by Corey Brown
Now Derek is at Cody’s side. “You see those footprints?” He says, pointing at the floor. Then a puzzled look comes over Derek’s face. “What the hell? Someone came through here barefoot?”
Cody hears Derek speak, registers the questions, but he feels unsettled, almost panicked, as though everything is about to spin out of control.
“I thought I told you both to stay out.” It is the doctor who had stopped them at the door. He is looking up at them, kneeling, still attending the woman lying on the floor.
Derek shows his badge. “I’m FBI, Agent Simmons. This is Detective Briggs, NOPD. What happened here?”
Cody looks down and realizes who is lying on the floor.
“Hey,” Cody says, squatting. “That’s Doctor Robiere. Is she all right?”
“I think so, looks like she fainted. You know her?”
Cody shrugs. “Not really. She treated me a few nights ago.”
The body under the sheet stirs. Some in the ER hear the sound of fabric rustling, others catch movement in their peripheral vision, everyone feels their gut churn.
“He’s alive?” Cody says, standing up, almost choking on the words.
The other doctor looks at Cody but does not reply. The man inhales, holds Cody’s eyes a moment longer before turning his attention to Doctor Kooman. “Ms. Robiere is fine, leave her.” The man gestures to Kooman. “Come over here, I need to tell you something about this patient.”
For a moment Doctor Kooman thinks he wants to be offended. Who is this stranger telling him what to do? But those feelings never quite take hold. Slowly getting to his feet, Kooman looks down at Robiere, still not completely sure why he is leaving her. Without clearly thinking about it, Kooman to wants know how this other doctor knows his name. Then he does as instructed.
“Take a look at this man,” the stranger says, lifting the sheet.
“Oh shit,” Kooman says, stepping back. “What happened to him?”
Cody and Derek can see the body, too.
“Cover him up,” Derek says, turning away. “Before I lose it.”
Cody closes his eyes, feels his stomach turn sour, but the sheet falls back in place, covering the butchered mess of bone and muscle.
“This man is alive,” the unknown doctor says. “He does not need medical attention, but----”
“Are you insane?” Kooman interrupts, pointing at David. “Look at him. There’s nothing left, he needs….” Kooman’s words drop off. He looks away, looks at the floor. “Jesus,” he says. “I don’t know what he needs.”
“What he needs,” the stranger says. “Is to be left alone. You can bring David Carlson back, Doctor Kooman. All he needs is a room and solitude. David will heal, I promise. But he needs privacy.”
“You’re not even a doctor, are you?” Kooman says, studying the other man’s face. “Who are you?”
The stranger opens his mouth to answer, his expression is something between ‘You wouldn’t understand’ and ‘Go pound sand.’ What he says is, “It doesn’t matter. “Please, find a room. Now.”
“That guy died twice in the last twenty-four hours.” The voice belongs to Doctor Robiere. No one has noticed that she has come around. No one has noticed that she is sitting upright on the floor, rubbing her head.
“Rose,” Kooman says, going to her, dropping to one knee. “Are you all right?”
“He died right here,” Robiere says, rubbing her forehead, watching David Carlson’s not-so-lifeless body on the gurney. “In this room, at three o’clock this morning.” She shrugs. “He came in around two, I worked him for a while, declared him at three but he was gone long before arriving here, I have no doubt.”
Kooman shakes his head. “You’ve had a rough day,” he says. “Come on, let’s----”
“It’s true,” says the African-American nurse who’d been throwing up. She is on her feet now, shaky, wiping her mouth with a paper towel. “I was here when they brought in Mr. Carlson. Doctor Robiere is telling the truth, David Carlson died this morning. He was dead as dead can be.”
“Carlson?” Cody says, looking at the nurse then he points back at the body under the sheet. “As in David Carlson, the screenplay writer?”
“Yes,” Doctor Robiere says. “That David Carlson. He died right here at three this morning and a few hours ago his sister found him wandering around the fifth floor.”
Kooman puts a hand on Robiere’s shoulder. “Rose, please, let’s get you home.”
