Catherine's Cross (34 page)

“Thank you, Captain Barrett. I hope he's found soon.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

As he said those words, he looked in Seth's direction, and then drew close to his bedside. Jenks asked to be wheeled to where she could hold Seth's hand. As she took his hand in hers, she gazed at his handsome but bruised face and the bandages on the back of his head. The bed was elevated, placing his head at a higher position than his body, and he was on oxygen. His right leg was in a cast. As she studied his appearance, she could not fight her tears, and they rolled down her cheeks.

She looked up at the heart monitor and watched the rhythm of his heart beating, then laid her head on the side of the bed. Her thoughts went to Caleb Grayson, the brilliant scholar who had suffered severe brain trauma in a car accident and now was only capable of doing menial jobs.
The whole world is ahead of you and then with one crippling blow it's in ashes at your feet
. She said a silent prayer for Seth as she gazed at his beautiful face. Feeling dizzy again, she looked up at her mother and Nurse Hudson. “Please take me back to my room,” she said softly.

The next morning Dr. Coleman Petty examined Jenks. She was the same physician who had treated Seth when he had cut his arm rescuing Maggie Reynolds from her burning automobile. Dr. Petty did various cognitive exercises with her, and Jenks's reflexes and memory recall were satisfactory. She was still dizzy and suffering from a headache, but she felt better than she had the day before.

After the doctor departed, Jenks stood before the mirror in her room and looked at the terrible welt on her forehead. She pushed her hair back and looked at the bruises on her neck that Frank Hiller had caused while strangling her. Tears came to her eyes, and she wiped them with her hand. She realized that both she and Seth had survived a close brush with death.
Had the inventory declaration caused Frank Hiller to change his plans?

Detective Campbell came by and informed her that the police had been to the house behind Gigi's and that there was no evidence of surveillance equipment in the home. A photograph of Frank Hiller was shown to the owner of the house, James Barton, and he said that he had rented it to him, but the man had signed the lease “Matt Lipscomb” and paid in cash. Before signing the lease agreement, the owner did a background check that showed that he had no police record and was creditworthy. A frown crossed Detective Campbell's face. “We found that a Matt Lipscomb was one of Frank Hiller's former employees at Hiller's Barbells. Frank had done his own background check on Matt Lipscomb and knew he was completely clean. He even used Matt's social security number. He didn't miss a lick, did he?”

“No, sir, he hasn't yet,” Jenks replied.

“I found out that Frank Hiller's parents are deceased and he has one sister, but she said they haven't spoken in two years. One more thing—I contacted Jess Fraser, she's the supervisor at Bradbury Laboratories in Charleston. Those invoices that were in the refrigeration locker were records of work that the lab performed for your sister. Ms. Fraser said that conservation techniques were used on metal artifacts. They did work for Gigi on several occasions, and Ms. Fraser was stunned to learn of your sister's death. She told me she used to tease your sister by calling her South Carolina's female version of Mel Fisher.”

Later in the day, Jenks had short visits from the Bernsteins, Crawford Forrest, and Ida Mae and Meta Andrews. Ida Mae said they had heard about what happened at their prayer group. They were very worried about her welfare, and they were astonished to find out that the tall man who had rented the home behind Gigi's was Frank Hiller.

That evening, Nurse Hudson came to her room to check her vital signs and told her, “Detective Mason has been placed in a private room. His condition is improving. I'm very thankful.”

“Where is he?”

“He's on this floor, room 312, just around the corner from you.”

Jenks fell back asleep after Nurse Hudson left the room. She wasn't sure how long she slept, but during the night she woke. The hospital room was dark, except for a fluorescent light above the sink. Jenks rubbed her head and cautiously rose from her bed, putting on her robe. Her mother was asleep on the settee.

Dizziness overcame her again, and she grasped the bed rail to steady herself. After several moments, she gained her equilibrium and made her way to the door, opening it. There was no one in the hallway, and she placed her hand against the wall to steady herself. Slowly, she walked to Seth's hospital room.

She opened the door and made her way to the foot of his bed. The heart monitor displayed the beating of his heart, and he was still on oxygen.

“Miss Ellington, why don't you have a seat?” a gentle voice said.

“Who's there?”

A woman in a nurse's uniform rose from a chair at the side of the room and came to where she was standing. Jenks smelled roses when the woman approached her side and took her by the hand.

