The Coroner, page 4
“Oh, come on,” Emily said as she snapped out of her driving trance.
Jerking the wheel, Emily drew the Leaf to the side of the street. It coasted to a stop, and she turned the engine power down. Around her small town, silence prevailed as Emily shuffled luggage aside to get to her glove box for her papers. A beam of light from a flashlight blinded her as she rolled down the driver’s window.
“Did you know you blew a red light back there, miss? License and registration, please. I see from your plates you’re not from Michigan.”
“No. Yes. Well, not anymore,” Emily said opening her glove box. “I grew up in Freeport.” She turned and shielded her eyes from the blinding beam, enough to get a glance at the man behind the badge. And then it hit her. “Nick?” she said.
“Sheriff Larson,” he corrected as he tipped his light down to get a better look. “Emily?”
“Nick Larson?” She couldn’t believe it.
“Emily Hartford?”
Emily caught a glance of her face in the rearview mirror and hoped for a second he didn’t see just how sallow it looked. Emily thought Nick looked tired too. However, he was even more striking than he had been in high school. Her heart twitched a little.
“This is so not how I pictured seeing you after twelve years.”
“Me neither,” Emily said as she nervously dug through her glove box. The last time she’d seen him was leaving high school that September morning of her junior year. He had filled out more, and a few faint lines that creased his forehead erased the baby-face image she had of him at sixteen. “So, you’re a cop now. Wow.”
“Sure am. You don’t ever check Facebook, I see,” he teased.
“I don’t even have an account,” she admitted.
“Most people are curious about things like their former classmates and ex-boyfriends.”
“I guess I’ve never been most people,” she said, glancing up at him.
“True. You don’t fit into any mold but your own,” Nick replied.
There was an awkward pause between them.
Emily cleared her throat and asked, “If you’re gonna write me up, could you do it quickly? I’m kind of in a hurry to see my dad.” She handed him her registration papers.
“Oh yeah. Your dad. Good news. They moved him out of critical care about an hour ago.”
“They did?” Emily had forgotten that small-town news traveled faster than a bullet train. “I wonder why Jo didn’t call me,” she said under her breath.
“He’s doing much better,” Nick offered. “I went to check in on him after dinner. Gave us all quite a scare.”
“Well, I don’t think he’s out of the woods just yet,” cautioned Emily. “So, how much is this ticket going to cost me?”
“I’m not gonna ticket you, Em. Just pay attention to the signs. Things have changed a lot since you left. We added another stop light,” he joked.
“Guess I missed that,” she said. “So, I’m free to go?”
“On the condition I can escort you over there.”
“I think I can manage.” Emily was anxious to put an end to their awkward reunion.
“I can’t believe running into you like this. Not exactly how I pictured it,” Nick voiced as Emily noticed he held his gaze on her for what felt like just a little too long.
“You pictured it?” She was surprised Nick thought about her at all.
“Yeah, well, you … I was really confused when you just disappeared without telling me.”
Nick let it hang there as he stood outside her car windowsill.
“I wrote you that note. You never wrote back,” she said turning her gaze ahead, ruffled by his comment.
“What note?” He leaned down and rested his arm on the sill.
Emily looked at him, “It explained why I left …” She wanted to add, And how much I cared for you.
Nick shook his head. “Where did you put it?”
“In your locker. I slipped it into the slats.”
Nick let out a burst of laughter. “Well, that explains it. Did you ever see the inside of my locker? Complete pigsty. At the end of the year, I took a garbage bag and shoveled everything into it.”
“You didn’t go through your stuff?”
“Nope. Soda cans, old lunches, notebooks. I didn’t even bother returning my textbooks. Just threw them away with everything else.”
Emily nodded.
“Your note was probably in that heap of stuff, huh?”
Emily heard a slight tone of regret in his voice. She had thought Nick would be upset after she left, but at the time she had been completely incapable of handling her emotional behavior. She had felt awful, but she’d expected him to reach out to her at some point. When he didn’t, she had been really hurt, but then assumed he didn’t want to continue the relationship. It had never occurred to her that Nick might still be upset at her ten years later. Had she meant as much to him as he had to her?
“Nick, I’m pretty tired right now. I need to see to my dad.” Her voice thinned with drowsy impatience. “I’m gonna go.”
When she looked up at him, Nick was staring at her again, studying her with a slightly inquisitive expression. This time his look felt oddly comforting, like returning to a well-loved book or a private spot in the woods. When they were in high school, she and Nick had become close friends and eventually started dating.
“Yeah, let’s get you to the hospital. Follow me,” Nick replied and then turned to head back to his car.
Emily knew he would not be dissuaded from escorting her. She watched Nick return to his car with the characteristic swagger that she had seen him exhibit a million times on the football field in high school. It brought a fleeting smile to her lips. Same ole Nick. Sure of himself. Eager—no … overly eager to help. And still deeply sensitive. Emily knew it had been unfair to leave him like she had. No warning. She would have been livid and unforgiving had the tables been turned. Despite their deepening bond of friendship, she had struggled to verbalize to anyone the trauma of that fateful year after her mother’s accident. By the time she’d finished high school two years later, that aching to hear from Nick, to return to her former life in Freeport, dissolved as she launched Operation Shutdown: default mode. Emily had told herself that Freeport no longer mattered. College was a new start. Only what was ahead could determine her future happiness.
