wrath of the Sea Queen (154 page)

CHAPTER
36

Ben sat with Max and Apela in the lounge while Salma
treated
C
a
eli
's injuries
.  They talked for a while, passing the time with idle conversation, discussing nothing of great importance.  Max showed Ben some
old
school yearbooks with funny-looking photos
of his Papa
and even found a few that belonged to his
a
unt Lorrie. 

Max marvel
ed
over the way Salma fixed the cuts on his arms and legs while they waited for Vin to return
from the cave
.  Max had been scratched by the strange man's
knife-like
fingernails when he fought to keep from being pulled out of the
laundry room
cabinet.  He eventually lost the struggle, but
insisted that he
gave the man a few good
kicks
.

"
Pretty Dr. Salma said it wouldn't hurt, and it didn't.  Pretty C
a
eli was right.  I
do
like pretty Dr. Salma to be my doctor! 
L
ook at this.
"
  Max held his arm out for Ben to inspect the brightly colored
Band-Aids
. 

"
Pretty Dr. Salma said only really good patients get dinosaur
Band-Aids
.  I got three of them; and she didn't even give me a shot.
"
  Max rambled on for a while
longer before
turn
ing
his attention
to his coloring book, occasionally offering his insights on various topics when the conversation between Ben and his father caught his interest.
  Currently, the topic did
n
o
t interest him.

"
Apela, your sister seemed to
recognize
Vin
at the seminar earlier
.  Can you think of anywhere they might have met?
"

"
What makes you think that Lorrie knew Vin?

"
For starters, she knew Vin's name.  You introduced him as Dr. Erickson's nephew
, but y
ou never gave his name.  She also knew that Vin was married. 
She could
n
o
t
have
see
n
his
wedding
ring because h
is hands
were
out of sight
when she sat down
. 
Of course, Lorrie
might have been able to guess that one
.  But
, combin
e
d
with the fact that she also knew C
a
eli's name
,
I am led to
believe that Lorrie and Vin have met before,
"
Ben explained.

"
I suppose it is possible. 
Lorrie
went
to
the same
school
as Vin and C
a
eli
in
the States
when s
he lived in
Washington
for a few years
.  They could have crossed paths, but I honestly couldn't tell you
much
about the time she spent away from the island.
  Although, I think she used a different name so that
she
would not
be
associate
d
with the news reports
from her past
.  She was trying to distance herself from a
horrible experience
."

"
Same school?
  How d
o
you know
where
Vin went to school?
"

"Max borrowed a photo from C
a
eli on the plane so that he could color a picture of her.  She gave him a picture of her swim team, all wearing their school jackets.  C
a
eli wanted to know how I recognized the logo.  I told her that my sister
had
attended the same school.  C
a
eli also told me that
wa
s where she
and
Vin
first
bumped into each other
.  Small world, isn't it?"

Vin was in the room with C
a
eli, not venturing one step further away from her than necessary.  She was in bad shape, though he had not known
exactly
how bad until Salma beg
a
n to assess her injuries. 
Her stomach
looked like she
had been
on the losing end of a knife fight
. 
The left side of her stomach had three long, deep gashes
.  The rest of her body displayed smaller cuts and large bruises
, resembling
a professional boxer's punching bag.
  It looked like her ribs
might have
been beaten with a
baseball
bat.  Salma thought
at least two of them
might be broken.  There was a large bruise along the right side of C
a
eli's jaw, and her left hand and forearm were bruised as well. 
T
hat was all Salma could determine
by physical exam
while C
a
eli slipped in and out of consciousness
;
but
that was just the beginning. 

Each time she woke, C
a
eli was frantic, causing herself more pain as she
tossed
and turned
.  In her mind, C
a
eli still f
ought
an
unknown
assailant
.  Vin stayed close to hold
C
a
eli
still, helping to calm her down as quickly as he could.  He would
hold her hands
,
help keep her arms and legs still,
assure her that she was safe, and let the sound of his voice sooth
e
her fear.  These bouts and tending he
r
obvious injuries kept both Vin and Salma busy for a while.  There were
additional
concerns that Salma couldn't begin to address until C
a
eli could respond coherently. 
When C
a
eli woke the next time, Salma slipped a
strong
sedative into her IV
.  Wh
ile Vin was
busy
with C
a
eli
's struggle, Salma stepped out of the room.

Salma located Apela out in the lounge with Ben.

"Didn't you say that your sister kept other equipment here for her medical clinic?"

When Apela confirmed that she did, Salma asked if she could borrow a particular piece of equipment, and they walked off together to retrieve it.  They rolled a small, brown cart into Vin's room about twenty minutes later.  Whatever device it held was covered by a removable, hard, plastic lid. 

"
Stop
, please
! 
W
hat more do you want from me?"  C
a
eli cried out and wrapped her arms around her stomach.

Vin leaned in to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder
.  S
he kicked weakly at him,
but
her foot
was
restrained by the sheet on the bed.

"C
a
eli,
H
oney,
it's me.  It's Vin. 
I'm right here. 
You're safe.  Please
be
still
.  Don't move around,
"
Vin said calmly
over the lump in his throat
.
  It pained him to see her like this.  Wasn't it bad enough that she had already suffered the poison?  Now
she had to endure
this, too?

"Vin?
 
Vin! 
You're here. 
Oh,
Vin,
thank goodness!
" 
At last, s
he
recognized
more than
the so
othing so
und of his voice
.
 
C
a
eli
was
finally
coherent as she tri
ed to sit up
and grab on
to
h
im
;
but
,
she had d
ifficulty holding her eyes open as the sedative
rapidly
began its work
.