Mercy (12 page)

How in thunder had this gotten so out of hand? He felt Jake put his hand on his shoulder, and he glanced back at him.

The old man was smiling broadly. “Welcome to Bowen, son.”

H
e tried to clear up the misunderstanding, but the boys, obviously high on testosterone, wouldn’t let Theo get a word in as they surrounded him, each shouting to be heard over the others. They wanted Coach to know what their special talents were and what positions they wanted to play. One boy called Moose shoved his way to the front of the crowd and told Theo he thought he would make a good linebacker. From the kid’s size, Theo thought he could probably handle the entire line.

He kept trying to quiet them down so he could explain, but they were too excited to listen. In the background, the cheerleaders were doing back flips across the parking lot.

Michelle wasn’t much help. She couldn’t seem to stop laughing. Then one boy thought he might like to get a closer look at Theo’s gun. Theo’s reaction was swift, instinctive. He grabbed the kid by the wrist and pushed. The boy landed on his knees.

“Cool reflexes, Coach.” Moose nodded as he shouted his approval.

“You kids back away,” Jake shouted. “Let Coach and Mike get to his car. Go on now. Move out of the way. They’ve got to get over to Mike’s clinic so Coach can start investigating.”

Calling Theo “Coach” was only making the matter worse, and from the grin on Jake’s face, Theo knew he was doing it on purpose.

Michelle took Theo’s hand and led the way through the throng while Theo continued to try to get the kids to listen to him. The pair wound their way around the vans and pickups to where he’d parked his rental car. He opened the passenger door for Michelle and was immediately surrounded again by the high schoolers. Theo was a tall man, but some of the boys towered over him. He couldn’t help but think that, with the right training and motivation, they could be one hell of a team.

He gave up trying to explain and simply nodded as he walked around to the driver’s side and got in.

“Yeah, right, center,” he said as he pulled the door closed and hit the lock button.

“Center what?” she asked.

“That kid with the earring wants to play center.”

She was biting her lower lip to keep from laughing, but as they were leaving the parking lot, Theo was subjected to yet another cheer, and Michelle lost it.

“Give me a
B!”

“You know what those kids need?” he asked.

“Let me guess. A football coach.”

“No, they need an English teacher, someone who can teach them how to spell.”

“They’re just very happy you’re here,” she said. She wiped the tears away from her eyes and let out a sigh.

“Listen,” he said, “all I did was stop for gas, and this kid mistook me for the coach.”

“They’re going to be very disappointed you’ve led them on. Oh, my, I haven’t laughed like that in a long time.”

“Glad I could help,” he said dryly. “Tell me something. How come no one in this town will listen to me?”

“They’re too busy trying to impress you. Are you going to let Andy Ferraud quarterback this year?”

“Very funny.”

“He’s got a good arm.”

He stopped the car at the intersection and turned to her. “I came to fish.”

After a few seconds Michelle realized the car wasn’t moving. He had obviously stopped to wait for her to give him directions, and there she sat, like a lump, staring at him.

“Turn left here,” she instructed. “My clinic’s a few blocks down this road. If you keep going, you’ll run into my house. It’s about a block further along the curve. It’s a little two-bedroom house actually. Nothing fancy. I’m rambling, aren’t I? It’s odd,” she added. “I think you make me nervous.”

“Why is that odd?”

“I
should make you nervous. After all . . .”

“What?”

“I’ve seen you naked.”

“And you were, of course, naturally impressed.”

“Your appendix impressed me.”

“Whatever it takes to make a beautiful woman notice me,” he said as he steered the car to the left.

“There’s my clinic.”

It would have been hard to miss. The clinic was the only building on the gravel road. Theo pulled into the black tarred lot on the side of the building and parked the car near a giant sycamore tree. The branches of the tree draped across the roof. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

“You should get someone to trim those branches for you. A good lightning storm and you could lose your roof.”

“I know. It’s on my to-do list.”

Her clinic was a small, rectangular, stone building that had been freshly painted white. The front door was black, and above the doorknob in the center was a black plaque with Michelle’s name in gold letters. There were two overturned potted geraniums in cement planters flanking the stone walkway. Both of the planters had been smashed.

Michelle led him to the back entrance of the building. There were trash bags ripped apart, and the metal garbage container had been overturned. The backyard resembled a dump site.

“I just finished painting the door, and look what they did to it.”

Across the white enameled door, the word “bitch” had been spray-painted — spelled correctly, Theo noticed.

She pointed to a discarded spray can on the ground. “They got the paint from the supply closet.”

He glanced at the back lot again, then backed out of the way so Michelle could get her key into the lock to let him inside. She brushed against him as she walked past into the back hall and flipped on the lights.

There were three examination rooms, and all of them appeared to be intact. Aside from the spray paint on the walls, the exam tables and the cabinets had been left alone. The doors were open and the supplies had been overturned, but it didn’t appear that much had been tampered with.

Her office was another matter altogether. Theo whistled when he saw it. The room looked as if a cyclone had hit it. Her desk had been turned on its side, the drawers ripped out and smashed in, and there were papers everywhere.

“I meant it when I said I hadn’t had time to start cleaning up,” she warned. “I took one look and called Ben.”

Theo was looking at an old sofa across the room. One of the vandals had taken a knife to it. The burgundy leather had been shredded, and the stuffing was sticking out like puffed wheat. It looked like someone had worked himself into a rage in this room.

“Look what those creeps did to my door. I always keep my office closed, but I never lock the door. All they had to do was turn the knob. They went to a lot of trouble kicking it in.”

