Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (55 page)

“
The other question,” he
said. “Why won’t you let Jill or me help you?”

“
I don’t know,” Sandy said.
“It always feels like people are so stretched and I’m just stealing
from them.”

“
Huh,” Blane said. “Very
altruistic. I thought it was because you weren’t sure what you’d
owe someone if they helped you. I had a foster father who used to
say, ‘Every thing has to be paid for.’ It totally sucked when the
bill was due.”

Sandy reached out to hold his hand. He
smiled at her. Their eyes held in understanding.

“
You know Jill better than
any person on the planet. What could Jill possibly want as
payment?”

Sandy shook her head. She opened her mouth
to defend her position. Seeing the understanding on his face, she
closed her mouth.

“
I’ll make you a deal,”
Blane said. “I’ll help you receive help and get well, if you help
me receive help and get a new liver.”

“
Deal.”

“
Please don’t tell
Heather,” Blane said. “She’s everything to me and she…”

“
It’s our secret deal,”
Sandy said.

“
Secret deal,” Blane
said.

Sandy held her hand out. They solemnly shook
hands. Blane stood to take out the acupuncture needles. She was
asleep when he finished. He touched her shoulder in good-bye and
she opened her eyes.

“
Thanks,” she
said.

“
I’ll hold you to your
promise.”

“
I’ll remember.”

He opened his mouth to say something else
but she was out. He met Aden down the hall. The men talked for a
moment and Aden returned to Sandy’s room. Seeing she was asleep, he
ate her ice cream and settled in on the cot.

One day down. Rachel was one day older and
stronger. And Sandy was stronger. Closing his eyes, Aden was simply
grateful for the one day he’d had.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and
TWENTY-THREE

One, two,
three
…

Saturday morning — 5:15 A.M.

Nausea woke Sandy from her drug induced
sleep. She had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from
vomiting. Dragging her IV behind her, she tried to make it to her
bathroom but her surgical wound stopped her in her tracks. Like
one, two, three, she felt the searing pain in her belly, crumpled
to the ground and began throwing up.

She heard Aden call the nurse and felt his
strong arms on her shoulders. He helped her to the bathroom where
her stomach continued to purge. The nurse came in then ran out.
Sandy had just stopped throwing up when diarrhea assaulted. Aden
tried to help hold her on the toilet. The nurse came running in
with clean towels.

“
What’s going on?” Aden
asked the nurse.

“
Her system has woken up.”
the nurse said. “This is a very good sign.”

Overcome by the voiding of her intestines,
Sandy could barely keep from vomiting. They heard running
footsteps. Blane appeared at the doorway.

“
Quickly now,” the nurse
said to Aden. He helped her pull back Sandy’s hospital
gown.

Blane began inserting needles.

“
We’ll have to catch her
when…” the nurse said to Aden.

Sandy passed out. As if all the drama of the
last moments had never occurred, Sandy fell forward
unconscious.

“
Can you get her cleaned
up?” Blane asked the nurse.

“
Leave the needles in?” she
asked.

“
For now. I’ll be back in
time to take them out,” Blane said. Turning to Aden, he said, “Come
on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

“
But…” Aden
said.

Aden watched another nurse come to help
clean up. A housekeeper arrived with a mop. Blane guided, pushed,
and nudged Aden out of the room

“
You can shower at our
house and be back by the time she’s settled,” Blane
said.

“
How did you get here so
fast?” Aden asked.

“
I was downstairs visiting
Rachel,” Blane said.

“
You were what?” Aden
asked. “Why is everyone acting like this is normal?”

“
It’s part of the treatment
I gave her,” Blane said. “I jolted her system. Her digestive system
and liver haven’t been functioning since her appendix
burst.”

“
That’s why she hasn’t
gotten well,” Aden said.

“
One of the reasons,” Blane
said. “Before I left last night, I told the nurse to expect this.
Dr. Tomogura called in this morning to see if Sandy had purged yet.
Once her system purges itself, he’ll start with a round of
aggressive antibiotics to see if we can get the
infection.”

“
If not?”

“
We keep using the
acupuncture to strengthen her system,” Blane said. “If the
antibiotics don’t get it, we’ll start on herbal
treatments.”

“
Who is this Tomogura?”
Aden asked.

Out of the hospital, they turned right and
continued toward Blane’s house.

“
He’s the best infection
doc in the country,” Blane said.

“
Why haven’t I met him?”
Aden asked.

“
He’s in Iraq,” Blane said.
“He’s a military doc.”

“
How?”

“
It’s not what you know,
but who you know,” Blane laughed.

They crossed Eighteenth and continued on
Franklin. Aden stopped in his tracks.

“
Wait,” Aden said. “If
Sandy’s incapacitated, I need to Kangaroo Rachel.”

“
You can’t do it covered in
vomit and shit,” Blane said. “Plus, Jill’s there.”

“
You came over with Jill?”
Aden asked. Not understanding, he shook his head.

“
Jill woke me this
morning,” Blane said. “We came to the hospital together. Jill and I
are on the visiting list for Rachel. We were with Rachel when the
nurse called. Jill will do the touch session this
morning.”

“
Oh,” Aden said.
“How…?”

“
It’s not what you know but
who you know,” Blane gave Aden a big smile. “According to our
psychic friends, today will be a turning point for the health of
your family.”

“
That would be really
good,” Aden muttered. “They don’t mean a turn for the worse, do
they?”

“
They don’t.”

They walked up to Blane and Heather’s home.
Blane opened the door. They went through the front toward the
kitchen. He kissed Heather’s cheek and took Mack from her.

“
Oh great,” Blane said.
“The muffins are done.”

“
I just took them out,”
Heather said.

