CHAPTER FOUR
Owen Craig dropped the phone, rubbed his forehead and sighed.
"So?" Nicole asked.
"She's still crying, but ok. Her CT scans are clean, No dislocations, no broken bones, just a sprain and a few minor stitches."
"Thank God."
"I told the doctor not to say a word to her about her grandmother's death. I don’t think it's wise considering her state of mind"
"I agree; he shouldn't. But what's making her cry that much?" Nicole asked.
"Well he said she wasn't alone in the car, they were two and the other— a young college student— died on the spot; he could be her boyfriend or something. I'll be going to Seattle first thing in the morning to see her and possibly bring her home."
"Ok; but I doubt if she'll come with you." Nicole said.
"Why?"
"Nothing; it's just a thought."
"Nicole, if there's something I should know about the only heir to my deceased client, and you know it, then you must tell me."
"Ok." She faced him, "Kimberly has some attitude problems and she doesn't seem to like Maggie much. The last time Maggie saw her was at her mother's funeral and since she left the cemetery, no one —not even Maggie— knew where she was until now. So as you go to Seattle, you should know that Kimberly Otis isn't that easy going. She's something else."
"Have you seen or spoken to her before? Have you..."
"No!"
"So how did you know all that?"
"Maggie told me. She told me a lot about her; I'm telling you a part of it."
Owen walked towards Nicole as if advancing to cross examines a witness in a courtroom. "When did her mother died?"
"Two years ago." She replied. "Why?"
"Two years; mhm..." He shook his head.”I think two years should be enough time for repentance. Have you ever considered the possibility that Kim could change?"
"People don't change, Owen. Changing attitudes is not as easy as changing shoes or underwear. People work hard on it"
"What if Kim had worked hard to change hers? She gave Dr. Scholes Maggie’s number, why do you think she did that, if she still doesn't like her or needs a family at all? She could just walk out of the hospital and straight to her apartment when everything is over and no one would ever know."
Lawyers! She rolled her eyes.
"We are talking about someone we both don't know but have to deal with anyway." Owen buttressed "she probably needs our help now and I don’t think it’s fair not to give her a chance. It's the least you can do for Maggie."
"What; what do you mean?"
He shrugged. He knew she got the message so he didn't answer. Nicole just realized Kim could soon be her responsibility; and if that happens, then she's going to be nuts for a while.
"You said you have something to tell me; what is it?" Owen asked.
"No! Don't change the subject. You want me to baby sit Kim; how could u think of something like that?"
"Because you’re Maggie’s best friend and her doctor; doctors take care of people, isn't that what you do?"
"I'm a surgeon Owen, not some psychiatrist; and besides, I'm a busy woman. I won't have time to baby sit. Look, this is crazy, I can’t do it. I really can't."
"You can. You'll do just fine, I promise. All you have to do is put her through the few things she'd need to know that’s all."
She eyed him unconvincingly. "And what if she doesn't need my help?"
"Cool. She's old enough to take care of herself anyway."
"Ok. But it's for Maggie’s sake"
Owen shrugged. His lips curved into a half smile.
She frowned, "Just before Maggie died, she whispered something to me; it’s a name." Nicole fished out the pad on which she wrote the name and handed it to Owen.
"Pablo" He said; looking a bit confused.
"Yeah; she never had the chance to explain further. So I thought maybe you would know something about it."
"I don’t know anything about it. She never mentioned it to me and I don’t remember a name like that in her will."
"She never mentioned it to me either."
She wanted telling him about her little search in Maggie's house but declined. She thought Owen probably won't be cool with that.
"Pablo... Pablo! Who the hell is this guy?" He said, still holding the pad. He sighed. "I'll find out. But in the meanwhile, I'll prepare for Seattle to get Kim. And you stay put."
"Ok, now you sound like a cop."
"Really; I try. The life of a lawyer in a world of crime could sometimes be chaotic and psycho-driven"
"You forgot the 'enriching' part."
