When everything that could be done for Mary Ann had been done and after all the consults had departed, David felt dazed. His group of oncology patients had become far more emotionally draining than he’d originally feared. Finally he left the ICU, and just to be reassured, he stopped in again to see Jonathan. Thankfully Jonathan was doing marvelously.
“I only have one complaint,” Jonathan said. “This bed has a mind of its own. Sometimes when I press the button nothing happens. Neither the head nor the foot rises.”
“I’ll take care of it,” David assured him.
Thankful for a problem that had an easy solution, David went back to the nurses’ station and mentioned the problem to the evening head nurse, Dora Maxfield.
“Not his too,” Dora said. “Some of these old beds break down a little too often. But thanks for telling us. I’ll have maintenance take care of it right away.”
David left the hospital and got on his bike. The temperature had dropped as soon as the sun had dipped below the horizon, but he felt the cold was somehow therapeutic.
Arriving home David found a bedlam of activity. Nikki had both Caroline and Arni over, and they were racing around the downstairs with Rusty in hot pursuit. David joined the melee, enjoying being pummeled and trampled by three active children. The laughter alone was worth the punishment. For a few minutes he forgot about the hospital.
When it was almost seven Angela asked David if he would take Caroline and Arni home. David was happy to do it, and Nikki came along. After the two children had been dropped off, David was glad for the moments alone with his daughter. First they talked about school and her new teacher. Then he asked her if she thought much about the body discovered in the basement.
“Some,” Nikki said.
“How does it make you feel?” David asked.
“Like I don’t want to ever go in the basement again.”
“I can understand that,” David said. “Last night when I was getting firewood I felt a little scared.”
“You did?”
“Yup,” David said. “But I have a little plan that might be fun and it might help. Are you interested?”
“Yeah!” Nikki said with enthusiasm. “What?”
“You can’t tell anybody,” David said.
“Okay,” Nikki promised.
David outlined his plan as they continued home. “What do you say?” he asked once he had finished.
“I think it’s cool,” Nikki said.
“Remember, it’s a secret,” David said.
“Cross my heart.”
As soon as David got into the house, he called the ICU to check on Mary Ann. He had been distressed that the floor nurses had missed the worsening condition of his two patients who had died. At the same time he recognized that his patients’ vital signs had shown little change as their clinical states markedly deteriorated.
“There has been no alteration in Mrs. Schiller’s status,” the ICU nurse told him over the phone. She then gave him a lengthy review of Mrs. Schiller’s vital signs, lab values, and even the settings on her respirator. The nurse’s professionalism bolstered David’s confidence that Mary Ann was receiving the best care possible.
Intentionally avoiding the kitchen table after the previous night’s revelation, Angela served dinner in the dining room. It seemed huge with just three people and their skimpy dining-room furniture. But Angela tried to make it cozy with a fire in the fireplace and candles on the table. Nikki complained it was so dark she could hardly see her food.
After they had finished eating, Nikki excused herself to watch her half-hour allotment of television. David and Angela lingered at the table.
“Don’t you want to ask me how my afternoon went?” Angela asked.
“Of course,” David said. “How was it?”
“Interesting,” Angela said. She told him about her conversations with Paul Darnell and Barton Sherwood concerning Dennis Hodges. She conceded that David might have been right when he suggested that some people in town knew who did it.
“Thanks for giving me credit,” David said, “but I’m not happy about your asking questions about Hodges.”
“Why not?” Angela asked.
“For a number of reasons,” David said. “Mainly because we both have other things to worry about. But beyond that, did it occur to you that you might wind up questioning the killer himself?”