by Ronnie Allen
Finally, civilization.
There was a CVS, Walgreens, and a shopping center on the other side of the expanded six-lane highway with the Publix supermarket, known throughout Florida. Getting to the welcome gate of his parents’ new community, he waved the pass they’d sent him and was on his way to their brand new, million-dollar home.
John had examined the pictures and layout they showed him before they moved. He thought it would be too large for them with five bedrooms, two of which were master suites, but they always appreciated grand things and were hoping for visits from John and their future grandchildren. Driving through the development and seeing its beautiful, lush, and colorful plant life; flawlessly manicured lawns and gardens; hills that encased the eighteen-hole golf courses; and the huge, elegant colonial style homes with earth tone color schemes with lots of well-kept land between them, he understood why his parents chose to move here for their retirement.
The view of his parent’s house on the hill was breathtaking. He looked it over as his eyes took in the massive structure, knowing that his mother had put her heart and soul into decorating the house for a year before they moved here. Her hard work had definitely paid off. Two Corinthian columns with acanthus leaves on either side of the outer frame gave the one-story home--lavishly decorated on the outside with Gothic engravings throughout the stonework--a structured, but elegant look.
The door opened and he was thrilled to see his parents. Likewise, they missed him. His mother Esther, formerly Esther Marks, was seventy years old and had just retired from her lucrative OBGYN practice. Over the last thirty-five years, she had delivered over 2,000 babies and had loved every minute. She was both assertive and aggressive, packed into a five-foot-three inch frame, and what was on her mind came out on her tongue. Attractive, with short salt and pepper hair and azurite blue eyes, she always dressed as if she was going to meet someone important, even down here, in casual horse-and-cow country.
His father Sam, seventy-two years old and about five-foot-eleven inches tall with a medium build, had retired from his practice as a cardiac surgeon in New York two years ago. John looked just like him, no mistaking it. Sam had longed for a retirement where he could play golf as often as he liked, and now he had it. He was always consistent and predictable and everyone around him knew what to expect. To Esther, this was a tad boring. She was just the opposite, as the free spirit, spur of the moment, go-getter.
Sam firmly believed that wives should always have their way and he never said “No,” regardless of whatever Esther asked of him, even this move to rural Florida.
After the usual hugs, John looked around, enthralled by how his parents had decorated. Earth-tone beiges enveloped him, but the design in the marble floor of a vase with flowers in gorgeous shades of pink, burgundy, and mauves--which accentuated the beauty of the rest of the tiling and his parents’ attention to detail--captured his interest the most. The furniture was Italian Mediterranean style with scrolls of gold leaf in the woodwork. The long couches and adjacent club chairs were covered in gold and sand brocade fabric and had claw feet in rounded animal-paw-shaped bases.
He smiled in approval as he took it all in. They showed John into his master suite, and he looked around, amazed at the care they had taken to decorate this room for him. They left him to unpack and get ready for the evening. In keeping with the beige tones of the rest of the house, the king-sized bed was dressed with tan and beige jacquard bedding.
The armoire was huge with modern styling with straight lines in light wood tones.
The en-suite bathroom was massive, at twenty feet by thirty feet, and tiled with matching beige and brown marble from floor to ceiling. The walk-in shower, with eight waterspouts coming from different angles on the walls, was large enough to accommodate at least five people at the same time.
If I only had a woman to share this with, I could have a lot of fun in here!
The closet was bigger than the one he had in New York, and it was sectioned into a dresser, shoe racks, built-ins, and a wall unit for everything he used.
They don’t expect me to move in here, do they?
***
“You’re going with Mom tonight. I have other plans.”
“Dad, how did you get off the hook?” John demanded, since he couldn’t have pulled that off. Nor would he dare try.
“It’s only a forty-five-minute service tonight. I’ll go with you tomorrow. Mom’s not happy but she’ll get over it.”
“It’s his Friday night poker game with his golf buddies,” Mom said. “I pick my battles. Besides, I have you to show off.”
“Mom, please don’t. Don’t do anything to embarrass me, and please don’t try to fix me up.”
“Well, you’re not doing so well on your own.”
“Mom, I’m doing just fine.”
“I don’t know what you didn’t like about Laura. She was a beautiful and well-educated lawyer. And her parents are wonderful people.”
“Mom, we weren’t compatible. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“So you want to be single the rest of your life? I can’t believe that with all of the doctors you know, there isn’t one woman you can find to have a relationship with. And everything with you just goes down to the bedroom. Just remember, it’ll never be truly meaningful and satisfying unless it’s with the one you love.”
This is going to be some week.
“Mom, believe me, when I meet the woman I love and want to marry, I’ll know it and embrace it immediately.”
Esther escaped for a moment into the bedroom to get a jacket. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be late.”
***
John’s cell phone rang as he was coming out of the Temple. He looked at the three-five-two area code and recognized it to be from here, but he didn’t know who else here had this number.
“Hello, Dr. Trenton.”
His mother talked to friends with the usual chick chat.
