Chapter 12

In the weeks that followed the situation between Kid and Jimmy became even more strained and tense, to say the least. They had stopped talking and only addressed each other when it was absolutely necessary for professional reasons. Louise thought that it was a real shame that two good friends could end up treating each other like strangers. Jimmy was adamant about continuing his extra-marital relationship with Sarah and had apparently chosen her over his friendship with his colleague. On his part, Kid was too hurt by Jimmy's attitude and words and even though he knew that his friend had spoken out of spite and anger, he just couldn't get past it.

Louise had tried to mediate between the two doctors, but her efforts had proved to be in vain. In a way, she felt responsible for their falling out. If she hadn't insisted Kid tell Jimmy about Sarah's husband, things might be different now. Lou still thought that Kid had done the right thing and Jimmy had to know the truth about Sarah, but maybe if she had let her supervisor handle the matter at his own pace, he might have found a way to do it better. Yet, there was no use crying over spilled milk, and she hoped that with time her two colleagues would eventually patch things up. This should teach her to be more cautious and reflect carefully before meddling in the matters of others. She always told herself that she should avoid getting involved in what didn't concern her. However good her intentions were, sometimes the matter backfired and that was precisely what had happened this time.

Louise rushed into the clinic. Today her morning obligations had delayed her and she was more than a few minutes late. When Emily saw her cross the entrance, she motioned her to come to her. "Em, I can't stop today. I'm already running late and ..."

"Kid's not in yet," the receptionist informed her, cutting her off, and Louise then came closer to her desk, wondering what her friend wanted. Emily rounded the counter and came to stand by her side. "I've been talking to the girls... you know, Emma and Rachel, and we all seem to be in the mood for a bit of recreation... you know, a girls' night out... treat ourselves to a good restaurant, a bit of dancing and of course an opportunity to tear men to pieces. What do you say about meeting at eightish on Friday night?"

"I'm sure it would be fun, but I'm afraid I can't."

Emily made an unhappy face even though Lou's answer didn't surprise her. "Well, set the day and the time yourself. Maybe Saturday would be a better day since you aren't working, wouldn't it?"

Louise shifted the weight from one leg to the other uncomfortably. "You don't understand. I can't any day. I just can't stay that late."

Emily looked at her with an odd expression, her forehead creased into a frown, and after a beat she asked, "Why not? You have a curfew at home or what?"

"No, of course not, but..."

"Oh come on, don't be such a bore. All work and no play can't just be healthy and you're a doctor. Why don't you ever come out with everybody and have a little fun?" the receptionist insisted, thinking that Lou was passing on the fun on account of her husband. Louise wasn't the only woman that was kept on a short leash; Emily knew some ladies that practically had to ask their husbands for permission to do anything. Some men seemed to still be living in prehistoric times and it was infuriating to see how some women allowed them to keep living in the last century. Lou appeared to be a strong-minded, independent woman, but maybe she was different in her own household.

Lou hadn't counted on Emily asking her the reasons behind her refusal. It was difficult to explain herself. Of course nobody forbid her from going out and she could do as she pleased. Yet, she didn't think it was worth it to waste her time in useless merriment. Emily, Rachel and Emma were good friends and she enjoyed their company greatly when they came together at lunch break. However, Lou valued her time and carefully chose what she did with it. As the old saying preached, time is gold and her personal philosophy urged her to make the most of every ounce. Even in spare moments there was still so much scope for personal development.

"Emily, I'm sorry," Louise finally said, "the thing is that I don't really like going out."

"Yeah, sure," the receptionist let out sarcastically, not believing a word of what she was hearing. Lou might deny it, but Emily knew better than that. People were already gossiping about her friend... they said that Louise was aloof and unsociable, never joining the other members of the staff outside the hospital. Emily suspected that there was something more than met the eye, and Lou's reluctance to socialize surely stemmed from home and more specifically, her husband.

