The Second Heart (28 page)

“Would you rather stay here?” The police
officer rolled her eyes and cocked her hip to one side
impatiently.

“No, definitely not.” Vi watched with pity as
Josh hopped on one foot to the front of the cell to wait while the
officer let them out. He winced a little at the jostling, but still
didn’t whine. Vi was impressed, and looked forward to their
date.

Once they were walking down the hall toward
the front lobby, Josh asked, “So who sprung us?”

“Your charges have been dropped,” the officer
responded disinterestedly.

“Awesome!” Vi exclaimed.

They collected their personal belongings and
went out into the lobby. To their surprise, Dr. Sparling was
waiting for them. The doctor looked them over quickly to ensure
that they were, at least physically, all right. “Neither of you
made any new friends in there, I hope,” she said dryly.

They shook their heads, and Vi said
tentatively, “Not that we’re ungrateful or anything, but why are
you here?”

“Come on,” Dr. Sparling said as she turned
and walked toward the exit. “I’ll tell you in the car.”

“In the car?” Josh asked dumbly.

Dr. Sparling looked back at them with a
smile. “Did you plan to walk home?”

“Oh right, because we came here in a police
car,” Vi said, understanding.

“So are you coming?” Dr. Sparling resumed her
pace out toward the parking lot. Vi was impressed at how quickly
the small doctor could move.

They followed close on her heels, tossing
relieved smiles at each other as they went through the parking lot.
Josh looked like an orangutan as he swung along on his crutches to
keep up. Dr. Sparling clicked a button on her keychain, and a small
sporty Porsche beeped at them in response. “Gotta enjoy some of the
perks of the job,” Dr. Sparling said with a smug smile.

Without discussion, Vi wedged herself into
the miniscule backseat to let Josh have the extra room in the front
for his cast and crutches. After a few minutes they were all
squeezed like pretzels into the tiny sports car and on their way.
The tops of the crutches stuck out of Josh’s open window, and the
breeze swirled through the car as Dr. Sparling zipped through the
parking lot.

Without prompting, Dr. Sparling explained her
presence at the police station. “I spoke with our chief about Dr.
Wells wanting to press charges against you for assault and battery.
After speaking with Miguel’s parents to find out what happened, the
chief came to the conclusion that pressing charges wouldn’t be in
the hospital’s best interests, considering that Dr. Wells was
trying to detain Miguel illegally. Believe it or not, we actually
aren’t allowed to force surgery onto our patients.” Dr. Sparling
grinned and careened around a corner, going well over the speed
limit. “Where am I taking you two?”

“My car’s still at Phoenix Mercy, so can you
take us back there?” Josh said.

“You bet.”

Vi wondered what Dr. Sparling thought of Dr.
Wells; maybe Dr. Sparling got an evil vibe off of the other doctor,
too. She worded her question carefully. “Do you work much with Dr.
Wells? Is this… normal for her?”

Dr. Sparling chuckled. “I have no idea. I met
her for the first time a few days ago. On your friend Meredith’s
case, actually.”

“Oh,” Vi said lamely, put out. She had hoped
that she would get more insight into Dr. Wells, and see if Dr.
Wells was as irritable with other cases that didn’t involve the
removal of a Second Heart. Then again, maybe Dr. Wells only showed
up because there was a Second Heart involved, in which case the two
doctors not knowing each other would make perfect sense. Anxious to
learn if she was right, Vi asked, “How come you don’t know each
other? Is she new?”

“Well, she is a specialist, and she has admit
privileges at hospitals all over the valley. Our paths just haven’t
crossed before.”

“How come you were at Phoenix Mercy, if you
work at the E.R. at the other hospital?” Josh asked. Vi chided
herself that the question hadn’t occurred to her earlier.

“Dr. Wells invited me to help on Miguel’s
case.” Dr. Sparling explained, meeting Vi’s eyes in the rear-view
mirror. “I am only a resident, and am still learning. Dr. Wells is
an expert, and I was really looking forward to the opportunity to
see her work.”

Vi frowned, feeling a little guilty. Dr.
Sparling was just trying to be good at her job. “Sorry we screwed
that up for you,” she apologized lamely.

