 4:21 a.m. “What have you got for us?”
“Forty-six year old black female with chest pain.”
Kate left her friend to her job and walked outside to find Jimmy. She lit her cigarette. “Hi.”
“I heard the squawk box. Anything for us?” Asked Jimmy.
“No. Chest pain.”
“Good.” They both fell quiet and lost in their own thoughts.
Kate felt tense, bottled up, and ready to run. There was no way of getting away from her family situation. Rob would never let her just pick up and take their six year old daughters without a physical fight. It would make her side of the squabble look less able to take custody of Lilly and Izzy. Her eyes darted around while she thought of where she and the girls could go to be safe. She would even consider renting an apartment in order to separate from the fighting. She was at a loss, confused. Should she or shouldn’t she?
Jimmy stayed quiet, just breathing in the night air, leaving Kate to her own thoughts. Her recent moods bothered him. The old reliable Kate was gone, replaced by this woman who stared into space all the time. If not that then she would be pacing back and forth mumbling to herself. She was becoming scary.
Kate looked at her watch. 4:30. she put out her cigarette and told Jimmy, “We better go back.”
She headed for the ER doors. Jimmy flipped his cigarette into the driveway under the wheel of an old beat up tan Volkswagen bug. He admired the car as it parked before he followed Kate. The automatic doors remained open after Jimmy passed through.
A young man with short brown hair and a heavy beard stepped on the mat before the doors swung shut. He paused as Kate and Jimmy disappeared down the hall. They looked like they weren’t coming back. He pulled his long trench coat closer around him as he stood at the open end of the ER desk.
He cleared his throat. Surprised, Jessica looked up to see who it could be. She found herself looking down the short barrels of a sawed off shotgun. The room around her became smaller, her attention completely captivated by the weapon.
The gun totting man lifted the gun barrel twice. “Up.”
Jessica stood.
“Narcotics.”
Jessica turned toward the locked box and froze, panicked.
“Move.” He bumped Jessica to encourage her compliance.
Jill, the other RN on night shift in the ER and Ryan, the ER orderly, hurried into the desk area alerted by the stranger’s voice.
“Stop.” The double barrels swung in their direction. The angry face barked to Jessica. “Go on. Open it.”
Jessica fumbled with the narcotic keys searching for the right ones. With the two keys separated out and with her eyes smarting from the man’s smell, she opened the narcotic’s box.
She was shoved aside. The man reaching in grabbed the boxes of drugs and put them in his coat pocket, a pocket that ended at the hem of his trench coat. He smiled.
With the shotgun still pointed at Jill and Ryan, the man clutched Jessica around the waist dragging her along, keeping her in front of him. He moved back out from behind the desk. He paused in front of the doors.
“Now, no one do anything stupid, idiots.” With a laugh he rubbed himself against Jessica, and then was out the doors. Gone.
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