Medical Kidnap Files 1-6, page 64
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“I told you! I told you she was poisoning him, and you didn’t believe me. Admit you thought I was just paranoid!”
Gabriel rubbed his arm. “I didn’t know. None of us have anything but suspicions. I did everything I could!”
She aimed another blow at him, but Gabriel stepped back, avoiding her.
“Cut it out. You didn’t know either. You didn’t suspect anything until you saw the two of them together.”
“I wondered before I ever saw them at all. You were the one who was sure that Leva couldn’t have done anything. She was an angel. Could do no wrong. You were so sure!” Renata was shouting.
The doctor and Nelson stared at Renata with wide eyes. Gabriel took a slow breath, trying not to react to her anger and make it worse. She was just upset. Like he was. Upset that Seth had been hurt and that it had happened on their watch. She was reacting to the same guilt as Gabriel was. A horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that he had been blinded by Leva’s image and that he’d been wrong.
When no one said anything, Renata seemed to realize the attention she was attracting. She relaxed her body language and looked away from Gabriel, trying to compose herself.
“If there’s anything we can do to help…” Gabriel said to the doctor.
“There’s nothing more you can do at this point. Calling the ambulance and providing your insight… that’s the most you could do for him.”
The man tactfully took his leave, letting Gabriel sort Renata out. Gabriel watched him go back toward the treatment area through a set of swinging doors. Gabriel didn’t want to look at Renata or Nelson.
“We need to go,” Nelson said. “The police are going to have more questions. Including who we are.”
“I want to make sure he’s okay,” Gabriel said hesitantly.
“We can’t stay here.”
“You can come back later,” Renata said. “Nelson’s right. We can’t stay right now. But the cops won’t stay here all day. You can check back in later.”
Gabriel nodded. Renata put her hand on his arm. Her touch was gentle. She wasn’t trying to hurt him anymore. Renata tended to get angry fast and get over it fast. Gabriel took longer. He was still building up to being angry. Guilt, betrayal, confusion, he felt all of those. But he wasn’t angry yet.
“You look tired,” Renata said. “You’d better find somewhere to recover before you crash.”
Gabriel nodded. He’d eaten, but if he didn’t sit down and get control of his racing heart, he would end up in trouble.
The three of them found an urban park nearby with short-clipped green grass where mothers pushed children in strollers, twenty-somethings sunbathed, and office workers stretched their legs and got a breath of fresh air or a smoke. They sat in the shade of a group of trees. The soft, warm grass was inviting, and within a few minutes, Gabriel stretched out on it and closed his eyes, feeling like a cat that had found a spot on the windowsill. The sun shone through his eyelids and warmed his body. He found himself drifting while Nelson and Renata talked.
“Hey,” Renata shook him. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Gabriel assured her. “I’m just going to have a nap, recharge the batteries.”
“Your sugar’s okay?”
“I’m fine. Just feeling a bit sleepy. Didn’t get much rest last night.”
She grunted. “You should have stayed with me.”
“Uh-huh.”
He let the heaviness take over his brain. It wasn’t a long nap; he didn’t think so, anyway. When he awoke, he felt relaxed and refreshed. He rubbed his eyes and rolled over to look at Renata and Nelson.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Renata greeted.
“Hi. That felt really good.”
“You must have needed it.”
“Yeah.” Gabriel sat up and rubbed his eyes some more, blinking in the bright sun. “Has anyone called Carmel? She’ll be wondering what’s going on. She was involved in this transfer too.”
“She’s your girlfriend,” Renata said. “Why would we call her?”
“Whoa!” Gabriel held up his hands. “She is not my girlfriend. We have never gone on a date or done anything together other than work. I don’t know her personally at all, just through the Railroad.”
“You seemed pretty cozy with her.”
“Cozy?” Gabriel shook his head. “You’re crazy. We are not together and she is not my girlfriend. In any way.”
Renata leaned back in the grass, a small smile of satisfaction on her face.
