Out of Bounds (3 page)

“Sure, lots of times,” Nancy said brightly. She'd only done it once or twice in the course of investigations, but the lie was for a good cause.

“All right, come by tomorrow afternoon, and I'll give you a try,” he said with a hint of a smile. “You'll have to work odd shifts for a week or so. After that, if it works out, we can talk about a regular schedule, okay?”

“Great!” chirped Nancy, offering her hand.

Pete didn't take it. “Be on time,” he warned her. Then he walked away, leaving her with her hand outstretched.

“I'll be on time, all right,” Nancy said under her breath. Lonnie, Rob, and Bill were up at the counter ordering when Nancy got back to the table. While Cynthia listened, Bess seemed to be trying to talk George into something.

“Say yes, George,” she pleaded. “Come on. It'll be so much fun!”

“I don't know,” George said evasively.

“Don't know what?” asked Nancy, slipping into her chair.

“Lonnie wants me to go out with him tonight,” George said. She didn't sound enthusiastic.

“Bill and I are going dancing, and Lonnie wants to take George,” Bess explained. “We could double!”

“I don't know,” George protested weakly. “I mean, I hardly know the guy!”

Nancy glanced oyer at Lonnie, who was in line
with his friends. He certainly was good-looking, and a talented athlete, too. He and George would seem to have a lot in common. “Sounds like fun to me, George,” Nancy put in encouragingly.

“Oh, okay, I guess,” said George, blushing a little as the guys returned to the table.

“So? Did you think it over?” Lonnie asked George, flashing her a gorgeous smile of perfect teeth.

“Okay, I'll go,” George agreed.

“Great!” said Lonnie. “How about you, Rob? You and Cynthia haven't been dancing in ages.”

“You know Cynthia works Saturday nights,” Rob said quickly. “She starts in a couple of hours.”

“Actually, I'm off tonight,” Cynthia volunteered. “But you look tired. I think you should get a good rest tonight, Rob.”

“Me? Tired?” Rob raked a hand through his sandy blond hair. “Maybe I am,” he admitted with a slow grin.

The order was brought to the table soon, and the hungry group started wolfing down their food. As Bess reached for the ketchup, she rapped Cynthia's glass of water with her knuckles and spilled it all over the table.

“That was so clumsy of me!” she said, embarrassed as she madly tried to sop up the water with her napkin.

“I'll get more napkins,” said Rob.

As he stood, Rob suddenly swayed backward. Cynthia reached out to steady him. “Rob? Are you okay?”

“Umm. I'm fine,” Rob said slowly. He rubbed the back of his neck. “My head hurts a little, and I got a little dizzy—that's all.”

“Let me go for the napkins,” Cynthia said, standing up.

“I'm okay. Really.” But as Rob took a step away from the table, he suddenly pitched straight forward and collapsed in a heap on the floor!

R
OB
!” C
YNTHIA TOOK, A STEP
and dropped to her knees beside her boyfriend. “Wake up! Oh, no,” she moaned, gently rolling him over onto his back.

“He's fainted!”

Nancy knelt on the other side of Rob. Picking up his wrist, she felt for a pulse. “His pulse is weak,” she announced. “Somebody call an ambulance!”

“I will.” George raced off to find a phone.

“Lonnie, keep everyone back. He needs air,” Nancy ordered firmly. Lonnie quickly organized the busboys and waiters in a circle around Rob.

“Rob, Rob!” Cynthia cried. Behind her stood
Bill and Bess, who was biting her lower lip anxiously.

Nancy had placed her ear against Rob's chest to listen to his breathing. It was ragged and shallow.

“He did just faint, didn't he?” Cynthia asked breathlessly.

Nancy looked up and shook her head gently. “If it were just that, his pulse and breathing would be normal,” she answered.

Cynthia grasped her boyfriend's hand. “Oh, please, please let him be all right!” she sobbed.

Nancy spotted Bill Ellman beside Bess. “Could you sit her down and get her some water?” she asked.

