Stay with Me

by Sheryl Wright

  She stepped out into the hall, beckoning him to follow, she asked, “What does she want us to do?”

  “Did you find all the hospital stuff?” When she nodded, he rushed ahead. “Good. All right, first thing is we make sure they take Tyler in the ambulance with her, and make sure she has all the papers. Then we are to wait downstairs for Mrs. P and Kira Marsh. We must get them to the hospital. She doesn’t want either of them to drive. She’s sending Megan to take Kira but if she doesn’t get here first, you’re to take her, right away. I’m to drive Mrs. P and you’re to take the Land Rover to the hospital in case Tyler needs you to do anything or take her anywhere. What else?” he asked himself. Pulling out his phone, he checked the time. “I can’t imagine she will be here for at least another twenty minutes, her, or Mrs. Pulaski. We must not inform anyone of what’s happening. Ms. Phipps was insistent she would take care of that.”

  “Of course,” Aydan reassured him as the paramedics began rolling the tethered, ashen Georgie from the bedroom. Tyler was on her heels and looked like she had no intention of being left behind.

  Aydan scrambled to grab the accordion file with Georgie’s medical information, her coat and one for Tyler. With Sanjit in tow they all squeezed into the elevator. While the paramedics tossed out numbers and spoke in acronyms, Tyler was clamped onto Georgie’s hand, speaking in hushed and comforting tones to her immobilized and barely conscious partner.

  When the doors opened, Marnie was standing there. If the woman looked harried before, her stress was now elevated to a level none of them had ever seen. Gray-faced, she followed them out to the ambulance, fully intending to climb aboard. At first they refused citing some dim-witted regulation, but under pressure they finally conceded to one passenger. Marnie, completely out of character, acquiesced to remaining behind, insisting Tyler stay with Georgie.

  As the ambulance pulled away Sanjit stepped up. “Lori is on the way. Aydan is going to wait here for Megan and Kira. I’m to take you over to the hospital,” he asserted respectfully. At her incredulous look, he leaned away, clearly intimidated. “Please Mrs. P, Lori said I must drive you.”

  She blew out an angry breath. “Who the hell decided Lori was in charge around here?”

  Shocked by the anger in her words and the fire behind her eyes, they both stood mute in the cold gray rain.

  “Fuck!” she screamed, pounding her fist on the hood of her Navigator. “Fucking—fucking—fuck! This is not supposed to be happening again…FUCK!”

  “Mrs. P,” Sanjit, braver than Aydan, tried again. “Shall we go? Do you need anything from the office first? Please, tell us what we can do?”

  Seeming to cave in front of them, Marnie handed her keys to him. “Did anyone talk to Leslie?”

  “Lori told me to let her take care of all that,” Aydan said, “but I can go up to her apartment right now, then I’ll get Kira and Megan to the hospital.”

  Marnie nodded, opening the passenger door to her truck. “Go see Les, then tell Megan to get her sister over to the hospital. You wait here for Lori.” With that said she climbed into the SUV. Sanjit handed Aydan the keys to Tyler and Georgie’s Land Rover, still parked in front of the building’s side door.

  Watching them go, Aydan stood in the rain, transfixed as employees with parking privileges began pulling into the lot. A few waved, most took her in with a curious glance, but none stopped to talk or ask questions. Word had gone out last week that she had been named as Georgie’s executive assistant. Many had offered some level of congratulations, also warning of the “craziness” that came with working in Georgie’s inner circle. Clearly, whatever they assumed she was doing was related to some universal belief that Georgie was always up to some stunt, so anyone working with her was either crazy or just plain up to no good.

  She had just turned for the building when she saw Kira’s minivan pull onto Pearl Street. Kira stopped sharp, opening her window to Aydan. “I know! Amazon Woman called me. I’ve got to get Ella up to day care first.”

  “I’ll help,” Aydan offered, following in behind the van as Kira parked in her reserved spot.

  Kira was out of the vehicle in a second, tossing Ella’s diaper bag to her and retrieving her baby daughter from her car seat. They were heading for the entrance when two police cars screeched to a halt in front of the building.

