Who is Mackie Spence? (20 page)

“Mackie!”

She's face up, long hair streaming over the otters, her lower body submerged.

I stare in disbelief. Then I run back to the boat ladder, strip to my undershorts, and am in the water swimming to her. The otters watch quietly, as if waiting for me to join them. I don't know what will happen when I reach for her, but when I close in, they ease downward and disappear.

She's not moving. Her face registers blue-white in the dim light. I put my arm around her, and try to find a pulse on her neck. I get nothing. Maybe it's too faint and I'm missing the beat. She remains motionless as I tow her back to the ladder.

Mackie's slack weight is heavy, and I adjust her body so that I have her across my shoulders before I climb the ladder. Because of saltwater in my eyes, I can't see well. It takes a long time to get to the boat rail. Then I give a final push and we both fall on the deck.

She's sprawled in front of me, dead. Inside, I feel as cold as she looks.

I make myself examine her face. Mackie's closed eyes top a calm smile, like she sleeps in the middle of a peaceful dream.

I stagger to the railing and throw up. When I return to Mackie, I hear nothing. Not the sound of the waves lapping against the boat. Not the
ting-a-ling
of the neighbor's wind chime. Not the sound of my own breathing. Everything has gone quiet. Dead quiet.

I have to do something. I step away from Mackie and go below. Brody hasn't moved. In one of the bedrooms, I find a sheet to wrap around Mackie. Shivering in spasms, I pull out a blanket to put around myself.

Much as I loved Mackie, I don't want to touch her again. When I pulled her out of the water, her skin felt so cold. But rolling her in the sheet seems like the decent thing to do. She probably would like the fabric color. She looked good in lavender.

I turn her so that she faces up into the night sky. Then I place the sheet over her, and tuck it in and under. She has the same serene expression as when I first had hauled her on the boat. I hug the blanket around me and, still watching her, reach for my phone.

As the phone searches for a signal, her eyes open.

My phone clatters as it hits the deck.

“Mackie?” I whisper. “Are you alive?”

She says nothing and doesn't move.

I jump up and watch her with a wild spurt of hope. Next, I run down the cabin stairs and grab the butane lighter. I race back up the stairs to her open eyes that stare straight up into the heavy night sky.

I light the stick and pass it under her nostrils. There's a faint but definite flicker!

“Mackie.” I gasp, as I fling the lighter down and touch her face with my hands.

Scrambling, I pick up my phone and dial 911. She will live and I'll see to it!

I put the phone on speaker and tuck my blanket around her as I give information to the emergency dispatcher. The island's fire station is close, and someone should be with us within minutes.

I struggle to pull on my pants over my wet shorts, put on my shirt, and then call my dad's phone.
Please, let him be awake.
He answers before the call goes to voice mail and says to call again as soon as I know which hospital we'll be taken to.

I sit on the deck next to Mackie.
Is she unconscious?
She recovered from a coma after her family's summer sailing accident. But how can she still be alive after being in the water and looking so blue?

How did she end up in the water?
And there is the bizarreness of Brody, the eagle, and the otters. How can any of that be explained? It's unbelievable even to me.

When the medics arrive, so does a policeman. He and the EMTs bring high beam lanterns projecting light in fifty-yard paths. The Camerons' property becomes a well-lit stage, and neighbors in pajamas step out of their homes to see what is going on.

The policeman identifies himself as Captain Evans and asks me some questions as the medics attend Mackie and Brody. Captain Evans looks closely at my hands and clothes. He's just placed my shoes, with blood on their soles, in a plastic bag, and is speaking with the EMTs when two more police officers arrive. Officers Dade and Kale size me up like coyotes considering a meal.

When the medics move Mackie and Brody off the boat, I begin to walk with them.

“Stop right now. You're coming with us,” Office Kale says.

An EMT replies, “He's been in the water, so we need to check him out. He could have hypothermia.”

“He could be dangerous,” the cop says.

What?
Where is this coming from?

“He was in cold water and could go into shock. One of you can ride in the back with us,” says the EMT, who seems to be in charge.

