Death Drops (26 page)

Signed,

Dr. Willow McQuade

Jackson dropped to the floor, rolled onto his back, and groaned. Blood began to seep through the shoulder of his white T-shirt. His eyes fluttered closed and then opened again, but he had the presence of mind to say to Hector and me, “Get down!”

I did as he said, but then reached up to grab a jade-green hand towel from the table and pressed it into the wound. Hector crawled across to his desk, grabbed his cell, and called 911. Allie and her ten o’clock client, Sammy Braff, the woman who I believed had hypothyroidism, ran in.

“What’s going on?” Allie said, clearly in a panic.

“For God’s sake, get down and stay down, everyone,” Jackson yelled.

The two of them hit the floor and crawled over to us. “Jackson’s been shot!” I said. Sammy Braff started to cry. Instead of bawling myself, I kept my focus on Jackson and the situation at hand. Was the shooter still out there? Would the cops get here in time?

Jackson didn’t wait to find out. Grabbing the towel from me, he kept it pressed into the wound as he crawled over to the window, inched his way up, and then looked out into the backyard before dropping down again. “Whoever it was is gone.”

I crawled over to him. “Where do you think they were?”

“In the parking lot, beyond those trees. It’s a straight shot into this window.”

“First me, now you. Someone obviously wants us out of the way.”

Jackson pressed the towel into the wound and winced, but he managed to give me a smile. “You think?”

Detectives Koren and Coyle arrived
ten minutes later and had plenty of questions for us. But my main focus was Jackson. The paramedics who arrived shortly after the detectives looked at the wound and bandaged it to stop the bleeding. They wanted to put him on a gurney, but Jackson nixed that. Instead, Hector and one of the paramedics helped Jackson take the stairs, while uniformed officers secured the scene. On the way down, we told Koren and Coyle about the events of last night and this morning.

“Maybe whoever slashed the tires took a shot at you this morning,” Koren said. He flipped through his notebook. “There’s definitely a pattern of escalating violence here.”

“Definitely,” Coyle said. “Look at what happened at the Vine Bar last night. This case is a hornets’ nest.”

The more we talked, the madder I got. If they’d taken the threats against me seriously to begin with, maybe none of this would have happened. But I tried to keep my cool for Jackson’s sake.

One of the paramedics opened the back of the ambulance while his partner helped Jackson in and put him on a gurney; then they slammed the door and took off for the hospital. I headed to my car to follow them there.

Koren and Coyle walked to the edge of the parking lot and looked into the trees. Koren called to the two police officers with him and told them to establish a perimeter and put up crime scene tape to protect the area until the criminalist got there.

When they came over to me, Koren said, “So you and Spade knocking boots or what?” and gave me a smarmy look I didn’t like. Coyle laughed into his hand.

“That is none of your business,” I said as I reached the car and opened the door.

“Doctor, when it comes to this case, everything is our business,” Koren said, slipping his notebook into his inside pocket. “The sooner you accept that, the better off we’ll all be.”

I gave them a withering look. “You’re pretty cocky considering that this is all your fault. If you’d found Aunt Claire’s killer, you could have prevented Jackson from being shot. I’m thinking of suing your department for negligence. Tell your chief to be expecting my call.”

I really didn’t intend to
sue, but I did leave a message for the chief of police on my way to the hospital. Koren and Coyle needed to be set straight. Their duty was to protect and serve, but I’d seen little evidence of that so far.

Jackson was in surgery for more than two hours, and it was late afternoon before the doctor came out to the waiting room to talk to me. The bullet had gone right through but he needed to stay in the hospital for a few days before being released. Within a few weeks, he’d be as good as new.

When I walked into his hospital room, Jackson was sleeping. With his long eyelashes and scruffy beard, he looked, well, as Allie had said, yum-
my
. I quietly sat down in the chair by his bed and sent him good vibes while I waited for him to wake up.

He opened his eyes a few minutes later and smiled. “McQuade, you made it.”

“You made it,” I said, and smiled back. “That’s the important part. How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been shot.” He pushed on a pump connected to an IV bag. “Good pain meds, though. That helps.”

“I just can’t believe you got shot.”

He shaped his fingers like a gun and pretended to shoot himself. “Danger is my business, McQuade.”

