Silent Fear, a Medical Mystery (3 page)

“We haven’t known each other that long,” he said, “and I haven’t intimidated you with questions … yet. Don’t tell me that guy you’re getting monthly checks from is a high-roller? Not some dumb-ass pharmacist?”

Rachel kept her dissatisfaction with his comments from showing. “Leo, you’re far from dumb. You’ve done well for yourself.”

He picked up a saucy rib and chewed off a chunk of meat. He wiped his fingers on a napkin and turned to her.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Yeah, he’s a neurosurgeon, a thing of the past.”

“Not for your daughter. Guess you know how to pick ‘em, babe.”

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Rachel breathed a sigh of relief when they got back. Julia was sleeping soundly, which made her eyelids flutter like a butterfly as if in a big dream. Rachel placed her hand on Julia’s head and stroked her fine light hair. The baby stirred but contentedly settled again. “Sleep through the night, baby Julia.”

In the bedroom, Rachel dropped off her dress, removed her underwear and shoes, and put on a long tee-shirt, as sexy a look for her as a negligee. Leo’s bedroom and bath were her favorite places in the whole house. For a guy, he had taste with a matching bedspread and shams, and the mattress was like sleeping on clouds. Each wall had a large painting; she believed he had artistic knowledge because they varied from far-out modern to photographic realism. When he wasn’t around, she would bask in his luxury whirlpool tub and then pamper her skin with organic moisturizer.

She laid out a few things for the morning. She’d been slotted to tech for the general surgery room, whether elective or emergency and there wouldn’t be any surprises as far as staying over after her shift. Leaving Julia with Leo had worked out fine, but his minding her routinely on Saturdays would soon change. The lawyers were arranging some weekend visitation with Danny, starting next weekend if everyone agreed.

After turning out the larger overhead light, Rachel switched on a table lamp, a figurine of a man and woman wrapped around each other. She slid under the covers and closed her eyes for a minute. Leo always spent time on his computer at night, but she knew she’d see him soon based on his remarks at Maxine’s. She didn’t mind his sexual appetite, especially since she was a bit of a tramp herself.

Through the doorway, the lights went off from the great room, and Leo’s dim figure appeared in the bedroom. Rachel turned on her side as he walked hurriedly into the bathroom, unbuttoning his shirt along the way. He came out naked but she lost him when he went around the bed and climbed in under the sheet behind her. His arms circled her. His biceps were hidden gems under his shirts; although they weren’t huge, they were hard like rocks.

Rachel went to turn but Leo tightened his arms. He playfully bit her neck. “Like a tigress waiting to be tamed,” he said. “You can let me do all the work tonight.”

Rachel went to turn again as his arms slipped down to her hips. “Whoever said it’s work, Leo? It’s all pleasure.”

His breathing increased next to her ear while his hardness stiffened between her cheeks. “That’s perfect then.” He pulled her closer.

“But Leo, I don’t like it that way.” Rachel gathered a bit of momentum to move forward.

“You haven’t had it done to you by an expert, that’s all.” Leo’s grip tightened on her hips. He reined her in as close as he needed and then he did the rest.

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Rachel jolted awake when her watch alarm sounded. Without disturbing Leo, she got ready and marched gingerly to the kitchen for a bottle. Her bottom didn’t feel too comfortable.
Damn
Leo
, she thought. That was nervy of him last night. She fed and changed Julia and placed her back in the crib. Rachel toyed with her small hand while Julia’s eyes twinkled back. “See you later,” Rachel said. When Rachel left, Julia looked like a content kitten.

Three hours later, Leo opened his eyes to sunshine and quiet. He silently thanked the stupid stars for weekends. He slipped into slippers and jockey shorts and went to the kitchen, microwaved some water, and spooned instant coffee into the cup. He took a few steps to the other bedroom where Julia babbled in her crib, but he made sure he wasn’t seen. They’d get along fine as long as she didn’t need anything from him for awhile.

Leo turned on his big flat-screen TV, grabbed his coffee, cigarettes, and yesterday’s newspaper, and sat in his recliner, immersed for another two hours. He finally got up, dressed, and picked up Julia and put her in the high chair. After picking out a pureed baby fruit jar from Rachel’s few things in the closet, he fed her like Rachel had instructed. He considered it his good deed for the day because he’d rather be out looking for a new car. He placed her on the rug with a bottle while he went to fix a hinge on a cabinet, and go through mail and paperwork.