Dr. Sparling smiled. “There will be other
cases. There always are.” She returned her attention to the road
for a few minutes. After a while she asked, “So what is the deal
anyway? Why so dead-set against the surgery?”

“I thought you said you didn’t care,” Vi
said, remembering their earlier conversation while Vi was being
arrested.

“Well, that’s true; if Miguel and Meredith do
all right without the surgery, I don’t care. If the patient gets
better without surgery, that’s always the best possible outcome.
That doesn’t mean I’m not curious.” Dr. Sparling smiled
sheepishly.

“I guess I’d be curious, too,” Vi conceded.
In fact, she would be extremely curious. Their behavior was pretty
weird, after all. From Dr. Sparling’s perspective, they probably
all seemed like nut jobs.

“So?”

“Meredith told me she felt better and didn’t
think she needed the surgery after all,” Vi said casually. “Plus,
Miguel’s her boyfriend, so she thought that maybe he would get
better, too. For all we know, Miguel caught something from her
while they were swapping spit.”

“Ah, such a lovely turn of phrase,” Josh
commented with a grin.

“Miguel’s her boyfriend?” Dr. Sparling’s
voice was surprised. Then almost to herself she said, “That’s an
interesting coincidence. Perhaps you’re right.”

They pulled into the parking lot at Phoenix
Mercy and Josh directed Dr. Sparling to where his car was parked.
They thanked her for the ride and then Josh spent several moments
awkwardly getting out of the Porsche while balancing on his
crutches. Once he was clear, Vi pressed her foot on the button to
move the seat forward and then climbed out. As she returned the
seat to its normal position, Vi leaned in and asked Dr. Sparling
one last question. “Have there been any other patients with
Meredith and Miguel’s condition?”

“If there were, do you think I’d be here?”
Dr. Sparling smiled to soften what she said next. “Generally, I
like to save my energy for the patients who
want
to be
helped.”

Vi closed the door and waved, and Dr.
Sparling and her Porsche darted away. Josh had already gotten into
his car and started the engine, so Vi quickly slid into the
passenger seat while saying, “Let me call Mere’s folks and let them
know that we’re out.” She pulled out the paper with Amelia’s number
on it and used Josh’s cell phone to dial the number, putting it on
speakerphone.

“Hello?” Amelia’s voice sounded exhausted,
but it didn’t have the strained note that Vi had noticed
earlier.

“Hey, Mrs. C.” Vi said.

“Hold on a moment, Vi.” There was the sound
of the phone being shuffled around as it passed hands.

“Hello?” Meredith’s voice came on the line,
and Vi grinned.

“And here I thought we were going to have to
look under every bridge in Maricopa County to find you!” Vi
exclaimed happily.

“Hey Vi! We’re all at Eleanor’s house right
now, and my parents are recovering from the shock of hearing the
whole story.”

“You told them, huh? I’m sitting in the car
with Josh, ‘cause the charges against us have been dropped! The law
can’t keep us down.”

“Hey, Meredith,” Josh said, smiling at Vi’s
exuberance.

“Hey, Josh,” Meredith returned. “Hey, maybe
you guys can help us--Eleanor’s kicking us out, and we still can’t
go home. Any ideas?”

“We could go to my parents’ house,” Josh
said, surprising them. “They’re on a cruise right now, so we’d have
the place to ourselves.”

“Oh my God, that’s perfect!” Meredith’s voice
sounded relieved and grateful. “Josh, you seriously rock.”

Josh gave them the address and garage code,
and Vi wondered what his parents would think about his trusting
attitude. She shrugged it off, grateful that he was helping them.
Once all the pertinent information was conveyed, Vi said, “We’ll
see you there in a while, Mere. I am seriously starving, and I need
to pick up some things at the store.”

“Make yourselves at home,” Josh added, and
then they hung up the phone.

Vi laid a hand on Josh’s arm. “Are you sure
your parents aren’t going to kill you for this?”

“They aren’t due back for another week.
That’s plenty of time to cover our tracks.”

“Thank you,” Vi said emphatically, laying a
kiss squarely on Josh’s mouth.

Josh grinned, and a small flush crept into
his cheeks. “Okay, so, errands?”

“Yeah, but dinner first. I’m going to eat my
own arm in a minute here.” Vi jokingly gnawed on her arm to
punctuate her point.