“Maybe they had just figured out you didn’t have any hard drugs around.”

“And went crazy?”

“Possibly.”

She started down the hallway. “Wait until you see the front. It’s worse.”

Theo continued to stand in the office doorway staring at the wreckage.

“What are you doing?”

“Figuring out the pattern.”

“What pattern?”

He shook his head. “How come your brother and your dad haven’t started cleaning up the place? Jake told me he offered, but you wouldn’t let him touch anything. Why not?”

“I’m going to have to put the files back together first or at least be here when they do it so I can supervise. The information in the patient files is confidential, and I need to make sure all the reports get back in the right folders.”

“I thought you were just opening this clinic.”

“I am.”

“Then where did all the patient files come from?”

“They’re Dr. Robinson’s files. He left Bowen two months ago and sent all his patient files to me. I found out about it after the fact,” she said. “I knew he hated Bowen, but he really left his patients in the lurch. He told my dad that life was too short to work in a, and I quote, ‘Godforsaken shanty town.’”

“With that attitude, his patients must have loved him,” he said.

“No, they didn’t like him much, and they only went to him for medical help when they were desperate. They knew how he felt about our town . . . and about them, or rather, us. You ready to see the front office?”

“Sure.” He followed her down the hall and around the corner to the nurses’ station behind the reception area. A glass partition that separated the space was shattered, and most of the jagged glass was still on the floor. There was a broken window next to the file cabinets. He slowly crossed the room to get a closer look at it. Then he looked at the floor below and nodded.

“Be careful where you step,” she warned.

Though it didn’t seem possible, the nurses’ station was much worse. The countertop had been torn out of the wall and was on the floor on top of a mound of torn files and papers. The fabric on the chairs in the reception room had also been cut. They were all too badly damaged to be repaired.

Theo was glancing from the reception room to the nurses’ station when Michelle interrupted his concentration.

“Thank God I’m starting a vacation.”

“It’s going to take more than two weeks to get this place in shape again.”

She disagreed. “Two of my friends are going to drive up from New Orleans. It shouldn’t take us more than one long day to get files in order. They’re both nurses and will know what goes where. Once the paperwork is put away, John Paul and Daddy can help me paint. I’ve got enough time,” she added. “But not the money to replace the furniture, not yet anyway.” She picked up one of the chairs and put it against the wall, then bent to shove the white cotton stuffing back inside. “I guess duct tape will work for now.”

“I’d be happy to loan you some money.”

It was definitely the wrong thing to say. She shot upright like a rocket, and the look on her face told him he’d shocked and insulted her.

She didn’t give him time to figure out a way to do damage control. “I don’t want your money. In Bowen, we take care of our own. We don’t expect outsiders to save the day.”

“That’s pride talking. I was only trying to —”

“Help a little lady in distress? I don’t mean to sound rude, but you are an outsider, and you don’t understand how important it is for us to be able to manage the clinic ourselves.”

“You saved my life, and I only wanted to . . .” Her frown stopped him. “You’re right. I don’t understand, but I’m not going to press you. I’ll even apologize. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

Her expression softened. “Look, I know you meant well, but this isn’t your problem. It’s mine, and I’ll deal with it.”

He put his hands up. “Fine,” he said. “You deal with it. So tell me, what did the chief of police say? Does he have any idea who did this?”

“Not yet,” she said. “Even if he does catch the kids who did this, I still won’t be compensated. No one around here has any money. Surely you noticed the absence of mansions on your drive into town. Most of the families have to work two jobs just to make ends meet.”

He nodded toward the reception room. “This looks pretty bad.”

“It’s a setback, but I’ll recover.”

“What about insurance?”

“It will ease the pain, but it won’t cover everything. I had to spend a fortune for malpractice insurance, and there wasn’t much left over. To save money, I took a huge deductible.” Without pausing for air, she switched topics. “Do you need help carrying in that box?”

“No.”

“You can put it in the back hall and be on your way. Fish won’t be biting this late in the afternoon, but you could get settled at Dad’s.”

She was trying to get rid of him and wasn’t being at all subtle about it. She obviously didn’t know what she was up against. Theo was every bit as stubborn as she was, and he had already decided he wasn’t going anywhere.

“I think I’ll stay with you . . . if you don’t mind.”

“Why?”

“You’ve got to be a better cook.”

“These days, I don’t have much time to cook.”

“See? You’re already better. Come on. I’ll unload that box, and then we can drive over to your place. I want to see your house, unpack, and get out of this suit.”

He tried to leave, but she blocked him. “Why?”

“Why what?”

They were standing toe to toe. He towered over her, but she didn’t appear to be the least intimidated. “Why do you want to stay with me? Dad has more room.”

“Yeah, but you’re prettier, and he did offer me a choice. His place or yours. I’m choosing yours. Small-town hospitality and all that . . . it would be rude to turn me down.”

“You mean southern hospitality, but you still haven’t told me —”

He interrupted her. “Let me get settled in your house, grab a cold drink, and then I’ll tell you what I think about this mess.”

Theo went to the car, got the box out of the trunk, and put it on the floor in the back hall, then waited for her to turn the lights off.

“I should stay and start cleaning,” she said halfheartedly.

“When will your friends be coming?”

“The day after tomorrow.”

He nodded. “How about if I have a friend of mine go through the place first?”

“Why?”

“To tell me if I’m right or wrong. Take tonight off, Michelle. Then we’ll get your brother and your dad to help. It won’t take us any time at all.”