by Dawn Eastman
Alicia handed the baby to Molly Hart and came back up the stairs. “Is he going to be all right? What can I do?” Alicia cried.
Olivia cried.
Katie almost cried. Then she heard the heavy boots of the EMTs clomping up the stairs. One of them came and knelt next to Katie and asked for a report.
Between compressions, she told him that Eugene had seemed fine and then stopped breathing. “I think he might have a collapsed lung. I thought he got hit in the shoulder, but it’s more central than that. We need to bag him.” Katie hoped they had brought their defibrillator.
“You’re a doc?” he asked.
Katie nodded.
The other EMT pulled out an oxygen mask, placed it firmly over Eugene’s mouth and nose, and began squeezing. He handed a large-bore needle and syringe to Katie.
She inserted the needle over the top of his rib high up on his chest and pulled on the syringe. As the air entered the syringe, Eugene’s lung expanded. The EMT nodded at her.
Katie backed away and let the EMTs prepare to defibrillate.
Olivia was only whimpering now, and Alicia was quietly crying and shushing the baby at the same time. Katie gestured that they should all move back as the whine of the machine charging up filled the hallway.
After the thump of the electric shock, Katie checked for a pulse.
“Okay, he’s back,” she said. The taller EMT put away the paddles. The other put a stethoscope on Eugene’s chest and nodded. He strapped an oxygen mask over Eugene’s face, and they gently but rapidly moved him onto their stretcher and carried him down the stairs.
Katie and Alicia followed right behind. When Alicia tried to climb into the ambulance, the EMT held up his hand.
“You can’t bring the baby,” he said.
Katie put her arm around Alicia’s shoulders. “We’ll meet him there. They won’t let you see him until he’s stable anyway.”
Molly Hart had followed them out to the street and offered to take them to the hospital. Alicia gratefully accepted and climbed into the back seat with Olivia. Katie was about to slide in after them when she heard a shout.
“Katie, over here!”
Katie turned to see Matt, Caleb, and Gabrielle running in her direction.
She was engulfed by the three of them as they hugged her, scolded her, and told her how brave she was all at the same time.
She extricated herself from her friends and climbed into the police cruiser. Eugene was still her patient and he needed her now more than ever.
47
Thanksgiving morning dawned cold and clear. Katie woke up early and couldn’t go back to sleep. She slipped out of bed and padded into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and watch the sunrise. They were planning on a full house later in the day.
She thought about the group that was gathering at her place. Caleb and his new girlfriend, Bella. Gabrielle and her new man, Joseph (a radiologist—Gabrielle was back to dating doctors). Eugene and Alicia and Olivia, John and Linda Carlson. And Miss Simms and Mrs. Peabody had promised to stop by for dessert. Actually, they had demanded that they be allowed to stop by and bring dessert.
It was an interesting group. Some were her people and always would be. Others were passing through her life on their way somewhere else.
After Nathan’s confession on Halloween, Chief Carlson had interviewed everyone who was there and managed to get the rest of the story from Nathan. The night Heather died, he had run back to the party and convinced Alicia that it was earlier than it actually was. She gave an alibi based on the time he had told her it was when they got home. She had always figured she was just drunk and didn’t remember things clearly. But when Eugene returned to Baxter, she had started thinking about it all again. She wondered if Nathan had lied to her about that long-ago party. He’d been so insistent that everyone in the apartment agree on the time they had returned home.
Taylor Knox had been getting too close to figuring things out. She had talked to Alicia and was putting all the pieces together. When he met with her to talk about her “project,” he realized she was only carrying out the last wishes of her father, who had failed to find the real murderer all those years ago.
Nathan had been watching Eugene’s house as part of his campaign to scare him into leaving town. When he saw Taylor leave Eugene’s place, he saw his opportunity to implicate Eugene in another murder. He followed her and convinced her he had information for her project. She still hadn’t figured out it was him. They drove to his office, where he strangled her. In a panic, he hid her body in the unplugged freezer he kept in his rented storage unit and drove her car out to an abandoned building in the woods. He thought he would have time to get rid of all the evidence, but then the search moved to Baxter. He dumped her body near Eugene’s house in the hope that it would give him some time to get rid of her car.
Later, when Alicia confronted him and said she wouldn’t lie for him again, even though she hadn’t realized she’d lied the first time, Nathan knew it was all over. Alicia was gone the next day, and Nathan had become desperate to find her in case she was planning to turn him in to the police.
He was facing charges of obstruction of justice, perjury, murder, and manslaughter. Lawyers were circling Eugene, trying to convince him to sue for wrongful imprisonment.
Once Nathan had been arrested, his buddy Mike Sherman had confessed to harassing Eugene and leaving the snake for Katie to find. He denied all knowledge of Taylor Knox, and so far Chief Carlson hadn’t found anything to tie him to that crime. Katie wasn’t pressing charges, but Eugene and his mother were still considering.
