Текст книги "Hope To Escape"

Автор книги: Jack Parker

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CHAPTER EIGHT

Manda took in a sharp breath so that she could let out a horrified shriek, but Roden had the reflexes to grab her and cover her mouth. They didn't need to attract the neighbors' attention again. His action startled Manda into silence. She gave him a disapproving glare, but remained quiet; and Roden knew that it could only be a short-lived miracle.

Roden's own heart pounded hard over the sight in front of them. This was all wrong. From the view he saw of the body on the floor, it appeared to be masculine. Could it be Max? The thought terrified him . . . and yet relieved him. At least, maybe this meant that Esther got away.

Martin pushed the door a few more inches against the weight of the body so that he could slip inside. Roden, who let go of Manda as soon as she backed down from her intended scream, quickly wished he hadn't. Before he could stop her, she slipped through the door right after Martin.

When Roden at last squeezed his own way though the opening, he found Manda standing in the middle of the small living room turning in slow confused circles, apparently looking for signs of what must have happened. Meanwhile, the sounds coming from another part of the apartment indicated that Martin had made for the bedroom to see if Esther or anyone else was still present.

Roden knelt before the body on the floor. He exhaled and felt all the tightened muscles in his body loosen when he confirmed that the man was in fact not Max. But then, who was he?

After a minute strewn with clangs and bangs and the shifting of furniture, Martin reappeared. "Nothing." He joined Roden, kneeling over the man on the floor.

Roden checked the man's wrist for a pulse, but found none. Hoping, because he'd rather not grasp that this possible kidnapping could now have turned into a murder, he searched for a heartbeat at the man's neck. After a few seconds, he felt a slight thumping rhythm. "Jeez, he's still alive."

"But who is he?" Manda asked, leaning over Martin's shoulder.

"You don't know him?" Martin asked her rather redundantly. He turned to Roden, "Do you?"

"He doesn't look like anyone I know," Roden answered as he searched the young man's clothing for a wallet or identification. He found nothing, so he began probing the body for injury. "Was Esther seeing someone?" He didn't look at her while he explored the man's head, but he directed this question towards Manda.

"Essy?" she replied, "No. She would have told me."

"Are you sure?" Roden seemed doubtful.

Manda didn't like his skeptical inquiry. "Of course I'm sure!" She glowered. "I'm her best friend. Ess would tell me if she actually had a boyfriend." Roden stopped his search long enough to give her an unconvinced glance, to which Manda indignantly continued, "She doesn't date much."

It didn't take Roden long to discover the rather large lump on the back of the man's head. He carefully rolled the body on its side for a better look. "There's blunt force trauma in his occipital region. The skin didn't break, though, so the fluid is collecting."

Roden opened the unconscious man's eyelids, and observed, "His pupils are unequally dilated and not responding to the light in the room. That and the fact that he's unconscious means that there's most likely injury to the brain. He could have an epidural or subdural hematoma, or worse; and we can only hope there's not a depressed fracture in the skull. There's also the possibility of spinal cord injury, so we need to be careful with him."

Manda interjected here. "I thought you were just a psychiatrist."

"I'm a medical doctor, I just specialize in psychiatry." Roden replied, annoyed once again at the condescending tone in her voice.

"If you are a medical doctor, why are you wasting your time in psychiatry? There's more money in – I don't know . . . brain surgery."

"That's not necessarily true – " he began.

"Oh, isn't it?" Her haughty tone grated on his nerves, "Then, explain to me why you drive an old BMW 3 series, when you could be driving a brand new M5 – "

That was it. Roden lost his cool. "My car is a classic. Now, will you back off? We need to take care of this guy. If you're not going to help, then get out of my way!"

His outburst stunned Manda into silence, again. Thank God, Roden thought, I wonder how long it will last this time. He directed his attention back to the comatose man. The only thing he could really do for him here was to bring the swelling down at the point of the injury.

"Okay. Manda, could you get me some ice and a towel?"

She replied, "Excuse me, but do I look like a nurse to you? Some little candy-striper, or something?" Roden rolled his eyes. The moment of silence was so brief and bittersweet.

A little explanation was apparently necessary. "We just need to apply cold to his injury to get the swelling down. We don't know how long he's been here, so the faster we move, the better. You know this place better than Martin or I do, so please just do what I ask." Roden's request sounded more like an order, and Manda felt insulted all the more.

"'Just do what I ask'?" she repeated in resentment, "If you think I just take orders – " but she stopped short at Roden's firm glare. Martin snorted in amusement after Manda turned and stomped towards the kitchen.

She was indeed familiar with Ess's kitchen, and quickly scrounged up the towel and put some ice into a sandwich bag so that it didn't melt all over. Of course, she grumbled the entire time she did it. Once the items were in Roden's hands, he covered the man's head injury with the towel, and secured the ice on top of it with the man's necktie.