But Doctor Robiere does not move. “Jesus,” she says, looking at Cody, her eyes bright with misplaced guilt. “I let Suzanne Carlson have a few minutes alone with her dead brother and the next thing I know the guy is walking around, on the loose. Alive.”
Robiere draws her thumb across an eyelid, rubs hard, and says, “They found David in an elevator. He was naked and disoriented and freezing. At first I couldn’t believe it, I mean….” Robiere looks away, her face a jigsaw puzzle of expression. She waits a beat, collects herself and says, “David was still breathing and he had a pulse, but his core temp was very low, down in the sixties. I had no idea what to do, he should have been dead, that is, besides the fact that he had already died, I mean…” Doctor Robiere’s voice trails off again.
She reconsiders her words, seems to discard certain thoughts, find new ones. A blank look forms in her eyes and focusing on nothing Robiere says, “David’s body temperature was hypothermic, so I started an IV with warm saline solution, heated oxygen, everything. And he was responding to the treatment. Then, just before the cardiac patient arrived, David lapsed. He stopped breathing, got even colder. My heart attack was wheeled in and I had to make a choice, I had to forget about David.”
“So, what happened?” Derek says. “Why did everyone take off?”
With Kooman’s help, Robiere gets to her feet and she turns to look at the nurse named Saranna. Robiere touches the back of her head again, winces as fingers find the tender spot.
“You’re okay?” Robiere says to Saranna.
The nurse nods, taking another swipe at her mouth with the paper towel. “Good as can be expected.”
Robiere presses her lips together, forces a weak smile. Then she faces the others and says, “My cardiac was hopeless, just like David Carlson. God knows that guy fought hard and we did everything we could,” Robiere sighs. “We’d get his heart pumping and then he’d arrest again. It was just his time, I suppose.”
“Who was he? Cody says.
Robiere looks surprised then she scowls, her expression acknowledging the impersonal nature of an emergency room. “I have no idea,” she says. “An EMT brings me someone who has gone over the edge, I don’t always get a name. I just throw a lifeline and hope the patient grabs it.” Robiere flashes another glance at Saranna, looking for a sign of continued support, but she gets nothing more. “Just before he died,” Robiere says, her words are both tentative and assertive. “My cardiac patient sat up and pointed at Carlson, said he did it.”
There is a moment of awkward silence, the kind of pause that makes those who have experienced something unusual feel like outsiders, like poor second cousins. It is the moment when everyone who missed the extraordinary event questions the credibility of the witnesses.
“Wait,” Derek says, holding up a hand. “This guy is having a heart attack and he sits up and says David Carlson did it?”
Robiere stares at the FBI agent, nods, but does not speak.
“Did what?” Derek says. “What did Carlson do?”
A shrug, Robiere is non-committal. “I don’t know,” she says. “Gave him the heart attack, killed him, who knows?”
Derek studies Robiere then says, “That doesn’t make much sense. How could he do that?”
Robiere shakes her head. “Look, Mr. Carlson came in here---- for the second time, with solid vitals.” She cuts her eyes to Doctor Kooman. “Well, besides being thirty degrees below normal temp, other than being so cold he should have been dead, he was doing okay. His heart rate was steady, respiration was
good, everything else was fine. Then, just before my heart attack victim arrived, like seconds before, David Carlson lapsed. His breathing stopped, his core temp fell to nineteen degrees.”
Doctor Kooman starts to speak but Robiere holds up a hand, cutting him off. “I know, I know,” she says. “Carlson should have been a block of human ice when he arrived in the ER.” She looks at Kooman, holds his gaze. “But it’s true, ask the tech on duty. And before all hell broke loose I had the gear replaced because I couldn’t believe the readings were correct. Trust me, his body temp was Arctic but his….” Doctor Robiere lets her sentence fall off.
She thinks about David Carlson’s condition in those last few moments. No breathing, no movement, a body temperature thirteen degrees below freezing. All of that….and a rock solid heartbeat. Robiere makes a face. Without realizing, she vocalizes her confusion.
