The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (30 page)

Steve managed to get the dogs into the bathroom off the kitchen and was about to
hop in his car and follow them
to the hospital when he realized there was a strange man in their kitchen, a man with a notebook looking dangerously like a reporter.

“Who the hell are y
ou?
” He snapped, picking up a vase on his
way in from the foyer. “Get out
or I’ll call the cops and have you arrested for trespassing
.
"

“Roland Gibson, Private Detective.” The graying man with the tennis shoes and tweed
blazer extended a hand.   “Mr.
Coltrane hired me to find o
ut who is harassing his fiancée
. We came together, I assure you. He wanted me to ask Ms. Kelly some questions.”  

Steve
shook the vase at him
, ignoring the
extended hand. “It’s private
. If Jessie wanted him to know, she’d tell him herself.”

“An old flame? An overzealous fan?”

“I have to get to the hospital.
” Steve insisted. “You need to leave.”

“I’ll find out, either way. I’m about
to have the incoming phone call
s
printed out. I can do that, as a
former FBI operative. Or, you could
tell me, save me the trouble.”

Steve didn’
t know what to do. He lowered the vase, steppe
d over the broken juice pitcher and started picking up the jagged shards and tossing them into the sink
. Jessie
might kill him but Jack was right;
Lex ha
d to know. Sooner or later, Lex would
find out. Maybe he could give the guy a clue without actually telling him who it was.

He turned to the det
ective, studying him for an uncertain
moment as
he argued with himself. He was doing Jessie a favor, really, he was. W
ith one fluid
movement, he pressed the voicemail button.
Marcie
’s emotionally
charged voice filled the kitchen
.

The detective
’s eyebrows shot up.
The short, wiry
man
scribbled some notes on his pad
and then stepped over to where Steve stood and pressed the button again to replay the message
a second time
.
He scribbled some
more.  “The prank caller is her
mother
?”

“
I let you listen to the
message. The rest
you’ll
have to figure out on your own
.
That i
s what Lex is paying you to do
, isn’t it?
” Steve challenged, crossing his
arms in a resolute pose. “I have to leave
and that means you do, too.”

“Thanks.
” The detective shot back as Steve followed him to the door. “And, a bit of advice, son. You might want to put a shirt on if yo
u’re headed for the hospital.
”

Chapter Sixteen

“A Pa
nic Attack.” Doctor Tsai told
them as Le
x and Jack stood outside the
room where Jessie lay. “A se
rious one, but she should be fine in a day or so
. I gave her
a str
ong sedative
. She’ll probably sleep for the rest of the day and through the night.
”

Lex and Jack heaved a collective sigh of relief.

“C
an I see her?” Jack asked. Gi
ving Lex a quick look, he amended, “Can we see her?”

“First, a few
questions. Has your sister been under an unusual amount of stress in the past few weeks?” 

“Yeah.” Jack answered, licking his lips nervously as he looked to Lex. “Yeah, she’s been really upset. Harassed by . . . someone from her past. Phone calls in the middle of the night, threats, that sort of thing.”

“Ms. Kelly is reasonably healthy, but she does have a slight heart murmur, which indicates a defect. Normally, su
ch a thing is caught in infancy
and corrected with minor surgery. Your parents never discussed this with you?”

Jack looked pained. He avoided the penetratin
g gaze that Lex was giving him and looked down at the
floor as he spoke in a m
umble. “Our mother suffers from
ment
al illness. And our father . . .
w
asn’t around
much when w
e were growing up. Truck driver. O
n the road a lot.”

“As I said, this condition is mi
nor and correctable by surgery--
in the
early years. It seems odd
the physician attending your birth didn’t pick up on it and inform your parents of the inherent dangers.” Dr. Tsai insisted, giving Jack a penetrating look. “If she
were to use street drugs
she would be pl
acing herself in mortal danger. H
er heart would be
stressed to the point of death. I
f she were to take speed, for example.”

“She doesn’t do speed
or anything like that. She drinks coffee and once in a great while, a glass of wine or a margarita.” Jack whispered, shamefaced by the doctor’s declaration. He kept his gaze down, almost as if Jack sensed his own drug use might be surmised if he faced the doctor square on and looked into his eyes.

“How fortunate.” The doctor wrote on Jessie’s
chart. He
peered over the rims of his glasses at Jack. “Her abstinence may have saved her life, this far. I see patients every week who are enslaved by their
addictions, mostly the
famous who b
elieve they are invincible. They overuse street drugs and prescription meds, and eventually
they come to see me, usually
on a gurney.” He shook his head sadly, as if remembering certain celebrities who didn’t make it on his watch. He clicked the pen and slipped it
on
to the clipboard
. “I hope
I w
on’t
be
mee
ting you on a gurney
in the near future.”