"Now what?" Manda asked.

Roden turned his thoughts again to the situation. "I don't know what else we can do. We have to call the police." His chest tightened again at having to make the suggestion.

Manda rose from her position on the floor, and headed towards Esther's home phone. Martin looked at them apprehensive and contemplative, and before Manda had made it more than three steps, he voiced his thoughts. "I don't think that is the best idea." Manda turned on her heels to look at him, and Roden gave him his attention as well.

Martin went on to explain, "Think about it. This artist has taken her, right? Apparently he's frantic and dangerous," Roden wanted to protest that, but knew it was useless, "And you know that the news media will be informed of the kidnapping. What if that makes him desperate? Knowing that the law is hunting him, and that everyone will be searching for Esther, he might do something impulsive and violent, something stupid. If Esther is with him, it could simply put her in more danger, or he could hurt her to save himself." Pointing to the man on the floor, "We already know he is capable of it."

"We don't know for sure that Max did this . . ." Roden started to protest, but a seed of doubt had been planted in his mind. He couldn't believe that Max would do something to put Esther in danger; but then, initially, he thought Max incapable of kidnapping, and that proved wrong.

Manda, too, was at a loss. This new idea ran through her head, conflicting with the notion that law enforcement should be involved. Considering the pros and cons of the situation, it was difficult to come up with a conclusion to their dilemma.

Manda finally replied, "But we can't just let it go and pretend this isn't happening. Ess is missing, a mad man admitted that he was taking her, and there is a half dead body on the floor. What else can we do at this point but call the police?"

"Well," Martin continued his thoughts, "We can look for them ourselves. Roden is a psychiatrist. He can talk this guy into letting Ess go. Then we can call the cops."

"And just how are we supposed to find them?" Roden countered. "I've looked everywhere I thought Max could be."

"Have you? Really?" Martin questioned. "How long have you been Max's psychiatrist?"

"About seventeen years." Roden didn't like the cocky way that Martin was probing him.

"Seventeen?! Wow, then you should know him pretty well by now? Who better to track this psychopath down? You have a better chance than our city's rather oblivious law enforcement department." Martin suggested.

Manda looked at Roden with a slightly hopeful expression on her face. Martin seemed to have a lot of sway with her decisions. Roden avoided eye contact with her, and replied, "It's not that simple. Max is a complicated young man. This stunt is a direct indication that he is capable of doing things I didn't think he could do."

"But the point is," Martin returned, "You know more about him than anyone. People tell their shrinks everything. I bet if you really think about it, you could come up with something, some kind of lead."

Roden resented the word "shrink". This Martin guy had become a little too involved in this situation. Roden did, however, let himself believe that the man had a point about the safety of Esther; but it was probably just because he wanted to hold off as long as possible on pointing out Max as a perpetrator of what looked like a criminal act. Maybe this was all just a misunderstanding and could be fixed without involving the law?

He pondered on the possibilities for a moment, and then had an idea. "Manda, you say that you and Esther are very close?" She replied in the affirmative. "If you were to look around the apartment, would you be able to tell me if any objects are disturbed or missing?"

Manda seemed to understand where Roden was going with this idea. "Yes. I think so. Probably. We can see if maybe anything was taken that could be useful to where ever they may be going?" The woman was smarter than Roden had given her credit for.

Manda began her observations. She didn't really see anything out of place in the living room area, so they quickly moved on to the bedroom, and found it very disorganized. Roden couldn't be sure if it happened during the abduction or when Martin had searched the room a few minutes ago. Drawers were open, clothing was strewn over the bed and floor, pillows were scattered and the nightstand had been pushed away from the bed. The closet doors were open, exposing clothing that had fallen off the hangers, and shoes that were shuffled into disarray.

Manda huffed. "This is definitely not Ess's work. She is a neat freak. This mess would make her go haywire." She looked very upset at the utter unconcern for her friend's personal belongings.

"Well, take a look around." Roden prompted. "Let me know if you can see anything odd." He followed Manda as she looked through dresser drawers and piles of clothes.

Something caught her eye. Her eyebrows furrowed with questioning concern as she stepped closer to the nightstand. "Here's something," she said, picking up an empty picture frame. "This had a photo in it. It was a picture of Ess and her dad. It's gone."

"Really?" Roden found that interesting. "It seems strange to me that a man who actually had his obsession in his possession would bother to take a photograph of her. It doesn't seem like it would matter when he actually had the living breathing person that he wanted. Not to mention the fact that he took the time to take it out of the frame." He reflected further, "But then, people do strange things when they're obsessed."

"Yeah, like kidnapping." Manda responded, giving Roden a disgruntled look as she stepped towards the closet.

