Deception

Chapter 10

    “Ma’am, we have a new in-patient, a Mr. Devalle. He’s waiting for some laboratory results but the nurse called us to inform about Mr. Devalle’s possibility of having a colonoscopy,” Trina informed Lee.

    “Oh, well I’ll make sure to give him a clear liquid diet today. It’s advised before he gets his colon examined. Don’t worry Trina,” she replied.

    “I’m not worried Ma’am. You’re amazing at this, but you’ve been spacing out lately,” Trina confessed.

    Lee chuckled. “There are a lot going on right now that’s why my mind often wanders. But my job is important to me and I care about our patients. You can trust that I won’t do something stupid.”

    “I know you visited Ms. Morgan earlier, so I understand your current state. But to be frank ma’am, when we’re on duty, we should have presence of mind. We are not surgeons or doctors but I think we do is important, too.”

    This was what Lee loved about Trina. She was passionate and was not afraid to speak her mind even though Lee was her superior.

    “Thank you for being honest with me. I promise I won't let my issues affect our job. You’ve quite grown, Trina. I feel like a proud mom,” Lee heartily replied.

    “Oh don’t make me blush. You know that I only learned from the best,” Trina winked at her to diffuse the awkward situation.

    “Now, you’re making me blush. Go home now, Trina. I’m sure Blaire’s on her way for her shift.”

    “Are you sure? I mean I can stay for a couple more hours, just to make sure you’re okay. I don’t feel like leaving you alone.”

    “Shush. I’m still you’re superior, young lady. Now, go home and chill, you workaholic woman,” Lee said in an attempted authoritative voice.

    “Alright. Alright. Like I said, I learned from the best. Who do you think influenced my ‘workaholism’?” Trina joked and dashed out the clinic before Lee could even come up with a retort.

    Lee just shook her head and thought that she was the one who let Trina tease her this way. That brat, as she secretly called her, was six years younger than her. Trina started as a very quiet girl, seemingly frightened of her superior. But after warming up to each other, the two developed a very strange relationship—a friendship yet hadn’t crossed the boundaries of professionalism.

    She continued browsing through the files of in-patients and made some notes on diet recommendations. She would later on distribute the tasks to her new apprentice, Blaire, and to the hospital cook.

    Hours passed by and it was the end of her shift. She bid Blaire goodbye and went straight to the Intensive Care Unit or ICU which was on the third floor of the hospital. After stepping out of the elevator, she received a call from the detective.

    “Hello?”

    “Hi, Lee! I just wanted to check on you. How’s it going?” said Anton in a not so proper manner. By now, Lee could distinguish Anton’s tone when he was being a detective versus when he was being, well, just him. Tonight, Anton was friendly. Lee couldn’t help but wonder why.

    “So far, so good. Nothing odd happened today. Why? Did you find anything about the guy from the apartment?”

    “No, not really. I went to your building’s security details, unfortunately, there wasn’t any CCTV covering the back of the building. There weren’t any complaints of a person climbing on their balconies last night, either,” Anton replied. He didn’t want this to be a business call, but Lee had stirred it towards there. Guess he had to push a little more to change the direction of their conversation.

    “How about the person who hit Kris? Did you find them yet?” Lee inquired.

    “Well, I do have a couple of witnesses. But they can’t offer much information about it.” He paused and an idea struck his mind. “Say, let’s discuss this over dinner?” he crossed his fingers, hoping that Lee would agree this time. And she did not disappoint.

    “Ok. But I’m still at the hospital, though I’m off the clock now. I’m just going to visit Kris, then head out.”

    “That’s not a problem. I’ll swing by and pick you up, unless, you brought your car?” He hoped not.

    “No I haven’t. I can ride with you, that way it would save us more time,” Lee replied.

    “See you, then.”

    “Ok,” and she hung up.

    Months ago, Lee couldn’t even get a date. She would always chicken out whenever she and Eli or Kris went to have a girls’ night out. She just wasn’t too comfortable in opening up because of what happened to her the past. Now, she was surprised at herself for taking a remote liking to the detective, but she knew that they should stay strictly professional until Eli’s murder was solved. Also, there was another face that pops in her head whenever she thought of the word ‘like’.

    “No, don’t even go there,” she scolded herself for thinking about crossing the line with Gabe. The guy had been nothing but sweet and caring towards her. They had the most interaction in the past days than they ever had in almost two years of their acquaintanceship. She couldn’t complicate their blossoming friendship just because she developed a crush on him, she thought.

    Lee continued walking towards the ICU and when she rounded the corner, she froze on her tracks. The man standing in front of the ICU was no other than Jairus. He was gazing through the glass window which offered the view of the patient inside. Lee contemplated whether to advance or retreat. The decision was snatched out of her when Jairus suddenly looked her way and smiled at her.

    She felt eerie with his smile. It looked so haunted, she thought. Nonetheless, she returned a genuine one as she approached the man.

    “Hello. You’re Lee, right? I haven’t really got a chance to introduce myself before. I’m Jairus,” he said in a baritone voice. Lee, for a moment, was at a loss of words. She could definitely see the similarities with Jairus and Gabe. But Jairus give off an unnerving vibe compared to the welcoming one that Gabe had.

    She cleared her throat and found the voice to reply to him. “Yes, I’m Lee. I regret we didn’t introduce at the funeral. We had a lot going on.”

    “Oh, I wasn’t referring to the funeral. The ‘before’ that I was talking about was before Eli died. I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to meet you in person when Eli and I got back together,” he clarified.

    “What? But you two broke up more than a year ago, before we became super close,” she asked in astonishment.

    “Guess, she didn’t tell you. We tried to fix us almost a month before she died,” his voice cracked in sadness.

    The wheels were turning in Lee’s head. She remembered Eli enjoying a single life ever since they became close and never gave any indication that she was in a relationship. s**t, Eli had met a few other guys before she died. Did it mean that Eli was cheating? Did Jairus know about it and if he did, what did he do?

    “I’m sorry, you lost your special someone,” she offered, not knowing what else to say.

    “I’m sorry, too. You lost a dear friend,” then he gazed through the window again.

    This made her look, too. Kris was lying there with a ventilator connected to her to help her breathe. She had a bandage on her forehead and some visible bruises on the face and arms.

    “How’d you know Kris was here?” she couldn’t help but ask Jairus. She didn’t know what his motives with Kris were. Was he here because he truly cared for Kris? Or was it something else?

    “Ahm… I… Gabe told me,” he answered.

    Lee nodded in acknowledgement. She didn’t have the means to know whether Jairus was lying or not. It would be too awkward to approach Gabe and say “Hey. Did you tell your brother about Kris? I just thought that he was lying to me when I asked him how he knew of the situation.” She mentally face palmed herself and shook her head.

    Still, she couldn’t help but think that Jairus was a missing puzzle piece that would fit somewhere in this chaos. And thinking about this, Lee suddenly felt terrified at the notion that Jairus, the man standing beside her, could be the main missing piece—the killer.