Maddy's Floor (2 page)

The staff filed out, wheeling some of the equipment with them. The doctor closed the curtain around the bed, smiled at her quietly and left.

Taking advantage of the sudden calm in the room, Maddy walked into the room, nodded politely at the shocked patients whose eyes followed her every move. Then she checked the bed numbers. She stopped in front of the closed curtain and pulled it back slightly.

Bed 242.
Eric Colgan.

Stunned, Maddy stumbled back to the hallway, taking a last, long look at the white-curtained area. Her heart raced and her brain stalled. Confusion and fear churned together.

What had just happened?

She stared aimlessly down the hallway, unsure how to process the event. Her glance fell on the same elderly woman in the bed in the hallway.

Maddy blinked. Surely, the old woman's gaunt frame hadn't thickened slightly? Her bony ribs seemed less pointed. That couldn't be right. Surely physical changes like that weren't possible? It had to be her imagination. Or a different woman lay there now. There'd been several lined up in the hallway before.

Maddy peered down the corridor. One bed was being wheeled down toward the next ward, with another old woman propped up on the pillows. Maddy breathed a sigh of relief. That had to be the patient she'd seen before. Still, she couldn't resist a last glance at the first woman still positioned in front of her.

Damned if she didn't closely resemble the woman she'd seen earlier – when she'd first reached Eric's room.

Except…this woman's gray-tinged skin now sported a peaceful pink glow that made Maddy's stomach cramp and her heart seize. The old woman opened her eyes and stared at Maddy in surprise, a quick sly smile coming to her face.

Shocked, Maddy stared back as fine tremors of disbelief wracked her spine.

She had been too late.

But too late for what? What had just happened?

TUESDAY

T
he sun shone on the brick sidewalk leading to the front door of The Haven. It was late. Maddy's morning schedule was already off – on a day she could little afford it. Not with yesterday's bizarre happenings twisting in her mind. She'd had a horrible night. She'd worried well past midnight. She'd managed to nab a few hours of sleep early in the morning but only after much pounding on her pillow.

What she needed was a good dose of adrenaline to toss off her lethargy and kick-start her morning. The many floors of the building gave her a perfect opportunity. The meeting she had this morning was on the main floor beside the physio center pharmacy. The first and second floors offered open wards and major storage; laundry and morgue were on sub levels. The small hospital serviced the community's needs as well as their own. Her special healing project occupied the top floor, known as Maddy's floor. Her floor.

Walking to the tall narrow stairwell inside the massive stone building, she glanced around to see if anyone was close by. Nope. As usual, she was alone. Another good thing about the cage elevators – people loved them and that left the stairwell free for her to run. Slipping off her heels and flexing her bare feet on the rubber stair edge, she mentally counted to three then bolted upwards. She'd been running these stairs since she'd started at The Haven five years ago. Only twice had she met anyone in her mad dash.

She loved to run. The power she felt as her long legs took the stairs two at a time was addictive. She whipped around the first, then the second corner where the double doors to the next floor remained quiet and closed. Just the way she liked them.

Onward and upward, gaining speed, she felt laughter bubbling up. She had a reputation for being prim, proper and a bit staid. She hadn't cultivated that image, but it did give her a professional persona that made people listen, and in the medical world that counted. If only her coworkers could see her now.

The next landing flashed by. She laughed as she sped faster and faster. Most people tired out as they climbed. Not Maddy – the vertical climb energized her. The next landing went by in a blur. Maddy hardly noticed. Being so focused on the end goal, she pounded ever upward.

And ran into a wall.

"What the hell?"

Maddy stumbled, scrambling to stay upright even as hands reached out to steady her.

"Whoa, easy there."

Gasping for breath and waiting for her balance to reassert itself, Maddy struggled with the shock of hitting what appeared to be a linebacker in a charcoal suit. She stared, stunned at the oversized stranger before her. Then she frowned.

Maybe not a stranger – there was something familiar about him.

"Are you okay?" Concerned pools of blue steel stared down at her.

Part of her brain heard and understood his words. However, the rest of her understood something was seriously off-kilter. She recognized him, yet she was sure she'd never met him before. There's no way she'd have forgotten this man.

Maddy took a step back, blowing out a breath, and managed a light laugh. "Thanks. That was close."

"Do you always run like you're being chased?"

"I was laughing so it was pretty obvious I wasn't in trouble." She gave him a cheeky grin. "And yes, I do like to race up and down these stairs." His gaze dropped to the floor. Maddy glanced down and wiggled her toes self-consciously. Heat climbed her cheeks. Hurriedly she slipped her heels on again.

"Bare feet?"

"Bare feet or heels. I run in both." Maddy tossed her head, her jet-black, shoulder-length hair flipping around her face as she stared him in the eye.

The stranger's eyes widened. "Hardly the safest or healthiest way to start your day."

Her back stiffened. She hated criticism, especially from people who didn't know her enough to be an expert. "Better than a donut."

The stranger's hands fisted on his hips and his forehead creased as he scowled at her. "How'd you know I was a cop?"

Surprised, she arched a brow. "I didn't." She smirked, feeling on a more equal footing. "Maybe that's your guilty conscience talking, Officer."

"Detective."

Maddy acknowledged his title with a nod. "So why is a detective hiding out in the stairwell of The Haven?"

He snorted. "I'm hardly hiding, and I definitely was not expecting to be mowed down. I'm visiting my aunt and checking on my uncle's application to transfer in."

"Ahh, I can understand that. Good luck." She checked her watch. So much for making up lost time. "If you'll excuse me, I have to run." She grimaced at the automatic turn of phrase.

"Right. Back to full speed, I presume." He stepped aside.

Maddy walked up the last flight of stairs at a more sedate pace. She couldn't resist looking over the railing for one last glimpse of the stranger, disappearing below.