She picked up clothes and shuffled around the items still on hangers. "Ah, ha. I think I have an actual clue." Roden stepped towards her. "Ess has a suitcase, but she has never used it. She never really went anywhere. She used it mainly just as storage. There's a bunch of junk piled in the corner here," she pointed to the back of the closet, "and the suitcase is gone."

Roden surmised, "He must have packed a bag for her?"

"Oh, how thoughtful," Martin chided. Roden and Manda both turned to give him a quick glare, and then resumed their search of the closet. Martin just shrugged and made a grimace of sarcastic apology.

"I think there may be some clothes missing, but it's hard to tell when they're all piled up like this."

"Is there anything that you are sure is missing. Anything at all?" Roden persisted.

Manda studied harder, then said, "I think maybe her winter coat is missing. It's usually in the back of the closet until the cold really sets in. I don't see it."

"Well," Roden added it up, "The suitcase is gone and her winter coat has been taken though it's only mid-September. I think it may be possible that he was planning on being away for awhile?"

"Maybe he is planning to hole up somewhere for the winter." Martin suggested with a somewhat joking tinge to his voice.

"I don't know," Roden replied, "but perhaps you can use your handy lock-picking talent to get into Max's apartment. Then I could check it out like Manda did here."

"Sure, sure," Martin answered. He jumped up from the seat he had taken on the bed and headed back towards the living room. Roden and Manda left the room a moment after and almost ran into him as he stopped short of the door.

"Oh, yeah," Manda exclaimed. "What are we going to do about him?" She pointed to the unconscious man still sprawled on the floor in front of the apartment's entrance.

"What if we just dump him in an alley somewhere?"

"Martin!" Manda looked shocked at such an idea.

"He needs medical attention." Roden added.

"Sorry," Martin looked apologetic.

"We need to get him to a hospital." Roden explained, displeased at this delay.

"How can we do that without raising the wrong attention?" Manda voiced the same concern that Roden felt.

"Raising attention would take a lot of time away from us," Martin expounded on their train of thought. "We'd have to register and give some kind of explanation. With the guy in this condition, a report would most likely have to be written. It would give Max plenty of time to get away."

"Yeah," Manda added, exasperated. "We can't let that happen." She became more visibly anxious.

Martin once again had an idea. "We can't dump him off in an ally and he needs a hospital, so lets just dump him off at the hospital. Anonymously."

"How will we manage that?" Roden replied skeptically. "I think dumping him there will only draw attention." The very idea sounded completely unethical.

"Just leave it to me." Martin had a rather devilish smile on his face. "Let's just get him in the car and drive him there, and I'll take care of the rest."

Roden hesitated, but finally resigned himself to this idea. They couldn't afford to lose the time. "Fine. Let me do something first." Roden grabbed a small pillow from the couch and used Martin's tie to secure it around the man's neck.

"This should give his neck a little more support in case there is some spinal injury. Now, let's get him up. But be extremely careful. He could have more internal damage than we're aware of." Knowing the possibility of this, Roden began to move the man against his better judgment.

Roden and Martin bent over the body and heaved him into a standing position. Supporting him on either side, they waited as Manda opened the door, then they dragged him down the hall towards the elevator, where they waited in silence. When the elevator doors finally opened, an older gentleman exited. Roden looked self-conscious and Manda's nervousness showed clear on her face.

Martin, however, just smiled and addressed the old man who eyed them warily, "Poor guy's already wasted," he nodded to the man hanging from his shoulder, "and it's not even nine-thirty yet. Quite a party down the hall!"

The old man sniffed and looked distastefully at the unconscious body as he continued to pass. The excuse seemed to work, despite the bandaged head and the pillow. Martin smiled self-indulgently as they pulled the body into the elevator. Manda did not appear impressed this time.

"Are you enjoying this?" She demanded of him.

As he looked at her, his smile changed to a smirk. "Well, you have to admit, it is sort of exciting." Manda's jaw dropped in disgusted awe. Roden looked at him with disappointed wonder. Could this guy be serious?

"Or not." Martin then amended with a frown and an almost inperceptively roll of his eye, as the elevator doors shut behind them.

* * *

Roden, Manda and Martin continued down to the building's lobby in silence. When they reached the entrance, they slipped out the door and made slow but steady progress to the car. Once there, they slid the man into the front seat. Roden noticed that his breathing had improved to the point that the rise and fall of his chest had actually become discernable. The pillow brace probably alleviated some constriction from his airway.

Manda and Martin squeezed into the back of the car, while Roden fastened their new passenger in. In next to no time they set off towards the hospital. Silence still ensued. Roden was surprised at Manda's restraint, but when he glanced at her through the rearview mirror, he saw the serious worry on her face. The situation, it seemed, was really starting to get to her.

Looking for a little distraction himself, he decided to press Martin for his plan on getting this man beside him some medical attention.

