Double Blind

by Hannah Alexander

  Betsy watched the gymnasium door open and the track team file out for their evening run—all but Tanya. These were Doc Cottonwood’s kids. To please him, they pushed themselves hard, running faster and faster. The two at the back of the line—April and Jamey Hunt, the orphans—didn’t quite have the speed their older brother, Steve, had displayed last year when he won all those ribbons. Steve, who helped in the cafeteria this year, had been hit hardest over his parents’ death this spring.

  A student coach trailed behind Jamey, laughing, calling out encouragement to the runners. Doc had gone to the hospital to see about Tanya.

  Sure, this wet-behind-the-ears kid could laugh and offer support, but tomorrow, when Doc came back, he would be shouting, pushing his young athletes into shape, sometimes demanding more than they could give. Doc was always happy when his kids performed for him. But Betsy felt sorry for the ones who didn’t—or couldn’t. Doc never hid his impatience and disapproval.

  What amazed Betsy was the way all the kids idolized him, as if he were a messenger from the Great Spirit.

  “Stupid,” Betsy muttered. She was a jealous old woman, disgruntled because the kids used to hover around her in the cafeteria the way they hovered around Doc now. The way they had hovered around Sheila on Saturday morning.

  So who had Canaan called when there was trouble this morning? Not Betsy Two Horses, but good old Doc Cottonwood. She’d heard others grumbling about it too, over dinner tonight.

  The sun sank too low for warmth, and Betsy got up from her seat. Yes, she knew she was jealous of many of the teachers and dorm parents. Now, instead of adoration, she sometimes inspired fear in the kids, because of her age. One of the long-held beliefs of The People was that the aged held a magical power to life.

  What a bunch of sheep scat. All the aged held was a strong will to live, to hold on to what pleasures life still offered.

  She thought of Sheila, and a smile chased away her scowl, but only for a moment.

  Sheila had her own problems now. When the time was right, Betsy would have to tell her what little she knew about Evelyn. Not yet, maybe. But soon, when Sheila was ready.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  O n Monday morning, May 16, Sheila leaned back against the headrest in Canaan’s van. The beauty of passing scenery lulled her to the edge of slumber. The ocher and mauve of the peaks jutting at the horizon, the soft turquoise of the unbroken sky provided a landscape that had always drawn her heart back to this place. She allowed the colors to settle in her soul as her eyes closed.

  The quiet hum of the engine droned on, mingling with Canaan and Tanya’s chatting voices in the front seat.

  Last night, Tanya’s bleeding had stopped soon after the immunoglobulin G was administered intravenously. The X-ray had showed no mediastinal widening, which helped rule out the danger of anthrax.

  During the treatment, Sheila had taken a long walk while the visitors from school had taken turns watching Tanya. When she’d arrived back in Tanya’s hospital room, she had found the girl sleeping peacefully.

  Keeping vigil over the frightened girl required diligence and a strong heart. Nothing had come at them during the night, and Tanya hadn’t had any obvious nightmares, nor a physical relapse or waking terrors. Sheila, on the other hand, had endured endless hours of taut nerves, an aching back and a tension headache.

  When Canaan contacted Tanya’s parents, he had apparently reassured them so persuasively that they’d opted not to cut their trip short to come home and see their daughter. Sheila had to remind herself that the Swifts’ livelihood depended on those triannual circuits to sell the items they crafted during the rest of the year. She also wondered if Canaan had downplayed the seriousness of Tanya’s problem.

  She was so glad that Tanya had caring adults who were good stand-ins for her parents. Canaan was overworked, but he was there for Tanya when she needed an “exorcism.” Doc, despite his military bearing, had a tender heart when it came to his kids. Jane worked so many extra hours with her double responsibilities as teacher plus dorm parent, but she spent extra time with Tanya for “girl stuff.”

  A trill of female laughter rippled through the van, and Sheila opened her eyes as Canaan was turning from the highway toward the school. Had she actually heard Tanya laugh, or had that been a dream?

