by Jerry Moore
I found myself alone with Brenda. Allison had left me with something to think about. Was she certifiably crazy? She probably was. On the other hand, what did it hurt to ask Jeff the question? There was a 99.99 percent chance that Jeff couldn’t actually do anything to save Brenda. Still that 0.01 percent chance kept bugging me.
I took out my phone and sent Jeff a text message asking him to come to Brenda’s room. I looked over at Brenda struggling to breathe and knew that I had to make sure there was no stone left unturned. I was ready to beg if it would save her. But was I willing to be cruel? Allison had given be a piece of information about Jeff. If it was false, I would look like an idiot for asking about his wife. If it was true, it was a hateful question to ask someone.
It didn’t take long for Jeff to get there. He came in and looked around. “Did Allison leave? I thought she was sitting in here with you. If I’d know you were alone, I would have taken advantage of the situation.”
He was trying to joke around but I wasn’t in the mood. “Sit down Jeff, I have a question.”
He sat down in the same chair that Allison had been sitting in. “So, what’s up?”
There was no point in beating around the bush. “Jeff is there something you can do to save Brenda? I know it sounds crazy but I had to ask.”
Jeff looked at me like I was stupid. “Why do you think that I could do anything to save Brenda? Do you honestly believe that I could do anything that even the fine doctors in the hospital haven’t been able to do?”
I shook my head. “That is not an answer.”
“Lisa, listen to yourself. You’re just desperate and now you are grasping at any hope, real or imagined.”
I didn’t like the fact that Jeff wouldn’t say that he couldn’t help her. “Jeff I will beg, if that’s what it’ll take for you to help her. Is that what you want, for me to get down on my hands and knees like a little puppy dog and beg?” I got out of my chair and onto my knees in front of Jeff. “Okay, I’m down here. I am begging you to do something to save her. If there is something, please do it.”
He looked away. “I can’t.”
“Can’t is different from won’t. Is it that you don’t have the ability to help or is it that you just don’t care that much about her life? Or maybe it’s risky on your part and you’re afraid to take any chances.”
He locked his eyes on mine. I hit a nerve. “What was that supposed to mean?”
I hated myself for what I said next. I hated myself, even before I said it. “Maybe you are avoiding taking the same kind of chances that you didn’t take when your wife died.”
He practically jumped out of chair. “You need to shut up about things you clearly know nothing about.”
I got up off my knees and looked Jeff squarely in the eye. “It’s true isn’t it? There is something you can do isn’t there?”
“Listen, you don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“You’re right, all I know is that my friend is dying. You know what else I know? I know the man, I thought might be falling in love with me, won’t lift a finger to save her.”
“Did Allison put you up to this? She’s been running her mouth again, hasn’t she? Where is she?”
I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster. “Oh, you mean the girl that you barely know? She said you would know where to find her. One day you’re also going to have to explain how Allison, who you of course barely know, has so much information about your wife. It might have been nice if I had already known that.”
Jeff’s shoulders sagged. “Be here at nine thirty tonight. The day crew will be gone. The hallways won’t be as busy. I will try to help Brenda. I make no guarantee that I can save her. Right now, I need to catch up with Allison. She has some explaining to do and I may need her help tonight.”
I was emotionally spent. Jeff walked out of the room in a huff and I sat back down. I waited for the tears to come. They didn’t disappoint me. The more I thought about Jeff, the harder I cried. I didn’t know for certain if he really could save Brenda. What I did know was that Jeff was a liar. He said he barely knew Allison. Well, she seemed to know a lot about him. No matter what the outcome of tonight, Jeff and I might be over before we really ever got a chance to get started.
Tina came in Brenda’s room and found me crying. She assumed that I was crying over Brenda. I didn’t say anything about my plan with Jeff to her. She convinced me to go home for a little while and I could come back later. Actually, that would be a good plan. That way I could send her back home once I got back. Jeff didn’t seem to want many witnesses to whatever he was planning.
Jenny seemed relieved that we were leaving. Once we got home, I found out why.
We had barely even got in the door good, when Jenny wanted to have a talk with me at the kitchen table. I pulled up a chair. “So what’s up?”
She looked pensive. “I know that right now you are concerned about your friend, and you should be.”
I knew there was a but coming. “But what?”
“I received some new information while you were back in Brenda’s room.”
“Is it good?”
“Not exactly, the Demarco’s lawyers have managed to suppress just about every piece of evidence the state has. The only real exception is you.”
“So my testimony is really all we have?
“Pretty much, and to make matters even a little worse, their lawyers are trying to slow down the proceedings.”
I think I already knew the answer but I asked the question anyway. “Why are they trying to slow things down?”
She looked right at me. “Probably to give their hit men more time to find you and eliminate you.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon in my room. I pretended to be doing homework but really I spent most of the time worrying. About half the time I worried about the hit men that were out there and had only one purpose in life: killing me. The other half of the time, I spent worrying about my relationship or lack of relationship with Jeff. I wondered how badly I had blown it with him today.
