Side Effects

by Bobby Hutchinson

  "I have to make a couple of calls, and then do we have time for some food in the cafeteria before we head back? I'm starving."

  Martha smiled and nodded. "You bet. I didn't have any lunch, either. How about you, Daniel?"

  "Sounds good to me." He gave Alex his wide smile and a tiny salute. "We'll save you a seat in the cafeteria, Doctor Ross." There was respect and open admiration in his tone, and Alex couldn't help but smile at him in response.

  "Call me Alex, please." She hurried over to the bank of phones adjacent to the small cafeteria. First, she called Children's Hospital and spoke to the pediatrician in Emergency, telling her all she knew about Jason. She realized that the ambulance service would have alerted Children's, but she wanted to make Jason's arrival personal. She wanted every detail taken care of.

  She hung up and redialed a number she knew by heart, St. Joe's switchboard. Morgan Jacobsen was often over at Children's, checking on one of her babies, and perhaps she'd keep an eye on little Jason, as well.

  When Morgan finally came on the line, Alex's eyes unexpectedly filled with tears. Lord, but she missed her old friend. Even though they hadn't seen each other that often, she'd always known that Morgan was just a few floors above her at St. Joe's. Now, there were untold miles between them, and the distance made Alex ache with homesickness.

  She smiled and wiped her wet eyes when her friend's deep and distinctive voice caroled a greeting over the wire.

  "Alex, sweetie, it's so good to hear your voice. So how's life in the boonies? Anybody pregnant there?"

  They chatted for a moment, and then Alex told Morgan about Jason. "As a favor to me, I wondered if you'd sort of keep an eye on him? He's my first patient here in Korbin Lake."

  "Consider him tucked safely under my wing," Morgan said instantly, and after another few moments, Alex hung up the phone.

  Fishing a tissue from her purse, she blew her nose hard, trying to quell the awful loneliness the call had created inside of her. She closed her eyes for a long moment, willing the emotion away, aware that Martha and Daniel were sitting just a few feet away.

  She was also aware that Daniel Brandt was watching her, his gaze sympathetic. As she blew her nose, Alex caught his eye and then avoided looking at him again, embarrassed by her tears. She made her way to the counter and placed her order, and by the time she sat down, she was in control.

  Over soup and a thick lettuce-and-tomato sandwich, Alex got to know the other two a little. Martha had been a nurse's aide for years, and when her children were grown she'd taken training to become an emergency medical attendant. She and her carpenter husband had moved to Korbin Lake five years before, and she'd been on ambulance service for two years now.

  "And what about you, Daniel?"

  "I was a criminal defense lawyer in Vancouver, but I quit that two years ago and moved out here. I decided it made a lot more sense to drive ambulances than to chase them."

  Alex laughed. "What made you choose Korbin Lake when you left the city?"

  A shadow came and went on his face. "My grandfather lived here, and he was dying. He pretty much raised me, and I wanted to be with him for whatever time he had left. He died last spring, and I just stayed on."

  "I see." She didn't, not really. There were gaps in his story that intrigued her. He was an interesting man, and she liked him.

  "We already know all about you, of course." His voice and smile were openly teasing, and he ticked off items on his fingers as he listed them. "Married to our new Mountie, a highly skilled physician about to start work at the clinic, living in old Mrs. Rathbone's house down by the lake with a noisy cat named Pavarotti who'll only eat one specific kind of tinned cat food..."

  Alex raised her eyebrows and had to laugh. "How on earth did you find all that out so fast?"

  "From Evelyn—she works as a checkout clerk at the Overwaitea supermarket. She's an excellent source. People talk to her."

  "I see. Well, I'm going to have to keep that in mind the next time I unburden myself at the cash register."

  They all laughed, and then Martha said, "You'll be working with Dr. King at the clinic."

  "Starting next Monday," Alex confirmed. "I haven't actually met Dr. King yet. I suppose both of you know him well?" She knew the ambulance crew in a small town sometimes had to call a doctor, depending on the severity of the emergency.

