His Frozen Heart (32 page)

The weight of my last sentence settled
heavy on my heart as my grin disappeared. What if the doctors tried
to wake her up tomorrow and she wouldn’t wake up? What if she woke
up and didn’t know who I was? What if her brain were damaged and
when she woke up she was no longer Libby?

“
You have to wake up
tomorrow.” Sorrow choked me, “Don’t. . .you can’t. . .just wake up,
okay? No matter what else happens, wake up tomorrow. I promise I’ll
do whatever you need me to do.” I slid my hand under the blanket
and locked my pinky finger with hers. “Pinky swear. If you need
someone to take care of you, I’ll do it. Just wake up. I need
you.”

We sat there with our pinkies linked
together. I didn’t want to let her go. I wished it were already
Saturday. The not knowing was killing me. I could take any curve
ball her condition dictated, but the uncertainty of what tomorrow
would bring was excruciating. I leaned down close to her ear, “I’ll
be here tomorrow afternoon as soon as I get off work. It’s okay if
you wake up before I get here. Just wake up.”

There was no response at all. “Larry
has been in the waiting room since they brought you here. I still
think he’s a loser, but if you wondered, I’m pretty sure he loves
you. He has only left the hospital a few times to change clothes
and shower. If you. . .” I corrected myself, “when you wake up: I
won’t give you a hard time if you want to see him again.” I
squeezed her hand through the blanket draped over her. “I’ll never
give you a hard time about anything again – just open your eyes.
You’re more of a sister to me than Kim or Carly. I love you,
Libby.”

She didn’t react to anything I said,
and I could no longer take it. I hurried out of her room, deposited
the scrubs in the used bin and hurried into the waiting room. Larry
looked hopeful as I rushed through the doors, but I shook my head,
a silent answer that she was still in her coma. My one-sided
conversation with Libby had taken everything I had not to break
down into a blubbering mess. As much as I wanted to leave without
trying to speak, Larry stood up and walked toward me. I held up a
hand, and choked out, “I’ll be back after work tomorrow.” I
squeezed his forearm and reassured him, “She’s going to wake up. I
know it.” Ducking my head, I walked away. I didn’t want to consider
the possibility that I was wrong, or any of the other
possibilities.

I drove back to Dave’s. The place was
still dark from the curb. I got out of my car to look and see if
there was any hint of movement inside. As I attempted to see
through the blind on the front door of Dave’s garage, it looked
like he wasn’t here, or if he were inside, he wanted to be alone.
How had things gone wrong so quickly?

He was different from all the other
guys I knew. He let his guard down with me, letting me see the real
Dave, right up until the second he believed I had betrayed him. I
knew why he was so hurt. If I were him, I would be furious with me,
too. Just because I understood his reaction, I still hoped he might
forgive my lapse in judgment.

I knocked on the front door of Dave’s
garage, but again, there was no answer. I tried calling his cell,
but it went straight to voicemail. I had called several times
today, but I hadn’t left any messages. When I heard his voice
asking me to leave a message, words began spilling out of me. “Hey,
it’s Candy. I know you don’t want to see me. I don’t blame you. If
I could do it over, I swear I would have told you about Mark right
away. I just got swept away by you last night. I know it was
selfish. I’m sorry. I didn’t expect the candles, or your tattoo, or
to feel the way I do about you. You have my number. You once told
me you live your life by expecting the worst and hoping for the
best. So, I guess I’ll hope one day you can forgive me. Bye.” I
almost hung up, but added, “If I don’t talk to you again, thanks.
I’m glad I finally got to meet the real Dave. I’ll never forget
you.”

From Dave’s garage I decided to hit
the college library and do some searching. I tried everything I
could find to try to locate Mark Brewer on the internet. Phone
records, public utilities, property searches: each Mark Brewer I
located was either too old or too young or in the wrong state. By
eleven PM I was exhausted, and the library was getting ready to
close.

