Notorious D.O.C. (Hope Sze medical mystery) (33 page)

"Seriously. He's a good guy. Not as good as me, of
course—"

I pressed the button for the sixth floor. "I appreciate
all your help. Especially the picture. Now go away."

"Hey, I waited all this time." He lounged against
the wall, his hip bone curving dangerously close to my hand. I dropped my arm
back to my side before my fingers traced the outline of his hip through his
pants.

"Yeah, you did. Thanks."

"I took you out. I wined and dined a psychiatrist. I
bribed a psychopath. And you think you're just going to blow me off while you
take your ex-boyfriend—illegally, by the way—into a deserted call
room?"

"Well, yeah." I had to grin at him, though.
"You said you'd wait for me, right?"

"Yeah. And I said, not forever. I should have added,
not as a chump."

I raised my eyebrows. He wasn't half as romantic at St.
Joe's as outside of it. "I'm just saying goodbye to him before he goes
back to Ottawa. You trust me, right?"

He raised his fist to his lips, his pinky extended like Mini
Me in Austin Powers. I wasn't sure what that meant, except that he looked
ridiculous. The elevator binged open for me.

"Well, like it or not, I'm on my way." I stepped
inside and waved at him.

He stepped into the elevator with me.

"Tucker—"

He parroted my tone. "Like it or not, I'm coming with
you."

I crossed my arms and faced the stainless steel door of the
elevator after I pressed button number six. "This is ridiculous."

"I agree. When are you going to figure out Ryan's a
side order and I'm the main event?"

That bought him some eye contact. "Does that mean I get
to enjoy you both at the same time?"

"Ouch." He thumped his chest. "Hoisted by my
own bad metaphor. Or is it a simile?"

"Metaphor."

"Oh, I love you brainy girls. My point is, I'm coming
with you." The elevator stopped at six and he held the door open for me.
"After you."

I decided arguing was futile and went for out-walking him. I
can speed-walk past guys almost twice my height without breaking a sweat, a
useful talent in medicine. I gunned past him, searching for an empty room. The
security guards are supposed to lock everything up, but sometimes they slip up.

On the other hand, sometimes they don't have enough rooms
for all the students and residents on call and someone ends up sleeping in the
residents' room. I couldn't bear to meet Ryan in a room reeking of garbage,
while people scarfed down French fries and blasted MuchMusic.

On the other hand, he might prefer that to Tucker as our
chaperone.

Tucker kept pace with me, not too difficult as I kept trying
the handle of each call room door, even if the navy sign was slid to
"Occupied." He said, "What, you don't have a room?"

I ignored him.

"I guess you didn't have time, hunting down killers and
all."

I rattled a doorknob extra hard, gritting my teeth.

"What would you say if I told you I hadn't turned in a
call room key?"

I stopped at stared at him.

"They're supposed to call you if you forget to return
it, but..." He shrugged and smiled.

"Are you sh—" I bit off the word. I swore
too much. "Are you playing with me?"

In answer, he dug his hand in his left pocket but didn't
take anything out to show me.

I narrowed my eyes. Call room keys are fair-sized because
they have a hard plastic room number attached to a key ring. I hadn't noticed
any bulges in his pockets, and I had checked him out pretty thoroughly earlier.
"Why would you help me when all you've been doing is antagonize me about
meeting Ryan?"

"Well, you know I like to tease you, Hope."

"Do you have the key or not?" I heard a toilet
flush down the hall and realized I was perilously close to bellowing. People
were trying to sleep.

He rummaged his left pocket, then his right. I was tempted
to search him myself until the curve of his mouth told me that was the whole
point. I put my hands on my hips. "Let me guess. You don't have the
key."

He shrugged. "It's true, I forgot to turn one in. But I
guess I forgot to bring it. I didn't realize you were up for some sixth-floor
hanky-panky."

I whirled on my heel and marched across the hall to try the
next room.

"Hope!" Ryan called from the end of the hall.

I practically broke into a run. The old carpet muffled my
footsteps. "Thank for coming. I totally appreciate it." I expected
Tucker to keep pace with me, even beating me to Ryan, but he'd melted away.
Maybe he'd discovered his conscience.

Or maybe he was just eavesdropping. I tugged Ryan back
toward the elevators and pushed the door open into the stairwell.

The plaster was crumbling off the walls, but at least it
kept a door between us and Tucker. "How are you?" My voice echoed up
and down the flights of stairs.

He frowned at me. "This is kind of weird. Why don't we
find a call room, like you said?"

"They're all locked. I might be able to find a teaching
room unlocked, if security hasn't gotten to it. They're kind of careless on
internal medicine." I pointed down the halls.

He shrugged. "Nah, I don't have time. Okay, first
things first. Mrs. Lee is okay. I took her to the police."

"You did!"

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Yeah. I thought someone
should involve them and I convinced her to tell them what she knew. They're
probably going to reopen the case."

I grabbed his arm. "Really?
 
That's great!"

"It was never officially closed, just archived, and
they're interested in interviewing Michael Martinez. The officer, Luc Tremblay,
also mentioned the possibility of doing more DNA testing on the blond hair from
the vehicle. It's probably not Michael's, with a name like Martinez, but it
might be a lead. The technology's a lot better than what it was in 2006."

I closed my eyes. "I should have gone to them
sooner." I wanted to tell him my suspicions about Reena, but first I was
sidetracked by guilt.

He squeezed my hand. His hand was warm and dry and felt just
right in mine. "You couldn't know."

"Yeah, but it's not my job to anticipate what they
might or might not want to do. I should just give them the information. It's
just like I hate when patients come here having diagnosed themselves on the
Internet."