“Sure thing.” Bill nodded, helping Cynthia up. “Come on, Cyn,” he murmured.

“He'll be all right, you'll see.”

“Here's a napkin. I ran cold water on it,” offered one of the busboys.

“
I
don't need it,” said Cynthia, taking the cloth and returning to Rob. “I want to be near him.” She bent down and pressed two ends of the napkin against her boyfriend's temples.

“Bill, get a jacket and roll it up. Put it under his head,” Nancy said, much calmer than she felt. She reached for his pulse again. This time it was so weak, she barely found it. There was no time to waste, so Nancy began to give Rob mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She blew deeply and repeatedly
through Rob's mouth, trying to force air into his lungs.

“Please wake up, Rob,” Cynthia moaned. “Please!”

Nancy sat up to catch her breath, and Bill took over the mouth-to-mouth for a minute. After Nancy replaced Bill again, she finally saw Rob's chest moving. “He's breathing,” Nancy whispered softly. Flushed with relief and exhausted by her efforts, she knelt back on her heels.

“Good work, Nancy—and Bill,” said George, who was standing behind them now. “The ambulance should be here soon.”

“Thanks, George.” Looking up at her friend, Nancy's attention was caught by a movement she saw out of the corner of her eye. Turning quickly, she was shocked to see the assistant manager, Mark, rifling through the navy blue gym bag hanging on the back of Rob's chair! His hands were deeply imbedded in the bag with Yale printed on it, and he seemed to be searching for something at the bottom of it.

Suddenly, as if sensing her eyes on him, Mark looked up, straight at Nancy. “Here,” he said quickly, yanking a sweatshirt out of the bag. “We can cover him with this. It'll keep him warm.”

“Good idea,” Nancy said as Mark tucked the sweatshirt around Rob. The quarterback was breathing steadily now. His pulse was regular, even if it was still weak.

In the distance Nancy heard a siren. Thankfully, the paramedics would soon be there. “Okay, everybody, clear a path for the medics!” Pete bellowed from the front door, where he'd been keeping a lookout for the ambulance.

The paramedics burst in, carrying a stretcher and a medical bag. Gently Bess helped Cynthia to stand up and pulled her back from Rob.

After listening to his pulse and breathing, the medics lifted Rob onto the stretcher and carried him outside to the waiting ambulance.

“Sorry,” one of them told Cynthia as she tried to climb in the ambulance. “No one but immediate family rides in the ambulance.”

“We'll follow in my car,” Nancy said, taking Cynthia's elbow in one hand and grabbing Rob's gym bag in the other. She didn't want to leave it behind for Mark to rifle again. George and Bess picked up their things and trailed Nancy out. Bill and Lonnie said they'd meet them at the hospital.

Opening the door to her Mustang, Nancy threw Rob's gym bag onto the back seat. “Which way is the hospital?” she asked Cynthia as they climbed in.

“Not far. Stay on Bedford to Main,” Cynthia told her numbly.

Nancy pulled out into traffic. The ambulance and Lonnie's car were far ahead, though they could hear the siren in the distance.

“That hit Rob took today,” Bess said. “Do you think that's what made him pass out?”

“Probably,” Nancy said, stopping for a red light.

“Oh, I'm so afraid for him,” Cynthia murmured softly.

“He's in good hands now,” George said comfortingly as Nancy drove on. “There's the hospital up ahead.”

“I know it's hard, but try not to worry,” Nancy suggested. “It won't do Rob any good.”

Nancy quickly parked, and the three girls ushered Cynthia inside the hospital and into the emergency room. Bess stepped up to a nurse seated behind a green counter. Lonnie and Bill were waiting for them there.

“How is he?” she asked the boys.

“He's in with a doctor now,” Bill told her.

“If you want to wait, I'll have her give you a status report when she's through examining him,” the nurse told them.

“Thanks,” said Bess.

“Let's all sit over there,” said Nancy, pointing to some orange molded-plastic chairs across from the counter.

