Remote Consequences (16 page)

"Date-rape drug? How did that happen?" My skin was absolutely crawling at the thought. "Was I? Did I?" I swallowed back tears.

"No. No, Panda. We didn't find anything like that. Someone brought you in, but he didn't stay. I don't think anything like that happened to you—thank goodness for that."

"Paget?"

He rubbed my hand. Large, warm fingers pressed into the palm. I still felt cold.

"She's with Ms. Lanier. She's fine. It's you I'm worried about."

I smiled. "I'm not worried. You're the best doctor I know."

He smiled back and shook his head. "Liar."

I let out a small cough, followed by laughter, and his face lit up.

He looked back over his shoulder and lowered his voice. "Ty Dempsey is waiting outside for you, but I won't let him in unless you give the go-ahead."

I swallowed, and my throat was thick. "Can I have some water, please?"

He let go of my hand and took the small, pink plastic cup off the bedside table. He filled it halfway with water from a matching pitcher and inserted a straw. Holding it to my lips, I took a few small sips. The water tasted heavenly.

When I spoke, my voice came out all crackly. "Where's Colin?"

Dr. C. raised his eyebrows. "Colin who?"

I just stared at him blankly. Where had that come from?

"You know Colin?" The words sounded dumb even to my own ears, but I said them all the same.

"I'm not sure. Is that who you were with tonight? How do you know this Colin?" Dr. C. made a sour expression. "Mandy, we need to figure out who this man is and give the information to Ty. This is serious business."

Colin's face was on the periphery of my mind. He was there tonight. We'd gone to O'Hannigan's. That was clear in my mind, but I was forgetting something important. I knew he didn't have anything to do with this. I was pretty sure of it, at least. But what happened? How had I ended up drugged and in the hospital?

"I don't know what's going on, Dr. C., but I guess it will come back to me. I'm really tired. Can I stay here tonight since Paget is okay with Ms. Lanier?"

"Absolutely. I'll be back to see you in the morning, and I'm just a phone call away if you need anything else tonight. And speaking of Paget, I need to give you some information about care options for her. You didn't call me this morning, as we discussed you would."

My heart sped up at the mention of alternative care for Paget. I had asked him to look into it the last time we spoke, but I'd totally forgotten about the request. I'd also forgotten to call him. Too busy sneaking around and spying on the Mills. Speaking of spying, I guess my trip to O'Hannigan's hadn't been too productive. I really couldn't remember much about it. I knew I'd planned to eavesdrop on Allyson and Chubby, but what had happened after Colin and I had arrived there? That part was still sketchy.

"Wait. You found a place for Paget?" My head hurt, I was having trouble focusing.

"Let's discuss it later. There's a waiting list. It wouldn't be something immediate anyway."

I nodded, and the up-and-down motion made my skull throb.

He patted my arm. "Panda, let's just get you better and home. I'll check in on Ms. Lanier, and I'm sure Paget will be fine with her for tonight. I might let you go home later tomorrow. We'll see. One thing at a time. Okay?"

I forced a nod, and he turned to leave. "Dr. C.?"

He looked over his shoulder.

"Thank you for saving my life."

He gave me a tender pat on the head and then walked to the door. But before crossing the threshold, he turned back to me. "Oh, and Panda?"

"Yes?"

"I love the hair." He winked at me and then left.

I reached up and rubbed my head. I'd almost forgotten about my dark-haired makeover. In the end, it hadn't mattered much. No one had even paid that much attention to me at the bar. And I hadn't really found out anything beneficial to solving this case. 

But someone
had
noticed me and slipped me a roofie. Who could it have been and why? Was this the mysterious note sender who told me that they'd be watching me?

My life seemed to be racing downhill at a rapid pace. I didn't like feeling unorganized, and yet it seemed that the harder I tried to make things work, the worse my life was getting. It was time to get organized.

I pressed the bedside remote and waited for the nurse to answer.

"Yes…may I help you?" a bored voice came through the speaker.

"Could you ask the officer outside my room to come in? I'm ready to talk."

*  *  *

Ty appeared a few minutes later and sat in the corner chair, propping his booted feet on the foot of my bed.

