Deadly Delusions

by Barbara Ebel

  Chapter 16

  Annabel showered and chose a cotton blouse and slate gray pants for her double date. She selected matching earrings, clasped a blue pendant around her neck, and then deliberated over her jewelry box. She chose a copper bracelet and a gold ring with gems, went to the bathroom mirror, and dolled up her face.

  Dustin Lowe, however, didn’t show up on time so she sat at her kitchen counter stirring a fresh cup of tea with honey. She put her notebook to the side and skimmed over her ongoing work-in-progress on schizophrenia and Victor Blake. The next section she would tackle risk factors. Tapping her pen, she had a brainstorm which would make the paper even more interesting. Along with what was expected, she would do some research on the side and find notable people in history who carried the diagnosis. A knock sounded at the door and she put down her pen.

  After confirming who was there, Annabel opened the door to find Dustin with a pleasant smile and dressed smart and casual like she was. For the first time since she had lived in her apartment, a man stood in her hallway for an official date; it felt odd. Perhaps having an interested date here at her tiny place was too intimate. She may not be doing it again anytime soon, she thought quickly, as she welcomed him inside.

  “I’m sorry I’m late,” he said. “Work sometimes follows me even when I’m not on duty. I was still on the main road when the pickup truck in front of me lost his load. It was such a mess; I had to help him clear it from the highway.”

  “That sounds perilous due to traffic moving past the two of you,” she said.

  “It was dangerous. People should not make it a habit to lose their hay on the highway.”

  Annabel couldn’t suppress a laugh. “That qualifies as a normal drive through rural Tennessee, not in the middle of Cincinnati, Ohio.”

  “Maybe he was headed there,” he said, looking around. “But, as you know, we’re a big, flat farm state.”

  “Are you a native?”

  “This state serves as my beginning and my end. Like a book,” he said, noticing her writing.

  “That’s a project I’m working on,” Annabel said. “It is going to be a long paper for the psychiatry rotation. More like a short story or mini-book.”

  “Looks that way.”

  Annabel put her mug in the sink and picked up her purse and heavy sweater. “After you,” she said. She locked the door and they walked down to the first floor.

  “No trouble finding parking?” Annabel asked when they were outside.

  “I’m around the corner by the garden.”

  “That little park is a handy place in a sea of rental units.”

  “I need park time every weekend. I run over at Eden Park. That’s the place that restores my spirit after dealing with unspeakable events all week.”

  She frowned. Eden Park gave her awful memories. When they got to Dustin’s car he clicked his remote. Annabel took a change purse out of her shoulder bag and stuck it in a pocket but opened the back door and threw her bag on the floor.

  “You can put that up here if you’d like,” Dustin said while he opened the front door for her.

  “That’s okay,” she said. “It’s a habit. I bring it for the identification and other stuff, but I just put my little leather change purse with money and a credit card on my passenger seat or, in this case, in a pocket with me.”

  He nodded. “You’re streamlined,” he said. “Most women carry their cosmetics from their bathroom, their favorite pictures, and all their hand-held devices in their pocketbooks.”

  “I can understand their preoccupation. I’m only concerned if I carry the right textbooks with me to study anywhere I might have a few minutes free.”

  Dustin started the engine of his black Acura and they took off.

  -----

  For twenty minutes, Dustin headed northeast until they found themselves in a more spacious area with one story businesses of restaurants and shops. They parked and crossed the road; the street lights cast a yellow hue on the sidewalk and benches sat mostly empty.

  “I bet this is a busy town on the weekend,” Annabel said, clutching her sweater across her chest.

  “Usually,” he said. “It’s a date mecca.” He stopped in front of a diner with glass windows; an old-fashioned, large slanted sign hung on top, and he opened the door. To the right, they spotted Selina and Edgar Banks several booths down beside the window.

  “Sorry we’re late,” Dustin said when he slid in beside Edgar.

  “Hi, Dr. Keeton,” Annabel said, taking the seat next to her.

  “Please call me by my first name tonight,” Selina said. “We’ll leave psychiatry and the wards behind us.”

  “I can vouch for Annabel’s loyalty to your specialty,” Dustin said. “She was working on some paper when I arrived at her apartment.”

  Selina’s eyes glowed. “Nothing makes me happier than to have interested students on my team. If it weren’t for the students and residents, what I do would weigh much heavier on me.”

  “Listening to depressed people with their loss of interest in life and their lack of energy and their helpless feelings would bring me down, too,” Edgar said. “It’s heartbreaking enough when Dustin and I occasionally talk a depressed person out of hurting themselves.”

  “I guess the police are sometimes the forerunners to suicidal or psychotic patients before they’re brought into a medical facility,” Annabel said. “Which is how we all met to begin with.”

  “So true,” Edgar said. He turned to Selina. “See, we have something in common with our work.”

  “Maybe so,” Selina said, and gave him a tilt of her head.

  Dr. Keeton’s shiny platinum hair had a brown headband and around her neck she wore a brown silk scarf. Her attending is both smart and classy, Annabel thought, and someone to emulate besides the older women in her family.

  “Gentlemen,” Selina said, “you both asked us out tonight but how did you know the both of us weren’t married?”