“Should I contact anyone to tell them about what happened?”

He shook his head. “My ex-wife and I don’t talk anymore, and the rest of my family is all at a reunion upstate. I didn’t go because of my back. And I didn’t want to spoil their good time.” He fixed me with a stern look. “I hope this has convinced you to give up the case, Dr. McQuade.”

I returned his gaze. “Nope. I owe it to Aunt Claire to get to the bottom of this.”

Jackson whistled. “Oh, boy, I was afraid of that.”

“Besides, Koren and Coyle are a bunch of asses. I want to prove to them that they’re wrong about me.” I told them about our conversation in the parking lot.

“I have to agree that there is a high ass factor there.”

“So,” I said, clapping my hands together. “You’re with me when you get out of here. We’ll get back on the case when you feel better?”

“I’ll need help,” he said, not answering my question. Instead he gazed out the window, which had a view of the harbor’s twinkling blue water and the pleasure crafts cruising into their berths at the marina next to the hospital. “I’ll get a nurse in to take care of me like last time.”

“You won’t have to do that,” I said. “Hector, Allie, and I talked, and we want to take care of you. You can stay with us. With Hector in his room. Aunt Claire has a queen-size bed, so Allie and I will bunk together.”

“Willow, you’re not thinking clearly. This is getting deadly serious. You’ll have to clear out of the store while I’m in here,” he said. “Can’t you stay with Nick?”

“Not really,” I said. “His place is really small.”

“Or your mother or sister?”

I made a face like I smelled a can of tuna fish.

“Then stay at my place,” he said. “The keys have to be around here somewhere.”

“I don’t know.”

He took my hand. “Just stay there until I’m out. I have a first-class alarm system in place, and I’ll request regular foot and car patrols of the store. My neighbor is an ex–NYPD detective. I’ll tell him to keep an eye on all of you.”

It would be a great relief to feel safe, and I had a responsibility to Allie and Hector and my animals, too. “Okay,” I said. “But when you’re released, I want to get back to the store. I need to find that formula; otherwise this won’t stop. I can take care of you there at the same time.”

“I don’t want to be any trouble.” He attempted to sit up, but abandoned the idea and lay down again. “On the other hand, it would be a good way for me to keep an eye on you,” he added, smiling at me, and then he reached back to adjust his pillows. As he did, one of them fell on the floor.

“You’ll be my personal bodyguard,” I replied as I picked up the pillow and rearranged it so he’d be more comfortable. As I did, I leaned close to him and our eyes met. Zing! I felt the electricity rush between us like a power line and swallowed hard.

He gave me a look loaded with meaning. “Is that all I am to you, McQuade? A bodyguard?”

“That and more,” I said, feeling all gooey inside again.

He put his hand gently behind my head and pulled me in for a kiss. Afterward, he smiled and said, “Now that’s what I call first aid.”

While Jackson was in the
hospital, the cats, Qigong, Hector, Allie, and I camped out at his A-frame house in East Marion, a half hour as the gull flies from Greenport. I used the time to have a state-of-the-art alarm system with motion detectors installed in the store and café that I could pay for over time. I also talked to the chief of police, who spoke to Koren and Coyle. He told me that I could expect their cooperation from now on and gave me his cell phone number just in case. The chief also assigned foot and car patrols around Nature’s Way, both on Front Street and in back, by the IGA across from the Vine Bar. During the investigation, they’d found one cartridge shell but no gun.

Even though Koren seemed sincere about turning over a new leaf and taking me seriously, I wasn’t going to give up on my own quest to discover the identity of Claire’s killer. To that end, I’d e-mailed Sue Polumbo three times asking for a meeting. No reply. I’d also gone through every single contact in Aunt Claire’s iPhone, but either they were friends and were shocked to hear about her death or they were business contacts for the store. Nothing they said seemed suspicious.

I picked Jackson up at the hospital at ten a.m. on the Saturday following the shooting, and Hector and I helped get him up to Hector’s room on the third floor. We took it slow with Jackson, since his back wasn’t in great shape and he had a bullet hole in his shoulder, but when we reached the room, he collapsed, exhausted, on the bed.

Jackson ran his fingers through his hair. “Damn, I’m so wiped. This is embarrassing. I’m back to square one. I feel like I did after the accident.”