***

Drew continued down the last few stairs, his mind consumed with his 'run-in' with the intriguing mystery woman. She'd worn no nametag, had on no jacket to identify her role in this mausoleum, but her height was a definite clue that would help him find out who she was. He should have come right out and asked her, except he'd been lust-struck by the sight of the six-foot Amazon running barefoot in such a wild fashion up the stairs. And that flash of red and black lace peeking through the buttoned-up blouse – yeah, mega sexy.

How odd. He was usually drawn to petite women. Then again, he also went for the helpless take-care-of-me-because-I-can't-do-it-myself type.

He snorted at his folly. Drew glanced up the stairwell. His mystery woman had vanished.

Though tempted to chase her down for her name and number, he held back. In an all-out race, she'd probably leave him eating her dust.

Still his fingers flexed as if remembering what had slipped through their grasp.

Drew walked down the remaining flights, his mind locked on her. Could she be the elusive Dr. Madeleine Wagner? He'd pictured her as a stiff professional with high-buttoned shirts and thick-rimmed glasses that hid a deep intelligence, not a barefoot, lingerie-loving wild woman flinging herself around the stairwell with complete abandon. How was he to reconcile the two halves to the whole?

If she were Dr. Maddy.

Aunt Doris had been here for close to a year. In that time, Drew had come to respect the staff and the facility. Uncle John, with his rapidly declining health, should be happy during his last few months here – if he could get in. Then again, his uncle was another wild card. He demanded and expected everyone else to hop to it – even though he'd retired a few years ago. Of course, he'd been forced to retire and that stilted his view of 'retirement.' John McNeil would still play the role of the 'chief of police' until the last breath left his body.

Uncle John had run roughshod over everyone all his life and he wasn't about to stop now. If the old guy could arrange life to suit him better, he'd do it.

Drew reached the busy parking lot. His uncle was a challenge, but he was family and that had to count for something.

***

Maddy reached her office with barely enough time to clean up, calm down and grab her notes before her appointment. Today was important. The board meeting needed to go her way. Though she was progressive in her thinking, she was settled in many parts of her life…and change, for her, wasn't something that happened easily. Maddy wanted to stay exactly where she was – on the top floor – with her patient roster exactly as it was. She'd written the Board a nice letter explaining her reasons…that she understood their budget problems, but that if she had to take on more patients it would not be possible to maintain the quality of care each deserved.

Still, if it came down to the bottom line, she'd rather accept more patients than spend hours working on another floor. The latter would divide her energy and compromise the project – hence today's meeting. Tossing a grin as she passed Gerona, one of her senior nurses who marshaled the front nurses' station, Maddy strode to the elevators. Impatiently she pushed the down button – no stairs now. She'd already burned through the last of her time and energy, worrying.

The elevator descended, slow as a snake on a frosty day. She leaned against the back wall and tried to focus on anything other than the meeting ahead. Glancing down at her navy suit, she checked to make sure her outfit looked as appropriately somber as when she'd put it on this morning. Normally, she loved color. Today was all about conforming, at least on the surface. A grin slid out. A prize piece of her Victoria's Secret collection comprised the under layer. Maddy wiggled. No one knew. Except Visa!

Though Maddy was tall that didn't stop males from being interested in her, yet it did slim the numbers down some. Maddy considered that a blessing. If someone drop-dead gorgeous, with that extra something, walked across her path and thought she'd make a great playmate – well then, he'd be in for a happy surprise when he found out about her secret passion. Maddy loved to play – only she didn't do short-term.

It didn't bother her that she'd been alone for over a year now. Someone would show up eventually.

The elevator dinged.

Straightening, she brushed her jacket off and strode forward to face the lion's den, aka Gerard Lionel, The Haven's badass CEO.

***

Gerard stretched, easing his arms upward to erase the kink in his back. A bad night and a lousy morning gave his spine a feeling of being pounded to conform to other people's wishes. He was only thirty-nine, what was life going to be like by the time he hit fifty? He and the other five board members present were once again trying to cut the budget and keep The Haven viable and operational, an almost impossible feat in today's economic crisis.

"Have you considered trimming supplies? Surely, we can reduce this heavy laundry bill. Look at the expenditures on paper towel and tissues." Peggy Wilson, the most annoying, penny-pinching accountant Gerard had ever met, thumbed through the pages she held. "The budget cuts have to come from somewhere."

Gerard groaned silently. Not this again. This was a long-term care facility, for Christ's sake. "We trimmed that area of the budget a year ago. The staff is struggling to maintain this figure as it is. We can't cut things that could affect the spread of infection. You know that. By rights, we should be adding fifty thousand to this figure."

Peggy pouted, her stern countenance almost cracking with the movement. He knew she didn't like being thwarted. "I do understand that. What is the answer then? We can hardly cut the wages of doctors or other staffers. As lucky as they are to have jobs, we're the ones lucky to have them here."

Gerard put down his pencil and sank back in his chair. "And I know that. We're going to have to raise the fees again and increase doctors' workloads instead of filling open job vacancies. There's really no other option at this point."

And there wasn't. Gerard knew that. He'd been to this point before, at other facilities as well as this one. The past year had been tough on all of them. Theirs wasn't a unique problem and neither was the solution. Yet telling Maddy she'd have to spend some hours each day working on the floor below was not something he was looking forward to. She might consider the alternative worse.

He knew he had to follow the dictates of the Board of Directors. He knew he was the boss below that. He knew she was bound by his decisions, and none of it mattered one bit. Dr. Maddy was…well…she was Dr. Maddy. Special and unique, with skills he'd never be able to replace. Without her, they'd lose a large percentage of their residents, and the huge donations for her project – something they could ill afford.