  “Easy,” Edgar said. “Before Dustin approached Annabel with our question that day in the lobby, I asked the receptionist at the desk.” He gave them a mischievous grin.

  “Makes sense,” Selina said. “That sweet woman knows just about everything. Patients and family confide in her while they wait. She is what I refer to as the ‘pre-therapist.’

  “Take your time with your order,” a pint-sized waitress said while placing down menus. “But what’ll it be for drinks?”

  “Decaf,” Selina said.

  “Make that two,” Edgar said.

  “Orange juice,” Annabel said.

  “Both decaf and orange juice,” Dustin said.

  The waitress cracked her gum and left, and Annabel looked around. The long hanging board above the old-fashioned counter and stools displayed an ice cream selection along with floats and smoothies.

  “This is an interesting diner,” Annabel said. “I bet the food is tasty, too.”

  “We can try a smorgasbord of items if you all like,” Dustin suggested.

  “Scrambled eggs,” Selina said.

  “Waffles,” Edgar said.

  “Sausage and bacon,” Dustin said.

  “I concur,” Annabel said. “But to be followed by a smorgasbord of ice cream flavors.”

  “Now you’re talking,” Dustin said.

  The waitress came back with their drinks and Edgar ordered their items. When they arrived, she placed the platters along the center of the table and gave them each an individual plate. “You four give new meaning to a sit-down breakfast,” she said and walked away chewing her wad of gum.

  Annabel spooned a sample clump of eggs on her plate, took a fork, and sampled them.

  “Salt or pepper?” Dustin asked.

  “No, at least not yet. You must taste them first because you never know what you’re going to get. You see, these are the best damn fluffy fresh eggs I’ve ever had and to adulterate them with condiments would be a sin.”

  “Wow,” he said. “I love a girl who appreciates fine
eggs.”

  She smiled at him and when he grinned back, his dimple looked so smooth she wanted to tap her finger in it like touching a shiny depression in a golf ball. He is cute, she thought, and she was having a good time.

  -----

  The two couples lingered in their booth longer than necessary letting their food digest before they sprang for ice cream. The choice was a tossup of sinful flavors but each of them finally decided what they wanted. They sat like children scooping their treats from parfait glasses.

  When Dustin drove Annabel home, he double-parked on her street and came around to open her door. She grabbed her purse from the back seat and they stood facing each other.

  “Thanks for an enjoyable evening,” she said.

  “You’re welcome. Maybe we can do a repeat again soon with or without Edgar and Selina.”

  “If my schedule permits, that would be nice.” She backed up slowly and then stepped up onto the curb between two cars. “Thanks again,” she said.

  “I’ll call you.” He got into his car as she vanished into her side entrance.

  Upstairs she undressed quickly and went to bed thinking over the opportunity she’d had with her attending in an outside situation other than work. In addition, Dustin Lowe had turned out more friendly and attractive than she thought he would be. But as she became sleepier she turned her thoughts to Robby Burke. She wondered what her old chief resident was doing tonight and if he had replaced his previous girlfriend, Faye Garrett, after the two of them had broken up. She sighed; fantasizing about him was mentally addictive.

  -----

  The radio sprang to life with a country crooner and Annabel swung her legs over the side of the bed to turn it off and get up. She dragged slower than normal, skipped making coffee, and left … still rubbing her eyes.

  In the hospital lobby, she deliberated what she wanted in her coffee. Whatever flavored syrup she chose to make it into a cappuccino or latte, it added up to additional sugar and calories. She bet Lillie Carter never touched anything like it to her lips. How sad that an illness can prevent a person from drinking so much as a flavored coffee. She couldn’t make up her mind what she wanted, so she ordered one of her usuals.

  After Annabel picked up her backpack and turned to head for the elevator with her hot drink, she caught a glimpse of the few coffee shop tables by the front window. Two short-white-coated students sat across from each other and to her surprise, they were Bob and Karla Weaver, both with a paper coffee cup. Her mind raced to a ridiculous and presumptuous thought. This time of the morning, before rounds, what were they doing with each other? Did they come into the hospital together because they had shared last night in more ways than one?

  She shook off the idea as she approached them to say hello. After all, they had only begun a mutual friendship because of a patient. But, she thought, they were all students together from freshman year so it’s not like Bob just met her. A spark of annoyance ran through her nerves. Could it be? Was she experiencing a bit of jealousy?

  Karla spotted her first. “Hey, Annabel,” she said. “We’re just leaving.”

  Bob pushed back from the table. “Karla just filled me in on your patient,” he said sheepishly.

  “Really?” Annabel asked, trying to figure out if Karla wore a morning-after sex glow.

  “Lillie’s latest electrolytes and renal function labs came back normal,” Karla said as they began walking to the elevator. “At least we have her fluid status corrected but getting her to eat like a normal person is another thing.”

  Annabel half listened while glancing at Karla’s face. Did she wear a smirking smile, a look to the side with a sense of fulfillment like she’d gotten laid? She shook her head to rattle away her thoughts which floated at the bottom of the gutter.

