Death of an Italian Chef

by Lee Hollis

  Maybe it was because he was telling her Randy was thankfully still alive.

  Hayley fumbled for her bag on the floor and struggled to her feet. “Yes, thank you. Can you take me to him?”

  “Of course,” he said. “I’m Fredy, by the way. I’ve been looking after your brother.”

  “I appreciate it, Fredy. This all came so out of the blue. Randy has always been so healthy and full of vigor, I was just so shocked and scared when I walked into that bathroom at the movie theatre and saw him—”

  “I understand. These things can creep up on you with no warning, and then your whole life can change. But from what I have heard, your brother’s a fighter. I’m sure he’s going to be just fine,” Fredy said, smiling.

  He had a beautiful smile.

  It seemed to light up the already harsh hospital lighting in the hallway even more.

  Fredy escorted Hayley down toward the last room on the left at the end of the hallway. She was not sure how she felt about Randy’s room being so far away from the nurses’ station, but trusted Fredy to keep an eye on him.

  “I’ve never seen you around town before,” Hayley commented.

  “I’m relatively new to Bar Harbor. I showed up about a year ago.”

  “From where?”

  “Honduras.”

  “Oh, that far! I thought you were going to say Bucksport or Belfast.”

  Fredy chuckled. “Actually, Honduras was where I was born and where most of my family still lives. But I’ve been in the States for about ten years, staying with relatives in North Carolina while I worked to get my nursing degree.”

  “What brought you all the way up here?”

  “The weather.”

  Hayley laughed. Maine was hardly known as a tropical climate hotspot.

  “What can I say? I like cold weather. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Honduras with scorching temperatures, and wanted something different. I actually cried with joy when I experienced my first snowfall. It was magical.”

  “Well, then you’re in the right place! You’ll be in heaven come January when the snow gods dump twelve feet of it. Believe me, you won’t be the only one crying!”

  Fredy chuckled and led Hayley into the semiprivate room. Randy was in the bed on the far end next to the window. There was no curtain dividing the two beds, because the one closer to the door was currently empty.

  Hayley was taken aback by the sight of Randy lying flat underneath a white sheet, hooked up to a morphine drip, his vitals refreshing on a digital monitor. It was disconcerting to see him like this, but at least he appeared stable. She clutched her bag and walked across the room. She hovered over him a moment before taking his hand that had a white patient ID bracelet on his wrist, and squeezed it until he opened his eyes and smiled up at her.

  “How are you feeling?” Hayley gently asked.

  “Happy . . .” he slurred, a big, goofy grin on his face as his eyes slowly glazed over.

  At least the morphine was working.

  She knew that under the heavy influence of drugs, he would not be feeling any serious kind of pain or be worried about his upcoming surgery.

  Randy tried raising his head off the pillow in an effort to sit up, but he was just too weak and dropped it back down again.

  Hayley asked, “Can I get you anything?”

  “How about my nurse’s phone number?” Randy drunkenly joked, trying to wink at her but only managing to blink both eyes at the same time.

  Hayley stepped aside so Randy had a clear view of Nurse Fredy standing right behind her, his hands clasped behind his back, a knowing smirk on his face.

  “Oh, hi,” Randy cooed, lifting an arm up to give a little wave. “I didn’t know you were still here.”

  “I am always watching,” Fredy said with a playful wink.

  Fredy managed to get his wink right. But to be fair, Nurse Fredy was sober and on duty, not pumped full of morphine and prone to unintelligible babbling.

  “Hey, Hayley, come here,” Randy garbled, motioning for Hayley to come closer. She leaned down close enough so he could whisper something in her ear.

  “My nurse is, like, really cute, don’t you think?” Randy announced so loudly Hayley had to withdraw from him before she busted an eardrum.

  “A real stud-muffin,” Hayley agreed, turning to smile at Nurse Fredy, who didn’t seem at all embarrassed.

  Randy gasped. “Muffin . . . Can you bring me a blueberry muffin from Jordan’s for my breakfast?”

  “Anything you want,” Hayley promised.

  “It did not take long for me to get tossed aside in favor of baked goods. What a harsh blow,” Fredy joked.