"Yeah? Clients can sometimes be over demanding and put lawyers through absurdities. I had a client that once asked me to pick her daughter up from school and make a stop at McDonalds for ice cream. Kind of made me feel like a nanny"
"Yeah that's absurd" Nicole laughed
Her pager gave an unexpected buzz and while she was checking it, the soft female voice from a loud speaker called out her name.
"That's me. I got to rush. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see ya." Owen watched her disappear through the double doors to the Recovery Ward. He brought out his cell phone, dialled a number, spoke a few words and headed for the exit.
Dr Joe Fleming lowered the magazine from his face and watched the lawyer walking away. He had been watching the man and Nicole talking for a while before she ran off.
He observed Owen for a moment; thought the guy could be Maggie's attorney who called earlier that morning.
Nice suit. He thought. He followed Nicole inside. An intern told him Nicole was in room 214 and he got there.
Three interns were with her when he got there, so he waited a few paces away. She saw him but went on talking to the interns. Joe knew their little face-off in the morning would turn to something else because Nicole has been avoiding him since when they started their shifts.
"Can I have a word?" He said. He had observed that Nicole seemed to enjoy ignoring him.
"Can't it wait? I'm busy" she fired back without looking at him.
"We are all busy here. We don’t have all the time in the world, do we?"
Joe has a gift of persuasion. There were many occasions where Nicole had asked for his help to persuade parents or some members of a family to agree to some surgical procedures considered best for their kids or wards even when they disagreed to it in the first place. And just like all other good doctors, Joe never gives up on his patients until they stop breathing and pronounced dead- a habit he also holds on to in real life. He never gives up on Nicole.
Those qualities reminded Nicole that he won’t give up until he has his words heard. He won’t back down.
She scribbled on the chart, handed it to the interns and dismissed them.
"What is it?"
"You can't keep doing this." Joe moved closer to her and lowered his voice.
"Doing what?" Her face was straight.
"Avoiding me; treating me like dirt every time you're up to something I'm not cool with it; it's not fair."
"Look, if it's about Maggie's stuff, then I don't have time."
"You'll never have the time to listen to me, but you had the time to go and search Maggie's house for clues right?"
"Call the cops to take me in and see if I care."
"See, there you go again. I'm not calling the cops on you. I’m saying what you are doing, trying to dig out some secrets which you have no right to do is not cool at all. And as your... friend, I think you are crossing the line. You got to stop. I need you focused and..."
"I don't need your approval on this." She said in gritted teeth. "You know what, Joe? This is none of your business, stay out of it." Her voice rose and had attracted some attention. "Stay the hell out of this" She stormed out of the ward, very much pissed off.
True; it's been a while since he saw that kind of reaction especially from her. Her cheeks had reddened instantly and her eyes darkened.
"Dude; that's
not good" Joe looked to the left; a colleague of his was standing with a mocking face. "If I were you, I'll dig this concrete; get in the ground and bury myself."
"Screw you, Malcolm" Joe snapped and walked away.
Malcolm grinned.
The resident’s locker room was empty; perfect for Nicole's state of mind. She needed some space and silence to nurse her anger. Thanks to Joe's insensitivity.
Damn him! I needed him; how couldn't he see that?
She took a deep breath to lower the pressure mounting inside her. She had her plate full with some unpleasant stuff moving fast― Maggie's death, code PABLO still not cracked, Kim's possibility of coming home to make her life hell, and now, Joe's insensitivity.
Oh great! Welcome to he...
The door yanked open and two male doctors walked in excitedly, talking about something. They opened their lockers carelessly, banging the doors hard on the metal walls. Nicole felt the bang in her head.
"Man that was the most beautiful body I've ever seen. Did you see those boobs?"
"Hell yeah man. That chick was a beauty. Too bad she had to die. Did you see that tattoo?"
"You know, I always think having sex with dead women is the most absurd of all absurdities, but seeing how that tattoo was drawn from her belly button down inside, I felt myself getting hard. Man that was sexy!"
