Megan's Cure (31 page)

Chapter 59

ENZO LEE HEARD the voices before he reached his grandmother’s hospital room.
 
He stopped just outside the door, folded his arms and leaned against the wall.
 
He closed his eyes and listened.

He heard his grandmother and Master Chu chattering in Chinese.
 
And then she laughed.
 
It was her shrill, high pitched giggle that she invariably covered with her hand.
 
It brought tears to his eyes.

He took a moment to compose himself.
 
Then he knocked on the doorjamb and walked into the room.

She was sitting up with a partially eaten tray of food sitting in front of her.
 
The second bed was empty.
 
Her eyes sparkled.
 
Her skin was full of color.

“Grandma,” said Lee.
 
“Master Chu.”

“Enzo,” she said, holding out her hand to him.
 
He sat down on her left across from where Chu sat.
 
He held her hand for a moment and then leaned over to give her a hug.
 
After a moment, she pushed him away, a little embarrassed but still with a big smile.

Suddenly, she pulled off her cap to reveal a thin and very short growth of white hair covering her skull.

“Look,” she said proudly.
 
“Coming back.”

“Wow,” said Lee.
 
“Time for the hair dresser.”

She laughed, covering her grin.

“Not yet,” she said.
 
“White…for now.”
 
She ran her hand wistfully through her scalp.

The sound of quick footsteps from the outside hall got louder and then Dr. Choy walked through the door in a swirl of white lab coat, green dress and tanned legs.

“Look,” she said, coming up to the bed.
 
“It’s Superman.
 
Or are you Clark Kent today?”
 
She said it with a smile.
 
“How are you today, Mrs. Chen?”

“Good,” said the patient.
 
“Hungry.”

Choy busied herself checking the machine settings, the IV bag and the chart that hung at the foot of the hospital bed.
 
Then she caught Lee’s eye and nodded quickly toward the hall.
 
He followed her out.

“God, she looks great,” said Lee.

“She’s doing wonderfully,” said Choy.
 
“Since yesterday.
 
I can hardly believe it.
 
Her blood work.
 
It’s almost normal.”

“Yes!” said Lee, presenting a fist.
 
Choy rolled her eyes, then presented hers for a dignified bump and allowed herself a smile.

“Let’s be happy but cautious,” she said.
 
“These things rarely progress in a straight line.”

“I know, I know,” said Lee.
 
“But Jeez.
 
It feels like the sun came out.”

He put his arms around Choy’s waist and pulled her toward him.
 
She held herself stiffly at first but then softened until she embraced him back and allowed her body to settle fully against his.

Then Lee pulled back a little, put his hands on Choy’s shoulders and kissed her.
 
He could see her eyes widen at first and then felt her smile as she enjoyed their first kiss for several seconds.
 
Lee realized then that he had been dying to try those lips for weeks. They were, indeed, perfect.

When they stopped, she quickly looked around them to see if anyone had seen them.
 
No one was there.
 
She looked back at Lee pushed some loose hair behind her ear.

 
“Quite unprofessional of me,” she said.

“I won’t tell anyone,” said Lee.
 
“I never kiss and tell.”

“Hmm…we’ll have to see about that,” said Choy.
 
“Meanwhile, I have some business to discuss with you.”

“Okay,” said Lee.
 
“Business.”
 

“Yes.
 
I wanted to ask you about Megan,” said Choy.
 
“She’s ready to be released.
 
Today.
 
Tomorrow at the latest.”

“I heard,” said Lee.

“Is she going home?” said Choy.

“I was going to call her mother and Chief Davidson back in Alabama,” said Lee.
 
“I don’t think it’s safe.
 
I’d like to keep her here a little longer.”

“Well, my sister lives near here,” said Choy.
 
“In Burlingame.
 
You know her daughter has been visiting Megan every afternoon.”

“I know how much she’s enjoyed that,” said Lee.

“I asked Megan if she’d like to stay with them…for a few days anyway,” said Choy. “She said, ‘Yes.’”

“Okay,” said Lee.
 
“Let me talk to the police.
 
There must be some way to get the coverage that makes sense.
 
And let’s keep it totally quiet.
 
This is like the witness protection program.
 
The safest thing we can do is to hide her.”

“You like her don’t you?” he added.

“Yes,” said Choy.
 
“I do.
 
To be honest, she reminds me a lot of myself at that age.”

Lee stepped back a step, looked at Choy and imagined Megan standing next to her.
 
He nodded and smiled.

“I can see it,” he said.
 
“And I can see her growing into you one day.
 
May need to get her out of small-town Alabama though.”

Choy gave him a mischievous smile.

 
“I’m already working on that,” she said. “Just give me time.”

“All right.
 
I’ll just get out of your way.
 
Is there anything else?”

“Yes,” said Choy.
 
“She asked if she can see Walter again.”

Lee nodded.

“Sure,” he said.
 
“That can be arranged.
 
I’ll call Roxanne.”

The sound of laughter came out of the hospital room.

“She seems great,” said Lee, nodding toward his grandmother’s room.

“It’s very exciting,” said Choy.
 
“I mean from an oncologist’s point of view.
 
Very exciting.”

Lee nodded pensively.
 
The clock ticking in his head suddenly became louder.
 
It was Day Six.
 
The Roxaten that Novak had given him was gone, used up for the first two doses.
 
He had four more days to get more of the drug locked away in the Merrick & Merrick labs.

