The Book of Elements Read online

  Salma passed the empty cup back to the officer, who replaced it on the side table. Then she used the automatic controls to adjust the bed so that Caeli was sitting up, able to see them better and talk to them, without having to raise herself up of her own volition.

  "Caeli, how do you feel? Do you have pain anywhere?"

  "I ache all over," she squeaked out the reply through a throat that felt tight, as if she had laryngitis, "and I have a splitting headache." Even though she wanted to talk to Salma, Caeli found it difficult to keep her eyes open. That little bit of exertion really wiped her out.

  "Yes, I expect so. Lie still. It should calm down. Do you feel like you could answer a couple of questions?"

  Caeli nodded, saving her voice for a reply that required actual words.

  "Mrs. Harding, can you tell us who was in the house with you last night?" the police officer asked in a low, gentle voice.

  "In my house? No. I’m sorry. I don’t recall anyone being in my house."

  The captain looked over at Salma, an inquisitive look on his face, but said nothing.

  "Caeli," Salma took over the conversation, "what is the last thing that you remember?"

  She tried to recall. She remembered leaving Vin’s memorial, feeling a little strange after an imaginary conversation with Vin, and then nothing after that. Her head began to hurt again, and Caeli closed her eyes. After a few minutes, she finally answered.

  "I remember leaving Vin’s memorial, and then nothing."

  "Caeli, that was two days ago," Salma told her.

  "Have I been here that long? Did I wreck my car on the way home? Is that how I got here?" Caeli thought she might have been pretty distraught after the service, especially given the odd occurrence she remembered during the drive. Not to mention, she hadn’t eaten much and was tired, too. She might even have passed out. That could explain it.

  "No, Dear. You didn't wreck. Captain Erickson and I had you brought here last night," she added.

  "I assume you're Captain Erickson? I remember your face, but not your name." Caeli glanced over at the police officer who led the search for Vin. Somewhere, buried in the back of her mind, a voice was telling her that she had met this man before, but Caeli could not call up any further details at the moment.

  "Never mind, kid-o. You just lay back and try to get some rest. I’m going to step outside and check your chart. Press that buzzer if you need anything. I’ll be back to check on you in just a little while." Salma returned Caeli’s bed so that she was lying almost flat again, shut off the light above the headboard, and saw that her patient was already asleep again.

  She motioned for the captain to follow her out into the hallway, not bothering to pick up the chart from the end of the bed.

  "Is she all right?" The captain asked in a low, concerned voice.

  "Yes. It’s good that she finally woke up. It means her body has processed the majority of the toxin. After the toll it took on her system, she’s going to be out of sorts for a while, but she’s not entirely out of the woods yet. Once she does get some more rest, we’ll be able to determine if there was any unseen damage done. The fact that she does not remember the last two days is not a good sign," Salma explained.

  "So you think there’s a chance that the drug affected her memory?" Ben asked rubbing his scruffy chin and running a quick hand through his unkempt hair.

  "Yes, I’m pretty sure, but I don’t have any way of knowing if the effects will be permanent or not." Salma watched the man puzzle over the situation, clearly worried.

  "Why don’t you go home, get cleaned up, and come back later? There’s nothing more you can do for Caeli right now," Salma suggested.

  "I think I will. I’ve got to run down some of these leads and take care of a few other errands. You will call me the minute she feels like talking, won’t you? I want to be here, whether she remembers anything or not."

  "Yes, I’ll call. It will probably be several hours yet. She needs to rest while her body continues fighting off the lingering effects of the drug."

  Captain Erickson finally reached the police station around lunchtime, feeling refreshed, and looking none the worse for having spent the night in a lumpy hospital chair. He sat behind the desk in his office with Officer Caldwell occupying one of the large chairs on the other side.

  "Caldwell, there is something big going down, and that poor girl is caught smack in the middle of it. If we don’t find a way to help her soon, she may not be so lucky next time. What else have you learned?"

