Part 8
{November 3, 1999}
The doorbell rang, interrupting Kerry's ministrations. She had been changing the dressing on
the cut above her eye, allowing the wound to breathe before covering it once again. Moving down the
stairs apprehensively, Kerry pressed the intercom in the hallway. Her voice wavered as she asked,
"Who's there?"
"John Carter."
Kerry was taken aback at the sound of his voice, as surprised as she was the first time he had
arrived on her doorstep over twelve months ago seeking to rent her basement. It seemed like an
eternity since that time. She unlocked the deadlock on the internal wooden door, it's glass now
repaired, finding Carter looking about the porch.
"You've made some changes," he stated matter-of-factly. Carter's face clearly showed his
surprise at the alterations. As he mentioned them, Kerry looked at the differences with new eyes and
realised that she had made some pretty radical changes - the outer, heavy steel security door with its
double barrel locks, automatic lighting and a small camera in the corner, which wasn't in working order
yet.
"I decided not to get another boarder after you moved out, so I took a few extra precautions."
Kerry unlocked the security door, the double barrel lock clicking open loudly.
"When you left early yesterday and didn't come in today, I was worried. I tried to call and
check how you were, but your number had been disconnected....." Carter trailed off as he entered the
hallway.
"Ah, yeah, well.... I was having troubles with crank calls, so I changed it. I logged it into the
personnel files and all backup databases at the hospital yesterday." Kerry wondered whether in her
dazed state that she had dreamed going through the motions of putting her new number in the records.
"I didn't check since I know...... knew your number by heart." Carter undid his coat, moving
comfortably into the living room and hanging his coat on the coat stand.
Kerry followed him reluctantly, muttering to herself under her breath. Naturally Carter
wouldn't need to check the number; he had lived with her for almost twelve months. She was
disconcerted by the fact that he was making himself at home - she wanted to be on her own, not have
to put herself out to entertain a guest.
As she entered the room, Carter turned and faced her, his dark eyes searching her face. Kerry
lost a sense of reality under his scrutiny; the gentleness held there a stark contrast to the raw menace in
the eyes of her stalker as his gaze had stripped her body only days before.
"Kerry?" Carter gently touched her arm, his voice heavy with concern.
"What?" Kerry jumped at the touch of his hand, her body instantly pulling away from the
contact.
"Are you sure you're okay? You seemed to space out for a moment there." Carter sounded
concerned. "That's a pretty nasty cut above your eye. What was the doctor's verdict?"
"What?"
"It's pretty good stitching to the cut."
"It should be. Maggie Doyle did it."
"Maggie? Isn't she at Mercy?"
"She is. Mr. Winters decided to take me to Mercy; I wasn't about to contradict him." Kerry
was amazed at how easily the lies were flowing off her tongue. She remembered being told once that
lies tended to be more believable with a grain a truth in them - not that she was deliberately lying to
Carter, it was just happening.
"So what was Maggie's verdict?"
"Concussion. That's why I didn't work on Monday."
"I'm glad to see you took her advice. It looks like you definitely needed today off as well."
Kerry twisted her mouth as she thought that she didn't have much choice in that matter. With
the workman installing all the security equipment in her house, she had needed to be home. There was
no way she would have been able to think clearly the morning she arrived home from hospital.
"I'm just tired, Carter. I was just changing the dressing before heading off to bed."
"How about if I do that for you?"
"What - go to bed?" Kerry tried to throw him off assisting her by diverting his attention from
fixing the wound on her head.
"Ha, ha. You know what I mean."
"I can do it myself."
"Yes, but I'm offering. It'd be much easier for you if you don't have to reach up. I noticed that
you must have bruised your ribs as well in the fall."
"What?" Kerry was stunned for a moment before she remembered that she had concocted a
story containing the essential elements of truth necessary.
"I wasn't keeping tabs on you. I happened to notice that you seemed to have trouble with them
a couple of times today." Carter tried to cover his blunder. He had been keeping an eye on her, but he
didn't need Kerry being aware of it.
