Fear gripped me strongly, and when I washed my hands in the bathroom sink, they were trembling. I was perspiring and breathing hard. I walked swiftly to the other end of the corridor and looked out a window. I could see my car covered in snow, and just one van. The other van remained missing. I returned to my office and resumed dictating.
A telephone rang somewhere and I started. The creaking of my chair made me jump. When I heard the elevator across the hall open, I reached for the revolver and sat very still, watching the doorway as my heart hammered. Quick, firm footsteps sounded, getting louder as they got nearer. I raised the gun, both hands on the rubber grips.
Lucy walked in.
‘Jesus,’ I exclaimed, my finger on the trigger. ‘Lucy, my God.’ I set the gun on my desk. ‘What are you doing here? Why didn’t you call first? How did you get in?’
She looked oddly at me and the .38. ‘Jan drove me down, and I’ve got a key. You gave me a key to your building a long time ago. I did call, but you weren’t here.’
‘What time did you call?’ I was light-headed.
‘A couple hours ago. You almost shot me.’
‘No.’ I tried to fill my lungs with air. ‘I didn’t almost shoot you.’
‘Your finger wasn’t on the side of the trigger guard, where it was supposed to be. It was on the trigger. I’m just glad you didn’t have your Browning right now. I’m just glad you didn’t have anything that’s single action.’
‘Please stop it,’ I quietly said, and my chest hurt.
‘The snow’s more than two inches, Aunt Kay.’
Lucy was standing by the door, as if she were unsure about something. She was typically dressed in range pants, boots and a ski jacket.
An iron hand was squeezing my heart, my breathing labored. I sat motionless, looking at my niece as my face got colder.
‘Jan’s in the parking lot,’ she was saying.
‘The press is back there.’
‘I didn’t notice any reporters. But anyway, we’re in the pay lot across the street.’
‘They’ve had several muggings there,’ I said. ‘There was a shooting, too. About four months ago.’
Lucy was watching my face. She looked at my hands as I tucked the revolver in my pocketbook.
‘You’ve got the shakes,’ she said, alarmed. ‘Aunt Kay, you’re white as a sheet.’ She stepped closer to my desk. ‘I’m getting you home.’
Pain skewered my chest, and I involuntarily pressed a hand there.
‘I can’t.’ I could barely talk.
The pain was so sharp and I could not catch my breath.
Lucy tried to help me up, but I was too weak. My hands were going numb, fingers cramping, and I leaned forward in the chair and shut my eyes as I broke out in a profuse cold sweat. I was breathing rapid, shallow breaths.
She panicked.
I was vaguely aware of her yelling into the phone. I tried to tell her I was all right, that I needed a paper bag, but I could not talk. I knew what was happening, but I could not tell her. Then she was wiping my face with a cool, wet cloth. She was massaging my shoulders, soothing me as I wearily stared down at my hands curled in my lap like claws. I knew what was going to happen, but I was too exhausted to fight it.
‘Call Dr. Zenner,’ I managed to say as pain stabbed my chest again. ‘Tell her to meet us there.’
‘Where is there?’ Terrified, Lucy dabbed my face again.
‘MCV.’
‘You’re going to be all right,’ she said.
I did not speak.
‘Don’t you worry.’
I could not straighten my hands, and I was so cold I was shivering.
‘I love you, Aunt Kay,’ Lucy cried.
14
The Medical College of Virginia had saved my niece’s life last year, for no hospital in the area was more adept at guiding the badly injured through their golden hour. She had been medflighted here after flipping my car, and I was convinced the damage to her brain would have been permanent had the Trauma Unit not been so skilled. I had been in the MCV emergency room many times, but never as a patient before this night.