  “Here we go,” Kira commented, tipping her head to the cops. “That’s the deputy chief. Get them inside the boardroom before anyone sees them. I’ll join you as soon as I get Ella settled in.”

  Aydan surrendered the diaper bag and ran through the rain to meet the police. She led them to the main floor boardroom, introducing herself by name and title. She knew the family or at least the company was well respected, but this show of brass was a surprise. The deputy chief explained that he had assigned two of the officers present to investigate the hit-and-run. He had just started asking her for details when Megan blew through the door.

  “I’m here, Aydan! Where’s Kira, I gotta get her…Chief?” She jumped to attention, all but saluting the police brass.

  Before they or Aydan could explain, Kira pushed in with Leslie on her heels.

  “Will someone tell us what’s happened?” Leslie demanded.

  Sucking in a deep breath, Aydan forced herself to speak up. “Georgie was hit by a truck this morning crossing Erie at about ten after seven. She was walking Maggie…her dog. She was having some difficulty talking, so I have no details on the truck.”

  “She’ll remember,” Megan asserted. “She’s got a friggin’ computer for a brain.”

  “That’s right,” Leslie added. “Do we know how bad it is? Did you see her, Aydan?”

  “Yes.” Aydan had seen a lot more of Georgie than she ever imagined. “She has bruising all down her left side. Her right arm appears to be broken and the left shoulder may be dislocated.”

  “What about…” Clearly Leslie couldn’t say it and Aydan wasn’t sure she should. Out of nowhere a hand touched her shoulder.

  “It’s okay, Aydan, I’m here now,” Lori assured her. “Go ahead and tell us everything.” Seeming to understand her anxiety, she took her hand, giving it an encouraging squeeze.

  Buoyed by Lori’s endearing support, she began tentatively. “I think we just thought it was bruises and the broken arm but then she almost passed out when Tyler tried to get her in the shower.” At their confusion, she explained, “She was soaked from head to toe and shaking like a leaf. We were trying to get her in the shower to warm her.”

  One of the officers was scribbling notes in her memo pad while the other stepped into the lobby, his mouth pressed to his shoulder mic. “You’re doing great, princess,” Lori told her. “What happened next?”

  “Tyler asked me to call Sanjit to have her truck ready to go, you know, so we could take her to the hospital.”

  “And that’s when you called me?”

  Nodding, she explained, “I got those papers you told me about, but when I got back to their bedroom…Dr. Marsh, Tyler, was holding her head and she was vomiting. Tyler told me to call 911.”

  “What about her head?” Leslie asked. “Was she hit there again?”

  “I don’t…” Almost whispering she admitted, “There was blood coming from her ear and it looked like her nose had been bleeding. And there’s one other thing.” This she definitely didn’t want to share but somebody had to help her. “The dog, I think she’s hurt too.”

  Leslie, who was already crying, wailed at the news. Kira, who had wrapped a consoling arm around her, pulled her in closer. Even Lori groaned. “Shit. Where is she?”

  “In her bed, the one in the safe room. She was soaked too. When I tried to towel her off she cried then growled at me. It’s not like her.”

  The second officer came back in with Skip on his heels. The officer reported, “They found the accident site, right behind here on Erie. Looks like he hit her in the curb lane, right in the pedestrian crossing. The storm drain is clogged. They say there’s more than a foot of
slush. I don’t know if we’ll find any—”

  “Get public works on the line,” the chief ordered. “I want the drain opened now and have them strain every goddam thing once the water starts moving and get patrol to pull all the traffic footage coming off Route Five and along Erie for at least a mile. Canvass for witnesses.”

  “Chief?” the second officer started to protest.

  “Just do it!” he barked. “If you can’t find the truck that struck down one little woman, I’ve picked the wrong officers to investigate a simple hit-and-run.”

  The cop frowned at being called out in front of civilians but promised, “We’ll get him.”