“We haven’t called her,” Nelson said. “I guess you should.”
Gabriel shrugged. “Do you want to?”
“You go ahead. I barely know her.”
“Neither do I,” Gabriel said. But he picked up his phone and considered it. He looked at Renata. “You want to call her?”
“Why would I want to call her?”
“You don’t sound like you like me talking to her. You could talk to her if you don’t want me to.”
“I don’t want to talk to her. You go ahead. It doesn’t matter to me.”
“You sure?”
“Why would I care? You said there’s nothing between you, and I believe you.”
Gabriel looked at Nelson. “You’re my witness, right? She said she doesn’t want to call Carmel. She wants me to do it. She said she doesn’t care.”
Nelson just smiled and looked away, not getting involved. Gabriel gave Renata one last look to make sure she didn’t object. She shrugged widely and motioned for him to go ahead.
Gabriel dialed Carmel’s number.
“Hey, it’s Gabriel.”
“Oh, hi! Are you okay? You hung up sort of quick the other day; I wasn’t sure if maybe something was wrong.”
“I’m fine.” Gabriel glanced at the nearest road, remembering the car that had shown up the last time he had talked to Carmel. It didn’t even have to mean that she had betrayed them. But it might mean that they were bugging her phone. “You remember talking about our transfer? That things might… not be right?”
“Sure, of course.”
“He’s back in hospital. And we’ve… given the doctors a heads-up.”
Carmel swore. “No! Judge Dee-Dee was so sure. I didn’t think she could be wrong about it.”
“I think she was. We don’t have proof. No one saw her doing anything. But I think it was her, and the doctor’s going to have the police follow up, see if they can find anything at her house. His magnesium is high, and we think… I saw Epsom salts at the house. She might have…”
“Or might not have,” Carmel pointed out.
“I know. That’s what I said. We don’t have proof. Maybe the police can find something.”
She breathed for a minute. “I’m sorry, Gabe. You must be pretty disappointed. You… really admired her.”
“Yeah, I did. She was such an advocate for mitochondrial disease. I didn’t think… I didn’t think that the doctor’s suspicions could be true. I couldn’t see it.”
Renata was listening in on Gabriel’s side of the conversation and he caught her nodding in agreement.
“I just thought… you should know,” Gabriel finished. He wasn’t sure how to end the conversation. Maybe Carmel didn’t really care about the developments. She was done the transfer and back home again, back to her own life.
“Yeah. I’m glad you called. I wondered how things went after your last call. Thanks for telling me.”
Gabriel said goodbye to her and ended the call. He looked out to the street again, looking for any suspicious vehicles. Renata followed his gaze.
“What?”
“Nothing. Just making sure.”
“Making sure what?”
“That we weren’t followed… under surveillance.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why? What makes you think that?”
Gabriel tried to wave it off.
“Nothing. It’s fine.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Renata searched the street herself. She took a long look around the green space, eyes alert. “Come on. Spill.”
“Last time I talked to Carmel, a car went by… it was nothing. Just a dark car with tinted windows, it went by, and I wasn’t sure…” He trailed off. “I’m just being overcautious.”
“You think she’s a leak?”
“No. Just… being careful. Just in case.”
The three of them sat there, looking around suspiciously. Renata was the first to break.
“I can’t stand sitting here anymore. I’m all creeped out now. Let’s go back and see how Seth is doing.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Gabriel waited impatiently while Nelson scouted ahead. As the only one among them who didn’t have any warrants or Social Services interest, it was safest for him. But Gabriel found waiting excruciating. It was one thing if he had to move slowly himself, but having to wait on someone else while he stood around made him itch like a hundred bugs were crawling over his skin.
“You told me to chill earlier,” Renata said. “I could tell you the same thing now.”
“I don’t need to chill. I just need Nelson to get his butt moving and find out how Seth is and if we can see him.”
“He will.”
“How long does it take to find his hospital room?”
