Diver Down (Mercy Watts Mysteries) (13 page)

“Drooling?”
 

“Yes. Definitely,” I said. “Something else is going on. There might be poison involved.”

The nurse didn’t raise an eyebrow or look remotely interested. “I’ll tell Dr. Navarro.”

We found a couple of chairs in the corner between a man holding a bloody rag over his face and a kid throwing up in a bucket. This was way too much like my regular life. Where was the vacation in my vacation? I went back and forth between wanting to assess patients and wanting to get the hell out of there. Since my kit was back in the room and I didn’t have any gloves (gloves were absolutely required) I went to sleep on Spitball’s boney shoulder.
 

A half hour later, I woke to the smell of hot chocolate. I opened my eyes to see a chipped mug under my nose. It held a thick foamy brew. Heaven.
 

“Where’d you get that?” asked Spitball.
 

“Made it,” said Aaron. He looked down at me from behind glasses that had a couple of dead bugs spattered on them. I’d never been so happy to see him. Which isn’t saying much, since I’m never happy to see him at all. Except when he’s saving my life. That happens more than I liked to admit.
 

He gave me the mug and I took an experimental sip. Perfection with a hint of cinnamon. Aaron rubbed his hands together and bounced up and down. “How’s it?”
 

“Wonderful. Where’d you get hot chocolate?”
 

“Jesse let me make it in her kitchen.”
 

“Who’s Jesse?” I asked. When Aaron looked confused, I said, “Oh, never mind. How’d you get here?”
 

“I brought him,” said Mauro.

I don’t know how I didn’t notice him before. His taut brown leg was a foot away from me. Mauro looked so good. His hair was all mussed up from the wind, not like Aaron’s mussed. Mussed good. He exuded confidence, and I was stressed out and exhausted. It was one of those times I wanted a handsome man to hug me, chastely of course. Well, mostly chastely. Because handsome helps. Don’t try to say it doesn’t. Spitball would’ve hugged me, but he smelled like cigarettes and had skin like leftover toast. Aaron didn’t bear considering. Before I could launch myself at Mauro, a new nurse came out. She pointed at me. “You can come back.”
 

I stood up and that’s when I realized I still had on my penguin wetsuit. I couldn’t take it off. We were in a hospital and all I had on underneath was a swimsuit. I sighed, gave my mug to Aaron, hitched up my crotch and waddled out of the waiting room behind her. The rest of the hospital was better than the outside portrayed. The walls were whitewashed and the floors were clean. I did feel a bit like I’d stepped back in time to the fifties. Everything was utilitarian and hard. There were no fountains or music, carpet or cushy chairs.
 

We went around a corner and passed a long line that extended down the corridor. The patients stood back-to-back, but looked like they shouldn’t be standing at all. Their skin sagged on their sallow cheeks. Several had Kaposi’s sarcomas, purplish tumors on their arms and faces. All the patients hung onto the handrail. Without it, I don’t know if they could’ve stayed upright.
 

We turned another corner and I touched the nurse’s arm. “Were those AIDS patients?”
 

“Yes. The clinic is always busy.”
 

“Why are they standing in the hall?”
 

She glanced at me, her dark eyes angry and resigned all at once. “There’s no room. We’re not exactly the Taj Mahal here.”
 

Since the Taj Mahal was a mausoleum, I had to disagree. “You can’t find chairs for them?”
 

“I would if I could. We have one of the highest rates of AIDs in Central America.”
 

“I had no idea.”

“Nobody does.” She stopped at a door. “We’ll release her after they pay.”
 

“Release her? She’s been here like a half hour. What about the drooling?”
 

“They say she can go. It’s a minor stab wound.”
 

She ran to catch up with another nurse and I went inside. Lucia lay on a narrow hospital bed. Her leg was well-bandaged, her eyes shut, and she was very relaxed. Graeme sat next to her on a wooden chair with her hand pressed to his cheek.
 

“How’s it going?” I asked as I took her pulse. Not bad.
 