Josh laughed and put the car into gear,
navigating out of the parking space. “So if we’re going to dinner,
does this count as our first date?”

“Definitely not,” Vi said decisively.

“Why not?”

“Because, one, I already told you that dinner
and a movie is not my kind of date, and two,” she smiled impishly
at him, “I don’t go home with a guy on the first date.” Vi settled
back in her seat, feeling carefree and relieved. Meredith and
Miguel were safe, she wasn’t in any trouble with the law, and she
was looking forward to her non-date with Josh. Things were going to
be okay.

* * *

A cold, calculating pair of eyes watched as
Josh and Vi drove away. Keeping track of the oblivious couple would
be easy, and chances were good that they would lead straight to
Meredith and Miguel. Licking her lips in eager anticipation, she
shifted her car into gear and followed not far behind.

Josh’s
parents house was gorgeous. A spacious villa in Paradise Valley, it
sprawled over half an acre of premium real estate. After gleefully
exploring the house, Miguel and Meredith had settled down on the
couch in the great room to watch a movie.

From where she sat, Meredith enjoyed a view
of the sparkling pool in the backyard surrounded by half a dozen
uplit palm trees. A gazebo sat to the west of the pool, housing a
table and chairs and an outdoor kitchen, complete with minibar.

Meredith wasn’t really paying attention to
the movie. It was an old eighties action film that she’d seen
before. She was enjoying the time she had with her private thoughts
as she admired the luxury home and mused about Josh’s upbringing.
She never would have guessed that his parents were loaded, since he
seemed pretty normal. Her own family was solidly middle class, so
she didn’t really think of the wealthy as the “other half” exactly,
but she also didn’t know what it was like to live a life where you
truly didn’t have to consider a budget.

Over the sound of the movie, Meredith heard
the garage door open, and soon afterward, Josh and Vi joined them.
One of Vi’s errands had been to Wal-Mart, where she had bought
everyone changes of clothes and toiletries. She dropped the bags of
supplies onto the floor behind the couch and flopped down next to
Meredith as if she’d been to Josh’s parents’ house a dozen times
before. That was one trait that Meredith envied in her friend--Vi
was comfortable in virtually any situation.

“So my folks told me you were locked up in
the clink,” Meredith said conversationally.

Vi shook her head from side to side with a
serious expression on her face. “Man, it’s true what they say about
the inside. It changes you.”

Meredith laughed and hit Vi in the face with
a throw pillow, glad to be reunited with her. “Are you seriously
okay, Vi?”

“Yeah, it really wasn’t so bad.” Vi glanced
up to make sure Josh was listening before adding, “The worst part
was the company.”

“And yet you can’t seem to get enough of me,”
Josh said, unperturbed.

They all laughed and then watched the end of
the movie together, enjoying the down time. Later, Josh and Vi
retired to one of the many bedrooms, leaving Miguel and Meredith
alone in the great room together.

“So, I know we’ve been avoiding the
conversation for a couple of hours now,” Miguel said tentatively,
“but have you thought any more about going public with what we
know?”

Meredith sighed. “Eleanor seems dead set
against it, and she’s the one who would be able to prove our
claim.”

“But what about what you did to Nate? You
know you have the ability, you just have to
do
it.”

“I don’t know how I did it before. I just
wanted him to stop hitting my dad. And the time before that, I was
terrified that I was going to be crushed by a tree. Both times I’ve
been under extreme duress.” While she spoke, Meredith was trying to
figure out exactly what she had done to use magic. It had been a
surge of energy coming from her core, but how did she call it
forth?

“So, can’t you just try… like, wanting it
really bad?” Miguel offered a lopsided smile.

“That’s worked for you in other areas of your
life?” Meredith asked with a chuckle.

“Come on, at least try,” Miguel urged,
ignoring her teasing. “You said you saw Eleanor levitate her purse
across the room, right?”

“Yeah,” Meredith said slowly, drawing out the
word as she continued to think.

Miguel gestured to Rob’s cell phone, which
was resting on the glass-topped coffee table. “So let’s try to
levitate the phone, okay? We’ll do it together.”

Still no closer to an idea, Meredith
protested, “I don’t even know where to begin.”

Miguel let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t
either, Mere!” His voice rose as he spoke. “But we should at least
try.”