“Dr. Trenton, good. This is Deputy Haggerty. Sir, there’s been a slight fender bender and your father was taken to Sunshine Memorial. He’s fine. sir, I just thought it best to have him checked out. He banged his shoulder against the driver’s side door. I took him to the hospital myself.”
“What happened?” John was alarmed, even though the deputy reassured him.
“Apparently, he didn’t turn left wide enough to avoid a pole in the island of the intersection. It was probably too dark for him to see, sir. When you get there, just go to the ER in building B.”
“Thank you. We’re on our way.” John slipped off his jacket. “Mom, let’s go. Mom, we have to go now.”
“Why? Who was that?”
“A deputy,” he said as he pulled off his tie. “Dad had a minor car accident and he’s at the hospital. Where’s Sunshine Memorial?”
“What?” Her nervousness almost made her trip on a crack and she grabbed onto John’s arm for balance. “In Talmont. I’ll tell you how to go. He couldn’t give up that damn poker game for one night?”
***
In the lot, John pulled into the doctors’ parking area, since he was so used to doing that, and they ran into Building B. He looked around, trying to absorb the surroundings. Everything was new, with comfortable club chairs and love seats in yellow and green-toned plaid upholstery, matching the walls, laid out in different sections in the room. Organized magazine racks lined the walls next to a sign announcing free Wi-Fi. This place was warm, inviting--a non-threatening place to be. The quiet was the most shocking. John was not used to an ER like this. He had never been in an ER like this, so quiet, so clean. He noticed a table against the wall with coffee urns, bagels, cream cheese, and doughnuts.
And, best of all, the waiting room was empty--almost empty, except for a few patients with blankets covering them waiting to be seen. He even doubted he and his mother were in the right area. He didn’t waste time, but went straight to the attendant at the desk--a male in his fifties, wearing a blue uniform.
“My father, Dr. Sam Tren
ton, was brought in a little while ago.”
“Yes sir, he’s right through there. I’ll buzz your mother and you in. He’s in Room 3.”
“Thank you.”
They both hurried in through the door into a private room. As soon as he saw his father in a hospital gown, okay, and sitting up, John relaxed.
“Don’t say it, don’t you dare say it!”
“Say what, Dad? Are you all right? What happened?”
“I’m fine. The deputy was right behind me so when I hit the pole, he stopped and insisted I come here. Had nothing better to do I guess.”
“Dad, he was very nice not to have you wait for an ambulance. He said you banged your left shoulder?” John rolled up his sleeves before he proceeded to check his dad’s deltoid muscle. It was tight and in spasm. “Does this hurt?” His father grimaced, but wouldn’t admit he was in pain. John also noticed something else. “Dad, how much weight have you gained since you’ve been here?”
“About ten pounds!” Esther chimed in, since she was so mad at him.
“Dad, ten pounds? In three months? That would be forty in a year, Dad. Come on! You’re a cardiac surgeon. What are you doing to yourself?”
“It’s the southern cooking he likes.”
“Everything we do here is around eating.” Sam raised his arms and let them fall onto his lap. “Go out with friends, we go to eat; at poker, we eat; get together at friends’ homes, we eat.”
“Dad, I’m putting you on a diet.”
A nurse, Kathryn, entered. She was in her sixties, with curly gray hair. “What are you doing?”
“Dad, we’re not finished discussing this.” John directed his attention to the nurse. “I’m checking my father’s shoulder. Did you take any blood or order any workup yet?”
“Not yet.”
“I’m ordering lipid profile with LDL, HGAIC and the CMF profiles.”
“Excuse me? And you are?”
“His son, Dr. John Trenton.”
“Dr. Trenton, are you on your father’s list of contacts on his privacy form?” She thumbed through the paper work. “No you’re not. Only Esther is.”
“That’s my mother. Dad, you didn’t put me down? Oh no. That won’t fly. Dad, do it now.” John took the sheet from her and handed it to his father.
“If you make him add you under duress, it won’t count.”
“It’s not under duress. Tell her, Dad.”
His father nodded that it was okay and corrected the paper work.
“There it is. Now order the tests please.”
“Dr. Trenton, are you licensed to practice medicine in the state of Florida?”
“No. I am not.” He hadn’t even thought of that but he knew she was right.
“Then I’m sorry, sir. You have no authorization to order anything in this hospital or in the state. And you have no privilege to examine a patient, even if he is your father. I didn’t make this up. It’s the law. Are you familiar with the law, Dr. Trenton?”
“Yes. Thoroughly.”
“Good. Now that we understand each other, can I get you or your mother something to eat or drink while you’re waiting for the doctor?”
“No. Thank you. I saw a table out there, I’ll get some coffee. Mom, I’ll leave you to argue with him.”
***
In the lounge, John approached the buffet with the coffee. They even had decaf. But he needed regular, and strong. He noticed a woman with mid-back-length natural-blonde hair, wearing tight jeans and a blue and orange University of Florida T shirt that caressed her body and accentuated her curves in all the right places. He snuck next to her to feel her aura, her energy field, and sensed her warmth and sincerity. Not a mean bone in her body, just some tension, probably from being here. He wanted to see what she looked like.
She must have sensed someone close to her and looked up at him. Her light blue eyes connected with his as waves of attraction shot through him like bolts of lightning in an out-of-control Florida storm.