He still had no clue how he would get past the drug company’s small army of security guards, a battery of video cameras and a sophisticated access system that used pass codes and fingerprints.
 
Both Novak and Roxanne Rosewell were now locked out of their lab.
 
Lee had brainstormed and rejected a half dozen plans.
 
Now he was getting desperate.
 

Chapter 60

THE EMAIL THAT arrived in the middle of the day had an unassuming subject line.

“
Pharmaceutical Industry Meeting
,” was all it said.

But once he clicked it open, Enzo Lee sat transfixed in front of his laptop sitting at the dining table.
 
Half way through it, he paused and clicked the mouse twice to send it to the printer in the second bedroom that doubled as his office.
 
He half expected the email to disappear if he blinked.
 
He wanted to make sure he had a copy he could hold in his hands that no computer virus, power surge, hard-drive crash or second thoughts could erase.

Lee leaned back in his chair and listened.
 
He heard the rubber rollers picking up the paper.
 
The gentle churn of gears.
 
The smooth ejection of the finished pages into the tray.
 
His HP LaserJet had never sounded so sweet.

* * *

Walter Novak was on his knees planting a kumquat tree on the far side of the yard when Megan walked through the backdoor of Roxanne Rosewell’s house and into the enclosed area.
 
Every square foot had been utilized to produce a verdant garden stitched throughout with a wandering chain of gray paving stones the size of dinner plates.

Megan stepped on them carefully and quietly until she came up behind Novak. She paused for a moment, hands clasped in front of her.
 
Then she placed her hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Hi, Walter,” she said.
 
“It’s me.
 
Megan.”

He turned on his knees slowly toward her, his trowel still in his hand.
 
He put the tool into the dirt, placed his hand on her shoulder and used her for support as he pushed himself to his feet.

Although he smiled at her, it seemed distant as if it could vanish in an instant.
 
She was reminded of their first day together, the long drive through Alabama when Walter had stared out the windshield absorbed in his thoughts and she had wondered if he remembered she was there sitting next to him.

Novak walked a few steps to a small bench that stood along the back fence and looked over the garden and toward the back of the house.
 
He sat down.
 
Megan sat next to him.
 
They both studied the yard.
 
Megan swung her legs back and forth, trying to think of what to say.

“They finally let me out of the hospital,” she said.
 
“I’m staying with Dr. Choy’s niece.”

Novak nodded.

“I’m glad,” she added.
 
“They were nice. But it was
so
boring.”

“All the tests,” said Novak.
 
“They weren’t much fun, huh?”

Megan shook her head.

“No,” she said.
 
“Not very.”
 
They studied the yard again.

“Megan,” said Novak.
 
“The day in the sailboat…you know…I just got…I don’t know.
 
I was a little...um…upset, you know?”

Megan nodded her head slowly.

“It was pretty out there,” she said.
 
“I’m used to the ocean, you know.
 
I wish I had taken a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge…to show my mom.”
 

Novak looked down at the ground in front of him.

“The food was pretty good at the hospital,” said Megan.
 
“But one day I ordered the fish.
 
It was terrible.”

He glanced at her and gave her a small smirk.

“Not as good as ours?”

“Not close,” she said.
 
“I wonder if the ones we caught are still in that freezer.
 
They probably wouldn’t be very good now.”

“We should catch some more one day,” he said.

“Someone told me they catch salmon here,” said Megan.
 
“I’ve never caught one.
 
I don’t even know if I’ve seen one.”

“They are amazing fish,” said Novak.
 
“You know how they return to the stream of their birth?
 
They will do anything to get there…lay their eggs.
 
They die after that.”

“They die?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” he said.
 
“When they’ve finished their important work.
 
Before that they do whatever it takes.
 
Very tough.
 
Even heroic.”

Megan nodded.

“Do they taste good?”

“Very,” said Novak.
 
“Delicious.”

She nodded again and waited.

“Do you remember the girl you told me about?” said Novak.
 
“The one in your dreams?”

“Yes,” said Megan.

“Have you seen her again?”

Megan shook her head and waited.
 
Novak looked as if he was going to say something else but didn’t.

“Do you know who she is?” asked Megan.

Novak shrugged.

“I had a…um…I had a sister,” he said.
 
“She was much younger than me…10 years.
 
My senior year in college, she got very sick.
 
I came home early…to be with her.
 
To help my mother.
 
She looked like the girl you described.
 
Blonde pigtails.
 
But that was before…”

“…before the chemo?”

“Yes,” said Novak.
 
“Before the chemo.
 
I dream about her, too.
 
Quite often sometimes.
 
She always has her hair.”

“Can you share dreams?” asked Megan.

Novak pondered the question.

“I suppose so,” he said.
 
“Or something similar.”

“I liked her,” said Megan.
 
“She…I don’t know.
 
She made me feel better.
 
Not so afraid.”

“Hmmm,” said Novak.
 
“Me, too.”

They were quiet for a minute.

“Are they big?” asked Megan.
 
“Salmon.”

“Um…yes,” said Novak.
 
“Quite.
 
The boats from San Francisco catch them off the coast.
 
They go up to 20…maybe 25 pounds.

“And…uh…if you wanted to, we can get some,” he added.
 
“We can’t catch one, of course.
 
But I know where we can buy some.”

“Really?”

“Sure.
 
Still know how to cook a fish?”

“
Yes.
 
Of course,” said Megan. “I’ll never forget that.”