The cop turns to me. “After Harborview, we're going to the First Hill Station. We want a formal statement, pronto.”

I have a hard time swallowing.

“You boys have it from here?” Captain Evans asks the cops. He isn't smiling.

“Sure. We've got this,” says Officer Kale.

I'm sorry to see the captain move toward his car as I walk between my police escorts. In front of us, Mackie and Brody are carried up the stone pathway to the driveway, and secured in the red and white emergency truck. Officer Dade motions for me to get in. He sits next to me on a narrow bench seat between medical equipment, and places a stun gun on his knee.

I reach in my shirt pocket, show the cop I have my phone, and call my dad.

“Dad, we're going to Seattle. Harborview. Harborview Medical Center. They're getting ready to move us. I'm with Mackie and Brody. Did you call her parents?”

“Yes, we've talked with them. The police are at their place, now. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I'm fine.”

“What about Mackie?”

“She's still not awake.”

“Were Brody's parents home?”

“I don't think anyone was in the house.”

“Mom and I will meet you at the hospital.”

“Okay. Hey, would you bring me some clothes? Mine are kind of wet. I need shoes, too.”

“You need to end your call,” a medic says, as he sits down between Mackie and Brody.

Then the ER truck's double doors close.

During the ride, Officer Dade keeps his eyes on me and I keep mine on Mackie. Everyone stays inside the ambulance on the ferry.

What went down between Mackie and Brody that she ended up in the water? With a ripped shirt? Mackie breathes through tubes hooked to an oxygen tank. Her eyes have closed and her skin is changing from pale blue to a healthy color.

At 12:47
A.M.
Sunday, a Harborview ER tech admits me to be checked out after my cold-water swim. The emergency staff rolls in a wheelchair for me to sit in and asks for my identification information. They've already wheeled Mackie and Brody out of sight, so I don't know anything more about them. Five other people hover in the ER lobby. Two of them look sick and run in and out of the restrooms, another wears a sling on his arm, and the last two just seem sad.

An orderly rolls me down a hallway and into a curtained cubicle. Another man in hospital scrubs with a hospital badge joins us. He says, “Hi. I'm George. I hear you went for a swim in the Sound tonight. Let's get your temperature and blood pressure first.” After those tests, he says, “We need to get you warmed up. Take your clothes off and put this gown on.” He gestures to a gown lying on an examination table. “I'm going to give you a blanket to wrap around yourself, too.”

George pulls a white blanket from an overhead cabinet and sets it next to the gown on the exam table. “The bag on the floor is for your clothes. A doctor will be in to see you, very soon,” he says and leaves, pulling the drape closed behind him.

I peel off my clothes and slide into a light-green hospital gown that doesn't really close in the back. After dumping my damp clothes in the hospital bag, I wrap the white blanket with a large tag marked ‘thermal' around me, sit on a chair next to the exam table, and wait for the doctor.

I hear Mom and Dad's voices before I see them. When they draw the curtain back to walk in, I notice that Officers Dade and Kale are stationed outside.
Do they really think I had something to do with Brody and Mackie's being hurt?

I stand up. Mom hugs me with tears in her eyes, and Dad puts his hand on my shoulder.

“Has a doctor been in?” Dad asks.

“Not yet. A guy took my temperature and blood pressure. I'm fine. Really.”

Dad nods. His eyes blink a lot, like they do when he's stressed.

The orderly brings in two chairs. Mom thanks him, and my parents sit down on either side of me. I notice Dad has brought a bag with dry clothes in it.

“Did you run to Brody's house?” Mom asks.

“Yeah. Brody looked really messed up when I found him on the boat. There was a lot of blood. I was trying to find Mackie when I saw her in the water. I thought she was dead.” I hope the cops are paying attention.

A man pushes the curtain open, steps inside, and closes the drape behind him. He's about my dad's age, wears glasses low on his nose, and a white lab coat over his clothes.

“Hello, I'm Dr. Sullivan. And you must be Jeremy. I understand you were in the Sound tonight. How long were you in the water and how do you feel now?”