I kicked out with my covered toes and made contact with the sole of his boots.

"How're you feeling?"

"I'm not sure yet. Confused, I guess. I'm not really clear on what happened. I know I was at O'Hannigan's but I don't know who or why someone would have slipped something into my drink."

"Mandy, what were you doing there and what happened to your hair?" He looked pained to have to ask the question. He let out a long pent-up breath and leaned back in the seat. We both remained silent for a few breaths.

"You don't like my hair?" Focusing on the most important things first.

"No, I don't. You're a good Irish girl—your hair shouldn't be that dark. And why are you wearing so much makeup? You don't need it."

I shrugged. My head had started to ache, and I felt a little queasy. I think that was his way of giving a compliment, but I wasn't sure. "I'm not feeling too well. But I'm trying to figure out what happened, and I could sure use your help."

"Oh, trust me, Mandy, if there is one thing I'm sure of it is that we will find the bastard who did this to you." He sat forward in the chair, moving his feet back to the floor.

"I don't want to think about that right now. I want to see if you'll share what you know, 'cause we may have to work together to solve the case of Colin's father. And—"

"Wait."

I stopped my train of thought as he interrupted, and my stomach gave a little gurgle that made my tongue swirl around in my mouth. I looked to my left and longed to have a sip of water.

"What? I'm not through talking," I managed to get out with my dry, parched, and now icky-tasting mouth.

"We are not going to be working together to solve any crime. And how do you know this Colin, and how do you know that his father is the body that you found?"

I was the one to let out a pent-up breath. "I know a lot of things, Ty. I'm not the same stupid high school girl that crushed on you all those years ago. I'm a doctor—well, almost a doctor, anyway. I'm older and smarter, and I know things. You don't need to worry about what I know. You need to worry about—"

He held up his hand, and despite my rant I stopped talking. I eyed the water pitcher again. The tray that held the water was just a tad out of my reach. Dammit. If I asked him for help, it would show weakness, and I was trying to make a stand here. Despite the fact that he continued to interrupt me.

"Mandy. Hold on a minute. Are you talking about Colin Brooks? Has he been in contact with you?"

I blinked heavily. My eyes felt so thick. Why did they feel so thick?

I was having a little bit of a hard time following the conversation. I was suddenly nauseated to the nth degree. I started to speak but felt a bit of burp surging from my stomach. This wasn't good.

Ty stood up and walked toward me. He sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to cup my chin in his warm hand. My heartbeat quickened, and I reached out to push him away from me. I swallowed down the sick feeling that was creeping up my throat.

"Is that what you were doing in the bar tonight? Some half-assed attempt at solving this case?"

This moment was rife with awkwardness, and my stomach still battled for attention.

I wanted to speak, but I didn't dare. I was just a breath or two away from tossing my cookies.

Ty cleared his throat in an obvious effort to get the conversation back on track.

"Mandy. Colin Brooks is a dangerous man. If he's been in contact with you there's something I need to tell you…"

I tried to process the words. An image of Colin sitting at my kitchen table and handing the box of chopsticks to my sister flashed through my head. I opened my mouth to speak, but instead…I threw up. All over Detective Ty Dempsey.

You can't put a wide head on young shoulders. –Irish Proverb

Two hours later, I was flipping through the channels on the hospital television. My stomach felt a lot better. I'd had a nice dose of anti-nausea medicine and had managed to eat a little dry toast on top of that. I was resting comfortably and thinking about Colin Brooks.

Ty had left in a bit of a hurry after the stomach interruptus situation, but the information about Colin that he'd shared with me had not been lost.

Was Colin really a dangerous man? And what had Ty needed to tell me about him? I had to admit that Colin was always sneaking around and popping up in the dark? Pulling his ghosting skills out whenever needed. He was there one minute, gone the next, and was only seen by whom he chose to be seen by. But he had been there when it counted. He may have saved my life tonight.

But tonight hadn't exactly gone as planned before my little drug-ingestion situation. Not only had I failed to really uncover any new information about the mystery at hand, all sorts of new questions had been raised.