  "The insurance policy was written by Kent Saylor, 903 Sycamore. We pulled a rap sheet on the man a mile long, including petty theft, traffic tickets, narcotics possession, and parole violations. But, this has to be a different guy. I can’t imagine how someone like this, a two bit junkie, could pull off the level of sophistication involved in this case."

  "Do you have his photo? I saw him briefly while he was at Mrs. Harding's house yesterday. To be honest, I didn’t pay him much attention. Mrs. Harding seemed to know him. Nothing seemed out of line at the time." Officer Caldwell passed the photo across the desk and continued his update.

  "The Chief got the subpoena for me, but when the units showed up at his house to bring him in, the man was already dead. Looked like an overdose. His body is down at the morgue now, and the techs are still processing the evidence they bagged at the scene."

  "This isn’t the same man. He must have been using false credentials, knowing that we’d find this deadbeat when we came looking for him. I’ll bet he is responsible for this man’s untimely drug mishap, too. He’s doing a good job of covering his tracks so far." The captain tried again to figure it out. What was he missing? Too much, Ben decided. He didn’t have enough to work with yet. His best lead was now dead, and the escaped felon was likely to turn up the same way sooner or later. Ben rubbed his chin as he worked the puzzle over and over in his mind, reviewing the pieces that already fit together and looking for clues to the larger picture.

  "Well, the only fact I feel certain of is that he seems to need her alive. Neither the break in nor the drug were meant to cause any serious harm. So she has either seen something, knows something, or has possession of something that this guy wants very badly."

  "Captain, does the timing strike you as unusual?" The young officer inquired.

  "How so?"

  "Well, this has all happened since the death of her husband, and both attempts were back to back, barely a day apart. It seems to me that the death of the lady’s husband may have been the trigger that started some sort of countdown clock for this guy."

  "Caldwell, you may be onto something there. If you’re right, then he can't wait much longer before he tries again." The captain began perusing the papers on the desk in front of him as they spoke. Any extra detail he could discover would be even more important now.

  "Captain, you know that our best chance to catch him is going to be when he tries again. We don’t have any other leads to follow, but we know what he is after. We have the advantage of knowing exactly where she will be."

  "Are you suggesting that we use the lady as bait? You know better than that. I won’t allow it. However, this nutcase doesn’t need to know that. We can lure him out by giving him what he will believe to be the perfect opportunity to strike. What do you think of shift change at the hospital tonight? That’s the easiest time for someone to slip in without being noticed."

  The two men worked out the details over the next few hours. Eventually, they had a plan they thought would work and would keep the manpower involved to a minimum. Captain Erickson left Caldwell at the station to prepare some of the items they would need, and to inform only the Chief of their plan. Ben headed back to the hospital to let the doctor in on the plan. They were going to need her help. The two officers on duty outside the room were going to have to pull a double so that no other officers had to be involved. Ben made a mental note to see to it that they got a few extra paid days off after this was over.

  Caeli woke to a dark roo
m. She lay quiet and unmoving in the bed, allowing herself a moment to see if there was anyone else in the room as there had been last time. It was not a fear of other people that kept her still, it was fear that the room might launch into a nauseating spin again or the jack hammer might start pounding against the inside of her skull once more.

  The scratchiness in her throat began to bother Caeli, and she was suddenly very thirsty. She needed a glass of water. She was surprised that the desire to quench her thirst was so strong, almost a craving. She used the electronic button to raise the upper half of the bed so that she could easily reach the wheeled bedside tray. Someone had thoughtfully moved the water pitcher and a glass onto the tray for her and placed it near the bed so that it was easily within her reach. They had even gone so far as to add a large styrofoam cup filled with tiny ice cubes, rounded like pencil erasers, so that she could have colder water if she wanted. Caeli quickly gulped down one refreshing glass, sans ice, and was working on the next before her thirst began to feel satisfied.

