The Bitterest Pill

Sixty-nine

Things could not have gone worse for Mehdi, Arakel, Stojan, and Georgi.

Mehdi was livid. “Idiots! You know the expression ‘If you try to kill the king, you had better not miss’?”

Stojan opened his mouth to answer, but the look on Mehdi’s face closed it.

“That was not a real question. Not only did you miss the king, you did not even kill the prince. If we thought the heat was on beforehand, now it is about survival. We must clean up the loose ends not in Paradise, but on this end. Do you understand me?”

Arakel said, “But if we produce no profit, we will have nothing to kick upstairs.”

“For now, we empty our accounts to kick upstairs. We must buy ourselves some time with those who might choose to replace us.”

Arakel wanted to argue with him, but for once he was in lockstep with Mehdi. The bosses wanted their money. They would not care from where it came, and in the meantime they would make alternative arrangements with other doctors, other teachers, other students, and other cops.

Mehdi said, “What are you waiting for? Begone. And do your worst without pleasure, you animals. We want the loose ends to be ends, not to create more questions and anger.”

Stojan and Georgi got up from their seats and proceeded to the van. They drove into Boston, but not to Dr. Wexler’s home or to Dr. Laghari’s.

The woman at the hospital switchboard fielded the call.

“Paradise General. How may I help you?”

“I need to know Petra North’s condition.”

“I’m sorry, miss,” she said. “I don’t have that information.”

“Then please transfer me to someone who does.”

“Are you an immediate relative?”

“I am her sister.”

“Well, then I suggest you call your parents for an update. It’s hospital policy not to give information regarding a patient’s condition over the phone.”

“Can you connect me to her room, then?”

“I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can connect you with the nurses’ station on that floor. Please hold.”

She waited, pacing, listening to a distorted elevator-music version of “Norwegian Wood.”

A woman answered the phone in a hushed voice. “ICU.”

“Can you give me an update on Petra North’s condition?”

“One moment, please.”

More “Norwegian Wood.”

“Hello, this is Officer Weathers of the Paradise Police Department. Who is—”

She clicked off and dropped the phone to the floor as if it were a piece of white-hot metal.

Now she was faced with that same dilemma she had been faced with before: to run or not to run. Those threats of violence against her now seemed less frightening than the prospect of a life in prison. The police were close, knew a teacher was involved, and if the girl recovered there would be no counting on her to keep her secret. There was only one other option, but she had to be smart about it and careful.

Jesse stopped by Cole’s room, but he was asleep. The nurse at the station reassured him that his son was doing well. Still, he asked to speak to the doctor.

“He’s been called to the ER. Come back in a little while, or I can have him call you.”

Jesse said he’d be back up. That he had to stop by the ICU.

Annette and Ambrose North were seated in the visitors’ lounge down the hall from the ICU. Both looked exhausted and lost. It was amazing, Jesse thought, how violence and tragedy can strip away the veneer and masks people show to the world. He suspected that the Norths had been showing them to the world for so long that they had come to believe their façades were actually who they were.

Annette looked up. “Jesse.”

“Any change?”

“None,” Ambrose said. “You saved her life. Thank you.”

“If you really want to thank me, a little truth would be nice.”

“Anything,” Annette said, glaring at her husband. “Anything.”

“Yes, Chief Stone. As my wife says, anything. Ask your questions.”

He asked and they answered. They had known about Petra’s drug use. They had made the same mistakes that Patti Mackey and Etta Carpenter had made by trying to wean their kid off the drugs and then by being willingly fooled by Petra’s lies. They had figured out it was Petra who had stolen the watch, but by then it was too late to take things back. They had gotten Petra counseling. She had detoxed. But it was no good.

“The drugs she snorted to put her in here,” Jesse said. “I think someone was trying to kill her.”

Annette gasped and Ambrose North’s face twisted in fury.

Jesse continued, “I’ve got her under police guard and I don’t think the person who did this is stupid enough to try something in the hospital. It was an act of desperation.”

Ambrose said, “You think it was the teacher.”

“I do.”

“After the interview at the station,” Ambrose said, “we pleaded with her to give us the name. We explained that it might be used as leverage if you pursued criminal charges against her. But she denied knowing. She is definitely protecting someone.”

“Do you think she wouldn’t tell you because she was afraid?”

Annette spoke up. “No... Well, maybe a little. But it wasn’t that. I’m sure of it. It was as if she was protecting a loved one.”

Ambrose started to speak and then decided the time for pretense had ended several hours ago.

Before heading back to Cole’s room to speak with his doctor, Jesse checked in with Gabe Weathers.

“Boss, good thing you’re here. Saves me the trouble of calling you.”

Jesse was curious. “Call me about what?”

“A little while ago, a woman called up to ICU to check on the girl’s condition. But when the nurse put me on the phone, the phone went dead. I called the front desk. The woman didn’t leave a name but claimed to be the North girl’s sister.”

“How old did this ‘sister’ sound to you, Gabe?”

“In the thirty-to-forty range, but it’s hard to tell with voices over the phone.”

Jesse told Gabe he’d have some food and coffee sent up for him and that he would send someone up to relieve him as soon as he could.

“Was it a sister, Jesse?”

“The teacher,” he said. “She’s scared.”

“Is that good, her being scared?”

“Good, but dangerous.”

“You think she’ll try for the girl again?”

“No, Gabe. She tried to kill the girl and failed. Now she’ll have to try something else.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know,” Jesse said. “That’s what makes her dangerous.”