Emily was curious to know the man who apparently had so much control over her friend. Lou never talked about him and even though Emily admitted that she was nosy, ready to get juicy information and gossip out of anybody, this time she hadn't managed to learn a thing about Louise's personal life. She didn't even know her man's name. For some reason whenever the receptionist started directing questions in that direction, something always happened… somebody interrupted them, Lou was called for an emergency or simply her own cell phone rang. Emily had hoped that if they went out together, she'd finally be able to get that information out of her, but because of that man that she wanted so much to know about, Lou wasn't coming with them. The receptionist told herself that she would be unable to stand such an overbearing guy. In any case, it was true that when in love one tended to do all kinds of crazy things and Louise must be totally smitten with her man to let him boss her around like a puppet.

"Em, please, don't get angry with me," Louise said, pouting her lips mockingly. "One day I'll tell you what I do after work."

"Man, how mysterious! You sound as if you spend your free time forging money"

Louise simply smiled and added, "But that will be on another day. And now I'd better get to work. See you later, Emily."

Lou was about to follow the usual itinerary of every morning but the receptionist suddenly remembered something and stopped her. "Wait, Lou!" Emily called as she took a phone call and listened to the person on the other end of the line. "It's Teaspoon. He says he wants to see you asap."

"I'm on my way," Lou said as she waved Emily good-bye, who was still talking to the old doctor on the phone. Lou hurried into the corridor towards the elevator and in a few minutes she was in front of Teaspoon's door and craning her head inside, she asked, "Did you want to see me, sir?"

"Come on in, Louise," the old doctor exclaimed as he jumped to his feet and came over to perch on the corner of his desk.

"Something the matter, Teaspoon?" Lou asked, standing before him with her arms folded across her chest.

"Yeah," the man replied and on seeing worry flick over the young woman's features, he hurriedly added, "Nothing to fret about, sweetheart. Our friend Kid has called. The poor fella has the flu and won't be in today... and probably for a few days either."

"Oh dear," Louise let out, a teasing smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"So today you'll be working with Dr. Edgars," Teaspoon announced, which automatically made her smile freeze. "Something wrong?" he asked on noticing the sudden change in the young doctor.

"No, of course not," Louise countered, a smile straining to cling to her lips.

"You ladies will get on well," Teaspoon concluded.

Louise left the office with a sullen expression. Working with Samantha was going to be real "fun". For some strange reason the woman seemed to have taken a dislike to her. Of course she didn't display those adverse feelings openly but Lou clearly noticed the soft snide remarks and brush-offs she had dropped on her. Louise had tried to ignore all that and close the gap between them, but it had been completely in vain. Emily had told her once that Samantha was simply jealous of the friendship she had with Kid. That was probably true and Lou suspected that her colleague might also be miffed by the fact that her lies about her relationship with Kid had been exposed. All in all, today was surely going to be a long one if she had to stand the woman for more than two minutes.

Louise rapidly got changed and before joining her co-worker, she decided to make a phone call. In the common room, she picked up the receiver and dialed the number. After listening to the tone for a few seconds, a raspy and rough 'hello' answered on the other side of the line.

"You really sound horrible."

"Good morning to you too, Lou," Kid replied, coughing simultaneously.

"How are you, buddy?"

"My body is all achy, my head seems to be about to burst open, I'm all shivery and last time I checked my body temperature was challenging my neighbor's oven. Shall I go on?"

Lou let out a peal of laughter at his words. "Poor you. Having the flu in August is worse than bad ... apart from unusual."

"Yeah, that's me. Unusual and weird."

"Kid," Lou continued, this time adopting a serious tone, "do you need anything? I can drop by your place after work if you want." There was a long pause after her sincere offer... the silence making her wonder whether the line had gone dead. "Kid?"

"I'm here," he said with certain hesitation. "It's all right, Lou. Don't bother yourself. I'm fine...considering and besides, I can't have you getting infected with all my viruses, can I?"

"I'm gonna miss you today," Lou admitted in a soft voice.

Kid smiled to himself, foolishly pleased with her words. "Uh... Lou, on second thoughts," he started, finally giving in to temptation, "I think I'd love to have some company and good conversation."

