Sea Bound, page 4
Sophie had been partially propped up on one side, but she let herself fall back on the floor and sighed. “I hesitate to say, ‘I fell and I can’t get up!’ because you will laugh at me.”
“Sophie, do I look like I’m laughing? I have to do something, but I’m afraid to move you. I’m going to call an ambulance.”
“No!” Sophie shouted. “Do not call anybody! Just give me a hand. I’m not hurt, I’m just stuck.” Sophie was much larger than Sarah, but Sarah was strong. Still, she hesitated to move her until she found out what had happened and whether Sophie was injured.
“Wait here,” she said to Sophie as she headed for the telephone in the kitchen.
“Where am I going to go?” Sophie replied sarcastically.
“Sorry,” Sarah said on her way out of the room.
She placed a quick call to Vicky and asked her to explain to Grace she was dealing with an emergency and would try to get there later in the day or certainly by tomorrow. Then she called Charles. “Charles, I need your advice.” She explained what was going on and he told her to do nothing until he got there.
“The front door is unlocked. We’re in the bedroom.” After a short pause, she added, “Thank you, Charles. You’re always there for me.” Her voice cracked ever so slightly.
“You called somebody!” Sophie yelled accusingly when Sarah returned to the room.
“I just called Charles. He will come help us figure out what to do.”
“What does he know about it?” she demanded with a hint of anger in her voice.
“He’s a retired police officer, Sophie. He knows what to do in situations like this. You didn’t want me to call the medics, which I think is the right thing to do. So let’s just let Charles come. Maybe he can help you get up.”
Sophie sighed deeply and turned her face away from Sarah. After a minute or two, she spoke. “Sorry,” she said softly.
Sarah got Sophie a glass of water and asked how long she had been on the floor. “I was getting out of bed and walking across the room. I don’t know what happened. One minute I was walking and the next minute I hit the floor.” Sarah saw that Sophie’s slippers were scattered across the room and the throw rug was askew.
“Did you trip over your slippers or maybe the rug?” she asked.
“How would I know?” Sophie barked.
Deciding not to pursue the question of how she fell, Sarah asked gently, “Does anything hurt?”
“No … well, not unless I move. My whole leg hurts from the hip down to my toes when I try to move. Do you suppose I broke my hip?” Sophie was starting to look worried.
“Maybe. That’s why we need the medics,” Sarah responded.
“But I’m so well padded! I didn’t think I could ever break anything with all this nice cushioning I have.” Sophie chuckled and then added, “I could sure use a nice cup of coffee.” Sarah wasn’t sure whether that was a good idea. If she ended up needing surgery, she shouldn’t have anything in her stomach.
“Let’s wait until the doctor sees you.” She went on to explain her reasoning, and Sophie strongly objected to the idea of a doctor, the hospital, and surgery.
But ultimately she had no choice. The ambulance arrived at the hospital just a couple of minutes before Sarah and Charles. “You still have your flashing red light,” Sarah marveled. “I didn’t know you could use that once you were retired.”
“You can’t,” he responded simply. He jumped out of the car and hurried to Sarah’s side to open the door. “Go on in and see if you can stay with Sophie. I’ll park and come find you. Does she have any family we should call?”
“Her son’s in Alaska working on the pipeline. Let’s wait until we know something. I don’t think this is going to be anything serious,” Sarah responded. Charles looked skeptical.
It was two hours later when Sarah joined Charles in the waiting room. “She was lucky. She just fractured her ankle,” Sarah told him once they were seated. “It’s not too bad, but they are putting a cast on her to assure it heals properly. They said the ankle will be fine, but they want her to stay overnight. The doctor is more interested in why she fell than he is about her foot. She admitted to them that she has been falling lately.”
“I didn’t know that,” Charles responded.
“Neither did I,” Sarah said, looking peeved. “They’re running some tests to rule out the common causes,” Sarah continued. “So far they say she’s in pretty good health for her age.” They sat quietly for a few minutes, each thinking about Sophie. Sarah wondered why Sophie hadn’t told her about the falls.
“Will she need physical therapy?” Charles asked.
“Eventually, I guess. But she can’t put weight on that foot right away. I don’t expect her to be a very compliant patient,” Sarah added with a smile.
“I had physical therapy over at the nursing home. It’s handy, and they’re good.”
“She won’t go near the nursing home. You know how she is about that. They mentioned Middletown Physical Therapy over on Main Street. I can drive her there.”
“I went there for a while, too. They’re okay. They have a gym if she wants to get into an exercise program afterwards.”
Sarah rolled her eyes just as the nurse came into the room. “Ms. Miller? You can see her now.”
“How is she?”
“She’s doing fine medically, but she’s a bit feisty.” Sarah thought that was probably putting a very positive spin on Sophie’s behavior. “We admitted her,” the nurse went on to say as she pushed the button for the elevator. “She’s not happy about staying, but the doctor wants her to stay at least overnight.”
