Peter Clement - Mortal Remains

“I really am the one to blame, Dr. O’Connor-”

“Please, everyone calls me Lucy.”

“Of course. But how did you get in here?”

“I’m the guilty party on that one,” Dan said, hovering over her shoulder.

Returning her equipment to a worn black doctor’s bag, she smiled up at him.

It was a dazzler – what his father used to call a real string of pearls.

“Yes. Dan’s been most kind to me. When I couldn’t find anyone here, I asked around town where you might be and got sent to your office at the White House. Luckily, Dan had been working late, and after I told him who I was, he figured you wouldn’t want me waiting in the cold.”

Mark saw a flush of pink in the sheriff’s plump face.

“I dug up your spare keys and brought her back out here.” He gave a little shrug that seemed to say it was the least he could have done. “I knew you’d want me to.” Then he started to chuckle. “I sure didn’t expect this, though. Luckily I left her my cell number, and she called me after she coldcocked you. When I got here, she was standing over you with the bat.” He turned to Lucy, laughing even harder. “You should have seen your face when I told you who he was.”

She grinned back at him. “At first I thought you were kidding. Then when I realized you were serious, I felt I’d die.”

“Well, if he’d jumped out at me looking the way he did, I’d have shot him.”

They both had a good laugh over that prospect. Mark just held his head and gritted his teeth.

“But what happened to you?” Dan asked him. “You look as if you’ve been through hell.”

“You’re not going to believe this, but-”

“Before you two start chatting,” Lucy interrupted, “I need to examine Dr. Roper further.” Her fingers slipped behind his neck and applied gentle pressure to the tip of his seventh cervical vertebra. “Any tenderness there?”

“No. But I really have to apologize-”

“How about there?” she cut in, her fingers slipping up a notch.

“No. You see, someone broke in here last night, and I thought you were him-”

“And there?” Her touch found vertebra number five.

“Fine. I’m sure they’re all fine.”

“For the moment, I’m the doctor, Doctor.” She gave his fourth cervical vertebra the once-over. “Is there pain here?”

Pretty damn sure of herself for a resident, he thought. He found her exam uncommonly thorough. He also found himself wondering about her age. She looked older, leaner than the usual crop he got up here. Male or female, they all seemed barely out of their baby fat these days. She also had a hint of sadness in her eyes that the usual polished faces lacked.

Once she pronounced that he could safely stand up, he cautiously rolled on his side and managed to push himself to a half-sitting position without setting off the muscles in his neck again. With her on one arm and Dan on the other, he got all the way to his feet. He had a headache, but nothing else. “I’m glad you went easy on me,” he said, hoping to relax the worried look on his two helpers’ faces.

Lucy’s frown deepened. “Part of my reflex. If I hadn’t held back, you would have been dead.”

From the matter-of-fact way she said it, he thought she must be kidding. But her expression remained all business. In fact, she appeared downright calm for someone who’d just clobbered her teacher-to-be. He liked that, figuring she didn’t rattle easily. And now that he was upright, he also realized how petite she seemed, her head coming up only to his shoulders. Of course her being in bare feet and still clothed in an oversize bathrobe helped make her look tiny. But there had been no mistaking the strength he felt in her hands and arms as she supported him. “Now let’s see if you can walk on your own,” she said, very much in charge.

He made it to the doorway, no trouble. “How long was I out?” he asked, pivoting around to make the return trip. The general rule was that anyone who remained unconscious more than twenty minutes after a blow to the head warranted special observation for subsequent damage, including a CT to rule out a fracture or bleed.

“Don’t worry. I’d say five minutes, tops. No need for a CT. But I’ll wake you on and off tonight, just to be sure.”

This woman knew her stuff. “Thanks, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary – oh, shit.”

“What?” the two said in unison. Alarm creased their faces as they rushed to his side.

“Whoa! I’m fine. I just realized I hadn’t made arrangements for where you were to stay yet. Normally male residents stay with me, but the women I billet with a local family-”

“Dr. Roper!” Lucy’s concerned look vanished with a laugh, and her eyes lit up like sun-kissed earth. “For a young-looking guy, you’re certainly old-fashioned. I’ve been living in coed quarters for the last seven years, plus I grew up with four brothers, so if it’s okay with you, I’ll be fine right here.”

Mark felt at a loss for words. “Of course, if you like, you’re most welcome…” He trailed off at the sight of Dan rolling his eyes toward the ceiling and smirking at him.

“Great,” Lucy said, looking around the room. “I loved the feel of this place the minute I stepped inside. There’s a real sense of home in these old wooden houses. Reminded me of where I grew up outside Montreal.”

“Oh, you’re Canadian?” Mark said, all the while thinking he might not be old-fashioned, but Hampton Junction sure was. Nell would bust an artery spreading the word about this one. Dan, still behind Lucy’s line of sight, didn’t help matters any, shaking with laughter, his face red from trying not to make a sound.

“Originally,” she replied, “but I’ve been so many places, especially in the last seven years, I don’t know what I am anymore. Maybe a citizen of the world? Say, I checked out your kitchen. You obviously don’t eat in much, but there’s the makings for tea. I’d prescribe a cup for all of us. You two go downstairs and get it ready while I change.”

Obediently following her orders, Mark led the way. He used the opportunity to inform Dan of his ordeal.

“Jesus!” Dan responded, after hearing the story. “You could have been killed. And not just by that yahoo. Those poachers get so tanked up they’re liable to fire off a shot if a leaf rustles. You tearing up the ridge must have sounded like a whole herd of deer.”

“I don’t think it takes much guesswork to finger who it was-”

“Now, Mark-”

“My question is, what are you going to do about it?”

“One thing I’m not going to do is go into the Braden estate leveling accusations against Chaz without a shred of evidence.”

“Shred? Who the hell else would want me out of the way? Admit it. Or are you too afraid of them?”

Dan bristled, and his face went livid. “You’ve no cause to say that.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“No problem! I’m always careful not to go off half-cocked with unsubstantiated allegations.” His tone of voice had turned icy. “But I learned long ago to be very cautious about taking on some people more than others.”

The hurt in his baggy eyes bothered Mark. But he wasn’t in the mood to pamper bruised feelings or allow reelection worries to sidetrack going after Chaz. “ ‘Unsubstantiated allegations!’ You saw how the guy went toe-to-toe with me in your office.”

“Any witnesses tonight?”

“Well, no.”

“Can you identify this figure you saw in the woods?”

“Of course not. He was too far away. With his hood plus cap-”

“So it could have been any drunk taking a potshot-”

“But he came after me.”

“Did you see him then? Maybe he realized he’d crossed the line, wanted to make sure you weren’t hurt?”