Adrianne Byrd - Deadly Double

He nodded again and watched her leave. Instead of getting right to work, he closed the door and laid his head against the frame. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

The severity of his reactions was making him physically ill. At the same time, if he didn’t pull himself together he was going to draw unwanted attention.

“Twins,” he whispered, and backed away from the door.

Josephine had never mentioned she had a sister. It’d had been more than sixteen years since he’d seen her, but he was pretty sure he was right about that.

If he was wrong, he had just kidnapped a schizophrenic patient and left her alone with Ecaterina. He walked over to his desk and grabbed the phone.

A quick rap on the door interrupted him. He turned as an agitated Geena, one of the institute’s older RNs, entered the office with her pudgy hands clamped on her plump waist.

“There you are. Your eight o’clock family counseling session just left. Mrs. Banks said their time is just as valuable as yours and they would come back when you remember how to tell time.” She pushed up her wire-frame glasses on her button nose. “Can’t say that I blame her.” “I deserved that one. But Geena, I’d appreciate it if you could leave the attitude at home.” She straightened. “Will do.” Geena turned with a sly smile and left his office. William picked up his phone again and called Ecaterina. After he counted fifteen rings, he hung up, and feared the worst.

#

The patient had a splitting headache.

At the moment, all she could do was lie still and hope the room would stop spinning. After a while, she grew tired and closed her eyes. A second later, she heard a door open.

“All right now. The electricity is back on, and it’s time for something warm to eat,” a woman’s heavily accented voice said.

Frowning, the patient struggled to open her eyes.

“I’m glad you’re awake,” the elderly woman said, smiling down at her. “William thought you’d be out of it for most of the day.”

William?

“Let’s get you feeling better,” the woman said, easing the patient back against the pillows. “I told him you’d probably be hungry before he came back. I know how these flu bugs can be. You’ll need plenty of fluids, so I made you some chicken noodle soup.”

“W-where...?” the patient forced the question out of her parched lips and winced when her throat burned from the effort.

“Ooh. You really are out of it,” the woman chuckled and then spoon-fed soup into the patient’s mouth.

After a few sips, the patient relished her newfound warmth. However, the older woman’s slow feeding became an agitation and she grabbed the spoon and shoveled the hot soup greedily into her mouth.

“My, you’re hungry.”

She ignored the woman and concentrated on emptying the bowl. After a while, she did away with the spoon and simply lifted the bowl and drained the remaining contents. “Okay.” The older woman said, reaching for the empty bowl. “Maybe I should get you some more.” The patient nodded and wiped her hand along her mouth and struggled to focus on her host. “Who...?” The woman fluttered a blue-veined hand across her chest, and then flattered the patient with a belated smile.

“Of course you don’t know who I am. What was I thinking?” She patted the patient’s arm. “My name is Ecaterina. I work for your cousin Sheila’s brother-in-lawI think.” She laughed at herself. “I get confused whenever I try to decipher things like that.” She chuckled again. “I’ll just run and get you some more soup.”

The patient frowned and eased back against the pillows. Cousin? She struggled to think, but her head ached.

“Sick,” she groaned, pulling at the covers. However, she couldn’t seem to untangle her feet from the bedding. The spinning grew worse while the soup seemed to slosh around in her stomach. “B-bathroom,” she whined as she teetered on the edge of the bed.

“Dear Lord.” Ecaterina reappeared and rushed toward her. However, she didn’t reach the bed in time and the patient toppled out and hit the floor. Stars danced behind her eyes while her stomach threatened to repel her lunch.

“Oh, dear,” Ecaterina said. “Let me help you.”

They made it to the toilet bowl just as her stomach relinquished what she’d eaten. After that, she dry heaved until her stomach muscles cramped.

Ecaterina made a cool compress at the bathroom sink and did her best to help clean the patient up. “You poor thing. How long have you been sick like this?”

The patient gave a slow shake of her head. She didn’t want to talk; she wanted the compress to take away her headache. When it appeared it wasn’t working, she tried being as still as possible.

“Goodness. Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to put something in your belly like that. I guess that’s why William is the doctor, and I’m just a housekeeper.” Ecaterina pressed another compress against the patient’s forehead. “Come on, Josie. I’ll help you get back into bed.” The patient’s eyes fluttered open again. “What?” “I said I’d help you get back into bed.” “No. My name. What did you call me?” Ecaterina frowned. “Josie. That is your name, isn’t it?”

#

Detective Delaney and Simmons stopped by their favorite Chinese restaurant, the Emerald Dragon, for takeout before heading back to the office. They walked through the doors of the dark restaurant exhausted from their long day at Keystone. Xiang Zhu, a petite, Asian woman greeted them from behind the checkout nook. “Ah. Back again?” “Are you kidding?” Tyrese smiled as he leaned against the counter. “This is our home away from home.” He winked. Ming rolled her eyes, and then flashed Xiang a polite smile. “I’ll have my usual.” “One sesame chicken; and what about you, Detective Simmons?” “How about this time you give me your number?” he asked cheekily. “I would love to take you away from all of this.”

Xiang gave him a sweet smile. “My family owns this restaurant. I would never want to leave them. But how about I order you your usual as well?” Tyrese sighed and straightened up. “I guess that’s going to have to do then.” “All right. I’ll be right back,” she said, and walked toward the kitchen. “Another crash and burn.” Tyrese chuckled. Ming smacked him on the back. “The story of your life.”

“Tell me about it.” He sucked in a deep breath and looked down at his partner. “So do you suppose Dr. Bancroft’s husband knows who wanted to kill his wife?”

“No clue, but I have every intention of asking him once he’s stabilized.” She eased out of the way as more customers entered the establishment. “Are you thinking he might have something to do with his wife’s murder?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“True.” She nodded, and then thought it over for a moment. “But then we would be looking at one hell of a coincidence. A murder happening at the same time someone kidnaps a patient.” “If she was kidnapped,” Tyrese interjected. Ming rolled her eyes. “Please don’t tell me you’re buying into Ms. Ferrell’s whole wandered off theory.” “We can’t ignore it.”

“Hey, maybe Andrews stole the badge and killed her doctor on the way out,” Ming added sarcastically. “Of course, I don’t know where she would’ve acquired a gun unless she’s been keeping one beneath her bedpan for the past six weeks.”

Tyrese chuckled. “Anything is possible. Maybe on of her doctors hypnotized her to commit the murder gave her a weapon and everything.”

Ming stared at him. “You really ought to watch something else other than the Sci-Fi Channel.”

He shrugged. “Like I said, anything is possible.”

Ming grew thoughtful. “I guess. Right now my gut is telling me to learn all I can about the sister. That Josephine character, something about her just doesn’t sit right with me.”