  “According to Dr. Keeton,” she said, “that will take a lot of psychotherapy. How long does she still need to be on your service?”

  “A few days max,” Karla said.

  Annabel and Bob stepped out of the elevator onto their floor and said good-bye to Karla.

  “So how was last …” Bob started.

  “That was extra early …” Annabel began.

  “How was last night with the cop?” Bob asked after they stopped their inquisitions at the same time.

  “You meant to ask what it was like going out with Dr. Keeton. And did you two happen to bump into each other before the sun came up?” Annabel had to slow down; her coffee splashed out of the little drink holes.

  “No, we didn’t just collide into each other,” he said sarcastically.

  Annabel gulped. Had they slept together, woke up in each other’s arms, and grabbed java before parting ways for the day?

  “We found out we both like the lobby’s café, so we planned on meeting this morning at six-thirty.”

  “Oh,” she stammered.

  They walked down the hallway into their lounge and dropped their bags on the couch. Annabel sat at the table, pulled her patient list out, and sipped at her coffee. Bob stood next to her.

  “What about you? It isn’t necessary to tell me how cool Dr. Keeton was last night. They say women love men in uniform. So did you fall for the officer who splurged on you by buying bacon and eggs? You know, even a med student can do better than that.”

  “Bob! I can’t believe what I’m hearing; you’re nicer than that.”

  He took the lid off his cup and stared at the bottom coffee grinds. “I’m making fun of a serious matter. I should not get too diverted with the opposite sex in the middle of a rotation. Neither should you.”

  He slid out the chair next to her. “We mentioned this before,” he said changing the subject, “but it continues to worry me that we take only one exam – a final - for psychiatry. I don’t know where I stand knowing the material we are supposed to know and we have no clue how difficult the test will be or how it’s formatted.

  “On top of that,” he continued, “I am having dreams about my patient who committed suicide. You were spared what happened but it was really awful. I can’t tell you how the nightmares drain my sleep. Another thing … walking through the emergency unit lobby makes me cringe. If I could, I would never go through the entrance of that building again as long as I live.”

  Annabel found herself staring at him. “I’m sorry, Bob. I had no idea. And I’m sorry if I said anything which sounded rude. Do you mind if I say something to Dr. Keeton about either of these matters? I’ll be tactful. I promise.”

  “Okay, if you don’t make a big deal about it.”

  Bob turned into the table like Annabel and they both scanned their patient lists as Dr. Washington strutted into the room with a big smile.

  “Since I’m a boring married guy,” Joshua said, “I must live vicariously through my team members who go on old-fashioned dates. So how did you like the double date, Dr. Tilson?”

  “Not all dates are old-fashioned,” Annabel blurted out referring to her personal dating method. Her face reddened. Bob noticed so she waved the comment away as if it never left her mouth.

  “It was fine,” she said.

  “No coffee made this morning?” he asked, disappointed with her response. “Does that mean you overslept from staying out too late?”

  “Brew it yourself,” she said with a smile.

  “I guess I better. I’m used to doing it at home anyway. My wife hates the taste of coffee.”

  “In Annabel’s case,’ Bob said, “drinking some was probably mandatory with eggs last night. How did you and your wife get along on a first date anyway?”

  “We didn’t. We accidentally ran into each other again at a party a year later and had the best time talking about how rotten our date had been so we scheduled another one. It was all chocolate and roses after that.”

  Dr. Keeton sailed in the office with a big grin. No way, Annabel thought. She’s not wearing a morning-after glow, is she?

  Chapter 17

  “Dr. Keeton,” Annabel said, “I paved the way for your entrance by fendin
g off Dr. Washington and Bob’s nosy questions about last night.”

  “Smart thinking,” she said, walking to the table. “Even though the general public believe women are nosier than men; it’s not true.”

  “Ha! There you go,” Annabel said. “Dr. Keeton knows which sex gossips the most and are true busybodies.”

  “That’s okay, however,” Selina said looking at Bob and Joshua. “I’ll get last night out of the way. Those two men were charming and it’s helpful for me in this line of work to know an officer or two. And Annabel, the last thing Edgar Banks said dropping me home was that he and I or all four of us should do something together again.”

  Based on her comments, Annabel realized her attending hadn’t spent extra time with Edgar last night, which was a more comforting thought. It would have been premature of her to jump into the sack with him the first night.

  “Dustin Lowe echoed the same remark to me,” Annabel said. “Maybe they both rehearsed their parting comments together.”

  “Not very creative,” Bob said.

  “Redundant,” Joshua said.

  “Okay, okay,” Selina said, grinning at the men. “Let’s get on with our patients.” She shook her head at them and scavenged into her lab coat for the team’s patient data.

  “Dr. Keeton,” Annabel said, “Bob and I are concerned about the rotation. We don’t feel prepared for the final exam because we don’t know what to expect. Can you prep us in any way?”

  Selina searched their faces. “Once in a while, I hear that from an extra studious student or two. My response is the same. For those that ask, I whip out an example of an old test.” She searched inside her thick brief bag and took out stapled papers. “Share this or Xerox it,” she said handing it to Annabel. “We can either go through it together next week or I can simply give you both the answers at that time.”