"Good then," Louise replied, working out mentally how she was going to get to everything she needed to see to that afternoon plus paying Kid a quick visit. After scribbling down his address on a post-it, she bid him good-bye and a get-better, and hung up. A sigh escaped her lips and without further delay, she left the room to go to Samantha.

Louise knocked on the door to the woman's office and when she heard Samantha's voice granting her permission, she let herself in. No sooner had Louise crossed the threshold than the other woman said without even lifting her eyes, "You're late."

"Sorry but I had to talk to Teaspoon and check something with Kid on the phone," Lou excused herself with a serious expression, not liking the authoritative tone Samantha was using with her. When the woman directed her gaze at her, Lou knew that she had made a mistake mentioning Kid.

"Louise... Louise," Samantha tutted, rising to her feet and tapping Lou on the shoulder in a patronizing way. "Discipline... Louise... that's the key to being a good doctor. You know you won't always have Kid to cover you for your blunders."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Louise asked, the lines of her forehead revealing her growing irritation.

"We all know that Kid's a kind soul and with the patience of a saint. There's always talk going around and the truth about your... shortcomings end up coming up."

Her words managed to rile Lou up and she couldn't control her tongue or her well-known temper any longer. "That's a lie... another of your lies! A lie like that hoax about you and Kid that you made me swallow! You might believe the world of fantasy you live in is real, but nobody else buys your lies and games."

Samantha turned her steel-cold eyes to Lou and without losing her composure, she sneered, "The thing is, Louise, I have no use for you... now or ever. Dr. Miles won't mind a little diversion for today because that's what you're here for, isn't it?"

Louise didn't bother to reply and stalked out of the room, seething with anger. As she walked along, her bubbling fury dampened little by little. She was annoyed with herself for flying off the handle so foolishly. Her strong personality and her pride were her two main weaknesses and Lou thought that she'd never be able to control them. Samantha clearly had a problem, deeper than simply a case of utter dislike to her, and instead of talking to her like a sensible person, Lou felt she had reacted hysterically. She should be ashamed of herself for letting herself be dragged into a near cat fight.

Louise was reluctant to admit it, but she liked Samantha as much as the woman liked her. Yet, she knew that despite her own feelings she needed to learn to work with her and control these bouts of unleashed anger. One good thing was that she had been spared from working with her today. Dr. Miles was a little, friendly man who was close to his retirement in the hospital. Everybody talked highly of him and Lou thought that it would be a good opportunity to learn from somebody as experienced as him.

"Morning, Dr. McCloud," the old physician said when he saw her appear through the door. Despite being the oldest doctor among the staff, he always called everybody by their titles. "Seems I'm on a lucky streak lately. Yesterday my lovely Stacey gave me my third grandchild and today I get to work with you, charming lady."

"Congratulations then," Louise exclaimed with a smile.

Dr. Miles narrowed his eyes while he said, "You have a high opinion of yourself, don't you?" Lou couldn't help but blush, and the older doctor let out a loud guffaw. "Don't mind me, Dr. McCloud. I'm just an old teaser and joking is like second nature to me."

Louise chuckled, feeling like a fool for not catching the teasing mood in the physician. Dr. Miles kind of reminded Lou of Teaspoon. He was older and maybe not so "special" as her boss seemed to be, but both men were easy going and had the knack to make you laugh with the simplest and weirdest things.

Lou followed the old doctor and when they left the obstetrical floor and took the stairs down, she sent him a quizzical look. "At my age I need to exercise my decaying body and I've sworn to myself that I won't take the elevator unless it's strictly necessary."

"Where are we going?" Louise asked as her colleague had obviously misunderstood her silent question.

"To the clinic downstairs. Today's Tuesday and every Tuesday I do my hours there," Dr. Miles explained and when he noticed that Lou had stopped in the middle of the stairs, he asked, "Something wrong, Dr. McCloud?"

"Nobody told me anything about that," she muttered as her hand squeezed the handrail tightly and her face got an almost deadly pallor.