  Martha and Daniel exchanged a telling look. "We know Dr. King, all right," Martha confirmed, her voice expressionless. "Other doctors come and go, but King's sort of a fixture in Korbin Lake."

  "I'm looking forward to meeting him," Alex lied. Actually, the more she thought about it, the more she dreaded the encounter. "And I'd like to carry an ambulance pager if that's all right with you," Alex continued. "It would make it lots easier to reach me if you ever needed to."

  Again, Martha and Daniel exchanged looks. "We'd be delighted to supply one," Daniel said. "We've had the odd problem with that in the past."

  Alex knew he meant King, and a shiver of foreboding went skidding up and down her spine.

  The more she learned about the man she'd be working with, the more apprehensive she became.

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE TRIP BACK TO Korbin Lake was relaxed and enjoyable.

  Daniel told clever, outrageous stories about his days as a lawyer, and Martha added vignettes about her time as a nurse's aide. Alex found herself relating funny things that had happened in Emergency over the years and laughing more than she had for a long while.

  Daniel dropped Alex at the detachment, and he and Martha drove off, waving and calling friendly goodbyes, with assurances they'd provide her with an ambulance beeper very soon.

  Alex walked into the office feeling both optimistic and more relaxed than she'd been for weeks, and she gave Loma Berringer a grateful smile. "Thanks for all your help this morning, Lorna. Everything went fine. I'm quite sure Jason's at Children's already, and I made arrangements for Nancy and Greg to stay at Parent's Shelter, which is only a block from the hospital."

  Tears shimmered in Lorna's green eyes. "Is the baby gonna be okay, you figure?"

  "Absolutely. Think positive here."

  "Good thing Nancy called you instead of going back to the clinic again to see King," Lorna declared with vehemence. She shook her head. Her shiny hair, sprayed into place, didn't move an inch. "That old nincompoop of a doctor, he should have retired a long time ago. I wouldn't take my gerbil to him, and yet mostly everybody else in this town seems to figure title sun shines out of his... nose."

  Alex didn't respond. Lorna's outburst and the guarded reactions of the ambulance crew confirmed her own disturbing suspicions about the doctor she'd be working closely with. The now-familiar sense of foreboding returned.

  King wouldn't be grateful for the actions she'd taken today. He was bound to resent her for making him look bad, even if she'd done the only thing possible.

  "The sergeant just called. He's on his way in if you want to wait a minute."

  Cameron hurried in a few moments later, and she related the details of the trip to Cranbrook. Then he strolled out to Alex's car with her.

  "You're something else, Doc, you know that?" He tipped her chin up and kissed her lightly on the lips. "This town's mighty lucky, getting someone of your caliber."

  She appreciated his approval, but more than anything right now, she wanted to talk to him about King. She needed to hear Cam's opinion of the whole situation, but the sidewalk in front of the police office wasn't exactly the place to have a confidential discussion.

  Alex slid into the car, grimacing as her bare legs touched the hot upholstery. "Oww! It's scalding in here. I'm going home to jump in the lake. Any chance you could join me for a quick dip, Copper? I'd sure like to talk to you."

  He sighed and shook his head. "Sorry, love. Not a chance. With Greg gone, I'm the law in these parts. I may even have to bunk here at the office for a couple of days, depending on how busy we get."

  "Oh, Cameron, no," she groaned. "And here I fi
gured our frantic days were over." She'd told herself that the one really positive factor about this move to Korbin Lake was that she and Cam would have much more time to spend together, time to rebuild the emotional intimacy they seemed to have lost. Now, it seemed they'd have less time than ever, at least for a while.

  Well, the circumstances certainly weren't Cam's fault. She hid her disappointment and said cheerfully, "I'm stopping at the deli to pick up dinner, so it'll be in the fridge if and when you get there."

  "Good thinking. It's far too hot to cook."

  She grinned up at him. "Potato salad from the deli's my idea of gourmet, remember?"

  "You do have other talents, Doc." He winked and gave her a suggestive look, obviously remembering the passion they'd shared the night before.