“I’m okay,” said Lucia, slightly slurring her words.
 

“I don’t know what to do,” said Graeme. “They’re going to release her like this.”
 

“What did they give her?”
 

“Nothing. Can you go to the pharmacy for us?” Graeme asked. “I don’t want to leave her.”
 

“She’s this relaxed with nothing? What about a local? Where’s the IV?”
 

“The nurse said it’s near the end of the quarter and they’re running out of everything.”
 

Lucia’s head rolled around on the pillow. “I feel so weird.”

“How’s the pain?” I asked.

“It hurts, but I don’t really care.”
 

Graeme kissed her cheek. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

I put on my it’s-totally-fine face. “What did the doctor prescribe?”

Graeme handed me a script for penicillin. That wasn’t good enough. Lucia needed a broad spectrum antibiotic.

“What about a painkiller?” I asked.

“They don’t have any opiates,” he said. “But he gave her a tetanus booster. Is that right?”

“Yes. We always want tetanus up to date with a puncture. Mind if I take a look?” I asked.

“Go ahead.”
 

I undid Lucia’s bandage. The wound looked clean, but there was significant swelling and reddening around the site. Lucia reacted to the pain, but she was loopy and it was freaking me out.

“Excuse me,” said a man behind me.
 

I turned to find a doctor in a crisp white lab coat. I felt like I’d been caught sticking quarters up my nose. He had that disapproving grandpa thing going on.

“Hello,” I said, trying to muster up as much dignity as I could given what I was wearing. “I’m Mercy Watts, friend and nurse.”
 

He relaxed and put out his hand. “I’m Dr. Navarro. I’ve treated the wound and Lucia’s ready for discharge.”
 

“Great. Can I speak to you outside?”
 

He didn’t look surprised. He probably got that a lot from tourists. We stepped outside and closed the door.
 

“How can I help you?” asked Dr. Navarro.
 

“When Lucia was put in the ambulance, she was drooling copiously and I believe she passed out. There may be poison involved.”
 

“Yes, the nurse told me. But Mrs. Carrow was conscious when she arrived. There was some drooling, but it dissipated when I irrigated the wound. There must’ve been minimal venom involvement. There’s no evidence of poison.”

“Did you do any blood work?”
 

His brow wrinkled. “No. She recovered quite quickly. What do you suspect happened?”
 

“Succinylcholine chloride to be exact.”
 

“That’s very specific. Why in the world would you think that?”
 

“She’s oddly relaxed and drooling isn’t exactly common after a stab wound of any kind. This is the second
accident
Lucia’s had since she’s been on the island.”
 

“You think the stingray injected her with succinylcholine chloride?” He raised a bushy eyebrow at me.

“I don’t think it was a stingray.”
 

“Well, it presents like one.”
 

“The barb could’ve been dipped in it,” I said.
 

“I’d say it was possible, if she wasn’t underwater at the time. The water would’ve washed it off before it got in her system.”
 

“I know, but something’s not right. We need to call the police.”
 

He sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. “It won’t do any good. This island it’s…not well-policed. They come over from the mainland, do their time, and get out. And today they’ve got their hands full. We’ve had three assaults and a murder in the last twelve hours. Even if they believed you, we couldn’t prove it. Succinylcholine chloride clears the system quickly and that’s with a large dose.”
 

“The perfect poison,” I said. “Do you believe me?”

He gave me a patronizing smile. “I appreciate your concern. My advice: send her home early. Home is the best place for her to recover.”

Unless it’s not. Graeme will be there and I won’t.

“Don’t the police care about the tourists? If something happened to Lucia, it would be bad for business,” I said.

“This was an accident. It happens, especially with tourists,” said Dr. Narvarro.
 

How convenient.

“You have her prescription. I’ll have her wheeled out to a cab.”
 

“We don’t need the penicillin. I brought Keflex.”
 

“You came prepared.”
 

“Nurses,” I said. “It’s what we do.”
 

“Any painkillers?”
 

“Norco.”
 

“That will work fine for her.”