“I'm Bernice Heyward. Please come over here and sit down. I know you aren't feeling well. You probably shouldn't be up.”

“I wanted to see Seth.”

“Yes, ma'am, I've been praying for the two of you. I know the doctors have been worried about his head injury.”

Bernice helped Jenks into a chair beside Seth, and Jenks took his hand in hers. The warmth of his hand comforted her, and she gazed at his bruised face. He had a welt on his forehead where he had hit the concrete floor. She stroked his hand, and then placed it against her cheek.

“Miss Ellington, I work as a sitter for the hospital. I'm going to stay with him tonight, so I don't want you worrying about him being alone.” She looked at Jenks compassionately. “The man that did this, he is wicked.”

Bernice was silent for several moments and then she quietly said, “I understand you're a school teacher.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Jenks softly responded.

“My oldest daughter is a fifth-grade teacher in Beaufort. We're real proud of her. She was the first member of the family to graduate from college and her younger brothers want to follow her example. My husband and I work two, sometimes three jobs to save up the money for their education. I'm proud of them.”

Jenks nodded slightly, but felt her head throb when she did.

“Honey, I think you best get back to bed. I'm gonna walk you to your room.”

Bernice stood up and went to Seth, placing her hand on his leg cast. “I don't usually question the Lord, but you would think that when He was creating our bodies, He would have put some muscle in front of the shin bone rather than just behind it. That's about the worst place to take a bad lick. I'm afraid he's gonna feel this for a long time.”

She took Jenks by the hand and helped her to her feet. Bernice supported her as they walked together back to her room. In the light of the hallway, Jenks could see that Bernice was a middle-aged woman with deep-brown skin and graying hair. Jenks felt the strength in her frame as she held her arm. “If we need to stop, you just tell me,” Bernice said in a calming manner.

When they reached her room, Bernice helped her back into bed. Her mother woke with the noise and rose quickly from the settee. “Jenks—what are you doing?”

“Mama—I had to see about Seth.”

“Here—let me help you back into bed,” Linda said as she took Jenks by the elbow.

“Mrs. Ellington, she just wanted to see about her young man. I didn't let her stay too long. Now rest easy, Miss Ellington. I'll keep a close eye on Detective Mason tonight.”

Bernice left the room, closing the door behind her. “Jenks—please don't get up by yourself again. You're becoming as independent as Gigi was.”

“I just need to check on him.”

Her mother sighed. “Please get some sleep.”

As Jenks lay in her bed, she prayed for Seth and her sister. She remembered what her mother had just said: “You're becoming as independent as Gigi was.”

Then she fell back asleep thinking of the scent of roses.

Jenks woke to the sound of voices in her hospital room. Her mother was speaking to Dr. Petty. “We're hoping to release your daughter tomorrow. The dizziness she's experiencing should continue to diminish. We'll see how she's doing later today.”

“Thank you, Doctor. How is Detective Mason?”

“His condition is improving, but he's going to stay with us for a while.”

“Dr. Petty, is he going to be all right?” Jenks asked as she joined the conversation.

“Miss Ellington, good to see you awake,” Dr. Petty said as she came to the side of the bed. “The blow to his head concerned us a great deal, and he suffered a fracture to his right leg. I'm optimistic—with the rate of his improvement, he has a good chance of a full recovery—although it may take weeks or months.”

She patted Jenks on the hand and then walked to the end of the bed. “You're going to need rest. No activities that require deep concentration and no physical undertakings for a while.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Jenks said quietly.

She was due to return to Raleigh in the next week to begin preparation for the fall semester. That was now out of the question. She would need to phone Dr. Bishop, her principal, and explain what had occurred, but Seth was her main concern. She prayed that he would be able to fulfill his dream of attending law school, even if his studies were delayed. Jenks knew that she would not leave him, and tears came to her eyes when she thought of how he had been hurt. Seth had accompanied her to Fleming's to search for Gigi's salvaged treasures. Jenks wished that she had never sought the antiquities in the first place.

That afternoon, her mother accompanied her to Seth's room. Linda moved the settee close to Seth's bed, and Jenks laid down on the divan and took Seth's hand in hers. Her mother helped her situate pillows under her head and placed a blanket over her. When she opened her eyes again, she looked at her watch and realized that two hours had passed. She slowly sat up on the settee and looked at Seth.