Missing: The Body of Evidence (20 page)

Nancy cruised in her car along the slow
lane of the freeway. The pain of being on the opposite side of the demarcation
line, as a suspect, made Nancy feel as though her veins had tightened and her
blood flow was looking for an escape route. It wasn’t as though the deposit
into her account was a mistake. It was the motive for doing so that was
lacking, from her point of view, but obviously not from Brogan’s take of the
circumstances. There had to be a strong reason why she wasn’t locked up
awaiting trial, but reasoning escaped her scrambled thought process.

A vision of Kyle planting a kiss on her
cheek before she left his bedside at the hospital, and the look of admiration
in his eyes, rolled through her mind. Her eyes moistened, as she ran through a
multitude of scenarios as to how they would break the news to him of her plight,
and his different reactions. The last notion made her shudder as she imagined a
picture of him mouthing off to Logan.

‘Lucky escape.’

The sound of car horns brought her to her
senses as she realized she had drifted over the line and she swerved back into
her lane. There wasn’t time to signal as the sign for her turnoff flashed by
her vision and she swung hard right. The front left hand tyre clipped the
barrier at the intersection to the overpass and the steering wheel spun,
breaking her hold of the wheel. A quick glance in the rear-view mirror and she
slammed down hard on the brake pedal. The car came to a screeching halt and
straddled two lanes with the engine stalled. Her entire body trembled and she
could hear her heart pounding.

A loud blast of a Claxon horn, followed by
the hissing of air brakes and a clunk made her jump. She snatched a glance in
the direction of the noises, to see the driver of a truck leaning out of his
window and cursing obscenities at her. Nancy fixed him a glare and not taking
her gaze from him, she restarted her engine.

The truck’s windshield shattered, which
gave her a fleeting mild shock. She snickered at the dark thought that a
clipped stone from a passing vehicle had paid him back for his foul-mouthed
rant. The driver of the truck, jumped out of his cab, removed his based ball
cap and scratched his head. For some strange reason he kicked his front tyre as
if kicking his dog for something the cat had done. She turned her attention
away from him, manoeuvred her car and set off over the overpass.

The sign over the gates of her destination
came into view. Driving through the entrance, she followed the signs for the
parking lot. Nancy parked and headed along the pathway. She knew exactly where
she was going, even though it had been five years since her last visit.
Grasping at the hope her presence would not seem hypocritical; a balancing
thought struck her…who else would know.

The cemetery sprawled over a large area and
it took fifteen minutes to arrive at her mom’s tombstone. Nancy knelt on the
moist grass and took the decaying bunch of flowers from the vase. Nancy looked
at the words on the card. ‘Happy anniversary. All my love, your devoted
husband, Doug.’ The words of affection from her dad surprised Nancy.

Nancy placed the dying flowers at the side
of the grave, but took the card and put it under the vase.

‘Sorry, Mom. I’m too messed up to have
remembered to bring fresh flowers.’

She ran her fingers across the inscription
of her mom’s name.

A touch brushed her shoulder and she snapped
her head around. The figure of an old man surprised her so much that she lost
her bearings and in her rush to stand, she fell on the grass landing on her
backside.

‘Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,’ said
the old man, and held out his hand to help her to her feet, while holding a
bunch of flowers in his other hand.

She gladly accepted his assistance, sprang
to her feet and brushed the dew from her pants.

‘I heard what you said. Take these.’

He split his bunch of flowers in two and
held out half of them in the clutch of his arthritic knurled hand.

‘No, I couldn’t.’

‘Edna wouldn’t mind, besides your mom and
Edna are probably sitting on top of their tombstones right now, chatting away
as friends. Go on take them.’

His gentle smile was infectious and he
thrust the flowers at her in a way that it would have been impossible to
refuse.

‘Thank you. You’re very kind.’

‘It costs nothing, just a warm heart and
besides, I need a few brownie points... for you know?’ The old man said, and
pointed a crooked finger skyward and chuckled.

‘I could do with a few brownie points of my
own in the here and now, never mind the hereafter.’ They both laughed.

‘So, I’m guessing you’re here, hoping your
mom will give you some comfort?’

‘You could say that.’

‘Thought so, I can see it in your troubled
eyes. Problem is they don’t talk back here, they just listen, but it does help.
You’d need to talk to a spiritualist if you really need to hear what they
think. It worked for me. Anyway, must go or Edna will think I’m chatting you up
for a date.’

He turned and hobbled away, chuckling, with
his frail legs at odds with the strength in his arms from when he pulled her to
her feet. Nancy felt warm inside at his gesture and arranged the fresh flowers
in the vase.

