Kim was gone.
The bed was empty and freshly made, ready for a new patient. The only reminders of Kim were two flower arrangements—one was dried and drooping, but the second looked as if it had just been delivered.
Bess’s eyes filled with tears. “We’re too late,” she whispered.
George bit her lip. “I can’t believe she’s—”
“Wait a minute,” Nancy broke in. “This doesn’t have to mean she’s dead. Maybe they moved her to a different room or took her for tests or X rays or something. Come on!”
The three friends dashed out of the room and headed down the hall. As they turned a corner they heard a loud commotion at the nurses’ station.
“I never authorized any such thing!” a voice cried. “How could you possibly think I would?”
It was Kim’s mother, but she didn’t look grief-stricken. She looked furious.
“Mrs. Baylor?” Nancy rushed up to her. “What’s going on?”
“I’d like to know myself!” Mrs. Baylor exclaimed. “I leave my daughter’s room for all of twenty minutes to get a cup of coffee in the cafeteria and what do I find when I come back? An empty bed, that’s what I find. With no daughter in it!”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Baylor,” the nurse said nervously. “But the doctor who signed her out said you wanted her taken back to River Heights as soon as possible.”
“That’s ridiculous! Why would I have her moved at such a crucial time?”
“You mean Kim had gotten even worse?” Nancy asked.
“No, she was getting better! Just a couple of hours ago, she actually woke up,” Mrs. Baylor explained. “She didn’t say anything, of course, she was too weak. But she knew who I was—she smiled at me before she went back to sleep. The doctors said it would be just a matter of days before she’d be back on her feet.” She turned to the nurse again. “They also told me it was very important to keep her quiet and calm,” she said accusingly. “It would be the most ridiculous thing in the world for me to take her back to River Heights right now!”
The nurse started to say something, but Mrs. Baylor didn’t give her a chance. “I’m going to see your supervisor right this minute,” she told her. “And you’d better hope she has some answers for me! If she doesn’t, heads are going to roll around here!” Without a backward glance, Mrs. Baylor strode to the elevator and furiously punched the button.
When she was gone, the red-faced nurse puffed out about a gallon of air. “This is definitely not my day,” she complained. “I’m new here and all I did was follow a doctor’s orders, and now my job’s on the line!”
Nancy barely heard her. “If we’d just gotten here an hour ago, this whole thing would never have happened,” she muttered.
“What are you talking about?” Bess asked.
“Those flowers,” Nancy said, pacing back and forth in front of the desk.
“What flowers?”
“In Kim’s room, remember? One of the bouquets was drooping and the other was fresh. I’ll bet you a brand-new string bikini that they were both sent by the same person.”
“Lila?” George asked.
“Lila.” Nancy stopped pacing and shook her head. “Lila Templeton has been one step ahead of me ever since I got here. That tan hunk who works for her probably delivered those flowers so he could find out what shape Kim was in. When he realized she was recovering, he called Lila. That’s why the phone was busy. And Lila decided that Kim better disappear.”
Nancy thought for a moment, then suddenly turned to the nurse. “That doctor,” she said, “the one who signed Kim Baylor out. Who was he?”
“It wasn’t a he, honey,” the nurse replied. “That doctor was a she, and she had two of the cutest orderlies with her that I ever saw in my life.”
“Lila Templeton,” Nancy said again. “The doctor had blond hair, right?” she asked.
“Blond hair and big green eyes,” the nurse replied. “She was real friendly, smiled a lot.”
“A great bedside manner, huh?” Nancy asked with a wry smile. Without waiting for an answer, she looked at Bess and George. “We’ve got to get going,” she said.