I couldn’t go back to my house. I
hadn’t heard from the police all day, but it was too late to knock
on Mrs. Bavcock’s door even if they had concluded I was no longer a
person of interest. I considered driving back to Dave’s place, but
decided against it. I had friends who stayed at the dorms on
campus, but it was Friday night and none would be home yet. It was
too cold to sleep in my car. I was quickly running out of options,
and Motel 6 looked like it might end up a reality.

A thought occurred to me that there
was one person who might let me stay. I did an internet search and
found the number. I hated to do it, but short of getting a motel
room that I didn’t have money for, I was coming up empty. A
surprisingly friendly voice answered the phone for such a late
hour. I took a deep breath and answered, “Hi, this is Candy Kane.
I’m sorry to call so late. Is Mr. Kravitz home?”

Mr. Kravitz was quick to agree to let
me camp in his guest room for the night. When I arrived it was
close to midnight. It must have been eating at him all day, because
I had barely crossed the threshold when he asked, “What happened
with you and Dave this morning?”

There was no reason to hide anything
from him. “I saw Mark last night.”

He tried to correct me. “You mean
Tuesday night?”

“
Then, too. I ran into him
at the parking lot of Bank Shot before I went to Dave’s last night.
Mark thought Dave was dead. When I told him he lived here, he
wouldn’t meet him.”

“
You told Dave the brother
he has been looking for most of his life doesn’t want to see
him?”

“
No! I told him what Mark
told me to tell him: he was tying up some loose ends and he would
find him soon.” Mr. Kravitz gave me a disapproving stare. I
explained, “I tried to get Mark to call him. I told him I’d get
Dave on the phone if he wouldn’t meet him, but he said no. He told
me he would find him when he was ready.”

“
What loose
ends?”

“
I don’t know. He didn’t
say.” I paused, remembering what Tony had said. “I think Mark might
be a big time criminal. Someone told me he’s really dangerous and
to keep away from him.”

“
Did you tell
Dave?”

I shook my head. “Not in those words.”
I felt awful about the whole situation, especially about not
telling Dave right away. “I don’t know anything about Mark. If I’m
wrong, I don’t want Dave to think badly of him, but if I’m right, I
don’t want Dave hurt, either.” I wanted to add that I knew first
hand that Mark has a propensity for violence when he’s angry, but
chose to keep that tidbit of information to myself.

Mr. Kravitz shook his head in
frustration, “Dave hasn’t returned any of my calls all day. I
locked up the garage at five o’clock, but he didn’t come
back.”

I confessed, “I drove by the shop:
there weren’t any lights on. Where do you think he
went?”

“
I don’t know. It’s not
like him. I’ve got keys, we can go over tomorrow and check on him.”
He looked at my backpack still slung over my shoulder. “C’mon,
let’s get you settled in, and we can come up with a plan in the
morning.” Mr. Kravitz led me to a guest room with ivory walls. The
bed was soft; it was draped with a comforter depicting green ivy in
an ornate pattern all over it. Matching curtains hung from the
single rectangular window. The carpet was a thick pile under my
toes. For such a welcoming room, I couldn’t wait to close my eyes
and forget everything that had happened today.

Nightmares consumed my night: Grey’s
face smiling at me through the glass at the gas station, Teddy
standing over Libby’s body at the hospital, but worst of all was
the agony on Dave’s face when I told him over and over his brother
didn’t want to see him. I woke up to sun pouring in through the
curtains while I was utterly exhausted.

When I awoke Saturday morning, I was
grateful for the place to stay, but it was time to get my life
back. It had been three full days since my house was declared a
crime scene. That should have been more than enough time to gather
whatever evidence may have been there. It was early, so I made the
bed, put on a clean set of clothes from my backpack, and tiptoed
down the hallway.

I could hear a television in a room
adjacent to the kitchen. I chose not to follow the noise, instead I
found a note pad and scribbled a quick thank-you on it for letting
me use their guest room. As I started for the door, a high-pitched
voice startled me, “It’s not nice to leave without saying
good-bye.”