  Randy smiled vacantly at Fredy, not really comprehending what he was saying, and then looked up at Hayley with pleading eyes. “Ask him if he’s single.”

  “We’ll save that for next time, maybe after I have talked to your husband Sergio Alvares, Bar Harbor’s chief of police. You remember him, don’t you?”

  “Who?” Randy asked with wide eyes before chortling, “I’m joking . . .”

  “I haven’t been able to reach him, but I left word with his family in Brazil to have him call me as soon as he possibly can.”

  “That’s nice . . .” Randy mumbled before slowly drifting back to sleep.

  “Randy?” Hayley asked, leaning closer.

  He began to lightly snore.

  Fredy stepped forward. “I think that’s all you’re going to get out of him tonight.”

  “Probably so,” Hayley said. “Thank you for taking such good care of him, Fredy. I have such respect and admiration for what all you nurses do.”

  “Thank you, Hayley,” Fredy said with a warm, genuine smile.

  “How long will you be on duty tonight?”

  “My shift ends at seven AM.”

  “Good, I’ll be back before then. Do you like blueberry muffins? They also make a mouthwatering cinnamon apple, and the cranberry orange is pretty tasty too.”

  “You don’t have to . . .”

  “You’re taking care of my brother. It’s the least I can do.”

  “Cinnamon apple sounds pretty good.”

  “Done. Have a good night.”

  “You too.”

  He flashed that winning smile again.

  It was spellbinding.

  In fact, she noticed for the first time just how good-looking he was all around. The eyes, the smile, the obviously worked-out physique underneath those scrubs.

  The scrubs just added to his attractiveness. She had always been a sucker for a man in uniform.

  How could he have been in town for a whole year and she had not have heard about him from someone?

  Was this guy devastatingly handsome, or was she imagining it because she was missing her own good-looking husband?

  She sized up Nurse Fredy one more time before turning to leave.

  No, he was definitely a ten.

  Hayley hurried down the hall and saw that Nurse Tilly, the epitome of perky sweetness, had come on duty and was manning the nurses’ station. She instantly noticed that Tilly’s reliably friendly and kindhearted nature was nowhere to be seen as she approached, and it didn’t take Hayley long to figure out why. Nurse Tilly was engaged in a heated exchange with Andrea Cho.

  Andrea Cho was the bombastic, wildly outspoken sports reporter at the Island Times. Her husband Leonard was much more low-key, mild-mannered and soft-spoken, which bolstered the theory that opposites must surely attract. Hayley had tried to engage with them socially a few times after they first moved to Bar Harbor, but her efforts were rebuffed and so she simply stopped trying. When Hayley’s boss Sal, editor-in-chief at the Times, hired Andrea to write the paper’s sports column, Hayley was then forced to work with her, but much to her surprise, she actually grew to like Andrea over time.

  As they got closer, Andrea had admitted to Hayley that she was always a shy person at first, at least until she got to know someone, a claim Hayley found totally unbelievable. But it appeared to be true,
since they ultimately did become good friends. But Hayley had no illusions about Andrea’s prickly personality, which at the moment was on full display at the second-floor nurses’ station.

  “The time you took to get my husband checked in was unconscionable,” Andrea seethed.

  “We are a little understaffed tonight,” Nurse Tilly tried to explain, her face flushed. “And so I apologize—”

  “An apology just won’t cut it if my husband’s condition worsens because of your incompetence,” Andrea sniffed.

  Nurse Tilly was on the verge of tears, but managed to hold it together. Her desk phone rang and she gratefully answered it. “Excuse me.”

  Andrea looked up and noticed Hayley. “Finally! Someone I actually I like!” Andrea marched around the nurses’ station to give Hayley a brief hug. “Hayley, what are you doing here?”

  “My brother has a gallbladder thing,” Hayley said.

  “Oh, that’s nothing! He’ll be fine!” Andrea pronounced confidently.

  She decided not to fill Andrea in on the more serious complications, the pancreatitis, for fear she would burst out crying, like Nurse Tilly was trying so hard not to do at the moment as she sniffled while talking to someone on the phone.

  Hayley directed her attention back to Andrea. “And you?”