He shrugged. "Probably true. But I got the feeling it
was a special case with Mrs. Lee. On one hand, they're sick of seeing her. On
the other hand, they don't dare miss anything."

"Still. I should have gone to them before. You're the
only one who's been smart enough to follow the rules."

He smiled and kissed me, a light peck on the lips.
"Thanks. And hello to you too."

I smiled back. I wanted to kiss him more, and harder, but
not in the stairwell. "Thanks for driving all the way down to look after
me, and then bringing Mrs. Lee to the police."

"Hey. You're worth it."

We kissed some more, longer and lingering. He weaved his
hands through my hair. I rubbed my cheek against his, not caring if Tucker or
anyone else saw us. Ryan was a hero. A quiet one, one who did the right thing
without a big hoopla, but a hero nonetheless.

Ryan was the one who drew away first to rest his chin on top
of my head. "There's just one other thing."

I sighed and waited for him to tell me he was turning into a
pumpkin.

"You know that picture of the gravestone in your
mailbox?"

I nodded. How could I forget? I pulled back to see his face,
still holding myself in his arms.

Ryan wore a wrinkle between his eyes. I wanted to smooth it
away with my fingertip, but he looked too serious as he spoke. "I thought
it looked familiar. I searched for it this week. You wouldn't believe how many
cemetery pictures people post, but anyway. I found it in Alexandria. You ever
been there?
 
Halfway between Montreal and
Ottawa?"

I shook my head. "I don't get off the highway."

"Neither do I, but once Lisa wanted to go to this china
clearance place, and we ended up puttering around. Anyway, I'd bet you a silver
dollar it's the same tombstone. The quality of your copy isn't great, but it
looks like the same angle and everything."

I nestled my head in his shoulder again. "Good work. If
I had a silver dollar, I'd give it to you." My paranoia and fear decreased
an order of magnitude when I was in his arms. "But what are you saying? Do
you think someone in Alexandria is targeting me?"

He shook his head. "No. Since it's online, someone could
just have downloaded it."

"Where was the original photo from?"

"That's the strange thing. That website had been taken
down, so I could only get a crummy copy off someone else's website. But I gave
it to the police and I'm going to keep looking."

"Thanks, Ryan. I'll bring them the paper copy
ASAP." I thought about asking him for the specs so I could investigate it
myself, but he and the police were already on it. I wanted to concentrate on
Reena Schuster.

"My pleasure." He bent to kiss me again. Our bodies
molded together. He ended up pressing me against the wall. I had both arms
wrapped around him before I surfaced for air again.

"Ryan..."

He touched my hair gently. "I wish I could stay."

"Me too."

"Maybe I could stay until four a.m., and then drive
back to Ottawa."

I was touched by the yearning in his voice. "You could.
I don't know about the traffic, though. I'm on call next weekend, but we'd
still see each other." Reena flitted through my mind, but I could be
persuaded to spend a few hours with Ryan instead.

My pager went off. I stifled a curse as its beep echoed up
and down the stairwell.

Ryan closed his eyes. "I thought your patient already
delivered."

"I know, but I guess if something goes wrong, she's
still my patient." Part of me wondered when or if the OB consultant would
ever take over. Was I going to get called at three a.m. for Tylenol and Gravol,
too? I'd have to ask, but in the meantime I unclipped the pager from my
waistband and checked the number.

He sighed. "I'd better go."

"I know."

"I love you."

I stayed silent, trying to frame my answer.

"You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to
know."

I looked at him. "I've always loved you, Ryan. You know
that."

"But?"

The pager felt warm in my hand. I said, "I don't know.
Is it possible to love two people at the same time?"

He shook his head.

"You're old school, though, Ry. I know it's not
something the church teaches, but I wonder. I feel like I could love you and
medicine and..." I didn't say Tucker's name, but we both knew what I was
thinking.

That made him smile a tiny bit. "You were always
wondering. Some people are wanderers. You're a wonderer."

I smiled back.

"I think you'll be coming back to me, though."

His confidence turned me on. I kissed him in reply. It was a
long and lingering kiss that allowed me to breathe in his breath, taste his
tongue, and slide my hands down his back to reach his ass.

I never said I was a saint.

And, after a hesitation, I felt Ryan smile before he cupped
my ass back.

When he finally let go, I could hardly walk straight to make
it out of the stairwell and answer my page.

"Hello, is this Dr. Sze?"
a nasal, francophone, male voice asked.
He sounded as if he were holding the receiver away from his mouth.

"Yes?" I half-sat, half-collapsed in a chair under
the wall-mounted phone I'd located on the medicine floor opposite the ward.

"Are you looking after bed 1411?"

I sighed. "Is this about Mrs. Valdez?"

"No, no, it's about a Dr. Tucker. That handsome
resident? The one for whom you should forsake all others?"

It took me a second to clue in. "Tucker. Is that
you?" Of course it was. I clenched the receiver in my hand and thought of
Ryan navigating his way back to Ottawa. "John Tucker, I am going to kill
you."

"No, no." But he was starting to laugh and lose
his accent. "You mean you are going to love him and perform a striptease,
very slow and sexy. Don't worry, you can wear your greens and pretend you are a
doctor too. Dr. Tucker likes this sort of thing—"

I hung up on him. And then, even though I still wanted to
kick him, I had to laugh. He always made me laugh.

My pager went off again, but I ignored it. Ryan was probably
already unlocking his car door. For a second, I imagined the moon shining on
his upturned face as he glanced back at the hospital, wondering what I was doing.
And I imagined Tucker chortling as he paged me again and again.