“Longer than thirty seconds. And you know he could be somewhere else having tests done, too. How many times were you in a room within a few hours of being admitted to emerge?”
Gabriel groaned. “But admitting will tell Nelson if Seth hasn’t been assigned a room yet. We won’t have to wait while he traipses all over the hospital.”
“Be patient,” she advised. “Come sit down and talk to me.”
Gabriel considered the seat next to Renata’s. In a waiting room full of patients, two more people sitting and waiting didn’t stand out. But if he continued to pace like an agitated squirrel, people would begin to take notice. He forced himself to sit down. The chairs were uncomfortable, as if whoever had purchased them had no idea people would be sitting in them for hours on end. They were hard and slippery and had no head support if a person wanted to lean back and go to sleep. Gabriel tried to settle into a comfortable position. Renata gave him a wry smile.
He hadn’t expected to have to wait an hour for Nelson. But the time dragged on and on and seemed to go more slowly the more he looked at his watch.
“Gabe,” Renata said softly as he looked at his watch yet again.
“I know, I know. A watched pot.”
“No. Look.”
Gabriel followed the direction of her eyes and saw the police escorting a woman from the elevators toward the doors. Leva. Gabriel felt a sinking feeling. He swore softly under his breath and turned away from the scene so that the police and Leva wouldn’t notice him sitting there. It was his fault. His fault that Leva had had access to her son again, and his fault that she had been rearrested. He should have just left well enough alone. He should never have interfered with the case.
“I know,” Renata said. He looked at her face and saw his own emotions reflected there. He nodded.
Gabriel’s phone vibrated in his pocket, making him jump. Renata giggled. Gabriel pulled it out and looked hungrily at the screen. It was Nelson, finally.
He’s in.
Nelson gave the unit and room number. Gabriel got up eagerly.
“Be careful,” Renata warned. “Just because they left with Leva, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any others around.”
“Nelson wouldn’t have texted me if it was dangerous.”
“He might not know.”
Gabriel had to concede the point. So they went cautiously, not taking a straight approach, keeping their eyes out for cops, social workers, or anyone else suspicious. But they didn’t see anyone else to be concerned about on the way there. Gabriel took a peek into the hospital room and saw Nelson standing beside Seth’s bed. Seth was hooked up to oxygen, an IV draining clear fluid and a monitor.
Gabriel entered the room. “Is he awake?”
Seth opened his eyes and regarded Gabriel. “I don’t want to go home.”
“I’m not taking you home this time. I’m sorry. I didn’t know she would hurt you.”
Seth looked at him steadily. Gabriel sat down on the edge of the bed. There was only one visitor chair, and Renata had already taken it.
“Why didn’t you tell me she was hurting you, Seth? I asked you.”
“My mom doesn’t hurt me,” Seth objected. “She’s never hit me.”
“But it hurts you when she gives you things she shouldn’t, and they make you sick.”
Seth shrugged, his eyes closing again.
“If you told me she puts things she shouldn’t in your tube or gives you food that’s been tampered with, I wouldn’t have taken you back there,” Gabriel persisted. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“My mom loves me.” His eyes opened again. “She does everything she does to help me get better.”
“She poisons you!” Renata snapped. “She’s not trying to help you; she’s trying to hurt you!”
He shook his head, a small movement. “She tries to make me better.”
“Why do you think the food and the water taste so bad? It’s because she’s putting things in them that she shouldn’t.”
“No… she wants to make me better.” One of Seth’s hands snaked to his face, and he rubbed his eyes. “Medicine tastes bad.”
“She made you sick. You know that what she gave you in your water and your feeding tube made you sick.”
Seth looked toward the door. “The police arrested her. They put her in handcuffs and took her away.”
Gabriel’s heart ached for Seth. Did they have to arrest her in front of him? Seth sounded so forlorn. Even if Seth knew in his heart that Leva was trying to poison him, trying to make him sicker instead of making him well, he still loved her.