He had admitted that he worked for a government agency, but which one? And in what capacity? Why did Ty think he was so dangerous? Mysterious, yes. Dangerous? I wasn't sure. I needed to talk with him either way.

My memories of this evening were slowly coming back to me. I'd gotten my hair dyed. I'd flirted with Colin. I'd had two too many Cosmos. Then, before I'd gotten sick, he'd moved in closer to see if he could overhear the conversation between Trask and Mrs. Mills. I remembered that much. But what happened after that?

I closed my eyes and curled up in the bed. A now somehow familiar scent reached my nose. Clean, warm linen with a hint of something slightly woodsy mixed in. I knew that scent. I smiled.

"Good to see you smiling." His voice made my eyes open…he was here.

"How do you
do
that?"

He shrugged as if he had no idea to what I was referring. "Do what?"

My face heated. I was feeling a little embarrassed about my behavior at the bar. For all intents and purposes, I'd come on to him and he'd rejected me.

"You just appear like that. Whenever I think of you. Whenever I need you. You're there."

His thick, heavy lashes caught my attention as he seemed to really take me in. "You really took this undercover operation seriously tonight when it came to disguise, huh?"

I let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, I think the hair thing might have been a mistake, but it was nice to get everything off my chest at the hair salon anyway. But, all that aside, I think I owe you my life, Colin."

He looked deep into my eyes. "Dr. Cavello saved your life. I just did the heavy lifting."

"Excuse me?
Heavy
lifting?"

This time he let out a laugh. A small dimple appeared on his left cheek. Something about him I hadn't noticed before. It made my heart race a little.

"Sorry about that. I just wanted to see how you were feeling. I can't stay. I'm checking into something." He looked over his shoulder.

"And what might that be?"

"Oh, I was able to snag your glass from the bar on our way out. I have a pal of mine running a trace on it."

I sat up a little straighter. "So you can find out who slipped me the Rohypnol?"

Something dark shone in his eyes. I'd never seen it before and I wasn't sure I liked it.

"Colin. What are you thinking?"

He shoved his hands in his pockets and backed toward the door a step. "I'm thinking you should get your rest and feel better soon. I'll see you tomorrow." And with that, he was gone.

Colin had an idea of who might have tried to drug me. He was going so far as to run prints on the glass, and I had no doubt that he'd figure this out. But it made me feel more than a bit anxious. The whole thing didn't make sense. How had someone known that was me so easily? I was there with Colin, and he wasn't exactly a well-known face around town. I'd dressed differently and I'd changed my hair and makeup—and yet someone had targeted me specifically and drugged me.

I was lucky that I'd only had a few sips of the drugged beverage.

But now what? Was this the work of the person who'd left the note on Stella earlier today? Maybe I should have been more wary of that. Maybe I should have told Ty about it. Was I really putting my life in the hands of a man I hadn't met until just a couple days ago?

I was missing something here. I just couldn't quite connect the dots. The dots? Oh yeah…

And where was Allyson tonight? Why hadn't she shown up for her rendezvous with Trasky-wasky? And why had Mrs. Mills shown up instead?

The image of Myrna Mills slapping the dickens out of Trask's chubby face replayed in my mind. My memory was back.

I closed my eyes again and replayed the scene. The waiter had come up on my left side, just as the big confrontation was going down bar side. I hadn't really made eye contact with him. In fact, as he'd placed the drink down, I'd been trying to see around him in order to watch the heated exchange in progress.

Something about that waiter tickled my memory like the wisp of a feather. What was it? He'd smelled like…perfume? A familiar perfume. Why would he smell like perfume and why did I recognize it?

My super-sniffer abilities might be another one of my superpowers, but I just couldn't quite place it at the moment. Maybe I just needed some rest.

Yes, that sounded good. I closed my eyes and drifted off.

*  *  *

I dreamed of the dark woods and Paget being lost in them. Only I knew, deep down, that it wasn't Paget who was lost, but me.

I awoke to sunlight creeping through the edges of the curtains and the sound of the overhead PA system paging some lost employee. I also awoke to a new day with new challenges that were suddenly my life, despite my desire to just go back to normal.