  The cool liquid helped wash a few of the cobwebs out of her brain too, but she still couldn’t recall what happened to put her in the hospital. In fact, she still could not remember anything after leaving Vin’s memorial. Salma said that had been two days ago, but she had absolutely no memory of those missing forty eight hours. Perhaps her friend would fill in the details when she returned. It might be enough to jog Caeli's own memory.

  She lay back on the pillow and waited. She knew Salma would be along soon to check on her. If not, she could always push the button to call for assistance. Nonetheless, Caeli was not in need of company, unless they might be carrying a scrap or two of food. Now that the water sufficiently hydrated her body and satiated her thirst, her stomach began to rumble a request for something with a little more substance.

  About that time, Salma quietly entered the room.

  "It’s ok, I’m awake. You don’t have to tiptoe," Caeli tried to sound steadier than she felt when she spoke.

  "Caeli, I’m glad to see you up." Salma appeared to be typing into her PDA as she replied and walked over to stand beside the same stool she occupied earlier.

  "How’s your head feeling?"

  "Like I had way too much fun at a party," Caeli jokingly answered.

  "Well, that’s to be expected. You’ve been through a lot." Salma placed her PDA on the seat and was performing some routine examinations to better assess Caeli’s current condition. Caeli glanced down at the PDA, but was not able to see anything.

  "Oh, that?" Salma answered as she continued to examine Caeli.

  "That was a promise I had to keep. Do you remember the police officer that was in here with me when you first woke up?"

  Caeli gave a slight nod. She remembered how he rushed to her side without hesitation.

  "Erickson," she recalled his name as if from a distant memory.

  "That's right. His name is Captain Erickson, and he slept in that chair over there by the window last night. He was almost as worried about you as I was. In order to get him to go home this morning, I had to promise him I would let him know the minute you woke up again. I just sent a text to my assistant telling her to call him and ask him to return." Salma finished her exam and was making some notes in a file attached to a clipboard that had been hanging at foot of the bed.

  "Physically, you seem to be fine. Aside from the headache, how do you feel? Do you have any pain?"

  "No, I don’t think so. I feel tired, a bit sluggish, but the headache is not nearly as bad as it was earlier. My throat was dry, but I drank some water right before you came in. Salma, I would really like to know what happened."

  "Naturally, but one step at a time, Dear. I need you to get up and walk around for a minute or two. I want to get your blood moving and make sure you don’t have any other injuries. Do you think you can do that?"

  "Well, now that you mention it, after all that water, I think I can find my way to the restroom and back," Caeli agreed with a small grin as Salma helped her get disconnected from the monitor wires and pull herself out of the bed.

  "But only if you promise to answer my question when I get back."

  "I will tell you everything that I know as soon as the captain gets here."

  When Caeli returned from the short excursion, she felt much better, and her lethargy continued to diminish.

  "Why wait?" Caeli asked.

  "Captain Erickson has been looking out for you for the past two days. He will be able to answer more of your questions than I will, and he has a few of his own for you. No sense in repeating everything, is there?"

  "No, I suppose not. If you wouldn’t mind, maybe you could scrounge up a sandwich or a pudding cup while we wait. My stomach has been ringing the dinner bell ever since I woke up."

  "Of course, let me see what I can find," Salma smiled and patted Caeli’s hand before leaving the room on a quest for food.

  Caeli took advantage of the few minutes to make another trip to the restroom. She felt as if she was coated in a layer of scum, and wanted to try to remove at least part of it. After a quick search, Caeli located a white, wicker basket that held several unopened toothbrushes, travel sized tubes of toothpaste, and a few small bottles of mouthwash; exactly what she hoped to find. She brushed and rinsed away the layer of cotton that had taken over her mouth and used one of the hand towels to wash her face.

  As the water hit her skin, Caeli saw flashes of images in her mind. They were almost like snapshots, but they were gone before she could figure out what she was seeing. She waited a moment, but the images did not return. Caeli retrieved a plastic wrapped hairbrush from another container nearby and tried to undo a few of the tangles in her long, chestnut locks. She fully appreciated that the hospital paid attention to the little details by providing for such needs.