“How can that be?”
At first, no one speaks then Doctor Kooman says, “How can what be?”
Robiere flinches, surprised then embarrassed, knowing she had been thinking out loud.
“Oh, I was just surprised….” Robiere starts to say. She knows her credibility is growing weak, and talk of David Carlson’s core temperature falling far below freezing while his heartbeat pulsed on will only make things worse. So, Robiere takes breath, collects herself, decides to take the conversation in a different direction, she says, “After working my heart attack patient for the third or fourth time, he flat lined. I mean, he went down hard. The guy had quit for good, but then he started talking.”
Robiere looks at the group, she shrugs and says, “He sat up and pointed so I looked. We all did. He was pointing at Carlson saying he did it. I don’t know how it happened, but when I looked, David not on the gurney anymore, he was on the floor, all torn up just like you see him now.”
Closing her eyes, Robiere pinches the bridge of her nose, stemming a swell of emotion. “Oh god,” she says. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I thought I was going to be sick. But then I saw….something walking toward me, towards all of us. I could see the shape of a body. Well, I think it was a body, it was coming at me but I could see through it, too. I could see David Carlson on the other side. Everyone saw it, that’s why they ran.”
Strangely, Robiere senses that Cody understands exactly what she is talking about. She glances at the detective, catching his eye. “Whatever it was,” Robiere says, her voice falling to a whisper, her eyes still holding on Cody. “I think it spoke to me. I couldn’t really make out the words, but it said something familiar, something I’ve heard before.”
Robiere draws a deep breath then exhales hard, her face drawn. “I don’t know how,” she says, gesturing at David. “But it did this to him. That fucking thing ripped my patient apart, I’m sure of it.”
“Uh, Rose,” Doctor Kooman says, softly. “Listen, you hit your head pretty hard. Maybe---- ”
“Something tore David Carlson to pieces,” Robiere says, cutting off Doctor Kooman. “And I think that same thing killed my heart attack patient.” Robiere points at the floor. “Look at those footprints. How do you explain that? Who made those prints? Why only three and why do they just stop? Where the hell do they go? You don’t believe me? Then you tell me why a room full of nurses and med techs ran like the wind, you tell me why poor Saranna was over there puking her intestines out.”
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.”
It is the other man, the stranger, the pretend doctor who has spoken. All four, Robiere, Kooman, Derek and Cody, all of them stare at him.
“Was that it?” The man says, looking at Robiere. “You know, the Bible verse, John Three-Sixteen.”
“What?”
“Is that what the thing said, for God so loved the world, when it tore out of David?”
“Yes.” Doctor Robiere and Cody speak in unison.
Robiere looks at Cody, confused, and she says, “You heard him speaking? He said that?”
Cody shrugs, the gesture is ambivalent. “I don’t know….but I’m sure that’s what you heard.” He glances at the stranger and says, “He’s taunting you, isn’t he? I don’t quite know what that means, but it’s true, I know it is.”
The man nods slowly. “I’ve been trying to give you hints,” he says. “I tried to help you along so you wouldn’t have to learn it all at once. I didn’t want to overwhelm.” Then, as if startled by a new thought, the stranger looks away and says, “They are coming.”
Before anyone can react, the emergency room doors crash open and five people crowd the entrance. Suzanne Carlson is in front with Jamie at her elbow, followed by Tina McGrath and her companion with Gus trailing behind.
The newcomers absorb what they are seeing and, except for the low hum of building mechanicals, the ER falls silent. For a few moments, no one speaks.
“Suzanne.”
It is the man who is not a doctor, he is moving toward Suzanne, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You should wait outside.”
“But what about David?”
“He’s fine, I promise.”
Tina McGrath glances to her left, looks at the man lying on a gurney a few feet away. Tina’s lips part and Cody sees a quiet look of surprise on her face. Then, almost imperceptibly, the corners of Tina’s mouth turn upward in a surreptitious smile. She turns her eyes from the corpse, and unexpectedly meets Cody’s gaze. Tina looks away, her face quickly taking on a solemn expression. Cody tries to determine if her visage was one of feigned propriety or embarrassment.
