Maria left momentarily to get a blood pressure monitor. When she returned, Jenny asked, “Why would her body have jumped like it did?”
“It may just-a be muscle spasms. Everything healing. I don’t-a think it’s anything to worry about. Heart-a is a little fast but nothing too much.” Pumping the cuff up, it took a further minute to read the digital screen. Maria smiled. “Good. Her blood pressure has-a come up. I let doctor know.”
Maria noted it down on the chart.
“Is she going to pull through?” Jenny asked, her voice raised in concern.
“I’d like-a to say yes. It’s still-a too early but blood pressure is-a good sign.” Maria actually smiled and Jenny could do nothing but smile back at the news. “Would you mind paging my husband? He’s out in the grounds somewhere making a phone call so I can’t contact him myself. I need him here.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
As Jenny moved closer towards Kate to take her hand, Jake zapped her with electricity.
***
“How’s Kate, Rob?” asked Gary.
“Still touch and go. Jenny arrived safely this morning, thanks to you, so she’s with Kate now. I don’t know how to ever repay you after all you’ve done.”
“Think nothing of it, buddy. You’d do the same for me. I’m just glad that you’ve got your family all together, even if it is under these circumstances.”
“Well, the circumstances that have led us to Italy is why I’m calling. How’s the search for Carlos Santini going?”
“He’s pretty good at making himself invisible, that’s for sure. No leads yet but I’ll keep pushing my team. Speaking of which, there’s still no contact from our spy. My guess is that there has been some pretty heavy shit go down and it’s frustrating the hell out of me that we’re coming up empty. I don’t like to think negatively but it’s out of character for him to be unreachable.”
Robert bit his lip to stop himself from telling Gary about the note at Kate’s apartment that he was still having trouble believing Jake had actually written. It was something he was trying not to think about, no matter how accurate it had been. He quickly changed the subject.
“I want this Carlos for breakfast, Gary. If I lay my hands on the son of a bitch, I’ll be getting locked up for a very long time.”
“You’ll be standing in line, Rob. I’m starting to think the disappearance of our guy and Carlos is connected. I just need to find out how. If Kate wakes up any time soon you know you’re gonna have to question her.”
“I know. I think we’ll be wasting our time, though. I spoke to my daughter only days ago and she thought her boyfriend was away on a sales seminar. I don’t think she’ll be able to tell us anything. He’s been keeping her in the dark about his double life.”
“Still, any lead we can get at this stage would be a help.”
“I don’t know, Gary. If I start asking all sorts of questions, she’s going to start getting suspicious and upset. I don’t want to do or say anything that might set her back in her recovery.”
“Sooner or later though, you know we’re going to need to ask questions.”
Rob did know and he didn’t like it. His daughter was too smart and would know something was up straight away. She’d seemed very protective of Carlos when they’d spoken on the phone. He would need to tread cautiously.
Gary continued. “When we picked up your things from Kate’s apartment our men went through it and searched for any clues but found nothing. This guy’s careful. Covers his tracks.”
“He has to be, Gary. He can’t afford to leave any clues. He’s been in the game long enough. Knows how to keep his nose clean.”
In that instant, Rob heard a voice come over the loud speaker and was surprised to hear his name called. Straight away he thought the worst. Kate.
“Gary, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you soon. Call me if you find out anything.”
“Okay, buddy. Take care. Give my love to Jenny.”
“Will do.” He was already on his way inside, heart hammering, as he tucked his cell into his shirt pocket. Shit! This could go either way. Had she deteriorated? Was her heart failing again?
He upped the pace to a slow jog, through the automatic doors, spurred on by adrenalin. He just caught the elevator as the doors were closing and wedged his hands in between to open them again.
Inside were four people, all Italian origin. Two men and two ladies, all middle-aged to elderly. Very smartly dressed. The button for the second level was already pressed and glowing red.
All eyes were on him as he entered, picking up on the frantic look on his face. The older man in a smart, black suit was nice enough to offer, “Ciao!”
Not exactly the right time to start up a conversation in an elevator with strangers, but Rob, not wanting to be rude, returned his own salutation in the best Italian he could muster before turning to stare at the lights on the wall panel which seemed to take ages to change from ‘G’ to ‘1.’
Can’t this outdated contraption move any quicker? It would have been faster to take the stairs.
The middle-aged couple were softly speaking in Italian, probably commenting about the foreigner that appeared so strung out and on edge that he looked like he needed his own form of hospital treatment.
Rob tried not to analyze it too much when the doors opened and he was out fast, attempting to get his bearings again, hoping he was heading in the right direction, looking for something remotely familiar but finding it all looked the same. He looked on the walls for any numbers that might let him know he was getting close. Nothing.
What was it about Italy? The whole country seemed to be one giant maze. Vernazza was a tangled web of narrow corridors that had tested his patience and the Alma Mater wasn’t much different. He didn’t need this. The fear for his daughter’s life was so great that if he didn’t find her room soon, he felt that he might go mad and start punching something. He was about to lose it. There was only so much a person could take. He’d been in some hairy situations in his day. Shootouts, robberies, murder. He’d go through all that again in a heartbeat for it wasn’t his own life he feared for but that of his daughter.