When she arrived at Sophie’s room, Sarah found Sophie trying to get out of bed. “Thank goodness you’re here!” she exclaimed as Sarah walked into the room followed by the nurse. “You, that is,” she said pointing at Sarah, “… and not you,” she said emphatically, pointing at the nurse. “Go away and close the door,” she demanded. “I need to have a private conversation with my friend.”
The nurse left the room shaking her head and Sarah followed her to the door, mouthing apologies. “Okay, Sophie. What’s going on? These people are taking good care of you, and you seem to be giving them a hard time.”
“Of course I am! They are trying to keep me prisoner.”
“Sophie, no. They are keeping you here to make sure you are okay and that it will be safe to send you home tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Sophie responded with disbelief. “Tomorrow?” she repeated. “No way. That’s not going to happen,” Sophie announced, loud enough for the nurse to hear. “Help me dress, Sarah. I’m going home now.”
“Sophie, I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. We all need to know what’s going on with you. The doctor said you might be having circulatory or respiratory problems. They are checking to make sure …”
“Poppycock!” Sophie shouted. “There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m perfectly fine and I want to go home.”
“Okay. Tell me first why you’re falling. And while you are at it, tell me why you didn’t tell me about those other falls.”
“Those little things? They were nothing. Now, get me out of here.”
Sarah shook her head, gave Sophie a little squeeze on her arm, and left the room.
“Where are you going?” Sophie demanded as Sarah walked out the door. “Get back here!”
Sarah kept walking to the nurses’ station and asked if she could speak to the doctor. She expected them to ask if she were family, but at this point they were probably happy to have anyone intervene. The doctor told the nurse he would meet Sarah in the third-floor waiting room. Sarah headed for the room and put in a quick call to Charles for him to join her there. His cell phone was turned off as the hospital signs requested, but she left a message anyway.
Doctor Wilhelm appeared in another ten minutes, and they discussed Sophie’s condition and her demands to be released. “I will have to release her if she insists, but I would suggest you talk her out of this if possible. She needs pain management, and I would like to run a few more tests to see why she’s been falling,” he explained. “I don’t think she understands how serious falls can be at her age. If she fractures her hip, for example, there can be very serious ramifications. We need to know what’s going on with her.” Sarah agreed to make every effort to get her to stay.
Just as the doctor left, Charles entered the room. Sarah caught him up on what was happening. “I’ll stay here with her tonight,” Sarah offered. “That will keep her here until tomorrow. Could you take Barney home with you?”
“Sure,” he responded, looking worried. “Do you need anything from the house?”
“I’ll go talk to Sophie now and then you can drive me home to pick up a few things, okay?”
“Of course, sweetie. I’ll wait here while you talk to her.”
Returning to Sophie’s room, she found a more mellow Sophie. “I’m glad to see that you’re more relaxed,” Sarah said with a warm smile.
“They gave me a shot of something to shut me up,” she slurred.
“Well, I guess it worked,” Sarah teased. “I spoke with the doctor and you won’t be able to leave until tomorrow.” Sarah announced this firmly in a tone that conveyed there was no sense in arguing. Quickly she added, “I was wondering if you would like for me to stay here with you tonight.”
Sophie’s whole demeanor changed. She brightened up and said, “Would you do that?” The two women made plans for what Sarah should bring for the two of them. “What about Barney?” Sophie asked.
“He’s going home with Charles.”
Sophie smiled the smile of a hospital patient on pain medication. “That’s nice,” she said as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 6
“What do you think of this idea?” Sarah asked a week or so later, passing the magazine to Charles. It was open to the article about Stephanie Anderson’s quilting cruises. Charles read through the article, nodding his head as he read.
“This sounds terrific, Sarah. Are you considering it?”
“I think so. At least I’m giving it some thought. If I decide to do it, is there any chance you would consider going?”
“I sure would,” he responded with an enthusiastic grin. “It sounds like great fun! When are you thinking about going?”
“Maybe this fall; there are two cruises in October and one in November. I’m concerned that you might get bored while I am taking classes, but it looks like there are lots of activities onboard. Have you ever been on a cruise?” she asked.
“No. But I think we would have an incredible time!” Charles responded. “We would have the trip together to the port, wherever that is …”
“Baltimore,” Sarah interjected.
“Baltimore? Maybe we could take the train. That would give us some time together and would be an adventure,” he said with a chuckle.
“I agree!”
“… and I’m sure we would have some time together on the ship,” he continued. “It looks like the classes are primarily during the day. And then there’d be the land excursions …” he looked at her expectantly. Her smile was fading. “What is it?” he asked.
“My only concern is …” she began. “Well, we’ve never talked about …” Sarah spoke hesitantly.
“No problem,” Charles interrupted, immediately understanding her concern. “Separate rooms! In fact, I wonder if Sophie would be able to go by then.”
Sarah brightened up immediately. “I’ve been wondering about that, too. She’s done very well since she got home. She learned to use the crutches and has turned out to be a better patient than I expected. I’m not sure if she would want to go … but her ankle should be okay by then.”
“You two could room together, and Sophie and I could entertain ourselves during the day.” With a mischievous smile, he added, “I’m not sure why I think this, but I’ll just bet Sophie would enjoy the onboard casinos!”