Dr. Miles smiled sympathetically and coming to her, he passed his arm around her back. "Louise, there's nothing to be afraid of. It's a simple procedure... like removing an appendix. There are a few ladies scheduled today and when we finish with them, we'll come back up."

As if by inertia, Louise let herself be steered forward and her eyes widened in horror as they crossed the swing doors over which there was a big sign that read "Women's Health Clinic". Lou's mind was reeling as she was pulled forward. They entered a room, identical to the ones used for deliveries. There was an examination table in the middle, the stirrups shining under the lights, and a counter lined the wall where the medical instruments and the bottles of medicine were placed.

Louise stood still in the middle of the room, looking around as if it was her first time in the premises of the hospital. Dr. Miles was washing his hands in the sink in the far-end corner and Lou felt that she was going to faint at any moment. The older man's voice reached her, but his words didn't get to her foggy mind. The smells of medicine that were so familiar to her were now making her dizzy and nauseous. Worse still, she had the horrible sensation that her whole body was covered in oozing blood and its acrid smell filled her nostrils more powerfully than the real odors that surrounded the place. Without being aware of it, her breathing quickened and she had to intertwine her hands together to prevent them from shaking. It had been so long that she had felt so shaken... actually it had been only once... and the images of that time added up to the terrible turmoil she was going through right now.

A feminine voice resounded in the room and Lou turned to see one of the nurses walk in followed by a young woman. The girl couldn't be older than eighteen. Dr. Miles told her that she could get changed behind a screen and then he turned his attention back to Louise.

"I can't do this," Lou wheezed shakily as she eventually found her own voice and before anybody could react, she dashed out of the room as if the very devil were after her. She didn't stop running until she reached the limits of the maternity clinic. Her steps slowed down and Lou tried to get her breath back and after a quick thought, she briefly dropped by the common room and then with a decisive stance she headed for Samantha's office.

Without any ceremony she burst through the door and came to stand before the desk at which the other woman was sitting. Samantha looked up apathetically and asked, "What are you doing here? And for future reference, nobody sets foot in my place without knocking first, understood? I don't know or care what kind of swamp you come from, so let it be the first and last time you pull that stunt on me." Louise had to bite her tongue not to lash out and simply placed the paper she had collected from her knapsack in front of the woman. "What's this?" Samantha asked.

"My program. There's not a single mention whatsoever of those activities you sent me to do with Dr. Miles," Louise stated, her jaw set as a reflection of the annoyance she was feeling.

"No need for that. It suffices that as your temporary supervisor I deem it appropriate."

Louise folded her arms over her chest and adopted a proud stance. "I'm not going to do it. I won't do something that I feel is morally wrong."

"Don't be ridiculous. This is part of the job. Abortion is legal in this country and I don't care what…"

"I'm not doing it," Louise repeated stubbornly.

"Suit yourself. But then you'll have to bear the consequences. I'm afraid I'll have to issue a negative report about you... and I'm not so soft-hearted as Kid," Samantha replied with a satisfied smirk.

"What problem do you have with me? I just don't understand."

"I have nothing to tell you and I have no problems," Samantha retorted and was about to throw a caustic remark, but stopped as the door creaked open and Jimmy appeared.

"What's happening here?" he asked, eying the two women with a stern expression.

"Nothing, Jimmy," Samantha promptly replied with her usual bright smile. "Louise here and I were having slightly different opinions about something quite trivial, weren't we, Louise?"

Lou simply cast a serious look in her direction and turning on her heel she stalked out of the room, livid with anger.

"Lou! Lou! Wait!" Jimmy called, getting out of the room and dashing after her.

Louise stopped and waited for her colleague to catch up with an impatient expression. "What do you want, Jimmy?" she asked curtly.

"Whoa, Lou! Hold your horses, woman. Don't kill the go-between," he said, lifting his hands in surrender mockingly.

"I'm sorry... I'm just having a bad day."

"I imagine so," Jimmy remarked. "I happened to overhear your slightly different opinions with Samantha." Louise made an annoyed gesture and the young man added, "Lou, you know, Samantha usually doesn't get along with other women, especially with those who are close in any sense to... you know who. I guess it's a case of shaky confidence."