  Satisfied that she was more presentable and feeling much less scummy, Caeli left the restroom and was walking toward the bed when she slammed her bare foot into a cold, metal item near the floor. She jerked forward and quickly bent down to grab her injured foot, not even noticing the tiny object that scarcely missed her head as it flew silently passed and embedded itself in the opposite wall. Caeli hopped over to the chair by the open window, and looked up in time to see a shadow flowing downward from the ledge.

  Must have been a bird out there, and she probably frightened it away with all her hopping and jumping around. She was sitting in the chair, with her hands pressed tightly over her foot and a grimace of pain on her face when Salma returned with a tray of food and the police captain in tow.

  "Caeli! What happened? What are you doing over there? How did you get that window open?" Salma asked with concern in her voice. In the meantime, she set the food on the bedside tray and moved over to examine the foot which was obviously the source of the pained expression on Caeli’s face.

  "Oh, just my luck, you know. I wanted to freshen up a bit and banged my foot as I was coming out of the bathroom. I hopped my way over to the chair, but haven’t been brave enough to see how bad the damage is yet."

  "Take your hands away. Let me have a look," Salma instructed in that professional yet gentle tone that she used when she was practicing medicine. Caeli’s foot throbbed even more as she complied, but soon began to ease. A small line of red revealed a cut which welled up above the arch on the outer side of her foot. The beginnings of what would probably be a large and ugly bruise could be seen along that same side.

  "Did you twist it? Can you put any weight on it?"

  "I don’t think it’s all that bad. It will be ok." Caeli got up and walked to the bed. The captain moved to help her when she had difficulty maneuvering on the throbbing foot."

  "Lass, you sure have had quite a string of mishaps lately. Are we going to have to keep you under constant surveillance to make sure you stay out of mischief?" he inquired with a small grin on his face.

  "No, Sir. I promise. I won’t move from this bed again, at least for another hour or so," she laughed softly in response.

  "
Doctor’s orders," Salma added, joining in the fun.

  "Now, how did you get that window open? Captain, would you mind pulling it closed for me?"

  "I didn’t open it. It was open when I came out of the bathroom. I just assumed it had been open all along."

  The Captain stopped in his tracks as he processed the unexpected news, then he rushed the rest of the way to the window. Ben leaned out as far as he could and looked up and down the ledge. Next, he ran out of the room, barking orders to the guards as he left and was gone for ten minutes. When he returned, slightly winded and red faced, the captain made two circuits of the room looking at everything. On his second pass, he noticed the object stuck in the wall. Grabbing one of the latex gloves from a box near the bed, he yanked a tiny black dart with a bright silver point out of the wall and carefully wrapped the glove around it. He shook his head in disbelief then sat the dart on the table while he made one more trip around the room.

  Finally, the captain settled onto the stool that Salma had been using and looked grimly at Caeli. Salma, after carefully placing a cold pack against Caeli’s slightly swollen foot, sat casually on the bed near her feet. Caeli looked back and forth between both of them several times before her impatience finally got the better of her.

  "Will one of you please tell me what’s going on?"

  "Mrs. Harding, do you remember anything at all about the past few days?" Captain Erickson asked with all the previous humor removed from his serious tone.

  "I remember leaving Vin’s service. I got in my car and was driving out of town. I don’t think I was going home at first, but, eventually, I did turn the car around and head in that direction. And that’s it. After that, a hazy thought or two before waking up here."

  "That’s an unfortunate side effect of the drug. I don’t know if your short-term memories will return or if the damage might be permanent. Only time will tell us that."

  "Drug! What drug?" Caeli wanted to know.

  "Mrs. Harding, if you can just bear with me a minute, I’d like to walk you forward from your last memory. I promise that the doctor and I will fill in all the missing details as we go, but I think it would be best if we take everything in the proper order. Hopefully, we all get some answers along the way."