  She had discovered last night that Tanya had the admirable ability to shrug off the oppressive weight of her medical problems with simple faith in Canaan…and to a lesser extent, in Sheila. In that way, she was still very much a child, though her quick wit and surprising insight—which Sheila had discovered for herself during their long talk last night—showed a maturity beyond her years.

  “We’ll be there in time for lunch,” Canaan said over his shoulder. He glanced at Sheila. “You probably want to freshen up, brush your teeth or whatever.”

  Sheila frowned at him, suddenly feeling grubby, tired and irritable. “I’d prefer a good ‘whatever.’” She knew she was due for a proper orientation today, with a tour of the school and introduction to some of the students scheduled for physicals. What she needed was a hot shower, a long nap and a double dose of espresso. What she would get, besides a chance to brush her teeth, was anyone’s guess.

  She was ready to doze off again when she recalled something Tanya had said yesterday just before the coughing had distracted them. “Tanya, didn’t you say something yesterday about Doc giving everybody on the track team vitamins?”

  “Sure. They give us extra energy.”

  “All the kids get vitamins,” Canaan said. “Doc just rides his kids harder to take them every day. He’s a health nut, and he was the one who convinced my grandfather to give them to the kids in the first place.”

  “Do you know the ingredients?” Sheila asked.

  Canaan’s brow puckered. “It’s just a multivitamin.”

  “Any megadoses?”

  Canaan shook his head. “If you’re wondering if there’s anything in them to cause Tanya’s bleeding, there isn’t. I already checked these pills out at the source. They’re not harmful in any way.” He pulled the van to a stop in front of Sheila’s apartment.

  “Can I go to class today?” Tanya asked.

  “No,” Canaan said. “You need to rest, and someone needs to keep an eye on you.”

  “You said I was okay.”

  “But you shouldn’t overdo it today. You can stay with Sheila in the clinic.”

  Tanya glanced at Sheila, then back at Canaan. “She didn’t sleep last night, and she told me she hasn’t had a bath in two days. Does she have to work today?”

  Sheila grimaced, suddenly feeling like an absolute grunge.

  Canaan also turned to look at Sheila, considering the question. “Maybe she should take the day off, too,” he told Tanya.

  In spite of it all, Sheila was touched by the girl’s thoughtfulness. “I could use some downtime, I’ll admit, but I know there’s a lot to do in the clinic. Why don’t I take off a few hours today, then work this evening?”

  “And I can take a nap on her couch,” Tanya said.

  “You can stay with me in the office,” Canaan said.

  “But you’ll be in and out all day, and that means I’ll be alone.”

  “It’s okay if she stays with me today,” Sheila said.

  Canaan opened the door and got out. “All right, Tanya, but only for a few hours. I do need Sheila’s help in the clinic.” He glanced at his watch. “First lunch has already started, but there’s no rush.

  Tanya slowly climbed out of the van and waited as Canaan opened the door for Sheila. “I don’t want to go back to the dorm tonight.” The girl crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Of course you don’t.” Canaan shot Sheila a wry glance over Tanya’s head. “You made that clear the last two times you ran away. Where do you plan to stay, if not the dorm?”

  She stepped closer to Canaan’s side. “I want to stay with you.”

  Canaan had the grace not to react to that charged suggestion. He reached out an
d smoothed the girl’s hair. “I’m afraid that wouldn’t work.”

  “Okay, then, with her.” Tanya nodded to Sheila.

  Sheila couldn’t hide her surprise.

  “I think I need some one-on-one attention,” Tanya said.

  “You mean you want to move in with me?” Sheila asked.

  Tanya nodded.

  “It’s a one-bedroom apartment,” Canaan said.

  “But she has a sleeper sofa in the living room. I know because April told me. Please, Sheila? I’ll be quiet. I don’t talk on the telephone or have my friends over or play loud music or even watch television.” She glanced toward the apartment. “Not that you have one.”

  Sheila looked at Canaan, who shrugged. She could almost read the gleam in his eyes. She’d been the one preaching to him yesterday about Tanya feeling abandoned. Now he was calling her bluff.