"I pray the guy in the autopsy won't sneak back in the middle of the night and hit it."
"Men, you are disgusting!" They laughed out loud.
Men are pigs!
Tattoos; she scoffed. Her dad used to have one on his right arm; it was a little sketch of an eagle's head above a ruddy heart within which Nicole and Martha were written.
"It symbol" Her father told her when she asked him about it. "It means I'll always have my eyes and my heart on you and your mother. You know, like an eagle that sees a fish under water from high above the sky."
"Can I have one?" She remembered asking him.
"Someday sweetheart; someday"
Nicole had once made a little sketch of what her own would look like but she still couldn't get herself to go through with it. She has learnt from her father that tattoos are expressions of people's feelings and messages. It's a form of art that conveys some inner realities about people’s lives and anyone can have it if he or she wishes. It can also be tatted anywhere. Her dad had his on his arm. Some have theirs on the shoulder; some on the...
Wait a minute; could Maggie have one?
She walked out hurriedly; headed for the mortuary.
Nicole is not a fan of mortuaries. It’s not that she hasn't seen dead bodies before or afraid of one, but the situation in the icy rooms is different than in the wards.
Whenever her patients die in her hands, she curses, pronounces the Time of Death, walk out to break the bad news to the family and get over with it. But it's different in the mortuary; she feels the presence of death itself guarding the bodies. Psychologically, she feels the sound of death in the silence.
She stood before Maggie's stiff body; a little bit ashamed to stare at the old lady’s nakedness.
I'm sorry old lady.
She walked round the body, searching keenly for marks or something like that. Her stiffness made it easier for Nicole to turn her over.
"... Are you supposed to be doing that?" Joe's words echoed in her head. She didn't know why but just now that she's there doing what she's doing, it occurred to her she's going too far. Her heart felt so heavy and her eyes glistened with tears. But she kept looking. And just when she had almost given up, she found something: on the right; there's a tiny pinkish inscription that had nearly faded completely with age. It's a letter P.
The cold room suddenly turned warm; Nicole stared at the tattoo for while. She touched it with her index finger; and then took her eyes off the tat to the old woman's dead face as if expecting a reaction. Maggie's body looked peaceful and younger; and strange.
What secrets have you been keeping, old woman? What do you want me to do?
Her pager beeped again. She checked it; it was an emergency.
Shit! Nicole took one more look at the tattoo, shook her head and then pushed Maggie back.
"What do we have?" Nicole joined two nurses pushing a black unconscious male on a gurney.
"Mr. Omar James, 32, shot in the chest twenty minutes ago, found unconscious." The nurse held up the drip above her head while her other arm pushed the gurney.
"Take him to OR three; we got to remove the bullets in his lungs before it's too late. GO!" Nicole put two fingers on the patient's neck to check his pulse strength.
"OR three. NOW!" The nurse hit the button of the emergency elevator while the other nurse drags the gurney into position. And five minutes afterwards, Nicole was scrubbing her hands preparatory to the surgery. She scrubbed harder than usual; trying to focus on what she's about to do, but thoughts of Maggie's tattoo threatened to dominate her mind. If her father's words about tattoo were true, then Maggie's must have a meaning bigger than just a letter. PABLO isn't just a name; there must be more behind it.
"We're ready for you, doctor." A nurse appeared from the rare end of the room with a blue robe. Nicole nodded; and the nurse helped her into the robe to dress her up.
"May I scrub in?" Joe suddenly peeked into the room with a grin. Nicole thought the grin was annoying.
"No." She said curtly. Her anger on him threatened to surface again; she strapped her mouth and walked into the theatre room.
"Well; no offence taken. Have fun sweetheart." The grin got wider.
Whatever
The last surgery she performed was Maggie's. It was in the same room, with the same tools and scrubs. Her emotions were surprisingly close even as she operated on the new patient. She's about to save another life, just like she tried to save the old woman's. A little slip could be fatal so she must focus.
"Ok people. Let's save a life. Scalpel!"