“I think you’re right,” Sarah laughed. “I’ll find out more about this and we can decide later. Let’s walk into town and get ice cream.”
“Great idea!” Charles responded. “I’ll get Barney and meet you outside.”
Once he got out of earshot, he pulled his cell phone out and placed a call to the police department. “Kenneth in Communications, please.”
“Kenny here.”
“Kenny, it’s Parker. Any luck?”
“Hey, Charlie! I’m glad you called!” Charles had been retired from the police department for nearly six years, but occasionally he took on special assignments for his old lieutenant. Everyone at the station called him Charlie. He never liked it much. His wife had always called him Charles, and when Sarah asked about calling him Charlie, he told her it reminded him of work and that he preferred Charles.
“I don’t have much information for you,” Kenny continued. “I know the call came from Portland, Oregon, but then you suspected that already. The phone belongs to Gary Pearson. There are lots of calls to and from Mason Electronics in Portland.”
“Those are probably business calls. That’s where he works. How about Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, including during the evening?”
“There weren’t any calls going out, but there were a bunch of messages on the cell, all from someone calling himself Al. I printed those out for you, primarily just foul language. He was really hot about not reaching Gary.” Kenny shuffled papers around and then added, “There was one call picked up at about 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday night. That’s probably the call you told me about.”
“That’s it. Have any calls come in on the cell since I gave it to you?”
“Not a sound yet. I’ll keep monitoring it.”
“They’ve probably connected with each other some other way by now,” Charles said offhandedly. Then he realized that if the two men had connected, they might have discussed the call he answered at Sarah’s house. This Al person, and now Gary, might realize that Sarah or someone in Sarah’s house knew something was going on. He wondered if this might put Sarah in any danger.
“Is there any way to find out who this Al fellow is?” Charles asked.
“No, he was on a throw-away cell. But you know how to find this Gary, right?”
“Right. I’ll start there. Thanks, Kenny. I appreciate what you’re doing.”
Just as he was hanging up, Sarah joined him. Scratching Barney’s ear and watching him place his cell phone back in his shirt, she asked, “That reminds me, were you able to return Gary’s cell phone?”
“No,” he responded. “That’s something we need to talk about.”
She looked at him with curiosity as they started up the street toward the park. He simply said, “Let’s grab a bench in the park and sit down where we can talk.” Crossing the street, they entered the park and strolled north toward town.
It was just a little over a mile from Sarah’s front door to the other side of the park and onto Main Street where Stitches, Ciara’s Café, and Persnickety Place were located. Beyond these shops, there was a residential area and, beyond that, the downtown district of Middletown. Downtown was in its heyday some thirty years before Cunningham Village was even built. In those days, that was where people did their shopping; with the advent of shopping malls, Middletown’s Main Street had little to offer. Even Keller’s Market, where Sarah had worked for many years, had relocated near the mall.
Sarah sat down at the first bench they came to and Charles joined her. “Okay, friend,” she began. “Confess. What’s going on? You’ve been acting very strange lately.”
“You’re right. I’ve been trying to protect you, and I know how you hate that!”
“So why do you do it?” she asked in a teasing tone. “Do you just like to irritate me?” Still grinning, it hadn’t occurred to her that this involved anything serious. But turning to look at him, she realized his face looked troubled. “What is it?” she asked more seriously.
Charles took a deep breath and launched into the story of the cell phone. He told her what the caller had said and what he was suspecting. He told her about his talk with Kenny. As he talked, Sarah’s look changed. “What are you saying, Charles? You think Gary is up to something?” She frowned, and Charles couldn’t interpret the look.
“I’m wondering,” he said. “That’s all. I’m just wondering if he might be involved in something.”
“But why would you think it also involved me?”
Charles had chosen not to tell Sarah that the caller referred to her as “old lady Miller.” It just sounded too hurtful. Instead, he said, “The caller referred to ‘the Miller woman’ a time or two.”
“What did he say about me?”
“He wanted to know if you asked about the will,” Charles responded.
“The will? Rose’s will? Why would I ask about that?” Sarah seemed puzzled.
“Well, I’m wondering if you were mentioned in the will, perhaps. And maybe Gary and this other guy wanted to swindle you out of your inheritance.”
“I was mentioned in the will. Didn’t I tell you? I got a letter from some attorney, and I responded saying that I wouldn’t be attending the reading. He sent me a form giving him authority to send me whatever she left me. I figured it might be a quilt or two. I remember her saying, ‘This will be yours someday’ when I had admired one of her quilts.”
“And that’s what Gary brought you?”
“Yes, the quilts—five of them.”
“No money?” he asked.
“Certainly not! She wouldn’t have left money to me. She had Gary, her grandson.”
“Is he her only family aside from you?” Charles asked.
“Yes. The only living family. She lost her son and his wife in an automobile accident years ago. Gary was away at school when it happened. It was a very sad time.”
“Sorry,” Charles said and remained quiet for a minute to give her time to reflect. He then asked, “Did you actually talk to this attorney?”
“No. We communicated by mail.”