CHAPTER 15
Present Day:
Page Dr. Trenton. I know he’s here now.” Carlson filled out a report by the welcome desk in the ER of Sheepshead Medical Center and Training Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Meanwhile, he was pushed out of the way by people racing to sign in.
EMS staff wheeled Barbara into the ER. She was sedated, with her hands and feet bound by restraints She lay on a stretcher covered with a heavy blanket, drifting in and out of twilight sleep.
“Dr. Trenton, ER, STAT.”
Carlson couldn’t believe the crowd. He followed the stretcher, agitated and shaking his head, deep in thought. He hated to do this, to bring her into this environment, but she’d left him no choice. It was the closest hospital to the precinct. And he needed Trenton. He nodded a hello to the NYPD officers and security guards on duty.
The ER was maxed out at two-hundred-sixty people waiting for the three doctors and six nurses on duty to call them. It was dirty, dismal, and run down. The old plastic seats were held together with metal bars, securing them in rows, throughout the waiting room, and were attached to the floors.
The seats were all taken. Carlson would have to stand. His gaze scanned the perimeter of the room and he grimaced in disgust. The cracked gray walls left bits of plaster on the floor. The scuffed old tile floor, in desperate need of repair, looked worse with the plaster dust near the baseboard. The exam rooms--curtained off areas with beds in a row and tattered curtains in between them--were the maximum amount of privacy afforded here. He couldn’t focus on the people. He’d stare. The population of druggies, gang members, and wounded teens from gang initiations would not pass over staring, the utmost sign of disrespect. His heart broke for the infants and young children who cried inconsolably because of the intolerable noise and chaos. With all the years on the job, some things you never got used to. He turned away from the children. Patients sat with bullet wounds, knife slashes, and injuries from brawls, as well as the elderly and children with serious conditions. They heard each other screaming in pain and often saw the blood dripping from wounds. Some were homeless and the stench of stale urine permeated the air. Sitting next to someone could make one want to vomit. Another reason he’d stand.
A few minutes after the page, Trenton approached, surprised to see him.
“To what do I owe this honor?”
“I need you to do me a favor. A big one.”
“Such as?”
“Take a look at this one please. She shouldn’t be assigned to you. She’s not a criminal by any means, but you both work with a younger population, so maybe, just maybe, she’ll relate to you better. Maybe you could understand where she’s coming from. We can’t make heads or tails out of what she’s complaining about. All I know--” Carlson handed him the file. “--she’s crackin’ up, Johnny Boy.”
“Wasn’t she in the paper a couple of weeks ago?”
Carlson nodded.
“Occupational hazard,” John said. “All right.” He turned toward the EMS officer. “Please wheel her into an exam room. What’s with the restraints?”
“She was out of control.”
“So sedated and restrained? Isn’t that going a little overboard?”
“Wait before you judge,” Carlson snarled at him.
“Sorry, Paul. No one deserves to be treated like that.”
“Oh, really? And here’s her weapon of choice.” Carlson took out of a manila evidence bag a clear plastic one, which held a five-inch stiletto-heeled, black patent-leather boot, embossed with a red embroidered dragon on its outer side.
“Wow.” John held the boot in the plastic shield. “These are hot! What did she use it for?”
“Kicked a cop in the ribs. And fractured two! And she fought three armed cops!”
John tried to contain himself, holding in a laugh. “Seriously?”
“Yeah! Fucking seriously! One thing before you go. You have an appointment with him at six.” Carlson handed him the card.
“Who?”
&nbs
p; “Dr. Burt Landers.”
John rolled his eyes.
“You didn’t make the call so I made it for you. Don’t even think of missing this appointment.”
John read the Manhattan address on the card. “Not at the precinct?”
“Private practice.”
“All right, I’ll go.”
Paul looked at him with raised eyebrows.
“You have my word. Look, I know I can use it. Okay? Satisfied? Let me go deal with this gem you dumped on me.”
***
In the exam room, Barbara had been transferred to a bed, with restraints fastened. When Trenton entered, he dismissed the attendants who waited with her. He observed Barbara for a moment before approaching her, not at all happy about how she’d been treated.
She strained her neck, struggling to get up. “They don’t believe me! They don’t believe me!”
“Who, Dr. Montgomery. Who doesn’t believe you?”
Barbara began to tune in. “Where am I?” She pulled at the tight restriction of the straps. “I can’t move. I can’t breathe.”
“All right, take it easy. I’ll take these off. You can’t go anywhere.”
John released the Velcro wrist and ankle straps. She pulled her arms into her chest, not being able to normalize her breathing. He leaned against the bed with his right hip looking straight at her with his arms crossed over his chest. His evaluation began.
Barbara sweated, unfocused. She didn’t waste time mincing words. “Who the fuck are you?”
He didn’t expect this language from a peer, of sorts. “Excuse me?”
“Who in the world are you?”
“Good. I could do without the expletive. Dr. John Trenton, forensic psychiatrist. You’re a brave lady.”
She couldn’t focus her eyes. Her teeth chattered. “Get to the point, Doc.”