Nancy knew the old man was right. All she
could do was to hope that her mom would somehow hear her pleas for help and
guidance. She stood before the tombstone and closed her eyes with her hands
clasped in prayer.

If you can hear me, Mom, I love you.
Please guide my through the crap I’m going through, and if you can, get into
that mind of Dad, please tell him I need him to come through. I’ve no one but
Dad to turn to and I’m dreading telling him what’s happened.

In the stillness of the day, long forgotten
memories of the happy times spent with her mom flooded her inner mind. A last
glimpse of her mom, sitting in a chair at the side of her hospital bed and
taking her in her arms, was as clear as if it had just happened and the words
she spoke on that day reverberated in her head.

I’ll always love you, Nance, and just
remember: whatever happens, I’ll always be there for you.

A wailing howl escaped from her mouth as if
a lone lost-wolf was trying to find its pack. Tears rolled unashamedly down her
cheeks, until she could sob no more. As quickly as the grief had struck her,
warmth enveloped her and the tears subsided. She wiped away the tears with her
sleeve, blew a kiss in the direction of the tombstone, ran her hands down her
jacket, swayed her head from side to side and marched back to her car.

After the scan, I need to talk to Dad
and to make him listen.

Somehow, the dread of visiting her dad,
made her fear of the MRI scan a minor diversion in her day.

Her throat tightened, she took out a
tissue from her pocket and wiped the sweat from her palms. Fear of the MRI scan
procedure took hold at the forefront of her mind. Nancy hesitated as she
approached the automatic glass door at the entrance to the hospital. Smashed
glass twice in a day was, in her mind, a coincidence, but all the same, it made
her wary of entering. The door slid open and two nurses exited. She quickened
her pace and slipped through the entrance. Nancy stood in line, three deep, and
waited her turn.

The middle-aged woman at reception greeted
her with a glance over her spectacles.

‘Yes?’

Nancy took the appointment letter and
handed it over the counter. The cleaners had been a little on the overly
zealous side with the chemicals, and her stomach tightened in a knot. The woman
typed Nancy’s details into her computer.

‘Insurance card.’

She handed over the card. The woman smiled
as if the card were a badge of honour and handed her a printed form to sign.
Nancy signed the form, and the woman returned her card and letter.

‘Fourth floor, room four-zero-eight.’

‘Got it.’

‘Next.’

Palpitations started as she entered the
elevator. A bead of sweat ran down from her forehead, onto her nose, and
dripped onto the floor. Nancy wiped her forehead with her sleeve as the door
opened and she stepped out into the corridor. Her head started to pound behind
the socket of her left eye as she found the room number. The number zoomed in
and out of vision and she gripped the door handle for support. If the confines
of the elevator ride had brought her to the point of anxiousness, then she dreaded
to think what her reaction would be to finding herself enclosed in the scan
machine. Gently, she tapped on the door, opened it, and walked into a reception
area. A young woman in a white-starched overall greeted her with a friendly
smile.

‘My name is Sandra. Do you have the
appointment letter?’

Nancy handed her the letter.

‘Don’t worry, it’s painless.’

‘Does it show that much?’

‘Afraid so. Please fill in this form for
any past illness, allergies, or surgery. Although it mentions it on the form, I
have to ask if you have a pacemaker fitted, or any other metal inserts.’

‘No, none at all.’

‘Good, when you’ve completed the form,
leave your jacket in the cubicle and I’ll look after your purse. Just make sure
your pants pockets are empty and you’ve removed all jewellery.’

Nancy leaned on the counter, completed the
checks on the form and signed. Sandra took her arm and guided her to the
cubicle. The pounding in her head intensified, she sat, cradled her head in her
hands and then tugged at her hair.

‘Are you okay in there?’ Sandra asked.

‘Yeah, coming.’

Her heartbeat raced even more vigorously as
she exited the cubicle, and Sandra led her to the scan room.

‘I’ll hand you over to Jim, our
radiographer,’ Sandra said, and passed Nancy’s completed form to Jim.

Her legs weakened at the sight of the
scanner, which looked to her like a giant elongated clothes drying machine, but
open at both ends.

‘Your hands are trembling; don’t be afraid,
I’ll talk you through it.’

A cold wave washed through her body. His
words did little to settle her anxiety.

‘I’m not sure I can do this.’

‘They all say that, trust me, you’ll be
fine.’

The radiologist studied the form.