Jeff had been right about one thing, I didn’t know anything about his wife or how she died. Of course, that didn’t stop me from throwing it in his face. You have to be a pretty despicable person to do something like that, either despicable or desperate to save a life. I hoped I could stay in the desperate but not despicable category.
It was like pulling teeth, but I managed to convince Jenny to drop me off at UMC a little after nine o’clock. I was sure there would still be a marshal or two keeping an eye on me. I went straight up to Brenda’s room and relieved Tina. I told her to go home and get some rest. She tried to protest but assured her that I would call if there was any news.
I was sitting in Brenda’s room when Jeff arrived at exactly nine thirty. I tried to smile at him but he didn’t smile back. Maybe I had moved into the despicable category after all. “Are you mad?”
He shrugged. “Does it really matter?”
I moved closer to him. “It does to me. I don’t want to lose you over this.”
“Lisa, I’m not mad at you. In your place, with the limited facts you have, I might do the same thing.”
“Are you angry with Allison?”
“Furious would be a better word for it. She betrayed my trust.”
“Is she here, anyway?”
“Yes, she is. Unfortunately I need her to help distract the staff while I try to help Brenda.”
“Wait, why do you say ‘try’ to help? Can you do this or not? “
“I can as long as God doesn’t prevent it. Listen, at exactly nine thirty five, Allison and Dr. Greene will try to distract the staff. I need you to shut the door and keep everyone else out of here, at all costs.”
“Why all the secrecy?”
“You’ll see. Now, if it works, the staff is going to get very excited and this room will be chaos. Dr. Greene and I will quickly slip away. Stay in the waiting room with Allison. We will all meet up in a few hours. Allison will take you where yo
u need to go.”
“What exactly are you going to do?”
Jeff looked at his watch. “We’re out of time, close the door.”
I closed the door but then cracked in open to take a look at what the others were doing. I saw Dr. Greene at the nurses’ station talking to a couple of the nurses. The other nurses nearby seemed to be paying attention to what he was saying. For some reason, I also felt like I was missing something important because I couldn’t hear him. I fought the urge to go see what he was saying.
I immediately noticed the soft glow of light in the room. I turned around to see where the light was coming from. I turned and saw that Jeff was the source. Actually it was his hands. He pressed those hands onto Brenda’s body. He pressed his left hand on her forehead and his right hand was grasping her wrist. Her body stiffened. For a moment I thought he was killing her. All of her vital signs jumped higher. He began to slightly shake and then broke his connection with her after about ten seconds. Her body relaxed.
Jeff sat down in a chair beside her bed. He looked flushed. “Call the nurse. Tell her that you think something is going on with Brenda.”
I pushed the nurse call button at the same time that I heard Brenda moan. Oh my god, she was waking up. Her pulse started racing. Nurses rushed in. Jeff vanished. Suddenly, Allison was in the room. She led me by the arm out of Brenda’s room and to the Intensive Care waiting room.
Allison must have seen how completely freaked out I was. She put her hand on mine. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”
I could only manage one word. “How?”
“Patience, I promise you’ll get your answers.”
We waited for almost an hour with no word. Finally, a middle aged white male doctor named Sharpe came out to see us. He had a puzzled look on his face.
He sat down and rubbed his forehead. “Now, Miss Wilson, we have an interesting situation here tonight.”
I tried to sound surprised. “Really, so Brenda is still breathing?”
He nodded his head. “Yes, she is more than breathing. She has shown marked improvement. Improvement that quite frankly shouldn’t be possible.”
I couldn’t help it. “You mean sort of like a miracle?”
He smiled. “Well, it’s the closest thing to a miracle that I’ve ever seen. The bottom line is that your friend seems to have healed the very worst of her internal injuries. She has a better than average chance of surviving this.”
Allison sounded shocked. “Really, we had almost given up hope. Can we see her now?”
The doctor held up his hand. “I would prefer that she not have any visitors until tomorrow. We had been allowing unlimited visitation when we believed she wasn’t going to pull through. We just didn’t see any harm in it. However, the situation has changed and Brenda needs her rest.”
I sighed. “I see. Well, I guess we will head home in a little while then.”
The doctor patted me on the knee. “That would be for the best, you can see her in the morning.”
It was almost midnight when Allison and I walked out of the hospital. We caught the hospital shuttle bus to our parking lot. Allison walked over to a blue Mustang Convertible and got in. I just stared. I love mustangs. I hate cheerleaders but love Mustangs. I was conflicted by a cheerleader driving a Mustang.
She got back out. “Are you going to get in my car or what?”
I got in. “I love it.”
Allison threw her head back. “It’s what all the hot cheerleaders are driving.”
I had to ask. “Were you really a cheerleader?”
“No, that’s just a rumor. It’s a rumor that I started, but it’s just a rumor.”
As we drove out of the parking lot, I saw another set of headlights barreling out of the parking lot behind us. Apparently, my marshal friends had been caught flat footed. It was the first time I had actually seen any evidence of their existence with my own eyes.
Allison noticed them too. “I see you noticed your friends.”
Alright, it was going to be a car chase. “Are you going to try and lose them?”
She shook her head. “That wouldn’t be the prudent thing to do. Trying to lose them would only make them suspicious.”
