Chapter Twenty-Six

Doctor White

Ms. Scott had been here for ten days now and the police were no nearer finding her next of kin, every avenue led to another dead end. It was as if she had just suddenly appeared full grown with everything she needed to live. She had all the relevant paperwork but it told them nothing useful except perhaps that there was something suspicious in her past.

I had my own suspicions that her employer, Ms Smith, a lawyer, might know more than she was prepared to share with either me or the authorities but she was sticking to her story that she had checked Ms Scott's references and they appeared to be in order. That her employee kept herself to herself and didn't talk about her past or any family. Ms. Smith did visit every day, though, bringing flowers and cards from colleagues at her law office. She would sit beside my patient's bed and hold her hand but when she spoke it was just about the weather, the day she'd had, and the animal shelter where Ms. Scott had been a volunteer. I had hoped hearing a familiar voice might just help our patient, especially as we had changed her medication hoping to bring her out of the induced coma.

Sydney

I felt terrible but there was nothing I could do to help the police find Bella's next of kin, after all as far as I knew it could have been they who had forced her to run and hide in the first place. Besides, I had no idea who Marnie really was and there was no one I could ask who might know, that's just how the organization worked. The only person who knew Marnie's real identity was the poor girl who lay there silent and motionless breathing with the aid of a machine and from the little, I could gather no one knew when or even if she would recover consciousness.

I had held my breath when I first heard about the accident knowing the police would do all they could to find her real identity once they dug into her past and found nothing there. It was after all their job to inform her next of kin. I should have had more confidence in the organization that had once helped me to vanish. Even her fingerprints would have been altered if indeed they were in the system anywhere.

The thing that worried me most was that I had omitted to set up proper health insurance for Marnie and she hadn't done so since moving here. I hadn't taken into consideration her youth and ignorance of such things. I wasn't financially wealthy enough to take on the huge cost of her hospitalization myself and I knew the organization was not in a position to become publicly involved with a client they had helped, it could potentially be a security nightmare and put other clients lives at risk. Besides, with all the cutoffs in place, I doubted there was anyone in the organization who could actually say with any hope of certainty what Marnie's real name was or where she had originally come from.

Her doctor came in just as I was leaving one evening and I could see he was hoping I might be able to tell him something so I was quick to disabuse him,

"I'm really sorry but I can't tell you any more than I already did. If I knew anything that might help I would have told you by now. Is there any change?"

We both looked at the silent figure on the bed, the only sounds the ventilator's hiss and the beep of monitors and he shook his head,

"I'm afraid not, we are going to do some tests tomorrow to see how much brain activity there is."

I swallowed back a sob, looking for a scrap of comfort.

"But there is still hope isn't there?"

He gestured for me to follow him out of the Life Support unit and into a relatives room shutting the door after asking one of the nurses to bring coffee.

"As you are the only link we have to Ms. Scott I feel it is perfectly correct to talk to you about her condition. I'm afraid she is still in a deep coma and I suspect there is very little brain activity. The chances of her ever regaining consciousness are beginning to look remote and if she does it is quite possible she would be severely disabled."

"And these tests you are going to do, will they tell you for sure? If she...if she doesn't wake up what will you do? I mean how long will you be able to keep her here?"

There was a pause as there was a knock on the door and a nurse came in placing a tray with two mugs of coffee on the table and left with a pitying look at me. Did she think I was a sister or mother getting bad news? Did she know I had been sitting with Marnie? I hadn't recognized her but that meant nothing, there were so many uniformed staff around and my only concern had been my friend.

"The tests should give us a good idea what's going on in Ms. Scott's brain and then we can decide the best course of treatment and the best facility for her."

"You'll move her? Isn't this the best place for her to be?"

"Our facility has very limited space, we only have twenty-four beds and there are many calls on them. We have to decide which patients we can best help and which will benefit most from the kind of care we can offer, I'm sure you understand that."

When I left shortly afterward I knew exactly what he was saying, Marnie was taking up a bed in the specialist unit, an expensive bed that was being paid for partly by Emergency Medicaid and there was little more they could realistically do for her. I was pretty sure by the next day when I visited Marnie, I would discover she was going to be transferred although I had no idea where they would send her. I would make sure wherever she went that she would be looked after, I owed her that much. It was so tragic that after escaping from an abusive past the poor young woman was now all but dead as a result of a tragic accident.

Dr White

I hated having to give Ms. Scott's only known associate such bad news but it was better than her finding the young woman's bed empty next time she visited. This was a very strange situation, there was something odd about the patient, her paperwork, her past, it all seemed very superficial and while her driver's license put her age as twenty-one I doubted she was actually more than about eighteen.

Still, that wasn't my problem, finding a bed somewhere for her with the appropriate equipment however was. I was aware that the next day my colleagues would decide she was blocking a bed in the unit when there was little hope of any improvements in her condition. We would be looking for a long term bed and they were like gold, very rare and extremely expensive.

As I left the relatives room I checked on Ms. Scott one last time knowing I would see no difference but always hoping. I hated to see such a young life cut so cruelly short but that was just the way it went sometimes and as a doctor working in such an environment I saw it all too often.

I was getting ready to leave for the day when my secretary called through to tell me there was a call for me.

"I'm about to leave can't you pass it along to one of the other doctors?"

"It's a Doctor Cullen and he says it's extremely important he speaks to you."

I asked her to get the name of his practice and call him back, standard procedure to check a caller's credentials, and then put him through.

When she did so I listened stunned as he explained why he had called.

"I'm sorry Doctor Cullen but what is it that makes you think Ms. Scott might be your patient Bella Swan?"

The reply was even more surprising but in a way, it filled in most of the gaps.

I explained the situation to my colleague and agreed to hold off on making a decision until he arrived provided that he could be here by the following morning.

"I'm afraid we can't hold off for long, pressure from those above. I'm sure you understand."

He did and promised to be here by morning but that some friends of hers would be with me soon. To make things easier I got their names and added them to the visitor's list for Ms. Scott, without this authorization they would have trouble accessing the unit.

I toyed with contacting Ms. Grant to tell her of this sudden development but decided it could wait a couple of hours. So could the police who were also keen to learn her true identity although as she wasn't a wanted criminal I doubted they would be terribly interested once they knew.

Doctor Cullen had been reticent about his patient's reason for running away but it happened all the time, if not with such success or professional help. He had told me both her parents were dead so maybe she had problems in foster care. I would find out more when he arrived or I could hang on and speak to the friends who were already en route.

Deciding my wife would murder me if I missed dinner again this week I left telling the staff I would be back later. Maybe I wouldn't be banished to the spare room again that way!