Emily checked her rearview mirror and saw that Nick was waiting for her. She rolled up the window and put the Leaf in drive. Nick pulled around her, his squad lights flashing. Although they only encountered a handful of cars on their way to the hospital, Emily found herself appreciating Nick’s thoughtfulness in carving a traffic-free path to her father. Then she glanced at her hands on the steering wheel and noticed how her new diamond caught the glow of strobe lights from Nick’s squad. The glimmers bounced back at her. She took a deep breath as they turned into the hospital parking lot, and told herself that at this moment she had to perform her daughterly duty and see to her father. She was expecting it to be an awkward reunion, but knew if they could keep the conversation focused on medically related topics, it would be tolerable. And hopefully, as soon as he could, Brandon could find replacements for the next few shifts and meet her up here to help her settle things. Brandon’s presence would keep her calm and rational as she dealt with whatever she would need to with her dad. They would take care of things effectively and efficiently. No big deal. And if things got too tense between her and her dad, she would just focus on the good life she had in Chicago, and soon she would be back there planning her dream wedding, finishing residency, and beginning a new chapter with Brandon as her husband.
7
Several TV news vans and their crews were already setting up camp in the parking lot as she steered her Leaf as far from them as she could. Nick’s cruiser parked alongside her, and he jumped out before Emily. The news reporters were rushing over with their camera crews.
Seeing the encroaching entourage, Emily leapt from her car and started for the hospital lobby doors. The reporters started to swoop in on Nick.
“What is going on?” she asked.
“Word’s out. They weren’t here before,” said Nick as he hustled to her side. “You know, I was thinking on the way over about what I would say to you when I saw you again.”
Emily glanced back to find a particularly aggressive blonde newscaster gaining ground on them, her Herculean calves and stiletto heels pumping toward them.
“Okay. But do we have to do this now?” Emily picked up her pace. “They seem pretty determined to talk with you.”
“I may not see you again for another twelve years …”
“Nick, why are there reporters here?”
“The state senator’s daughter, Julie Dobson, was found dead this morning near Premiere stables.”
Emily’s eyes flitted to Nick in surprise. “What? Wow! I’m so sorry. Shouldn’t you be working that case right now?”
“I am. I was. I was processing when you zoomed across my path,” said Nick as the blonde caught up to them and pointed a microphone into his face. Emily dodged around her and kept moving toward the hospital doors.
“Tell us more about the Dobson case, Sheriff. We learned from sources that a farmer, Mr. Gibbons, found Miss Dobson’s body and brought it to the hospital? Isn’t that considered a disturbance of the crime scene?”
“Crime scene? No one’s saying this was a crime. When Mr. Gibbons found the body, he had no reason to believe it was a crime scene. And we still don’t have evidence to support that. Mr. Gibbons was acting out of concern for the victim, whom he believed at the time might still be alive,” Nick responded as he tried to keep up with Emily, who was out of earshot and approaching the hospital’s lobby doors.
“What if it is a crime scene? Is there reason to believe foul play was involved?” the reporter pressed Nick.
Emily glanced back at Nick. She couldn’t hear his response, but she could tell from the way he faced the reporters with confidence and eye contact that he was holding his own. He had always been comfortable with the camera. Emily noted how he didn’t waver from the spotlight, taking time to address each reporter’s questions. It had been like that in high school too. Always the showboat when it came to post-game interviews. She turned back to the hospital doors and entered as Nick gave his last statement.
“We’ve decided to cordon off the area as a precaution. But there’s a high probability that Julie Dobson’s death was accidental. We’ll be able to confirm that after we get the autopsy results and do further investigations. We ask that you respect our hospital patients and staff and remain outside.”
Once inside the hospital lobby, Emily did a double take. It was familiar ground, but she hadn’t been over this threshold for thirteen years. She shook off the flooding memories and took in the lobby area, which had expanded since she’d last seen it. The lighting was soft, not fluorescent. The stark white walls had been painted sea foam green, and live trees divided the room into sections. Long benches lined the walls, and oversized chairs dotted the center. The room that used to seat twenty could now occupy twice that number. Magazine racks overflowed with current issues of Time, Newsweek, and People. The centerpiece of the room was a water feature that sent calming rivulets of water down a thin waterfall into a rectangular stone basin. The reception desk was tucked behind a sliding glass window. She could see the night receptionist chatting with a nurse. Neither of them looked up when she entered. Emily walked a few feet to the double doors that led into the emergency room, and paused. She’d hoped she might find Jo in there. She wanted to get her assessment before seeing her father.
The last time she had stood before these doors, at age fifteen, her mother’s waning body had been inside as doctors and nurses administered triage in an effort to save her life. Frightened, she had watched helplessly through the crack between the double doors. Emily remembered a lot of blood on her mother’s body, the floor, and on the sleeves of the medical team. Glimpses of her mother’s contorted face had lodged themselves forever in her memory. Her mother’s face was badly bruised from hitting the steering wheel, she would later find out.