  This had not been in the job description; not at all what she had agreed to. The suggestion was not alarming, however.

  “Sure, Tanya,” she said, and allowed herself only a few seconds to enjoy the sudden look of surprise on Canaan’s face. “I’d love to have you stay.”

  With a squeal, the girl hugged her, then hugged Canaan, then pivoted in the direction of her dorm. “I’ll get my things and be right back! Don’t lock me out!”

  “Take it easy!” Canaan called after her swiftly retreating figure. “You just got out of the hospital.”

  Tanya waved without looking back, almost as if she were afraid Sheila would change her mind if given the chance.

  And she could be right.

  Canaan’s approval was obvious when he turned back to Sheila. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “I don’t think you gave me much of a choice. I wasn’t about to turn her down. She doesn’t need that kind of rejection after everything she’s been through, and I know I’m being codependent, and I don’t have good boundaries, but this is something I can do.”

  “You’re that afraid of the wolf?”

  “You’re the one who exorcised the dorm for Tanya Friday night, and I’m guessing it was to frighten away the Navajo werewolf. Are you saying you don’t believe in all the talk about the wolf?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Do you?”

  “You know about my suspicions that something is going on here, and may have been happening for many years. I can’t put my finger on it. Yet. That’s where I need your help. I’ve been praying for a break before the end of the school year.”

  “You mean some kind of great, dramatic revelation about the deaths and why they’ve happened?”

  He nodded. “Or at least some extra hands to help me dig through the files and pick up on any clues that might be hidden there.”

  “If anything.”

  He nodded. “The way things are happening, it doesn’t look as if that’ll happen.”

  “Tell you what. I don’t need lunch, because Tanya and I had a late breakfast at the hospital. Let me get her settled in, then I’ll clean up and grab a sandwich and take it with me to the clinic for later. I can work through dinner.”

  He hesitated. “You need a rest.”

  “I’m a nurse. I’m accustomed to doing without sleep.”

  “You’d better be careful. That kind of schedule can age a person fast. In fact,” he said, leaning closer, studying her face, “now that you mention it, are those laugh lines around your eyes?”

  She grinned up at him. “Watch the sarcasm. I can withdraw the offer of lodging for Tanya.”

  He returned her grin, and then his face fell back into its usual seriousness. “Thank you, Sheila. Your help means a lot. I’m still not sure you should be here, but since you’re here, I’m simply going to go with the serendipity of your arrival.”

  She nodded. If it were anyone else, she would be tempted to think he was being romantic. But Canaan York simply used words like serendipity as a matter of course. He must know she didn’t have purely unselfish motives for being here and helping him.

  For that matter, she wasn’t being unselfish by lodging Tanya. Loneliness motivated her more than she had wanted to admit. She felt uneasy alone in the apartment and in the dark silence at night. She’d become accustomed to living with Dad and his two friendly house cats.

  At the pop of tires on gravel, Sheila looked around to find a very familiar vehicle slowing to a crawl as it reached her Jeep. Strangely, her first thought was that Canaan’s prayer might just have been answered.

  When Preston caught sight of Sheila and the well-dressed man standing far too close to each other on the sidewalk, he thought that if he were to continue driving forward, he might nudge the man out of Sheila’s personal space with his bumper. Then both of them looked toward him.

  He could swear a look of welcome flashed across Sheila’s face just before her eyes narrowed into threatening slits. He waved, smiled, and then, against his better judgment, resisted the urge to take a swing at lover boy with his bumper. He pulled in beside Sheila’s Jeep and parked. Sheila stepped away from the man—was that Canaan?—of her own accord.

  Blaze, sprawled out in the passenger seat, bare knees braced against the dashboard, gave a low whistle. “Looks like competition, my friend. I told you to wear the dark red silk with your jeans today, but did you listen?”

  “I refuse to be pretentious.”

  “You packed the shirt, didn’t you? You saving it for date night or something? This guy’s pulling out all the stops.”