"Just great."

"And don't worry. I'll talk to Teaspoon and we can work together while your dear colleague is sick."

Lou lifted an eyebrow in concern while she asked, "Did he do something so horrendous that you can't even say his name?"

"Don't push your luck, Lou," he countered softly but clearly conveying that the matter wasn't open for discussion.

"All right, I won't say a word. But let me tell you only this. Sarah might or might not be the woman of your life, but Kid is really your friend."

"Lou, you know I..." he started, but couldn't finish the thought as the ring of his cell phone interrupted them. He fished it out of the pocket of his white coat and seeing the caller's identity on the screen, he said, "Excuse me, Lou." He turned from her and when he was out of earshot he answered, "Sarah?"

"Jimmy, it's over," the woman at the other side of the line said with an exultant voice.

"What?"

"Randall... he's dead... finally."

His heart skipped a beat and right then and there he felt a strong desire to see and hold her between his arms. "Where are you, Sarah?"

"It's our time, love," the woman exclaimed joyously, ignoring his question completely. "Us alone... nobody else."

"Sarah, please tell me where you are," Jimmy almost begged. "I need to see you." There was a strange sound and then the line went dead. "Sarah? Sarah?" Nobody answered and when Jimmy pressed the re-dial button several times, an automatic message came back, telling him that the phone was off or out of range and he finally gave in.

Louise noticed the weird expression on his countenance as he slowly walked to her. "Something wrong, Jimmy? Bad news?"

Her voice brought him back from his own microcosm, and he promptly adopted a nonchalant pose. "No, everything's fine. Come on, Lou. Let's go and do some work."

As they came closer to the ward, they spotted a couple of uniformed police officers at the end of the corridor. "Seems there's trouble," Lou remarked, tilting her head to the two men ahead of them.

"No, that's Sam," Jimmy contradicted her. "Emma's hubby. Sometimes he drops by to see her." The two men had noticed the couple of doctors walking towards them and turned to watch them with anticipation. "Hey, Sam," Jimmy exclaimed, extending his arm to the man for a good hand-shake. "What brings you here today?"

"Nothing good," Sam replied in a morose tone, not letting go of his hand. "I'm so sorry to do this." Jimmy sent him a quizzical look and in a swift movement Sam unhooked the pair of handcuffs off his belt loop and clasped one around the doctor's hand.

"What the hell...?"

"Dr. James Butler Hickok, you're under arrest for the murder of Mr. Randall Downs," Sam informed him, clasping Jimmy's hands together behind his back. "Barnett, you can read him his rights."

While the other policemen did so, Jimmy kept thrashing, trying to break free in vain and shouting angrily. "Sam! What the hell is this! I didn't murder anyone. Set me free or I swear you're gonna regret this. Sam!"

The shouts drew the attention of everybody in the area, who came out to see how the doctor was being arrested by two police officers. "Let's go," Sam announced, raising his voice over Jimmy's loud shouts. Hickok continued with the thrashings and the lashings. Sam grabbed him by the arm strongly while the other police officer framed him too from the other side and they both started pushing the doctor forward.

Lou's mind was reeling as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes. She was at a loss about what to do and in an impulsive reaction she quickly placed herself before Jimmy and the two policemen, blocking their way. "One moment! This must be a mistake. This is..."

"Get of our way, Dr. McCloud," Sam said, checking her identity badge for her name. "I'm afraid there's no mistake here. And now if you'll excuse us, we have work to do."

Lou had no other option than to step aside and allow the men to take Jimmy away. As he eventually let himself be dragged along, he looked back towards her and called, "Don't worry, Lou. Everything will be all right... Please can you tell Teaspoon?"

Lou could hardly say a word and she simply stood there, transfixed as the three men grew smaller and smaller until they disappeared inside the elevator. A sigh escaped from her lips and only two sounds managed to drop out of her mouth in a soft whisper, "Oh God."