  “Oh, it’s just Leonard again!” Andrea scoffed. “He’s having another one of his spells!” She waved it off dismissively.

  “What kind of spell?”

  “Sometimes he gets light-headed and dizzy and stumbles around like some doddering old fool. The man is only forty-four years old, mind you. It’s obviously all in his head! We went through this two months ago. I rushed him here and it turned out to be just an anxiety attack. I’m the one with the high-pressure job! I should be the one having anxiety attacks, not him!”

  Hayley had never thought of covering high school football games as especially high-pressure.

  “Is Bruce a hypochondriac like Leonard? I would guess so,” Andrea said in all seriousness.

  “Um, no, I don’t think so,” Hayley said.

  “Well, you’re lucky! It’s so embarrassing to be married to someone who has anxiety attacks! Get a grip, be a man, I tell him, but when has he ever listened to what I say?” Andrea huffed. Her eyes flicked away from Hayley. “Wait, there’s his doctor. I better go talk to her.” Andrea turned to Nurse Tilly, who was just hanging up the phone, and pointed a finger at her, glowering. “I am not through with you.”

  Nurse Tilly’s whole body seemed to spasm as Andrea stalked off toward the doctor, Dr. Webber, a pleasant woman in her late thirties with two little adorable twin boys who were in the third grade at Emerson Conners School.

  “Have you figured out what’s wrong with him, if anything?” Andrea mocked.

  “Not yet. His blood pressure and heart rate are both disturbingly high, so I want to keep him overnight for some tests and to monitor him.”

  Andrea’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “You mean he’s not faking it?”

  Dr. Webber shook her head. “No, give us some time and we will figure out what’s going on with him. We’ll know more in the morning.”

  Dr. Webber then moved on to the old man with the fishing magazine, who had unobtrusively reappeared in the waiting room. Apparently, she was also his wife’s doctor. She knelt down and spoke to him in a low voice as Andrea spun back around and marched over to Hayley.

  “High blood pressure? What could possibly cause Leonard to have high blood pressure?” she wondered out loud.

  Hayley bit her tongue, fighting the urge to point out perhaps the root of the problem was an overbearing, exhausting wife.

  No, best not to start a war this late at night.

  Chapter 8

  “I’m starting to feel a tickle in my throat already!” Mona wailed as she rode up on the elevator to the second floor of Bar Harbor Hospital with Hayley and Liddy.

  Liddy rolled her eyes. “Oh, Mona, relax. You’re not going to catch something. Please. You’ve raised more kids than you’ll find at Disney World. If that hasn’t built up your immune system, nothing will!”

  “I can almost see the germs in the air,” Mona snapped, eyes blinking as if she was actually trying to spot them. “Hospitals are crawling with all kinds of diseases. I’ve known more than a few people who came in here for a simple run-of-the-mill procedure, like a bunion removal, and never left. They were just shipped straight to the morgue.”

  “Well, I’m sure Randy will appreciate you braving it to come see him this morning.”

  “He’s always treated me right; keeps my beer mug full at his bar. I guess it’s worth the risk,” Mona sighed. “I haven’t got much going on this morning anyway, since my sons are out hauling my lobster traps today. They insisted I take a personal day, maybe get my nails done.”

  Liddy erupted in laughter.

  Mona waved her off. “I know, I know, that was their idea, not mine.”

  “What a waste of money. Honestly, have they seen how you gnaw at your fingers like a chipmunk on an acorn?” Liddy said.

  The elevator dinged and the doors opened.

  The floor was quiet.

  Nurse Tilly was the lone person at the nurses’ station and was busy at her computer. She didn’t even look up as Hayley, Liddy, and Mona breezed past her and proceeded down the hall to Randy’s hospital room.

  The curtains were still drawn, but Randy seemed to be awake. His eyes were open and he was staring up at Gayle King delivering the early headlines on CBS This Morning.

  “How are you feeling today?” Hayley asked, leaning over his bed and kissing him on the forehead.

  Randy shrugged. “Fine . . .”

  He mustered a smile but his eyes were glassy and unfocused. He swallowed a couple of times as if he was dehydrated.