  While he stepped away to ask Aydan a few more questions, Lori filled the newly arrived Skip in on the situation. “I know you want to go to the hospital but I need you. You, and Aydan. Someone has to get Maggie over to the veterinary emergency. If something happens to that dog, well, you know how bad it could be. Can you handle that for me?” He nodded, and she added, “I’ve sent your sister to wait with your granddad. The rest of us will head over to the hospital, all except your dad. I’ve asked Lou to hold down the fort here and prepare a press release. When I know something I’ll let you, Zoe, and your dad know, and I need you to do the same for me. Take Georgie’s Land Rover. And Skip, use a furniture cart if Maggie can’t walk. That dog weighs over a hundred pounds. Even I couldn’t carry her all the way to the car. Got it?”

  “Yes, Aunt Lori. We’re on it,” he said, stepping over to wait at Aydan’s side.

  Lori turned back to the deputy chief. “Thank you for coming here to personally see to this. I’m going to take the girls over to the hospital. Will you keep us informed?”

  “If I can’t, one of these two will. They’re on it until we find this asshole and we will. Erie is one of the few roads with unbroken video surveillance. We’ve got coverage on every block.” With that, he exchanged a few more words with his officers before heading out. The fourth officer in the room, the DC’s driver and aide, gave Lori a respectful nod as she followed.

  Lori hooked her arm just long enough to give her thanks. When she called that morning, it was as a friend needing advice, not looking for top-level intervention. She had forgotten two essential points when dealing with Buffalo First Responders. They respected Dynamic Marine’s community contributions, and more specifically, the generosity and longtime support of the DiNamico and Phipps families. The other was straightforward: the local cops considered Georgie, a wounded veteran, an equal. Not quite one of their own, but a peer nonetheless.

  Sensing Aydan waiting for her, she turned to see a veiled look she didn’t understand. “Princess, come on now. I thought you were going to trust me?”

  She nodded, but didn’t explain.

  Lori took her hand again, holding it in both of hers. Waiting patiently, hoping her comfort would instill some trust, she said emphatically, “You did everything right.”

  Across the room Skip and Kira were consoling Leslie. She needed to get them all to the hospital and she had to talk to Marnie too.

  Trying desperately to explain everything she had seen, Aydan was struggling, “She…” Aware of Lori’s closeness and with their hands now intertwined, the moment seemed to stand still for her. Something about Lori’s deep blue eyes and her dark smooth skin was incongruent and pleasing all at once. “I think she…the vomiting, it was like milk, watery milk. I’ve seen that before…”

  Lori remained silent, holding both her hands, she seemed to be encouraging her from some place Aydan didn’t quite understand.

  “She…I think she was having a heart attack. My father…it was just like that.”

  Lori wrapped her arm around her shoulders, offering gently, “I’m so sorry you had to relive that. That is not what you signed up for.”

  “I’m okay. What you and your family are going through and Tyler…”

  “I know,” Lori reassured her. “We’re going to take care of her too, but right now I need to know if you’re up to helping Skip with the dog.”

  “I…I’m embarrassed to admit it, but she scares me.”

  “That’s okay. Skippy knows her well.” She added with a wry smile, “And he hasn’t got enough sense to be scared of anything except his sister. Will you help me?”

  “Yes, yes of course,” Aydan said, giving her an impulsive hug.

  She headed quickly over to join her workmate and partner in dog rescuing. Without looking back she followed Skip from the boardroom, but could hear Lori soothing her sister and Kira as they walked to her Jeep. At the elevators she looked back, wishing she could have gone with them or that Lori could have come with her. Lori was strong, so strong; Aydan imagined the situation might have turned out differently if she had been there from the start. That was crazy though. Tyler Marsh was a smart woman and had done everything right. The only thing she couldn’t do was turn back the clock. She could do what she had been asked and she could pray. What else was there?

  * * *

  Lori set takeout cups in front of her sister, but held onto the one for Marnie. Beside her, Tyler’s father, Carl Marsh, carried the coffees intended for his wife and daughters. “Any news?” he asked.

  Debbie Marsh shook her head, pointing toward Tyler and Kira. They were huddled with Marnie in a corner of the hospital waiting room in what looked like a very serious conversation. Something in their posture and expressions would have scared a saner man away, but Carl Marsh inserted himself in the scrum anyway, even when Marnie visibly seethed from his interruption. “Looks like you ladies might need some muscle. If so, I’m your man. Well, me and Lori.” He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. That comment was enough to defuse Marnie’s rage.