"It's simple, really." Martin obliged. "We get to St. Tom's and you pull to the east side of the building near the emergency room. I'll get out and drag this guy close to the door, maybe prop him up against the wall. Then, I'll go to the desk and let them know that I noticed an injured man outside. I'll just be some innocent passerby pulling a Good Samaritan deed. Then, I'll walk out and meet you on the other side of the building where you will have stationed yourself while I perform my task. That way, we'll be near the exit, and can get back out before we draw any suspicions."

When no one commented on this plan, Martin probed for approval. "Well, what do you think?"

Roden nodded. "Simple. Sounds like it will do the job." Manda didn't say anything. She just heaved a sigh, obviously too preoccupied to listen to the conversation.

When they pulled into the hospital drive, Roden made his way to the side of the building and parked along the fire lane. He got out and opened the door for Martin. The building was well lit, so they scanned the area to make sure no witnesses were present. Then, they hauled the body out of the car. Roden secured him to Martin's agile frame, and watched as he dragged the limp fellow off towards the emergency entrance.

He got back in the car and shifted into gear. The trip to the other side of the building continued in silence. When he stopped the car, he looked at Manda in the mirror once again. Her worried expression hadn't changed. He shifted in his seat to get a better look at her.

"Manda, tell me what you're thinking." The gentle demand came right out. It seemed that his occupation always came into play, even in a situation when he was not exactly emotionally stable himself.

Manda took a moment to answer. When she did, her subject of thought was not what Roden had been expecting. "Ess is my best friend. She would tell me if she was seeing someone." He couldn't tell if it was a statement or a question.

"I – I'm afraid I don't know Ess, but there might be more to this than we're aware of. We don't know who this guy is that was laying on her floor – "

"Then what was he doing there?"

"Are you sure she never mentioned a date or a crush?" Roden asked. A thought entered his head that Manda probably never let Ess get a word in edgewise about her own life. However, he kept up his well-practiced 'serious face', which he often used with his patients.

"A crush?" Manda was indignant . . . yet again. "She's not fifteen, for cryin' out loud!" She took a breath and paused for a minute. "Agh, sorry. I don't know why it upsets me. It's just that she hardly ever had a date to talk about. I mean, she did talk about guys – of course she talked about guys, but dating – that was rare; and I could never even get her to go on blind dates . . ."

She went on like this for at least another minute. Roden felt that the situation would be better for her as long as she kept talking. More to the point, he began to undergo a slight level of shock himself over the fact that Manda actually said the word 'sorry'. He had a feeling that it was a significant hurdle for her to admit that she overreacts on occasion.

" . . . I'm just worried about her. She's so shy around men, and now some lunatic has nabbed her. What's that going to do to her? Oh, God, I hope she's alright." If it was possible for this woman to cry, Roden thought, she was close to it.

"I'm sure Ess will be able to hold her own, especially against Max. He's very docile and rather quiet himself. I'm sure she will be all right. We just need to find her and bring her home."

Just then, he remembered a detail from Max's message, and wondered why he didn't think of it when he first saw the unconscious man in Esther's apartment. "Max seems to think that Esther is in trouble, and that he is rescuing her from someone else who wants to hurt her. If that's the case, I'm sure he is striving his best to keep her safe. Maybe he thought this guy we found in her apartment meant to do her harm. He probably thinks that he has her best interests in mind. I'm sure she's fine in his hands." Was he trying to convince Manda or himself? He couldn't be sure.

"What do you mean he thinks he's rescuing her from someone else?" This was new to Manda. Roden had failed to mention this part previously, so he filled her in by repeating Max's voice message word-for-word as best as he could remember.

They didn't have time to discuss or analyze this tidbit any further. Suddenly, the passenger door opened, making Roden and Manda jump. The next moment, Martin slid into the seat and slammed the door shut. He looked at the other passengers who were both slow to react to the getaway. "Well, come on. Let's go. Let's get out of here."

Roden shifted the car into gear and headed out of the parking lot. After turning in the direction of Max's apartment, he addressed Martin, "So, how did it go?"

"Oh, fine, fine," was the reply.

"Fine?" Roden repeated. "Do you care to elaborate? What happened?"

"My plan was perfect. Went just as I thought. No one saw me stage the guy outside of the emergency room, and no one suspected that I knew more than I let on." Martin was smug. Manda's accusation had certainly been correct. This guy was enjoying the situation entirely too much.

But then, Roden contemplated, Martin didn't know any of the people involved. What other emotions could there be for him other than enjoyment? . . . Perhaps disgust? Perturbation? Distress? They seemed reasonable responses, but were evidently not the only plausible ones in this circumstance. Still, getting a thrill from a crisis situation, that was disturbing.

They drove on in silence. Hopefully, Max's apartment would lead them in the right direction. Roden just wanted this incident to be over with.