Emily had stayed at the door, too terrified to leave. Inside, her father tried to assist, but a male nurse held him back and finally called security to escort him out. Two officers dragged him out and blocked the door so he couldn’t return. He looked at Emily, but no words passed between them. Emily felt that his eyes exposed the truth about the situation in the emergency room. It was hopeless, but the medical team was compelled to try to save her mother.
He’d pleaded with the officers to let him in to be with his wife. They were compassionate but resolute as they held her father back. Her father began to wail. It was this, more so than seeing the attempts to resuscitate her mother, which had impacted Emily the most.
When he was finally allowed to see his dead wife, her father darted past her, without so much as a glimpse in her direction, into the emergency room. A nurse with a gentle touch came to Emily and took her by the arm, leading her toward the ER, letting her know she could see her mother now. But Emily had turned ghostlike and started to back away. She ran to a janitor’s closet on the second floor and hid in there for several hours, using a damp mop to cushion her bum. It soaked her pants and made it look like she had soiled herself. As she hid in the closet, thoughts drifted in and out of Emily’s mind, but she could capture none of them. The sound of the door unlatching broke Emily’s trance as she startled a cleaning lady arriving for her equipment.
The cleaning lady had talked to Emily, although she couldn’t remember about what, and had somehow convinced her to say goodbye to her mother. Meanwhile, her father, who sat next to his wife, unaware of Emily’s whereabouts, seemed shocked to see her when she showed up at her mother’s side.
Nick shook Emily from her memory as they dashed through the hospital doors, trying to keep the hungry reporters at bay.
“Everything okay?” he asked, searching her sullen face.
Emily readjusted her thoughts. “Ah yeah, I just need someone to tell me where my dad’s room is.”
“Oh, well, I can take you up there,” Nick said.
“Maybe just point me in the direction,” she replied. At that moment, the blonde news reporter shuffled in from an adjacent hallway. She had gained illegal entrance through a back door.
“Sheriff Larson, just one more question,” she started in. “When do you anticipate having autopsy results?”
“You haven’t performed the autopsy yet?” asked Emily, drawing Nick aside.
Nick moved them a few more steps away from the reporter’s prying ears.
“Well, no. Because, if you remember, our medical examiner suffered a heart attack today.”
“Right. Of course. I’m going on very little sleep and extra doses of adrenaline,” said Emily. “Wait—then, why on earth did you tell that reporter it was an accident?”
“Because it probably was. And I don’t want a media craze.”
“Nick, you shouldn’t be broadcasting your assumptions,” Emily said.
“A good portion of my job around here consists of controlling the story,” he quipped as he saw the reporter doing her best to eavesdrop. “I’m trying to deflate the event. It’s a very effective tactic.”
“By creating a fib? Okay, suit yourself,” said Emily, too tired to care. She set her sights on the direction where she knew the elevator was located. “Can you please tell me which floor my dad’s on?”
“Third floor. Last room on the right,” Nick said as he made a beeline for the newscaster who was breaching the emergency room doors.
“Oh no, no … Miss, you can’t go in there … Hey!” Nick sprinted over and disappeared into the ER.
Emily pressed on, turned a corner, and headed toward a set of elevators. She was about to press the button, when the doors opened, and the curvy, five foot six Jo Blakely stepped out. Jo was Emily’s best friend from high school. A gregarious extrovert and one of those over-achieving women you thought you might loathe, until you find yourself having the time of your life with her. Emily noticed that she hadn’t changed a bit. Her natural curls, which usually hung in a long bob, were tied up in a stubby ponytail. Her curves were shapely, but hard to make out under the scrubs. She was as radiant and attractive as she had been in high school. The last twelve years had been very gracious to Jo.
It didn’t take Jo but half a second to recognize Emily and throw her arms around her in a big hug. She talked a mile a minute, whisking Emily back into the elevator.
“Emily! You made it! Let me take you to your dad. He’s doing somewhat better, and we were able to move him into his own room about an hour ago. I’m sorry I didn’t call. I got busy on the floor.” Jo barely took a breath between thoughts. “It’s so good to see you. How was the drive up? You must be exhausted—not that you look it. You look amazing underneath those dark circles. No offense. We’ve all been there. Anyhow, we gave your dad his own room. You know doctors.”
The elevator doors opened on the third floor, and Emily was sucked down the hall by Jo’s endless energy. At a time like this, she was glad Jo had enough for both of them. Just like she always had. Jo was a schemer and a dreamer. The social director and party planner. Emily happily played along with her in her adventures, taking the part of the practical friend who enjoyed the attention and picked up the pieces when things started to get messy.
“It’s good to see you too,” said Emily. “Thanks so much for your call. How did you get my number, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Cathy Bishop. She asked me to give you a call when you weren’t returning hers,” said Jo.
“Yeah. I was … in surgery this morning. And I kinda thought maybe she was just calling to wish me a happy birthday,” Emily said, wishing now that she had responded the first time Cathy contacted her.