“I feel okay. I think I was in about ten minutes, maybe.”

He listens to my heartbeat, asks me to follow a small bright light with my eyes, checks my reflexes, and notes my temperature on the chart.

“Do you have a headache or dizziness?”

“No.”

“Since you got out of the water, have you shivered a lot?”

“Yes.

“That's normal. How do your muscles feel?”

“They ache a little.”

“Like you could cramp?”

“Yeah.”

He makes a note on his tablet.

“Okay. I don't find anything unusual. That's good. But you're going to feel muscle stress from the shivering. Let's get you something to relax. You should feel fine in about twelve hours.”

He turns to my parents.

“If he gets a light headache, that's normal. If he's dizzy, that's not. Keep an eye on him.”

Dr. Sullivan turns to me. “Okay, Jeremy, you can get dressed now. On your way out, stop by the desk and the nurse will give you a few anti-inflammatory pills. Take one right away and then one every eight hours until they're gone. You're good to go.” He heads for the draped doorway, but stops and looks back at me with a grin. “Stay out of the water. Okay?”

Everyone steps outside while I dig into the bag Dad brought. My clean, dry clothes are a reminder of something normal in an otherwise crazy day. When I finish and open the curtain, the police stand talking with my parents at the doorway.

Officer Dade, who sat with me in the ambulance, still doesn't seem friendly. The other cop, Officer Kale, ignores me and speaks with Dad.

“We're taking him to the First Hill Station to make a statement. Maybe he'll be released. Maybe he'll stay. Not our decision.”

I look at them in shock. Why would they even think about keeping me?
I saved Mackie and Brody!

After stopping at the intake desk and taking my pill, I walk out of the hospital between the police. It's a quick drive to the police station. But sitting in the back of their police car, I feel like a criminal. I see my reflection in the passenger side window. It doesn't even look like me. The face I see belongs to some other guy.

At the station, I sit with my parents in a small waiting area until the cops are ready to talk with me. When we're told that my parents can't come with me, my dad insists that an attorney be present before they start any questioning. That is my right, he says. We wait another forty-five minutes until a public defender can be roused from sleep, get dressed, and drive to the station.

That public defender is Ms. Lexa McCarthy. She meets with my parents and me in a small room with one desk and some chairs.

“Jeremy, you won't be able to leave until you make a statement. The police want to know, in detail, what you did tonight. Any information you know that's relevant to Ms. Spence and Mr. Cameron's situation will be helpful. They can't, however, demand answers to questions that you can't answer. If that happens, just say you don't know.”

“What if I remember something else later, or get things confused?” I ask.

“You'll get a transcript of the statement to review. You can always make a correction later. Just move at your own pace. Don't let them push you. And I'll be there if you have any questions.”

So, while a recorder rests on the table between us, I tell the police about Mackie's lost phone, the search for her, Jilly's call to me, and what I did at Brody's house and on the boat. I leave out a few details, including:

• The eagle that circled over the boat
  
• The sea otters that formed a floating pillow
  
• How much Brody's wounds reminded me of an eagle attack
  

Over an hour later, when I'm ready to drop from exhaustion, the police release me. Just like some words in a crime story, they caution me not to leave the area.

In the parking lot, I ask my parents if we can stop by the hospital to check on Mackie. My dad looks gray-tired. But he says yes.

It doesn't take long to return to Harborview Medical Center. We learn that Mackie is in the Critical Care Unit, and we have arrived after visiting hours. Mom asks if someone will get word to Mackie's parents that we're in the lobby. In a few minutes, Caitlin Spence approaches us, and throws her arms around me. Tears are in her eyes and running down her cheeks. She thanks me for rescuing Mackie and says I should go up to Room 331; she's cleared it with the nurses.

In the elevator, I feel dizzy. I stumble out and, to steady myself, press my back against the hallway wall. The dizziness stops, and it takes a minute before I find Mackie's room. When I step in the room, Nick Spence grabs me in a bear hug saying “thank you” over and over. At least Mackie's parents don't see me as the bad guy.