“So where are we headed?”
“Dr. Greene’s house. As far as anyone else is concerned, we’re friends of Brenda’s meeting up to celebrate the fact that she is doing better.”
That reminded me that I needed to call Tina with an update. I left out the part about all of us meeting at Dr. Greene’s home. I promised to talk to her tomorrow. We pulled up in front of a house that was also in Tech Terrace. In fact, it was only about six blocks from where I lived. It really wasn’t surprising though. Dr. Greene probably picked this house for the same reasons that Jenny picked ours. It was close to the campus without being right on the campus.
Dr. Greene met us at the front door. He didn’t seem as interesting as he had before. “Do come in, ladies.”
As soon as I walked in, I found myself in Jeff’s arms and he gave me a big hug. “Everything go okay after we left?”
“It went great.” I gave him a long kiss with plenty of tongue action. I didn’t care who was watching. “Thank you for saving her.”
Jeff seemed uncomfortable with gratitude. “Um, why don’t we all sit down? That way we can all talk.”
Allison gave Jeff an icy stare. “So we’re talking again?”
Jeff returned her gaze. “We don’t have much of a choice. Besides, I forgive you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”
We all took a seat in the living room. Jeff and I sat on the couch, Dr. Greene sat in a recliner, and Allison sat on the love seat. Jeff started off the conversation. “Well, I guess it’s time for everyone to come clean. Perhaps the best place to start is with Lisa.”
I looked at him. “Why, with me? I’m not the one that apparently can keep people alive just by touching them.”
Jeff smiled. “No, but your situation is driving everything else. Now, I have already told Dr. Greene and Allison about the mob looking for you.”
I gave him my patented ‘excuse me’ look. “Why did you do that?”
Allison piped in. “Because it was obvious to all three of us that you were being followed. We learned a long time ago how to recognize surveillance. We knew someone was watching you, we needed to know who and why.”
I was finally getting it. “None of you are here to go to school or to teach, in Dr. Greene’s case. So what is it that you are really here to do? Or do I really want to know?”
Dr. Greene spoke up. “Jeff said you were quite intelligent.”
Jeff made a sweeping gesture with his hand. “No one in this room is who they appear to be. So give Allison and Dr. Greene a general idea of who you are.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay, Lisa Wilson isn’t my real name, obviously. I am in witness protection and I am the key witness in an upcoming mob trial.”
Dr. Greene raised his eyebrows. “When you say key witness, does that mean that without your testimony there is no case?”
I nodded. “That’s it in a nutshell. The mob wants me taken out before I can testify.”
Allison let out a short whistle. “Well, I am officially impressed that you have that going on plus going to school. Then you go out of your way to help Brenda.”
I gave her an appreciative smile. “Okay, so enough about me. I want to know about the three of you. Jeff, who are you? And I want the truth this time. By the way, I do expect your answer to include something about that thing you can do with your hands.”
He cut his eyes toward me. “Will you believe what I tell you? The truth sounds more than a little crazy.”
I scooted closer to him. “Just tell me the truth. I am tired of the lies.”
He took a deep breath. “Fine, here is the truth. We spotted your marshals so easily because we have been doing this for about two thousand years.”
I looked around the room, expecting Dr. Greene and Allison to h
ave a hard time keeping a straight face. They actually looked like they believed this nonsense. “What did I just say about the lies? I was honest with you guys. Why shouldn’t I just walk out the door?”
Dr. Greene took a stab at it. “My dear, it’s true.”
I hoped they could all tell that I was really tired of this game. “Two thousand years? Really? That is the best story you guys could come up with?”
Allison stood up and grabbed my arm. “Screw this, you’re coming with me.” She dragged me to the kitchen. “I want to show you something.”
I yanked free of her grip and crossed my arms in defiance. “What do you want to show me?”
She grabbed a butcher knife from its holder on the counter. “I wanted to show you this.” She handed me the knife, handle first. “See how this feels in your hand?”
I looked down at the knife that I was holding between myself and Allison. “What does this knife have to do with anything?”
She gave me a knowing smile. “Just this.” She lunged at me. I felt the knife impale her all the way up to the handle. Blood went everywhere.
I screamed as Allison threw herself violently backwards so hard that the knife almost came out of my hand. The knife came free, leaving a massive hole in her midsection. Allison crumpled to the floor, writhing in pain. I heard footsteps behind me. Somehow, I had stabbed Allison.
Jeff gently took the knife from my hand. “I wouldn’t want you hurting yourself with this. You know, when you first confronted me about saving Brenda, and I figured out that Allison was feeding you information, I felt like stabbing her myself.”
Allison got still and I knelt down to see how badly Allison was hurt. “Jeff, don’t just stand there, help me! Can you do that thing you do again or something?”
He chuckled. “I could stab her again.”
Allison moaned. “Very funny. I think the bleeding has stopped. I forgot just how much it hurt to get stabbed.”
I heard Dr. Greene behind me. “Allison, you will clean this mess up.”
I turned around and I was livid. “What is wrong with you people? We have to get her to a hospital.”
Allison sat up. “Actually, I don’t need a hospital. I’m fine.”