Turning a corner he literally ran into a nurse carrying some files. She stumbled backwards from the impact and dropped the folders onto the ground.
The middle-aged nurse did not look impressed and in typical Italian fashion, started waving her hands in the air as she cried out, “Guarda dove vail!”
Robert wore a blank look, but going by the woman’s body language, she could only be chastising him for not watching where he was going.
Bending down to help pick up the folders, he offered an apology.
“I’m sorry! Here, let me help you.” Papers had slipped out of some of the folders and as he scooped them up, he hoped he’d put them back in their rightful place.
Her silence hung in the air for a moment, so Rob looked up at her with lugubrious melancholy.
“Can you help me, please?”
The dark-haired woman stooped to gather the remaining files. “Io non parlo Inglese.”
Rob tried again. “Room 16?” Surely she would understand that.
“Non loso.” The woman was shaking her head as she offered an apology, snatching the pile of files from Rob before standing and continuing on her way. “Mi dispiace!”
This was getting him nowhere fast. Robert offered thanks and kept moving through the hallway until he finally came to a nurse’s station. He thought it looked familiar but couldn’t be sure.
“Excuse me? I’m looking for room 16.”
“Si. Room 16. Through-a that way.”
Finally. He turned and followed the directions, realizing that he now knew where he was and if he’d just taken the time to calm down and think a little, he could have quite easily found his way back.
Arriving at the room, he found Jenny standing by the bed, clasping her hands with a look he’d never seen on her face.
“God, Je
nny! What is it? I was paged. What’s happened to Kate?” As he spoke he assessed the situation and realized that the room was calm and quiet. There weren’t a flurry of nurses and doctors at Kate’s bedside, subduing him somewhat. If she’d taken a turn for the worse, surely there would have been a room full of medics.
“It’s okay, Rob. It’s nothing bad. Sorry to worry you. I just wanted to let you know that Kate’s blood pressure has risen. That’s a good sign. It’s progress.”
Robert let out the breath he suddenly discovered he’d been holding. “Shit, Jen, I thought… Never mind. That’s great news.”
He walked to the bed and stood, gazing lovingly down at his daughter, hopeful for the first time since arriving in Italy. The rise in blood pressure might not seem like much, but to Rob it was a milestone that he would hold with hope. It was the first positive sign that Katie would pull through.
As Rob turned back to face Jenny, he noticed her still holding her hand like it was painful. “What’s with your hand? You look like you’ve hurt it.” He took her hand and unclasped Jenny’s fingers that had involuntarily clenched. He studied it for any sign of injury but it looked perfectly normal.
“I…it was weird.”
“What. Will you tell me already?”
Jenny looked down to her hand then to Kate. “I don’t know what just happened. I went to touch Kate and got zapped.”
“Zapped? What do you mean zapped? Like an electric shock?”
“Yeah. It was so strong. I felt it go right through me.”
“Maybe it’s got something to do with all these wires.” Robert nodded towards the machinery at the head of Kate’s bed, his eye twitching.
“No. I don’t think that’s it. My hand didn’t even touch Kate’s body. I got zapped before I reached her.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Must be something in the Italian air. We had some static on the helicopter. I didn’t get zapped but my hair stood on end like nobody’s business. Straight up it was, like I had my finger in a power socket.”
Jenny eyed Rob for a minute, head on an angle, and then shrugged as if to dismiss the strange occurrence. She turned fully to her husband, hugging him.
Rob couldn’t think of anything else other than the weird shit that was now starting to affect his wife.
***
Jake looked around the room, searching for something that would grab Rob and Jenny’s attention. Flowers, water jug, glass, photo, patient chart, bags. Faded pig. Not much else. He could easily drop the glass but didn’t want to draw attention from the wrong people when it shattered on the floor. He’d just have to work with what else he had. Either way, whatever he used was going to freak them out for sure. There was no other way, though. Enough time had passed. Action needed to be taken. Now that they were both together it was the perfect moment.
Eyeing the flowers, he thought hard. They would have to do.
Breezing past Rob and Jenny, he walked to the makeshift vase and pulled out a flower and laid it down beside Kate’s head. It went unnoticed.
His audience were still embraced in a hug, looking in no hurry to disengage as they shared a personal moment, both sets of eyes closed.
He wasn’t in the mood to wait. He was past waiting.
And then it hit him. He knew what he needed to do. Very carefully he stretched his arm out and went to place a hand on Jenny’s shoulder.
She opened her eyes with a start and jumped.
“Oh my God!”
“What, honey?
“I’ve been zapped again.”
With that they both turned to look around the room and as their gazes fell on Kate’s bed, they noticed two flowers which had been strategically placed on the pillow and blanket, one below the other.
Jenny sucked in a breath, placing a hand over her mouth, eyes wide, her other arm stretched out in front of her, pointing at the flowers. She turned in disbelief, looking to see her husband’s face, just as shocked.
“Jesus! Where the hell did they come from?” Rob was as still as a statue as he took a step back.
“What’s happening, Rob?”