Kerry realised that she had misconstrued the intent of his words. They were not referring to her
run-in with her stalker but the fall she herself had created to cover the truth of her injuries. This was the
problem with lying, it was sometimes difficult to separate the truth from the lies. She felt the room sway
before her eyes and caught hold of the door jam to steady herself.
"Kerry, sit down before you fall down."
For a change, she didn't argue with him. Right now, she didn't have enough energy to put up a
fight with a feather.
"I'll just go get the gauze. Still in the bathroom cabinet?"
"It was. It's already out on the counter."
Carter was gone before the words had left her mouth. Kerry closed her eyes and felt like she
had just been run over by a steamroller. When Carter was determined to do something, he made sure
he followed through; arguments were easily swayed by his charm or his dogged persistence. While
Kerry appreciated his concern, she felt that it was unwarranted. She was perfectly capable of tending
to her injuries on her own.
"Kerry, I've found the gauze, scissors and tape. I turned off all the lights upstairs. Is there any
reason why they were all on?" Carter was surprised at the way the house had all the lights switched on.
It was only after he had been upstairs, that he had realised that Kerry also had all the lights on
downstairs as well. It was very un-Kerry-like, she was fastidious about conserving energy - or at least
about keeping her electricity bill down.
"Oh, I was searching for something and I must have forgotten to switch off the lights."
Carter pulled a stool up in front of the kitchen counter, indicating for Kerry to have a seat. The
quality of lighting was better in the kitchen and it would give him easier access to the wound. As she
settled herself up onto the stool, avoiding his proffered hand, he caught her off guard with his question;
"Did you find it?"
"What?"
"What you were searching for?"
"Oh, no. Not yet."
"Do you want me to help you look?"
"No. It's not urgent. I'm sure it'll turn up."
Carter finally gave up his attempts at conversation with Kerry, finding that it was an exercise in
futility. Not that she wasn't answering his questions - she was. It was the way that she was answering
that had him puzzled. When he had lived with Kerry, he had only found a couple of times when she
was evasive and distracted the way she was tonight. The one he could recall clearly was the night she
had told him that she was adopted. At that time, she had been quick with her answers and avoided
looking at him directly, much like she was doing tonight. Except that time, she didn't hold anything
back as he suspected she was doing right now.
It concerned him. But he also knew that Kerry valued her privacy. He would have to wait until
she was ready to tell him in her own time - if she ever did. Kerry wasn't one to air her problems out in
public, especially if they were related to her disability.
Carter finished putting on the gauze. "There you go. All done." He turned his back on her as
he cleaned up the kitchen counter, placing the scissors, roll of gauze and tape on the stool. He caught
her reflection in the countertop as he wiped it down. It startled him to see how small and fragile she
appeared, the pensive way she fingered the dressing and the lost look in her eyes. Carter looked up to
watch her directly, wondering if he was imagining it. For a moment, he caught sight of what he'd seen
in her mirror image in the counter before it disappeared the second she realised he had looked up.
"Carter, I'm wanting to get an early night....."
"Uh, yeah. I'll be going. Have a good night's sleep and I'll see you tomorrow." Carter took
his coat off the stand and slipped his arms into the soft cashmere.
Kerry accompanied him to the door and released the deadlock on the wooden door before
unlocking the security door.
"Kerry, do me a favour and make sure you always leave the keys in the locks. These are
dangerous in fires."
"The locksmith already warned me of that," she informed him as she reset the lock on the steel
wire door after he stepped out onto the porch. The sensor light switched on as soon as he came within
its border, illuminating the area brightly.
Kerry watched Carter get into his car. She waited for him to start it and drive away before
closing the wooden door. Going back to the kitchen, she collected the medical paraphernalia Carter
had left on the stool before heading upstairs. As she passed by each room, she turned on all the light
switches and the rooms were once more brightly illuminated, removing the darkness and mystery they
had contained moments before.
From outside, a shadowy figure watched as the house came alive, lights flickering in all
windows behind closed curtains.