Leo finally opened a new pack of cigarettes but didn’t light up when he spied Julia on the floor. He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom where he begrudgingly changed her diaper and left her there for a nap. Back at his desk, he went over his credit card statement. The charges flowed over to the second page but nothing appeared out of the ordinary. He decided to calculate the last six month’s expenses to figure out if he could afford a new sixty-thousand dollar car. Better to lease, buy-outright, or find a low interest loan?

He lit up the cigarette he should have smoked thirty minutes ago. Outside, a wind kicked-up and the leaf-heavy trees swayed. He leaned backwards in his chair, dragged on his smoke, and appreciated his built-in desk alcove facing the yard. With the same long glass windows as most of the back of the house, the desk area had been his idea. He had chosen the perfect contractor to build him his little work station without interfering with the central beauty of the big room.

Inside the guest bedroom, Julia started to cry. It abruptly broke into Leo’s silence. He took another drag and peered down onto his pad of paper where he tried to make the numbers stretch to his advantage. Within a few more minutes, he let out a sigh. Julia’s crying rant had gotten worse.

When Leo pushed back his chair, he mashed out his cigarette with an expletive. He hurried to the bedroom. “You have to shut up,” he said, looming over the crib. Julia’s face got redder as she cried. Leo picked her up, held her on his chest for a few seconds, but it made no difference. He placed her back in the crib. Her crying pitched louder. He walked out faster than he had come in and sat back down in his chair. Now, however, the noise coming from Julia’s room was screaming, not crying.

“Fuck this,” Leo said and ran to the bedroom. He placed both his hands along the sides of Julia’s chest and dragged both thumbs over the bottom of her breast plate. An anatomic thought came to him, despite the fact that he wasn’t thinking so well over a damned baby’s screaming. He pushed down with his thumbs. He felt a snap. Julia pitched a wail that sounded like a pain-stricken animal’s plea.

Back at the desk, Leo started another smoke. Now his silence would never return. The crying was louder and sounded more terrifying.
Give it something else to cry about
, he thought,
to make it go to sleep
. He pulled on his cigarette and exhaled a cloud. Smoking should be one of life’s pleasures. He studied the red glow at the end of his cigarette.

Leo tried an old trick and counted to ten. Why should he be counting to ten in his own house anyway? At ten, he jolted out of his chair and stormed to the bedroom. Not without his cigarette.

Julia’s face was beat-red. Her face looked crumpled and aged. Leo grabbed her right arm after putting the railing down. He jerked it up, took a second to choose the area, and lightly pressed the tip of his cigarette. For a second, Julia’s face lapsed into horrific surprise, and then an even louder scream pierced his eardrums. Leo felt rage. He whipped off her diaper, grabbed her legs up with his left hand, and ground out the cigarette in her buttocks.

Chapter 3

After Danny’s two morning cases, he arrived at the office to an overflow of patients. Some days the predictability of a schedule proved useless. One of his patients even requested that he see his wife because she came along and had never seen a doctor about her migraine headaches. They were convinced she had a tumor and thought they could fit in two appointments instead of one. It wasn’t convenient for his other patients who were killing time in the waiting room.

The afternoon zoomed by and Danny hadn’t eaten lunch. He tossed his stethoscope on the couch under his Norman Rockwell fishing print and grinned. The picture stood for more than a pretty print. It represented some flow of continuity to his life – it had stayed right in his undisrupted office during most of the last year’s turmoil. His stomach started to grumble as his nurse, Cheryl, came through the open door.

“Aren’t you going to eat what’s on your desk?” she asked.

Danny strutted over to a vegetable assortment with dip, a piece of cake, and a cup of coffee.

“Looks like left over party food,” Danny said.

“You missed our late morning birthday break for Dr. Garner.”

“I didn’t know Bruce grew older.”

“He tried to keep this one quiet but that’s impossible around here.” Cheryl took the files in Danny’s outbox and put a telephone message on his desk. “Mark Cunningham called,” she said. “He asked for you to call him at the office.”

Danny chewed a vegetable slice before answering. “I’ll get a hold of him right now.”

“However, I know you didn’t eat lunch, so why don’t you take a little break while x-rays are being done on your patient?”