“
We thought you’d like
something warm to eat before heading back.”

“
You’re amazing,” Aden
smiled at Blane.

“
I know,” Blane
laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday morning — 9:53 A.M.

Seth came into the room and moved to sit
near the back. The Chief of Police waved him toward the front. The
room was filled with officers and detectives from every department.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigations forensic team took up most of
the back of the room. Their Agent-in-Charge raised a hand in hello
to Seth. He waved him to the front of the room. The coroner came in
after Seth and sat down next to him at the table in front. The
forensics technician set a latte in front of Seth and winked.
Flushing a little, he smiled.

“
Friend?” the coroner
asked.

“
Something like that,” he
said.

“
I wish I had friends like
that,” the coroner said.

Seth held the cup to her and the coroner
laughed.

“
Go ahead,” Seth said. “We
already had some. She was bringing a refill.”

“
What’s her name?” she
asked.

“
Amelie,” Seth
said.

The coroner gave him a strong look.

“
Alvin,” he said. “Amelie
Alvin.”

“
You’re dating the Attorney
General’s daughter? You are brave.” The coroner took a drink of the
latte. She turned the cup around and pointed to the name on it.
“This says Ava.”

“
Her middle name is Vivian.
I call her Ava,” Seth said.

“
You’re really dating her,”
the coroner laughed.

“
Define dating.”

“
I always thought that was
just a rumor,” the coroner said.

“
What?” Seth
asked.

“
That you get all the hot
girls on the force,” the coroner said.

“
That’s a lie,” Seth
said.

“
I can see that,” the
coroner laughed.

“
I don’t get anything
female,” Seth said. “You can ask my ex-wives. Women are a complete
mystery to me. Including you.”

The coroner jostled Seth and he laughed.

“
I hear you’re a
grandfather,” the coroner said.

“
Grand-Godfather,” Seth
said.

“
Whatever,” the coroner
said. “Sandy is your daughter and you know it.”

“
I have a picture of the
baby but she’s pretty tiny,” Seth said. “She looks a little bit
like a monkey.”

Seth took his phone and showed her one of
the more than fifty pictures he’d taken.

“
This is Rachel Ann,” Seth
said.

“
I see a lot of preemies,
Seth,” the coroner said. “She’s really beautiful. You’ll see. In a
few months, you’ll have to beat the boy babies away with a
stick.”

Seth laughed.

“
How are they? Rachel and
Sandy?”

“
They’re better,” Seth
said. “I don’t really understand it but Rachel appears to be
kicking her infection.”

“
And Sandy?”

“
She’s on the mend. They
got some Army doc to manage her infection treatment,” Seth smiled.
“I’ll tell you. I was really afraid. Still am.”

His eyes misted and he nodded. The police
chief stepped up to the podium next to Seth.

“
Let’s get started,” the
police chief said. “We have a lot of evidence to cover. I’ve
assembled a spokesperson from every team.”

The police chief indicated the men and women
at the front table.

“
We’ll start with Detective
O’Malley,” the police chief said. “This is his case from start to
finish. We’re lucky to be in a situation where he can focus his
considerable talent on this one case. Seth?”

Seth stood and looked out at his audience.
They had sent the best and brightest men and women to work on this
case. Their eyes and attention turned to him.

“
I have three things I want
to get straight right away,” Seth said. He held up an index finger.
“One, we have and will use psychics on this case.”

The audience groaned.

“
I don’t care what you
think you know,” Seth said. “But this case needs at least one
psychic. We would be nowhere without them.”

“
Seth’s friend Delphie
helped us identify all of the bodies.” Defensive, the coroner’s
research person shot to her feet in the middle of the room. She
continued, “We’d be totally stuck. These kids don’t have any
records. No medical. No dental. No police records.
Nothing.”

“
Some families have waited
decades to find out what happened to their loved one,” the coroner
said. “I’d be happy to call them and let them know your
sensibilities don’t include doing everything in our power to
identify their beloved child.”

The audience shifted uncomfortably at the
coroner’s strong words.

“
If you have trouble with
this,” Seth said. “Leave now. I won’t hold it against you. But I
won’t tolerate any whining. The psychics identified all but two
children. They also found this barn. Any questions?”

When no one stirred, Seth continued.

“
Two, I am in charge of
this case. I’ve received authority from the Chief, CBI and the
Governor,” Seth’s middle finger joined his first. “If you have an
issue with that, I’d invite you to leave now. I won’t tolerate back
stabbing, egos, or anyone questioning the authority of command. We
have a serial murderer who recently executed a ten year old boy.
I’m not going to play power politics while children’s’ lives are at
stake. Any questions?”

He watched his audience blink and think. The
younger ones sat up a little straighter. This was a chance for them
to prove themselves. The older ones shifted in their seats. They
had hoped for some room to maneuver in power politics.

“
Third, this is a
multidiscipline and multiagency investigation.” Seth’s ring finger
joined the middle and index. “I expect you to give each other and
the other agencies your cooperation. That means transparency,
honesty, integrity, and complete cooperation. What I hear that
someone from the Natural History Museum or Social Services or the
FBI or the CBI or Goodwill, or any other agency or department asked
you to do something and you refused? There will be hell to pay
which can include your dismissal from the force. I’m dead serious
about this.

“
Does anyone have any
questions before we continue?” Seth asked. “This is your chance to
leave.”

He fell silent and waited. When no one
moved, he nodded.

“
Ladies and Gentlemen, we
have a serial killer in our midst. He might be your next door
neighbor. He might have cooked your breakfast. He might even be
sitting in this room. But as sure as I’m standing here, this man
will kill another child. From the coroner team’s extensive and
detailed work, we know he will kill again very soon.”