End Part 8
{November 3, 1999}
The doorbell rang, interrupting Kerry's ministrations. She had been changing the dressing on
the cut above her eye, allowing the wound to breathe before covering it once again. Moving down the
stairs apprehensively, Kerry pressed the intercom in the hallway. Her voice wavered as she asked,
"Who's there?"
"John Carter."
Kerry was taken aback at the sound of his voice, as surprised as she was the first time he had
arrived on her doorstep over twelve months ago seeking to rent her basement. It seemed like an
eternity since that time. She unlocked the deadlock on the internal wooden door, it's glass now
repaired, finding Carter looking about the porch.
"You've made some changes," he stated matter-of-factly. Carter's face clearly showed his
surprise at the alterations. As he mentioned them, Kerry looked at the differences with new eyes and
realised that she had made some pretty radical changes - the outer, heavy steel security door with its
double barrel locks, automatic lighting and a small camera in the corner, which wasn't in working order
yet.
"I decided not to get another boarder after you moved out, so I took a few extra precautions."
Kerry unlocked the security door, the double barrel lock clicking open loudly.
"When you left early yesterday and didn't come in today, I was worried. I tried to call and
check how you were, but your number had been disconnected....." Carter trailed off as he entered the
hallway.
"Ah, yeah, well.... I was having troubles with crank calls, so I changed it. I logged it into the
personnel files and all backup databases at the hospital yesterday." Kerry wondered whether in her
dazed state that she had dreamed going through the motions of putting her new number in the records.
"I didn't check since I know...... knew your number by heart." Carter undid his coat, moving
comfortably into the living room and hanging his coat on the coat stand.
Kerry followed him reluctantly, muttering to herself under her breath. Naturally Carter
wouldn't need to check the number; he had lived with her for almost twelve months. She was
disconcerted by the fact that he was making himself at home - she wanted to be on her own, not have
to put herself out to entertain a guest.
As she entered the room, Carter turned and faced her, his dark eyes searching her face. Kerry
lost a sense of reality under his scrutiny; the gentleness held there a stark contrast to the raw menace in
the eyes of her stalker as his gaze had stripped her body only days before.
"Kerry?" Carter gently touched her arm, his voice heavy with concern.
"What?" Kerry jumped at the touch of his hand, her body instantly pulling away from the
contact.
"Are you sure you're okay? You seemed to space out for a moment there." Carter sounded
concerned. "That's a pretty nasty cut above your eye. What was the doctor's verdict?"
"What?"
"It's pretty good stitching to the cut."
"It should be. Maggie Doyle did it."
"Maggie? Isn't she at Mercy?"
"She is. Mr. Winters decided to take me to Mercy; I wasn't about to contradict him." Kerry
was amazed at how easily the lies were flowing off her tongue. She remembered being told once that
lies tended to be more believable with a grain a truth in them - not that she was deliberately lying to
Carter, it was just happening.
"So what was Maggie's verdict?"
"Concussion. That's why I didn't work on Monday."
"I'm glad to see you took her advice. It looks like you definitely needed today off as well."
Kerry twisted her mouth as she thought that she didn't have much choice in that matter. With
the workman installing all the security equipment in her house, she had needed to be home. There was
no way she would have been able to think clearly the morning she arrived home from hospital.
"I'm just tired, Carter. I was just changing the dressing before heading off to bed."
"How about if I do that for you?"
"What - go to bed?" Kerry tried to throw him off assisting her by diverting his attention from
fixing the wound on her head.
"Ha, ha. You know what I mean."
"I can do it myself."
"Yes, but I'm offering. It'd be much easier for you if you don't have to reach up. I noticed that
you must have bruised your ribs as well in the fall."
"What?" Kerry was stunned for a moment before she remembered that she had concocted a
story containing the essential elements of truth necessary.
"I wasn't keeping tabs on you. I happened to notice that you seemed to have trouble with them
a couple of times today." Carter tried to cover his blunder. He had been keeping an eye on her, but he
didn't need Kerry being aware of it.