‘Okay, nothing to worry about here. It will
all be over soon. How long it will take depends how many runs we need, but each
run only takes a few minutes. All you need to do is lie still on the movable
examination table, and I’ll slide a device over your head to keep your brain in
the correct position. I’ll be in another room with our technologist, but I’ll
be able to hear, see and to speak to you at all times. So, when you hear a
voice, don’t worry, the machine won’t have fried your brain, and you won’t have
died and gone to heaven, it will be me over the speakers. I may ask you to hold
your breath. I may also want you to look at some pictures on a screen if the
initial images warrant further investigation. Any questions?’

‘No.’

‘Good, on the table please.’

Nancy climbed onto the table and lay down.
The mention of fried brain gave her the idea she would travel through the cylinder
and come out the other end transformed into a Southern Fried Chicken and her
thought did nothing to calm her nerves.

‘Just another inch this way.’

He adjusted her into position and then
moved a device over her head.

‘Okay, that’s perfect. Now, please don’t
move. When the machine starts, the table will feed you slowly into the scanner.
Back soon.’

The sound of the scan-room door closing
left her alone with her fears. The machine started to power up to speed and
slowly the table moved into the scanner. Her head felt hot and she could feel
her heartbeat pounding in her chest. Try as she might to stop it, her body
trembled.

‘Please, be still and hold your breath,’
echoed in her ears.

‘My head feels hot.’

‘That’s normal. Now hold your breath.’

Nancy fixed her vision on the monitor’s
blank screen, which only induced a trance like state as the horrific events of
the weekend flashed through her mind.

A tapping and thudding noise exploded in
her hearing. She screamed.

‘What’s happening, the noise. Get me out.’

‘Please just be calm, hold your breath once
more. The sound is just the magnetic coils.’

The tapping noise increased into a grinding
explosion of sound, and violent vibrations from the machine shook her body, as
if an earthquake had struck. Over the roar of the banging and clunking, she
heard someone shout.

‘Good God! Power down, get her out, now.’

The next thing she could remember was being
hauled off the table, bundled out of the room and onto a chair.

‘Nurse, take look at her.’

Sandra rushed over and escorted her to a
recovery room. She helped her to climb onto the gurney and checked her pulse.

‘What happened?’

The face of the radiologist peered over
her.

‘Machine malfunction. First time ever.’

She heard another male voice.

‘Jim, the damn thing went into reverse as
if the polarity had changed before it ground to a halt. We can’t do any more
scans until maintenance has taken a look.’

‘Reverse polarity? Impossible,’

Nancy felt her headache subside along with
the pounding in her chest, until she felt normal.

‘How do you feel?’ asked Sandra and
rechecked her pulse.

‘Shook up, but fine. Everything in my
vision was in black and white when I was hustled out of the room, I can’t wait
to get the hell outta here.’

The nurse threw a look at Jim.

‘Pulse is normal. Wait here and I’ll bring
you a coffee and some cookies.’

Nancy swung her legs over the gurney and
stood.

‘I’ll be fine, no need for coffee. Did you
get any results?’ Nancy asked Jim.

‘Not enough images to make a report. We’ll
need to see you again, but next time we’ll need to arrange sedation. It didn’t
help when one of the monitors showed a massive amount of off the scale activity
on the left-hand side of your brain, but I assume it was a result of the
machine malfunction. Then the monitor stopped working and developed a purple
patch over the initial images.’

Nancy laughed. ‘Sedation. It’ll have to be
enough to put me asleep.’ Her laugh ended abruptly as she pondered his last
words.

Purple patch? Positor! The monitor in
the interview room... the television in the cabin and now this. Two is
coincidence; three is stretching it, just like the incidents with fire.

‘Have you ever had someone with high static
electricity cause the machine problems?’

‘Claustrophobia, yes. Static, no. Look, I’d
rather you saw a doctor before you leave.’

‘Sorry, I have to go, I’m fine, honestly.
Write to me, when your machine is repaired.’

Jim had a look of concern etched across his
face.

‘Do you have any pain at all? Or do you
have any weakness in your left arm?’

Nancy ran her hand over the left side of
her head.

‘No, nothing at all, and my left arm feels
fine.’

‘Then just read this for me.’

He picked up a magazine from the side table
and handed it to her.

Nancy read the opening paragraph of an
article without faltering as Jim covered first her left eye and then her right
eye.

‘Satisfied?’

‘I’m not a doctor, but you seem okay. Like
I said, that was some machine malfunction.’

Nancy eased herself onto her feet,
collected her jacket and purse and walked out into the corridor. She hesitated
at the elevator, shrugged, and then walked on to exit down the stairway.

I need to get to my computer. Something
doesn’t add up.