  The portable radio on his belt crackled, and when he spoke into it, Lorna's distorted voice relayed a message Alex's untrained ear couldn't begin to decipher.

  Cam responded, and then said, "Gotta go, I'll call you later. Don't wait up for me." He loped toward the patrol car parked at the curb and drove off.

  Feeling absurdly lonely and abandoned, Alex started her own car, wondering irritably when the time would ever be right for her and Cameron to have a discussion about something besides potato salad.

  The house seemed lonely and deserted when she made her way down the long, twisting driveway. She gathered up the deli bags from the car and went inside. The answering machine indicated there were two messages.

  She'd left the kitchen door open, and her cup sat where she'd left it on the porch, a gray skin on the top of the cold coffee. For a moment she stood and looked out at the lake, remembering the feeling of peace and tranquility she'd experienced for such a little while, sitting here this morning. Those idyllic few moments before Nancy's call seemed so long ago.

  "Pavarotti, where are you? Come here, cat." The animal came strolling in from the deck and wound himself around Alex's ankles, bemoaning the lack of food in his dish at the top of his voice. "Spoiled thing," she chided, bending to stroke him. "Aren't you supposed to be able to catch rodents or something if you're hungry?" She opened a tin for him and scratched his ears before pressing the button on the machine to retrieve her messages.

  The first terse message was from her mother.

  "Alexandra, surely you've arrived by now. Please give your father and I a quick call and reassure us that you're safe. We've become pathetically paranoid about our children lately."

  Alex cursed under her breath, and an all-too-familiar feeling of guilt overwhelmed her. She'd planned to call her parents last evening and, with Cameron's lovemaking, she'd forgotten. She'd thought of it again when she woke up this morning, figured it was too early to disturb them, and then Nancy's call had driven it out of her head.

  The second message was from Cameron's brother, David.

  "Hey, country people, how's life out there in the mountains? I might just drive down and visit you guys, see if there's any jobs out there. There's sure nothing here on the coast. Gotta square it with my parole officer and fix the carburetor on the Chevy before I take off, though, so I'm not too sure when I'll get there. Talk to ya when I see ya."

  Alex scowled at the machine and her heart sank. She wasn't ready for houseguests, that was certain. She considered calling David and diplomatically telling him so, and then decided she'd better talk it over with Cam first.

  She dialed the police office, but of course Cam wasn't there. Lorna promised to have him call.

  Alex unloaded the deli bags and set the containers in the fridge. The chocolate ice cream she'd bought was melting, and she was about to put it in the freezer when the phone rang.

  "What's up, Alex?"

  "Cam, your brother called. It sounded as if he was planning on coming for a visit."

  "Hey, that's great. Did he say when?"

  Her hand tightened on the phone. "Within the next few days, I think. He's apparently driving through. Cam, I really don't feel up for company just yet."

  "Dave's not company, sweetheart. He's family. It'll do him good to get out of the city for a while. The crowd he hangs with are a bad influence. I worry about him."

  Alex sank down into a chair, twisting the phone cord around her fingers. "But he'd be staying right here with us."

  "Yeah. Of course. At least for a while." Cameron sounded rushed. "That's all right with you, isn't it? I mean, there's plenty of room. He could have that downstairs bedroom—the shower's right there, so it wouldn't disturb us at all." He didn't even wait for an answer. "Look, honey, I've gotta run. Things are piling up on me."

  Alex hung up the phone and slammed the freezer door closed as annoyance and frustration built inside of her. She should have known Cam would want David to come and stay. The house was huge, there were all those empty bedrooms and, as he said, David was family.

  But damn it to hell, the last thing she wanted at this particular time was her brother-in-law living with her and her husband. She felt that she and Cam had difficult issues to work out between them, things that affected their marriage, things that needed privacy and time. She was trying to make the best of it, but she still deeply resented the way Cam had arbitrarily changed their lives.