Kerry realised that she had misconstrued the intent of his words. They were not referring to her
run-in with her stalker but the fall she herself had created to cover the truth of her injuries. This was the
problem with lying, it was sometimes difficult to separate the truth from the lies. She felt the room sway
before her eyes and caught hold of the door jam to steady herself.
"Kerry, sit down before you fall down."
For a change, she didn't argue with him. Right now, she didn't have enough energy to put up a
fight with a feather.
"I'll just go get the gauze. Still in the bathroom cabinet?"
"It was. It's already out on the counter."
Carter was gone before the words had left her mouth. Kerry closed her eyes and felt like she
had just been run over by a steamroller. When Carter was determined to do something, he made sure
he followed through; arguments were easily swayed by his charm or his dogged persistence. While
Kerry appreciated his concern, she felt that it was unwarranted. She was perfectly capable of tending
to her injuries on her own.
"Kerry, I've found the gauze, scissors and tape. I turned off all the lights upstairs. Is there any
reason why they were all on?" Carter was surprised at the way the house had all the lights switched on.
It was only after he had been upstairs, that he had realised that Kerry also had all the lights on
downstairs as well. It was very un-Kerry-like, she was fastidious about conserving energy - or at least
about keeping her electricity bill down.
"Oh, I was searching for something and I must have forgotten to switch off the lights."
Carter pulled a stool up in front of the kitchen counter, indicating for Kerry to have a seat. The
quality of lighting was better in the kitchen and it would give him easier access to the wound. As she
settled herself up onto the stool, avoiding his proffered hand, he caught her off guard with his question;
"Did you find it?"
"What?"
"What you were searching for?"
"Oh, no. Not yet."
"Do you want me to help you look?"
"No. It's not urgent. I'm sure it'll turn up."
Carter finally gave up his attempts at conversation with Kerry, finding that it was an exercise in
futility. Not that she wasn't answering his questions - she was. It was the way that she was answering
that had him puzzled. When he had lived with Kerry, he had only found a couple of times when she
was evasive and distracted the way she was tonight. The one he could recall clearly was the night she
had told him that she was adopted. At that time, she had been quick with her answers and avoided
looking at him directly, much like she was doing tonight. Except that time, she didn't hold anything
back as he suspected she was doing right now.
It concerned him. But he also knew that Kerry valued her privacy. He would have to wait until
she was ready to tell him in her own time - if she ever did. Kerry wasn't one to air her problems out in
public, especially if they were related to her disability.
Carter finished putting on the gauze. "There you go. All done." He turned his back on her as
he cleaned up the kitchen counter, placing the scissors, roll of gauze and tape on the stool. He caught
her reflection in the countertop as he wiped it down. It startled him to see how small and fragile she
appeared, the pensive way she fingered the dressing and the lost look in her eyes. Carter looked up to
watch her directly, wondering if he was imagining it. For a moment, he caught sight of what he'd seen
in her mirror image in the counter before it disappeared the second she realised he had looked up.
"Carter, I'm wanting to get an early night....."
"Uh, yeah. I'll be going. Have a good night's sleep and I'll see you tomorrow." Carter took
his coat off the stand and slipped his arms into the soft cashmere.
Kerry accompanied him to the door and released the deadlock on the wooden door before
unlocking the security door.
"Kerry, do me a favour and make sure you always leave the keys in the locks. These are
dangerous in fires."
"The locksmith already warned me of that," she informed him as she reset the lock on the steel
wire door after he stepped out onto the porch. The sensor light switched on as soon as he came within
its border, illuminating the area brightly.
Kerry watched Carter get into his car. She waited for him to start it and drive away before
closing the wooden door. Going back to the kitchen, she collected the medical paraphernalia Carter
had left on the stool before heading upstairs. As she passed by each room, she turned on all the light
switches and the rooms were once more brightly illuminated, removing the darkness and mystery they
had contained moments before.
From outside, a shadowy figure watched as the house came alive, lights flickering in all
windows behind closed curtains.
End Part 8