  “If we don’t get some answers, or they don’t let Tyler in to see her soon, I may just call on you two to break some heads!”

  He nodded. “You got it, coach.”

  She offered up a half smile. Ever since Lori’s call had interrupted her leisurely drive up Route Five to work, she had been like an angry machine, grinding out orders to everyone around her. She liked Carl Marsh. He was a lot like her husband Jack, somehow irreverent and respectful all at once.

  Just then two doctors stepped into the waiting room. “Are you Georgina’s family?” one asked. She looked older than her male counterpart by at least twenty years, and Lori was immediately relieved that they didn’t have some kid working on her cousin.

  Tyler was so shaken by their arrival, Lori found herself supporting her on one side while Carl held the other. “Please, she isn’t…”

  “No,” the younger doctor reassured them. “She’s stable. We just have some questions.”

  Lori moved forward to introduce everyone. “This is Tyler Marsh; she’s Georgie’s, Georgina’s fiancée. These are her parents and her sisters. This is Marina Pulaski, Georgina’s sister.”

  “And I take it you are Georgina’s nurse?” the younger doctor asked.

  That pushed Marnie to DEFCON 1. “Listen ASSHOLE, You’re Talking to My Cousin. I Will Not—”

  At that precise moment, Margaret O’Shea, Georgie’s former partner and a general surgeon at the hospital, rushed into the waiting room. “I just heard, oh my God, Marnie—”

  “Oh Jesus Christ!” Marnie cried, slapping a hand to her forehead. “And the hits just keep on coming!”

  Lori grabbed Marnie. Not so much to settle her down as to keep her from killing someone. It was Tyler who once again proved to be the calming voice. She took Marnie’s arm, pulling her close. “Doctors, we need to know what’s going on. Is—”

  The woman doctor stepped toward them. “I’m Doctor Poulan. She’s taken a hell of a hit but saying that, I want you to know her head CT is good. Not perfect but compared to the baseline records you brought, I have no concerns in that area. Your initial speculation was right Ms. Marsh—”

  “It’s Doctor Marsh!” Marnie corrected with a snarl.

  Doctor Poulan took the correction in stride. “Of course. You were correct, Doctor Marsh
. Her left shoulder was dislocated; we have reset it and expect it to heal completely, as we do with the fracture in her right arm. The hematomas are widespread along her entire left flank. They of course will heal as will the other fractures.”

  “Other fractures?” Tyler choked out.

  “Yes, I’m afraid she sustained fractures to her left hip and left tibia. All of which are expected in a high-speed impact. Now, I’m afraid we have…May we speak privately?” she asked Tyler.

  As tears began to fall on Tyler’s dazed face, Marnie surged forward only to be pulled back by Lori and Carl. Their joint physical restraint did nothing to curb her mouth. “I DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON RIGHT NOW! That’s my sister in there and if you people ever expect to get another cent from this family, a family you have already deeply insulted, answer our questions! NOW!”

  “Whoa Marn, let the doc talk, okay?”

  “Yes,” Tyler said through tears. She visibly pulled herself together. Squaring her shoulders, she drew herself up with a fierceness to match Marnie’s. “Whatever you want to say to me you can say in front of our families.”

  The doctor nodded but did not seem pleased. “She’s been asking for someone…else. And her injuries, the distal radius and ulna fractures to the right arm don’t fit. It’s not the type of injury I would expect from a hit-and-run. I most often see this in cases of abuse where someone has super flexed the wrist, twisting it to straining or in this case the breaking point.”

  “More like tried to break it right off,” Margaret O’Shea said. She had a tablet in her hands, and appeared to be reviewing the x-rays. She leveled her accusation directly at Tyler. “To cause a radial fracture of this severity—”

  “Whoa now, Mags!” Lori said, stepping in between the pair.

  “I’m sorry to ask this,” the senior doctor continued, “but she fought the sedation. Some patients do and I see from her records it’s happened in the past. While she was lucid, she asked for you and another woman. If there is abuse involved I need to report it and speak with this Maggie person immediately.”