“This may take a while. Anybody want anything from the cafeteria?” Bill asked.

“No, thanks,” Cynthia answered weakly.

“Why don't the four of you go for something? I'll wait here with Cynthia,” said Nancy.

Nancy watched the foursome disappear into the hospital elevator. Beside her, Cynthia fidgeted, barely able to control her anxiety. She picked up magazines and tossed them down after flipping through the pages once. She got up, paced, then sat down again.

“Cynthia, what do you know about Mark?” Nancy asked, remembering that she had seen the assistant manager go through Rob's gym bag. “What's he like?”

“Mark?” Cynthia seemed to forget for a moment who Mark was. “Oh, Mark Gatwin! I don't know much about him really, except that he's totally nice to everyone who works at Touchdown. Not like Pete.” Cynthia shivered at mentioning his name.

Nancy nodded. “Anything else?” she asked.

“Well, he's about twenty-two, I think. He took a two-year course in restaurant management,” Cynthia said, finally settling into one of the orange chairs. “He told me he interviewed for the job as manager, but the corporation picked Pete because he had been a local football hero.”

“Did Mark ever say he resents that?” Nancy asked.

“Not in so many words,” Cynthia said pensively. “But it's pretty obvious that he does.”

“So—Mark wants Pete's job,” Nancy said, mulling the idea over. “Do you think he could ever get it?”

“I don't know,” Cynthia said with a shrug. “Pete must be in trouble with the corporation because of the missing money. I guess Mark would be next in line for the job.”

Nancy let out a low whistle. “Interesting,” she murmured.

“Nancy,” Cynthia asked, her eyes wide, “are you saying you think Mark is the thief? That he took the money to make Pete look bad?”

“I'm not saying anything,” Nancy answered tentatively. “It is a possibility, though, isn't it?”

Cynthia let out a big breath. “I guess so, but Mark seems like such a nice guy.”

Nancy remembered the intent look on Mark's face as he went through Rob's gym bag. She couldn't help feeling he was doing more than fishing for a sweatshirt.

The two girls sat quietly for a few more minutes. Finally the doctor emerged. She was a tall, well-built woman of about thirty-five, with almond-shaped bluish green eyes. “I'm Dr. Gebel,” she said, with a slight foreign accent.

“I'm Cynthia Tyler, Rob's girlfriend. Is Rob okay?” Cynthia asked anxiously.

“We think so,” the doctor said slowly. “But he appears to have suffered a moderate concussion.”

“From the game!” Cynthia gasped.

“Yes, probably,” Dr. Gebel said. “He's resting comfortably now. The X rays looked all right, but
we want to do some more tests in the morning, just to be sure.”

“Sure of what?” asked Cynthia anxiously. “Do you suspect something else?”

“Well, the preliminary tests showed some unusual results. Not unheard of, but unusual. I just think it's best to be sure.”

“Oh?” said Cynthia weakly. “Maybe I should stay for a while,” she said softly. “He needs somebody—”

“We've reached his parents,” the doctor said. “They're in with him now. Why don't you come back tomorrow morning? We'll know more then, and Rob should be happy for the company by then.”

“All right,” said Cynthia, swallowing back a lump in her throat. “Thanks, Doctor.”

The doctor turned to leave just as Bess, George, Bill, and Lonnie emerged from a nearby elevator.

“Is he okay?” Bess asked nervously as she walked up to her friends.

Cynthia nodded listlessly. “For now,” she answered.

“He's got a concussion, and they want to run some tests,” Nancy explained. “We might as well leave. Cynthia, I'll drive you home.”

Cynthia seemed reluctant to go. Nancy put an arm around her and guided her toward the exit. “I'll pick you up in the morning and bring you
right back here for morning visiting hours. That's a promise.”

• • •

The next day as Nancy drove the twenty minutes from River Heights to the rural outskirts of Bedford where Cynthia lived, she kept replaying the scenes at Touchdown. She couldn't shake the image of Rob lying on the restaurant floor and Cynthia pacing while they waited at the hospital.