“She needs to go to jail,” Renata said. Her voice was hard, and Gabriel knew she was thinking of her own mother. “She needs to be locked up for trying to hurt you. She could have killed you. If Gabriel hadn’t gotten to the house and called the ambulance, you would have died.”
Seth rubbed his eyes again, keeping his hands over his eyes for a few minutes.
“Can I just stay at the hospital now? Can I live here all the time?”
“They’ll find a family for you to stay with,” Gabriel told him. “They’ll take good care of you and you’ll be able to get better and not be sick so often.”
Renata shot Gabriel a look. He knew the statistics. A child was five times more likely to die in foster care than with his own family. But that wasn’t Seth. Some kids were in so much danger from their bio parents that they had to be removed. They all agreed that staying with Leva could be fatal for Seth.
He slept soundly that night, an aftereffect of the adrenaline and the stress of the previous few days. He could finally rest, knowing that Seth was safe and once more on the road to recovery. How much of Seth’s sickness was real and how much was from being poisoned by his mother, Gabriel didn’t know. And the doctors had no idea how much permanent damage there might be to his kidneys or liver.
Did he really have mito or was it all just Leva’s abuse?
Renata shifted and stirred restlessly. She rolled over and looked at him. “You awake already?”
“It’s late,” Gabriel pointed out, looking at the light of dawn creeping into the sky. They should have already been up and moving on, getting out of the park before the police showed up to roust them.
Renata blinked a few times, turning her head to gaze at the sky and take this in.
“It is late. Why’d you let me sleep in?”
“We both needed it. You have a good sleep?”
“Yeah.” She snuggled against him, their bodies both cozy in the shared warmth. “Really good. I’ve missed this.”
“Me too.”
“We’re going to need to get up.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
Renata looked around. “Maybe the cops won’t roust us here. Maybe we can stay here a while longer.”
Neither of them made a move to get up.
Renata chuckled and pressed her face against Gabriel’s chest.
As much as Gabriel would have liked to stay there all day, warm and cozy with each other, he couldn’t stay still as the sky got lighter and his body announced its needs. He rolled over, relinquishing the blanket, and got stiffly to his feet. Renata slid out the other side of the blanket.
“Thank goodness,” she said. “I have to pee!”
“Me too,” Gabriel agreed.
They went opposite directions and reconvened a few minutes later, working out the kinks from sleeping on the cold ground.
“I guess it’s back to real life,” Renata said, massaging the back of her neck and shoulders. “We should replenish our funds. See what news is on the grapevine.”
“Sounds good. Food next? I’m starving. I must have burned through a lot more fuel than I thought yesterday.”
“Stress hormones will do that. Lead the way.”
With Renata, Gabriel didn’t have to pretend that he bought all his meals, like he might with Carmel or one of the other Railroad volunteers who lived normal lives the rest of the time. Dumpster-diving was a fact of life for the homeless. Renata stood close by, screening him from view as he checked out the garbage can near the entrance to a submarine sandwich store. He preferred subs to the greasy food at most of the fast food joints. In a few seconds, Gabriel grabbed several likely-looking wrappers containing uneaten portions of sandwiches, and the two of them retreated to a bus bench down the block to eat breakfast. Renata watched Gabriel unwrap and check out each sandwich as she hooked up her formula. Gabriel caught her eyes on him.
“I bet you’re glad yours is all sealed and pasteurized.”
“Actually,” Renata spoke kindly, “hygiene theory suggests that you’re healthier if exposed to plenty of microbes, rather than avoiding them. Parents try to keep their little ones sterile, and then they get sick as soon as they’re exposed to anything as adults.”
“Well, no problem there,” Gabriel said. He broke away the chewed portion of a sandwich, leaving only the untouched half behind. But it had still been handled by someone else. Maybe even coughed and sneezed on. He’d learned not to care. It was more important to get the nourishment his body needed than it was to avoid bugs.