And finally, the one piece of the puzzle that continued to nag at Katie was the question of why the pathology report that was released to the police had only given part of the findings. With Caleb’s help, she’d tracked the retired doctor down and confronted him. She’d been disgusted to learn that the answer was simple. Alicia’s father and the pathologist had been old frat buddies, and he had done a favor for a friend. He’d left out the part about the strangulation and lack of defensive wounds, knowing that would likely expand the search beyond Eugene. Franklin Stewart had been determined to keep Eugene away from his daughter, even if it meant sending an innocent man to prison. Alicia’s father had died five years ago, and Katie was leaning toward keeping the information to herself. It would help no one and would only cause more heartache.
Katie wasn’t sure what was going on with Alicia and Eugene, but they had been spending a lot of time together, if gossip was to be believed. And Katie had some good sources.
Katie had just finished her tea when Matt tapped on the back door. She opened it, and he brought some of the cold in with him. He took off his coat, revealing his scrubs underneath. He’d pulled an overnight shift in the ER.
“Why are you up so early?” he asked.
“Couldn’t sleep,” Katie said. “Too much to think about.”
“Like potatoes and turkey and stuffing?”
“Mostly.” She kissed him and then said, “And other things, too.”
Matt hugged her close. “I’d like to hear about the other things.”
Katie laughed. “You go get some sleep. People will be here before you know it.” Katie had offered him a place to crash, both so he wouldn’t have to drive to Ann Arbor after an overnight shift and to be sure he woke up in time for the Thanksgiving festivities.
Matt yawned. “Okay, just a couple of hours. I promised I’d help cook.”
“Oh, I remember,” Katie said. “And I’m going to hold you to it.”
* * *
Hours and loads of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and a few carrots later, Katie’s house was full of people sitting around complaining about how much they’d eaten. The doorbell rang and no one moved. Katie hoisted herself out of the armchair and went to the door.
Miss Simms and Mrs. Peabody stood on the porch holding four pies. Miss Simms had a cooler bag hooked over one arm.
“Hope you saved some room; we have dessert!�
� Miss Simms exclaimed.
Katie heard a muffled groan from the living room.
“Come in. We were just recovering from dinner.”
The ladies entered and set the pies down on the dining room table. Mrs. Peabody stood in the doorway to the living room with her arms crossed. She tsked.
“What this group needs is a brisk walk,” Mrs. Peabody said.
There were faint protests.
Mrs. Peabody held up her hand. “No excuses; nothing gets a body ready for dessert like a good walk. I’m sure the doctor will back me up on this.”
Mrs. Peabody gave Katie a beady-eyed stare that dared her to contradict.
“Guys, there are four pies here and ice cream,” Katie said. “We can do this if we put our minds to it.”
Gabrielle stood up and pulled Joseph up with her. Bella tugged on Caleb’s hand. Carlson glowered at Mrs. Peabody but stood up as well. Linda took his arm. Soon the whole crew was outside in the crisp evening air.
They walked through the streets, exclaiming at the holiday lights that were shining for the first time of the season. Delores Munch felt that holiday decorations were acceptable only after Thanksgiving and took it upon herself to have a discussion with any early adopters.
Katie took Matt’s hand and spied unrepentantly into the other houses with their inside lights on and curtains open. It was like browsing a bookshelf. What stories lay within those rooms?
They returned to Katie’s house, invigorated and ready to tackle the pies. Just as they were about to go inside, it started to snow. Large fluffy flakes fell slowly through the tree branches, coating the ground in a blanket of white.
Baby Olivia spoke for everyone when she held her hands out and said, “Oooh.”
Katie looked at the group gathered on her front lawn and realized that, whether they were with her for years or days, these were all her people.
ALSO AVAILABLE BY DAWN EASTMAN
Dr. Katie LeClair Mysteries
Unnatural Causes
Family Fortune Mysteries
Pall in the Family
Be Careful What You Witch For
A Fright to the Death
An Unhappy Medium
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
National bestselling author Dawn Eastman was a family medicine physician in Michigan. Now she lives in Iowa with her husband, son, and daughter. When not writing, she keeps busy catering to the whims of a bossy bichon-shih tzu mix who wants to rule the world. This is her second Dr. Katie LeClair mystery.
This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real or actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Dawn Eastman
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Crooked Lane Books and its logo are trademarks of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data available upon request.
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-68331-787-6
ISBN (ePub): 978-1-68331-788-3
ISBN (ePDF): 978-1-68331-789-0
Cover design by Melanie Sun
Book design by Jennifer Canzone
Printed in the United States.
www.crookedlanebooks.com
Crooked Lane Books
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New York, NY 10001
First Edition: December 2018
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