“Just take it easy, Jackson,” I
said. “It’s all about baby steps.”

“Yes,” Hector said, smiling. “Listen to your doctor.”

Jackson nodded. “I know. I’m just frustrated. Before the accident I wasn’t used to feeling weak. I thought I’d made some progress but now it’s gone.”

“I put that warming mat underneath the sheet,” Hector said. “It will help you feel better. In a few days, we’ll start treatments again. I’ll target your back and your immune system so you heal faster. Allie’s massage will stimulate the immune system, too. We’ll have you back to yourself in no time flat.”

Since the shooting, I was sure we’d have no other clients and that Hector and Allie could give Jackson their full attention. I had no idea how we would build up good will in the community after everything that had happened, but I pushed that thought out of my head for now.

Jackson gave him a thumbs-up. “Thanks, man.”

As Hector headed out, Merrily walked in with a strawberry-banana-mango-coconut smoothie I’d ordered for Jackson. It was chock-full of protein, probiotics, and green foods like young barley grasses, chlorella, and spirulina to help build up his immune system and get rid of toxins. Plus it tasted fantastic.

“This will help get you back on the road to recovery.” I took the drink from Merrily and thanked her before she left. Putting the smoothie on the night table, I adjusted the pillows on the bed so Jackson could sit up and drink. But first I checked his stitches, which luckily were still intact.

“This looks good,” I said, and put the bandage back on the wound. “It’s healing nicely.”

“It’s all that good energy you have, doctor,” he said, and kissed me lightly on the lips.

“Hmmm,” I said, liking it. “That must be it.” I kissed him again and handed him the smoothie.

He took a sip. “This is fantastic.” See?

He took another sip and pointed to his bag. We’d made a stop at his house before heading to Nature’s Way. “Can you get out my book?”

“Sure,” I said, and pulled out the latest Michael Connelly novel he was reading and put it on the nightstand. He’d started the series at the beginning, with
The Black Echo,
and was now on
The Concrete Blonde
. Next, I pulled out a seven-inch portable DVD player along with a stack of Jackson’s DVDs, including
The Wire
and
The Shield,
to keep him entertained while he rested. I wanted to get him set up before I went out.

“The prescription for the painkillers is in there, too,” he said, pointing at the bag.

In the side pocket was a prescription for an opiate medicine to help manage his pain. Yes, there are herbal options like willow bark, which contains the salicylates that are used in aspirin products, but the effect is mild and takes time to work effectively. An injury as serious as a gunshot wound demands a more intense and targeted approach, one that works quickly. Conventional medicine has its place, and in this case, a prescription painkiller was the way to go.

“I’ll get this filled and will be right back,” I said. “I don’t want you hurting.”

“You’re the best medicine I could have,” Jackson said, giving me a quick kiss. “But the painkillers will help, too. I’ve only got a few left.”

I said good-bye, went downstairs, put Qigong on his leash, and headed outside. The day was perfect, a real ten. Blue sky, sun, no clouds, the smell of salt in the air. The streets were crammed with tourists who were wending in and out of gift shops, antique shops, the bookstore, and new trendy clothing boutiques. I threaded through the crowds and headed for the drugstore, a white clapboard building on the corner of Front and 1st Streets.

I went to the side door, picked up Qigong, and stepped inside to join the drop-off line. When it was my turn, a
pert-looking high-school-age girl told me it would be ten minutes, max. She also thought that Qigong was super cute.

I turned and headed down the aisles to check out the products. It’s always good to know what the “other” side is doing. There were all the conventional medicines you’d expect. I picked up a bottle of cough syrup and thought about new research I’d read that shows that honey is just as effective as a cough suppressant. A bottle of antinausea medicine could be replaced with a nice cup of ginger tea. As I examined the shelves, I noticed two people—a short redhead about forty pounds overweight and wearing a track suit, and a tall, thin brunette with squinty eyes dressed in a T-shirt and jeans—looking at me and whispering.

Figuring they were gossiping about events at Nature’s Way, I ignored them and made my way down the aisle to the magazine rack at the front of the store . There I found the latest issue of
Whole Living
and flipped through it. The magazine had recently been relaunched and redesigned and was packed with useful content. I made a note to order it for Nature’s Way.