“Thanks Cheryl. Appreciate the food.”

“I think it’ll be closing time soon for most staff. How about rescheduling a few appointments?”

“That’s fine, reschedule them for the first thing in the morning. I’ll let you know if I can get Harold to see my hospital patients while he’s making his own rounds.”

“I’ll try, Dr. Tilson.”

Danny called Harold as soon as he sat down. After giving Harold his patients’ names and information, Harold said, “No problem. I owe you.”

Next, Danny called his attorney. “Mark, it’s Danny, did you get things ironed out with Rachel’s attorney?”

“The paperwork from Phil Beckett confirmed the verbal agreement. When you want it, you’ve got two weekends a month for visitation with Julia.”

“Thanks Mark. I’ll call Rachel and set it up for this weekend.”

“Danny, what do you want to do about custody? I know you were going to give it some thought.”

Danny stared at the birthday cake, which made him think of his baby girl who would have years of birthdays without him. That is, if things stayed the way Rachel wanted them. On the other hand, his own life could have more stability if he kept litigation out of his hair. He had more legalities in his life the last year than prominent TV judges. Mark cut into his thoughts and helped him out.

“Even if we start proceedings, Danny, custody hearings, a trial, or even an agreement between two parties takes time. I’d advise you to go ahead in that direction. You can always back out later if you decide. Give it some thought and call me soon.”

“Okay Mark. We’ll leave it at that.” Danny hung up and took a sip of cold coffee. He grimaced and masked it with cake as Bruce came in. “Happy birthday,” Danny said. “Sorry I missed the celebration.”

Dr. Bruce Garner slid out the chair across from Danny. He needed the extra leg room. The founding partner of their group looked the same as he did for last year’s birthday. He was aging like a shiny dime.

“Celebrations suit the staff,” Bruce said. “It breaks up office monotony and gives them festivity. I’m celebrating this weekend with my wife and we’re going out of town. You’re in charge but I’ll have my cell. Harold is on call.”

Bruce lingered. The visit seemed to be Bruce’s way of giving him a vote of confidence. He felt more at ease with his senior partner than he had in a long time and believed Bruce considered him a better surgeon than Harold and Matthew.

“By the way,” Bruce added, “the business books are looking good. We have a slightly higher percentage of unpaid statements that billing is working on, yet income is up.” Bruce got up and tapped the desk with approval.

“We have excellent people here, Bruce.”

“There’s always room for improvement.” Bruce’s long stride had him out of Danny’s sight as soon as Danny got up and grabbed his stethoscope.

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One thing Rachel liked about a ten-hour week was the distance she maintained from operating room politics. The charge nurse left her alone, too, because she was “only a part-timer.” Again, she’d played her cards just right. The day passed effortlessly, preparing and assisting with instruments in three surgery cases from an elective appendectomy to a melanoma removal. She looked forward to seeing Julia when she got off, less so for Leo.

After Rachel drove home, slipped her key into the front door, and entered, she caught Leo coming up from the basement steps in work-out clothes and a film of sweat. Other than the TV volume being low, she didn’t hear Julia.

“Hey, babe,” Leo said. He walked straight over to her, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and placed a kiss on her lips. “Hey, don’t look so glum. Bad day at the office?” He tilted his head and smiled.

“It could always be better.”

“I’ll cheer you up.” Leo ran his fingers through her hair. “If anyone gave you trouble today, tell me. They’ll have to answer to me. I could switch their medication when they come in with a script.” He laughed and leaned in again for a possible kiss. “I tell you what, I’ll give you a break tonight and diaper Julia all the way to bedtime.”

“That’s considerate of you, Leo.” She immediately regretted her tone. After all, there were good things about him. “Is she taking a nap?” Rachel managed a smile and kissed him back.

“That’s more like the Rachel I know,” Leo said letting her go. “I put Julia in her playpen when I went downstairs to the gym.”

“Thanks, I’m lucky to have such a contented baby. I’ll go see her.”

Rachel went into the bedroom where the playpen sat near the wall and adjacent crib. Colorful toys dotted the bottom. Julia was stomach down fast asleep. She still wore the body suit Rachel had dressed her in that morning. Leo must have done a good job with her. Julia was sleeping peacefully. However, Rachel knew it was best to wake her now so that she would sleep better throughout the night. She turned her over and picked her up.