  “Do you need some water?” Hayley asked, picking up the plastic pitcher from the Formica table next to the bed.

  Randy shook his head. Then noticed Mona and Liddy hovering in the doorway and smiled.

  They both waved at him.

  “Mona, you look like you’re going to be sick,” Randy said.

  “No, I’m fine. I’m here to show you my support. I’m sure someone didn’t breathe on me and give me some life-threatening disease when we first walked in that’s getting worse by the minute,” Mona moaned.

  Hayley threw her a look and then turned back to Randy, setting the bag of muffins she had brought from Jordan’s on the side table. “Has the doctor told you when they might be able to schedule your gallbladder surgery?”

  He shook his head again.

  “Has he been in here yet this morning?” Hayley asked.

  “No, they did a bunch more tests earlier, like around six o’clock, so we’re still waiting on the results,” Randy said, shifting uncomfortably in his bed.

  Unexpectedly, two orderlies wheeled someone in on a gurney and began preparing the free bed across from Randy.

  “Looks like you’re getting a roommate,” Liddy said.

  Nurse Fredy followed behind the orderlies, one of whom was turning down the bed as the other spoke softly to the large man lying prone on the gurney. Fredy smiled at all of them and was about to close the drape to give them some privacy when Hayley suddenly saw who it was the two orderlies were lifting up and lowering down on the bed.

  “Chef Romeo?” Hayley gasped.

  Romeo turned on his side toward Hayley as the orderlies got him settled, propping up his pillows and pulling the sheets up over his big belly. “Well, good morning, Hayley! What brings you here!”

  “My brother Randy. Looks like you two will be sharing this room. What happened?”

  “Oh, it’s nothing!” Romeo scoffed.

  Hayley noticed Nurse Fredy grimacing.

  It was obviously not nothing.

  Nurse Fredy bit his tongue as he pretended to be busy perusing Chef Romeo’s chart.

  The two orderlies finished and departed the room as Nurse Fredy took Romeo’s blood pressure. “It’
s still a little high. I’ll make sure the doctor gets you on something to bring it down some more.”

  Romeo shrugged. “Don’t bother. I’ll be out of here by lunchtime. I need to shop for some ingredients for tonight’s special, osso buco à la Milanese. Yes, it will be as scrumptious as it sounds!”

  Fredy smiled skeptically at Romeo.

  Hayley could tell that Fredy knew Romeo would not be going anywhere, but chose the path of least resistance and refrained from arguing with him.

  “Get some rest,” Nurse Fredy ordered before turning to Randy and lighting up with a warm smile. “I’ll be around with your breakfast soon, Randy.”

  “You’re too good to me, Fredy,” Randy cooed with a blast of renewed energy, blowing him a kiss.

  Nurse Fredy chuckled and headed out.

  “Would you stop flirting with your nurse?” Hayley sighed.

  “It’s the morphine . . . It’s causing me to lose my inhibitions,” Randy slurred.

  “Oh, is that it?” Hayley asked dubiously, chuckling. “Remind me when he comes back to give him his muffin.”

  Romeo grabbed the TV remote from his bedside table. “Hey, do you mind if I switch over to the Today Show? I got a big crush on Savannah Guthrie.”

  “Knock yourself out,” Randy said.

  Romeo changed the TV channel, and then settled back in his bed as Hayley wandered over and folded her arms. “So are you going to tell me why you’re here?”

  Romeo frowned, not eager to discuss it, but it was obvious Hayley was going to pester him until he spilled the details. “Like I said, it’s nothing. After you left yesterday, I started to feel some dull chest pains. I figured I was just still upset over Vic Spencer and his goon showing up and making threats the way they did. But the pains lasted through the night. I thought it was just indigestion, but early this morning, the pains got sharper and I felt a tightening in my chest . . .”

  “You had a heart attack,” Hayley gasped.

  “A mild one. Nothing to worry about. I feel fine now, so if they think they’re going to keep me here for longer than an hour or so, they’re going to be in for a big surprise.”

  “You really should take this more seriously, Romeo,” Hayley warned.

  “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about me, Hayley, I’ve had heart attacks before.”