I reached for the doorknob, but he held me back. “You seem like a girl with connections.”
 

“Really,” I said, indicating my awesome saggy-butted wetsuit. “You think so?”

“I see past that. You have a certain confidence about you. The kind of confidence that comes from wealth and security.”
 

I kept my face blank. I wouldn’t have mentioned Myrtle and Millicent, if my life depended on it.

“We need help. You can see the state we’re in. Medications are hard to come by. Tourists bring them in, but they are often expired. We run out of painkillers, antibiotics, and insulin nearly every quarter. We were lucky to have the tentanus booster. If you have any connections. If you can do anything, it would be a great good.”
 

A great good. How The Girls would like that. Their money was this unseen ocean that I always knew about and stood on the edge of with it lapping my toes. That ocean was unreachable now because of Brooks and his ridiculous lawsuit. My parents were paying their expenses for the moment. Even if they could access their fabulous wealth, I didn’t know how to ask them to do something. I’d never asked for anything. It would’ve been ridiculous to do so with all they’d done for me. But Roatan might be the right thing to ask for, if I could stomach it.

“I’ll see what I can do. I can’t promise anything.”
 

“All I ask is that you try.”
 

“I’ll figure something out.”
 

Then he hugged me. I was so surprised, I didn’t react. Not counting Pete, the only time a doctor ever hugged me was to cop a feel.
 

Dr. Navarro pulled back. “Thank you.”
 

“I’ll do my best. Tourists really bring you expired meds?”
 

“It’s better than nothing most of the time.”
 

“I guess so,” I said.
 

A nurse called Dr. Navarro away and and I went into Lucia’s room. “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. I brought Keflex and Norco with me. That’s what we’re going to use.”
 

Lucia pushed herself upright. “That sounds good.”
 

“I don’t know about that,” said Graeme. “Dr. Navarro prescribed the penicillin.”
 

“What I have is better,” I said.
 

Graeme shifted in his chair and avoided looking at me. “I don’t mean to be rude, but…”
 

He doesn’t trust me. One point for Graeme.

I smiled. “I wouldn’t trust me either, but I am who I say I am.”
 

“Graeme, it’s fine,” said Lucia.
 

“You don’t know me,” I said. “You should confirm my qualifications. I suggest you call St. James ER and ask for Evelyn. She’ll vouch for me.”

“You don’t mind?” asked Lucia.
 

“Not at all.”
 

Graeme searched on his phone, got the number, and called the ER. Evelyn was there as she always was. Graeme told her the situation and she told him to listen to me. A nurse came in with the discharge paperwork and Graeme paid the bill with a credit card.
 

Aaron and Mauro were still in the waiting room, now eating baleadas with their feet propped up. Spitball had gone back to the resort.
 

“Want some?” asked Aaron, holding up the remains of a folded tortilla.
 

“What’s in it?” I asked.
 

“Rice, beans, and crema.”
 

“I’ll pass, but Lucia needs something in her stomach.”
 

Aaron stuffed the rest of the baleada in his mouth and ran out the exit as fast as his little legs would carry him. We followed him outside with Lucia in a wheelchair and signaled for a cab. By the time we got her into the cab, she wasn’t loopy anymore and she was in considerable pain. Aaron ran up, but he didn’t have the baleada I expected. He gave a large styrofoam cup to Lucia.
 

“What’s this?” she asked.
 

“Banana smoothie. Better for the stomach.” Then Aaron trotted off to Mauro’s scooter. I was this close to saying I’d ride with Mauro and he could go in the cab with Lucia and Graeme. Only the thought of Pete kept me from doing it. That and the fact that I’d be putting Lucia in there with the guy who might be trying to murder her and Aaron, who’d probably tell them all about how he found a chicken toenail in a hot dog once. He kept the toenail and if they were really lucky, he might have it on him. Lucia had suffered enough for one day.

I got in beside Lucia and shut the door. Lucia took a tentative sip and proclaimed the smoothie to be just what she needed.
 

“Your little guy really has a nose for food,” said Graeme.