I turned toward the voice and was
struck by the angelic face scowling at me. The photograph on Mr.
Kravitz’s phone hadn’t done the little girl justice. Her face was
round with enormous blue eyes and pouty lips. The blond ringlets
hung at her shoulders as she stood in the doorway with her hands on
her hips.

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t want
to wake your parents. You must be Emily. It’s great to meet you.
I’m Candy.”

Her little blue eyes narrowed
suspiciously, “You weren’t here when I went to bed.”

“
No. Your parents let me
stay in the guest room last night.”

She considered this for a second, then
told me, “You haven’t eaten breakfast. When I stay at Beth’s house,
I always stay for breakfast.”

“
Um, I usually just have
coffee for breakfast, and I don’t want to wake your
parents.”

Emily went to a cupboard to the left
of the refrigerator and grabbed a canister of coffee and a coffee
filter. “Here you go. I don’t know how much to put in.”

She stood beside me as I put in enough
for a fresh pot and pressed the start button. Within seconds the
aroma filled the air of the kitchen. She continued watching me as I
stood by the coffee brewer. Finally she asked, “You stayed in
Dave’s room. Do you know Dave?”

“
I do. He’s a friend of
mine.”

A sad look shown on her face, “You
don’t have a momma, either?”

Taken aback at her logic, I answered,
“I have one. She lives in New Mexico with Dad.”

After considering my answer for a
minute, she volunteered, “Momma says not everyone has a mom. All my
friends at school have moms. None of them live in New Mexico, but
one lives in California.”

“
Then your friends are
really lucky.”

I poured myself a cup of the fresh
coffee in a mug. I kept glancing toward the doorway every few
seconds to see if our exchange had awakened Mr. or Mrs. Kravitz.
When my mug was drained, I smiled back at Emily, “Thank you for
breakfast and for letting me borrow Dave’s room last night. I need
to get to the hardware store before I go to work. Tell your parents
I said thanks, okay?”

“
Okay.” Having completed
her hostess duties, she smiled and walked me to the front door. She
offered, “Bundle up, it’s cold out today.”

“
I will. I hope to see you
again soon.”

“
Dave doesn’t use his room
anymore. You can come back tonight if you want. But Aunt Jean needs
the room when she comes to town, so you can’t put any posters on
the wall.”

I smiled at her. There was something
about this girl. I could see how she could have easily broken
through Dave’s defenses when I had failed. “Okay. If I come back, I
won’t bring any posters.”

While I sat in my car waiting for it
to warm up, I called Officer Brown. He confirmed that the police
were done collecting evidence, so I could indeed return to my house
today. He also told me that all charges against Dave had been
dropped. Officer Brown told me there was some pending disciplinary
action for the police officer who had accused Dave of assault
during his escape from the hospital. I thanked him and hung
up.

The thought of sleeping in the big
house by myself was not all that appealing, but I didn’t want to
take advantage of Mr. Kravitz. I doubted Dave would welcome seeing
me any time soon. Before I pulled away from the curb in front of
Mr. Kravitz’s house, I tried calling Dave. It went right to
voicemail. I didn’t want to come off like a stalker, especially
after the long message I had left for him last night. “It’s me. Um,
the doctors are supposed to wake up Libby this afternoon. I’ll be
at the restaurant today, then the hospital after. I just wanted you
to know where I was if you were looking for me. Bye.”

Tossing the phone in my purse, I drove
to a hardware store. If I was staying at my house, I was going to
need a little better lock than the ones I had now.

A half-hour later I was at my house.
When I opened the front door, an envelope had been jammed under the
door. Libby’s name was on the envelope with a big smiley face drawn
next to her name. If it were a get well card, I’d take it with me,
but since it hadn’t been mailed, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a
message from a friend who hadn’t heard what had happened. I took it
to the kitchen and opened it up. It was a thank-you card from
Jayson, a guy she worked with, accompanied by three hundred
dollars. I knew I shouldn’t read it, but I couldn’t stop myself. It
said: “Thanks for the loan on Monday. If you hadn’t have helped me,
I would have lost my car. I owe you big time. Thanks for not
telling anyone. Jayson”