“Are you sure?” Suzanne says. “Are you sure he’s all right? Doctor Robiere, is that true? Is David all right?”
“I…uh…” Robiere shifts her eyes from Suzanne to the unknown doctor.
“Why can’t I see him?” Suzanne says. “What’s wrong?” She is staring at the human form outlined beneath the bloody sheet. He touches her cheek, turning her face toward his. “Suzanne,” he says, softly. “Listen to me, David will be fine, I promise you, but right now he looks bad. You can be with him but seeing him will do you no good. I’m making arrangements for a private room. After that we’ll talk and you can be with him.”
Cody is listening to their conversation but never takes his eyes off Tina McGrath. Suddenly she looks back at Cody, a coy, almost seductive look on her face. Tina’s body language seems to take on an entirely new dimension, her posture growing softer, less angular, not so hard-edged. The unexpected shift puts Cody off balance and for a second he wonders if she is daring him to say or do something about it. Cody frowns. Do something about what?
Jamie notices Cody staring and she turns to look at Tina McGrath, too. She feels, more than sees, what Tina is doing and Jamie does not mistake it for some kind of challenge or dare. Without thinking she checks herself. Is this woman—what did Cody say her name was? Tina? Is Tina really coming on to her husband? Jamie flashes a glance at Cody and relaxes. She can tell he is pure detective right now, either not noticing or purposely ignoring the signals of a hungry woman. Jamie wonders why Tina is after Cody and, more importantly, why is she in here in the first place?
“What happened to Jordan?” Tina says, her face changing from seductive to somber. But her question brings a feeling of intrusion, as if she had no place being there, no right to speak, no right to ask.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Doctor Kooman says.
“My husband, Jordan McGrath.” She points at his corpse. “He was brought in here a short time ago and I see---- ” Her voice catches, but then rises in anger. “I see that he is dead and no one seems to give a shit.”
Now, the feeling of intrusion is replaced by a sense of embarrassment. Everyone looks at the body. It is evident that Jordan McGrath had not died peacefully. His mouth is agape as if shouting some final protest, his eyes fixed and staring into space, one arm hanging over the edge of the gurney.
“That’s your husband?” Jamie blurts out, now even more surprised by Tina’s secretive behavior toward Cody.
Tina stare
s at Jamie, surprised by Jamie’s outburst, confused by her tone. “Yes, that’s right. Jordan is my husband.”
So that was Jordan McGrath? Cody thinks. Now Tina’s arrival in the ER waiting room makes sense.
“Mrs. McGrath, I’m Doctor Robiere.” She edges her way between Doctor Kooman and Derek, her hand extended, taking Tina’s. “I’m so sorry. We did everything we could. I’m afraid it was just his time.”
“Well, I’m sure you did.” Tina says, her voice a mixture of sorrow and indignation and gratitude.
Cody hears the variety of inflection in Tina’s voice and, without knowing why, concludes the woman is a fraud. Somehow, he knows Tina is glad Jordan McGrath is dead. More importantly, Cody knows she played a part in his death. Thinking these thoughts, Cody speaks almost without realizing.
“Were you having sex with Jordan when he had his heart attack?” Cody says.
At first, Tina just stares, not speaking. She squints at Cody, the facial gesture expressing both confusion and anger.
“I beg your pardon?” Tina says.
Cody steps closer. Too close for Jamie’s comfort. “You heard me,” he says, his tone becoming sharp. “Were you and Jordan having sex when he went into cardiac arrest?”
Tina’s body goes rigid. “You were that cop we found unconscious. What’re you doing here?”
“Were you screwing, yes or no?”
“Detective,” Robiere says, placing her palm on Cody’s shoulder. “This is hardly the time.”
Cody shakes off Robiere’s hand. “So how about it Tina, were you?”
Doctor Kooman moves closer to Rose Robiere, almost protectively. “Who’d you say you were? You’re a policeman? This is hardly appropriate behavior for a professional.”