  But the negative feelings she had about David staying with them had nothing whatsoever to do with him, she reminded herself. She sincerely liked David—it was impossible not to. Her feelings had to do with Cam, with a growing awareness that the relaxed life-style, the intimacy, the opportunity for shared confidences that she'd dreamed of having with her husband here in Korbin Lake might just be a fantasy. And they sure as heck weren't going to materialize if a third party was around.

  She could feel anxiety and anger pulsing in every cell in her body, and she needed to do something to release it. She ran up the stairs and stripped off her shorts and crumpled cotton shirt, pulling on her bikini.

  She was hot and tired and out of sorts. Maybe a swim would cool her down so she wouldn't jump down Cameron's throat about this David thing the moment he walked in the door tonight. // he walked in the door tonight, she corrected herself, remembering what he'd said about sleeping at the office. All of a sudden she sat down hard on the bed and anger turned to weary frustration.

  How could she even fight with her husband properly if he wasn't ever around?

  CAMERON CAME HOME that night, but not until three in the morning. Alex half woke and gazed in a fuzzy stupor at the bedside clock when he collapsed into bed beside her.

  "S'late," she croaked. "Where've you been?"

  "Partying at the local juke joint," he said, amusement in his tone. "Go back to sleep. I'll tell you about it in the morning." He kissed her lips and gathered her tight against him.

  It had taken her hours to get to sleep and she was far too groggy to do more than mumble and then slide back into oblivion, comforted by his warm body folded around her. They'd talk in the morning.

  She came fully awake when the phone rang at seven. Cameron answered it, and she realized he was already up. His hair was still wet from the shower, and he was wearing an unbuttoned uniform shirt, snug black briefs and navy socks.

  "Yeah, tell him I'll be there in fifteen minutes," she heard him say before he hung up the receiver.

  Alex struggled to a sitting position, rubbed at her eyes and yawned. "Are you going out again? You only just got home."

  "Morning to you, too, sleepyhead." He tousled her hair and tipped her chin up for a fast kiss, then stepped into his navy slacks and tucked in his shirt. "Somebody broke into the drugstore last night. The security alarm went off, but by the time I got there, whoever did it was long gone. I couldn't locate the owner. He wasn't at home, and his wife wasn't cooperative at all." He threaded a belt swiftly through the pant loops and fastened it. "He called the office just now. Seems he was over at his girlfriend's place." He sat down on the bed and put on his shoes, then stood up and strapped on his gun belt. "No wonder the wife wasn't cooperative, huh?"

  "Will you be back for lunch?"

&
nbsp; "I doubt it. Are you nervous out here by yourself, hon?"

  "Of course not. I love it here. I'd just like us to have some time together, that's all."

  "I know, but with Greg away, I'm on deck. Y'know, I'll feel a lot better about you being alone out here if David's around. Not that this is a major crime center or anything, but for the next while you're liable to be by yourself a lot. Things'll slow down some when Greg gets back, but until then, I'm going to be working long hours. And even with two of us, it's damned busy, much worse than I figured it would be. We could really use another man at this detachment. We're seriously understaffed."

  "Can't you tell Headquarters that?" His words confirmed her worst fears—instead of more time off, it seemed he'd have even less.

  "I intend to if I ever get time to draft a full report." He glanced at his watch and bent to press a quick kiss on her mouth. "Gotta run, baby. I'll call you later."

  She heard him trotting down the stairs, and a moment later the front door closed. The engine on his Jeep roared to life, and the sound gradually faded as the vehicle climbed the driveway.

  Alex plopped back on the pillows, disappointed and irritated in equal measure. Was she getting paranoid, or was Cameron deliberately avoiding any intimate discussions? Was her overwhelming feeling of frustration simply due to the fact that she hadn't started work yet herself and consequently had too much time on her hands while Cameron was apparently run off his feet?

  Well, the obvious answer to that was to go back to work herself, which she'd do in just a few days. In the meantime, surely she could find plenty of things to keep her busy. She reached for the phone and the list of numbers she'd left beside it the night before.

  The first call was to Children's Hospital, and she learned that Jason Townsend was rehydrating nicely and was scheduled for surgery at three that afternoon.