“I’m not sure but things are just getting too weird.”
As they looked on, things got even weirder. The whole bunch of flowers seemed to lift out of the water jug on their own, separate in midair, and then fall gently in neat rows on either side of Kate’s supine form.
Rob’s reaction was to push Jenny back from the bed with the back of his hand against her stomach, arm extended.
You could have heard a pin drop as Jake grinned, finally feeling like he was getting through to them. He moved to stand on the opposite side of the bed, watching expectantly.
***
It took a moment for Rob to find his voice. “You did just see that, didn’t you, Jen?”
“Yes. Please tell me I’m not going stark-raving mad!”
Rob rubbed his face with both hands, feeling like he was losing his grip on reality. But then if he was losing it, so was Jenny.
His mouth opened before his brain could catch up. “I think I’m going crazy.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. Listen, I didn’t tell you about how I came to know where Kate’s body was.”
Rob grabbed Jenny’s arm and moved her over to the window to stop other people hearing the far-fetched conversation.
“Okay. I’m starting to feel like I’m not going to like this,” she said.
Rob proceeded to tell Jenny about the weird happenings. The steamy note on the mirror. The flying dog figurine. Then the grand finale, a piece of paper that had writing magically appear on it. A note about Kate’s whereabouts. He sounded insane even in his own head. He looked for Jenny’s reaction but she just stared at him, eyes vacant, mouth set.
She shook her head as if breaking out of a trance. “But that’s not possible. How? Why?”
“I don’t know. I’ve tried to figure it out but I can’t. Can stress create delusions?” Robert’s eye was twitching again from a mixture of embarrassment and agitation.
Jenny placed her fingers on Rob’s cheek. “I don’t think you’re going crazy. I think you do need to get some sleep, though.”
Rob sighed. “I will, soon.” He looked towards the flowers on Kate’s bed. “The flowers though, how do you explain that? You saw them with your own eyes.”
Jenny turned and followed Rob’s gaze. “There has to be a rational explanation. Maybe a nurse snuck in when we weren’t looking.”
“Maybe.” Rob grabbed the back of his neck and squeezed hard to try and remove some of the tension. He didn’t for a minute believe that a nurse had snuck in. Why would she place the flowers like that?
He turned and grabbed the window ledge, peering outside, leaving Jenny frazzled as she moved to the chair in the corner to sit.
So much was happening it was surreal. And yet here they were right in the middle of it. There were no easy answers.
Jenny asked, “Do you have any other theories?”
Rob didn’t turn around but continued his vacant stare out the window. “Trust me, you’re not going to want to hear my other theory.”
There was a minute’s silence before Jenny spoke. “Perhaps not but I’m curious.”
Rob’s head dropped as he breathed in deeply. “This is going to sound so insane and I’m just putting it out there because at this point in time, I don’t know what the hell to think anymore. If you want to have me committed afterwards, fine.”
Rob could hear Jenny twisting uncomfortably in the chair but couldn’t bear to turn around and face her.
“Now I’m beyond curious and a little nervous.”
He gathered his courage and put his theory to her. “What if someone was trying to communicate with us? To help us.”
“What do you mean, someone?”
“Someone we can’t see.” Okay, here was the part where his wife would realize that he was crazy after all. His eyes were tightly closed.
Jenny cleared
her throat. “Umm, Rob? You mean someone invisible?”
“No. Yes! I mean, someone dead!” There! That would surely seal his place in the loony bin. He might as well keep going and be convincing about his insanity. “I can’t be sure but I think it must be someone connected to Kate. The message on the bathroom mirror was from a third party because they used Kate’s name. If Kate had been trying to let me know where she was, she would have used the term ‘I’ instead of her own name. And the message written on the paper told me it was Jake.”
That got Jenny’s attention. Rob could see her reflection in the window. She sat upright, both hands clenching the ends of the arms of the chair. “Jake? Are you saying this is the work of Jake and he’s dead?”
“What other explanation is there? Things don’t just move through the air on their own, Jenny. Words just don’t appear out of thin air on someone’s mirror like magic. A pen doesn’t move out of a drawer and write by itself. I know it sounds bizarre and I can honestly tell you that right at this very moment I feel like I have totally lost touch with reality, but I also know what I saw. What I felt in the chopper and tossed aside as just static. The seatbelt….it moved by itself. The zapping you’ve been experiencing. It all fits in, wouldn’t you say? Tell me I’m not going stark-raving mad!” He spun around, ready for any rebuttal, and noticed how fragile and resigned his wife looked. He knew she didn’t believe in ghosts but then she’d never experienced anything this insane before. He also knew his voice sounded frantic. He could do with a shot of whisky.
“I don’t think you’re crazy, Rob. You’re the sanest person I know. There is definitely something inexplicable happening. I don’t think it’s related to ghosts, though. Why would Jake be trying to get our attention? How would he have known where Kate’s body was?”
Rob didn’t have a clue. It was giving him a migraine that would only be cured by another extra strong coffee. Jenny had a point. A very good point. Still, he wasn’t discounting paranormal activity. He just wouldn’t mention it any more until he had proof.
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