“Yes, sir.” Jack mumbled, wiping his reddened nose with the b
ack of his sleeve.
He kicked at the floor with the toe of his boot, avoiding the doctor’s knowing gaze.
“Mom left Jessie
in
the hospital. She took me home
and didn’t even tell Dad she’d delivered twins. Dad was out of town,
on a truck route,
you see.”

Lex didn’t know what to say. N
either did the doctor
. Lex
placed his hand on Jack’s sh
oulder and squeezed
, just to let him k
now that he was with him
.

“My mom d
idn’t want another girl
.” Jack continued, looking at neither man, but fixing his gaze on the granite floor tiles. “According to my aunt, she
just called a cab, took me home
and left Jessie in the nursery.”

“Are you saying that perhaps your mother knew your s
ister had a defect in her heart
and for that reason, abandoned her at the hospital?” Dr. Tsai queried with raised brows. “I’ve heard of that, on rare occasions, when a mother feels threatened by the idea of taking the infant home, afraid that it will die without professional care 24-7.”

“No
.
” Jack straightened from his slump,
growing agitated
. “
I’m saying that our mother went bonkers way back, before we were born. Who knows why she left Jessie behind.” Jack shrugged. “
Aunt Rachel
, that’s our mom’s sister,
was the
one to go to the hospital and bring Jessie
home where she belonged. If mom
knew Jessie had a heart defect
, she never said
so
.”

Lex stood stock st
ill. He closed his eyes. He felt hi
s jaw grow tight as he fought
to contain the vile expletive struggling to be unleashed.  How cold and
cruel
.
He knew now why Jessie grew so uncomfortable and
quiet w
henever he brought up the subject of family
; her only
real
family was the band.

“What exactly is the diagnosis wit
h her heart?” He asked
as Jack drifted into
a fatigued daze. “Do you have
something specific or do we need to have more tests to discern the problem?”

Dr. Tsai looked at his chart, pushed his glasses up on his nose, and then fixed Lex with a
n impervious stare
. “Pulmonary V
alve Stenos
is.”
The physician
closed his chart with a snap. “The pulmonary valve is narrower th
an usual
and the right ventricle
is linked to the
lungs via the pulmonary valve. When it’s narrower, it
has to
pump harder to make up for the
defect. Extreme stress, such as you mentioned, can have an adverse affect up
on the patient. I ordered a chest x-ray and an MRI, but I
strongly recommend she sees a cardiologist. They can do an Echocardiography to determine the extent of the damage.”

“Damage?
” Lex and Jack
exclaimed as one.

“Yes, in theory. There is no telling how extensive the damage is to your sister’s heart, yet, given she’s lived with it for twenty four years without knowing she has the defect would suggest the situation is not
critical--at this point. This condition can
deteriorate rapidly under
extreme stress
and that is why I’m referring her to a cardiologist for furthe
r tests. Usually, drugs can be prescribed
to keep the valves open.” 

“This has never
happened before.” Jack protested. He looked
from Lex to the doctor for reassurance. “She’s always been h
ealthy
. She walks daily
a
nd eats practically vegetarian.
” He threw up his hands in exasperation. “I don’t get it.”

“We’re not talking about high cholesterol caused by diet.” The physician corrected. “This is a birth defect that has gone unnoticed, probably because it was minor, until now. The stress of her career may
have had some damaging affect
and more specifically, the harassing phone calls
she mentioned as an immediate stress factor
.” Dr. Tsai pulled Lex back from his reflective indignation. “Have you contacted the police? Your sister’s
condition is serious, Mr. Kelly. She should see a cardiologist.  And whatever is causing her
stress
should be avoided
. Perhaps a change o
f residence would ease her anxiety
.”

“Agreed.
” Lex jumped in
. “She’s coming home with me, no argument
.
”

Jessie was still shaking. The oxygen mask had been removed, but she still felt her breath coming in uneven gasps. She couldn’t talk, it was too much effort. Lex and Jack
stood over her cot, one on either side, each one holding her hand as they told her she was going to be staying with Lex for a while.

Both of them were stern, yet full of tenderness and concern as they stood looking down at her. She couldn’t fight them, not together, not when
she felt
so dizzy and sick. Later she could figure out what to do, much later, but for now, sh
e just wanted to go home and lie
down
, take a good, long nap
.

Steve arrived
and was allowed
in
to see her as well.

Two hours later, Jessie was released from the hospital. Lex carried her into
his
house from the car, ignoring her protests that she wasn’t an invalid and could walk quite well on her own.  He deposited her gently on the leather couch, and lifted her hand to lips, kissing it tenderly.

“You gave me quite a turn. And Jack, too.” He murmured, his soft azure eyes caressing her fac
e. “You’re safe
.”

Jessie looked back at him with tears blurring her vision.
Marcie
is calling your mother.  She’s going to tell her
horrible lies about me.
 
She choked back the pain rising in her throat. It made her chest hurt, and she let out a tortured moan.