  “If that’s who I suspect it is, he’s the acting principal of a Christian boarding school. He has to dress the part.”

  “Sure he does, especially when there’s a beautiful woman to be stolen away from the most eligible bachelor in Hideaway.” Without waiting for argument, Blaze pushed the door open and got out, arms open wide. “Hey, Sheila!”

  She stepped off the sidewalk, a wide smile of welcome on her face. “Blaze Farmer, how on earth did you guys find your way here, and what are you doing here?”

  “Mission trip. Didn’t Preston tell you?”

  “I thought you had another week or so in school.”

  “Not me. I’m done for the summer, but I’d sure like the chance to help out at a clinic somewhere around these parts. For the experience, of course.”

  “Changed your mind about prevet now? You want premed instead?”

  “Covering my bases.”

  She walked into Blaze’s open arms, and he picked her up and swung her around. The show-off.

  Preston got out, walked over to Sheila’s Jeep and kicked the tires, noting that the spare was on the right front. Even if she sent him packing after all the trouble he’d gone to, he would still replace the spare or buy her a new set of front tires if she needed them.

  “Making sure it’s travelworthy for your trip back?” came Sheila’s dry, tired-sounding voice from behind him.

  He turned to her with his most innocent expression. What had happened to her smile?

  With Blaze in the background introducing himself to the well-dressed competition, Preston held out his arms. “Don’t I get the same kind of welcome? After all, I was the one who saw to it Blaze got here safe and sound.”

  She did not walk into his arms. She put her hands on her hips and gave him a mock glare as the noonday sun illuminated lines of fatigue on her face, glinting golden lights from her dark brown hair. “You just had to bring the argument all the way out to Arizona.”

  “I’m perfectly willing to trade cars with you when I decide to go back home.”

  “What?” Blaze called from the sidewalk. “No way! Preston, we need to talk about this, I’m telling you. Sheila’s car doesn’t have AC, and I’m not riding all the way back home with a lovesick grump without AC.”

  “Sheila,” Canaan called, “you didn’t tell me you’d sent for reinforcements. This guy works at the hospital and he’s prevet? Talk about an answer to prayers.” He stepped from the sidewalk and nodded to Preston, obviously expecting an introduction. “And who’s this? A doctor o
r something?”

  Preston stepped forward and extended a hand, speaking before Sheila could say a word. “Preston Black. Sorry, no medical background at all, unless you count my sister, who’s a nurse, and the time I spent in the hospital last year after a fire. You’ve got to be Canaan York. Sheila’s told me a lot about you. It sounds like you have a heavy load right now, and we decided to offer our services, such as they are, to help until replacements can be found and you can be reinstated into your rightful job.” He knew he was running off at the mouth, but a man had to establish his territory and set the ground rules quickly.

  Preston wasn’t sure what he’d expected when he met Canaan. In fact, he was about a foot taller, fifty pounds heavier, with much lighter skin and a friendlier expression. Preston especially hadn’t expected friendly. Most especially, he hadn’t expected—or wanted—the friendliness he’d observed when driving up, not after the trouble this guy had given Sheila about the dog.

  “How long can we expect you to stay?” Canaan asked.

  Sheila cleared her throat. “Well, to tell you the truth, they’re only—”

  “As long as we’re needed,” Preston said, avoiding her glare. “Or as long as Sheila doesn’t send us back.”

  “There’ll be no danger of that,” Canaan said, gesturing to Blaze, who had returned to Preston’s vehicle to start unloading luggage. “Leave that in the car until I’ve figured out where to put you guys. I’m thinking the best place would be with me. I have a guest room and extra bathroom in my apartment on campus. Would you two mind sharing a room? It’s got two single beds in it.”

  Preston covered his reservations with sickeningly effusive thanks, wondering if Canaan’s strategy was to keep the competition in plain sight. Better control that way. And of course, his magnanimity looked good. Sheila was impressed, no doubt, especially since Canaan seemed to be genuinely glad to see them here.

  It remained to be seen how this little experiment in mission work was going to turn out.

  Chapter Twenty-Three