Stolen In The Night Part 13

"Come on," said her mother. "I'll drive."

When they arrived at the emergency room, Jake was pacing the waiting area, talking on a cell phone. He snapped it shut when he saw them come in and strode toward them.

"Where is he?" Tess demanded.

"I'll show you," said Jake. "Follow me."

Tess raced after her brother down the hospital corridor and through a set of double doors. They met a doctor who was emerging from a curtained cubicle. "He's in there," said Jake. "This is his doctor."

"I'm Erny's mother," Tess said.

The bald-headed physician smiled and patted her hand rea.s.suringly. "Take it easy," he said. "He's gonna be all right. He was knocked out by the fall. He's conscious now, although he's going to have a little headache. He's bruised up but otherwise he seems to be okay. We're still waiting for some of the X-rays."

"Oh thank G.o.d. Is he awake? Can I see him?" Tess asked.

"Sure, go on in," said the doctor.

Tess pushed back the curtain and walked into the cubicle. Erny was lying on the bed under a white sheet. His face, normally a nutty brown, looked unnaturally pale.

She leaned over the bed and carefully enfolded him in her arms. "Honey, what happened? Are you okay?" she asked.

"Ouch, that hurts, Ma," he complained.

Tess released him gently. "I'm sorry. Are you in a lot of pain?"

Erny shrugged. "Not too much," he said.

"The doctor said you're kind of bruised up but you're going to be fine. How did this happen, Erny?" Tess asked.

"Well, I wanted to try and go fishing. So I found this long stick and some string and I made a fishing pole. I even found a lure for it. And then I climbed up this tree and shinnied out on the branch. I figured that would be a good place to fish from." Erny shrugged as if the result was self-explanatory.

"Did it break off? The branch?"

Erny shook his head. "The wind started blowing all of a sudden and the branch was creaking and...I don't know. I tried to climb back down from it and I fell."

"It must have been scary," said Tess.

"It didn't scare me," Erny said.

"Well, it scared me," said Tess. "When I heard you were knocked out it scared me half to death."

Erny looked at her with wide eyes. "I didn't get hurt that bad," he said.

Tess brushed a curly lock of black hair off his skinned forehead. "Thank G.o.d."

"Did Uncle Jake get my fishing pole? I made it myself."

"I think he was a little bit too busy getting you to the emergency room."

"Maybe he got it," said Erny.

"Maybe," said Tess.

"Can I go home now?" he asked.

"Soon," said Tess. "They need to get a few more X-rays and then we'll take you home. You just rest. Can I get you anything?"

"A Sprite?" he said.

Tess smiled at him, feeling absurdly relieved by his simple request. "I'll see what I can do. I'll be back."

The boy nodded. "Thanks, Ma."

"You rest." She backed out of the curtained cubicle and then walked down the hall and through the double doors to the waiting room.

Jake, who was sitting beside Dawn, looked up when she walked in. He and Dawn both rose to their feet and approached her.

"How's he doing?" Dawn asked.

"He's going to be all right."

"Thank G.o.d," said Dawn with a sigh.

"Yeah, he's asking for a Sprite. And his fishing pole."

"I saw a soda machine down the hall," said Dawn. "Let me get him one."

"Would you, Mom?" Tess asked. "Thank you."

"Sure." Dawn hurried off.

Jake chuckled. "He couldn't wait. He had to go fishing. Made his own pole. That's what I would've done at his age."

Tess turned on her brother. "Where were you when this happened?"

Jake raised his hands helplessly. "I was just finishing my work. He and the dog were out playing. I told them not to go too far. The dog came back by himself. So I went looking for him."

Tess looked at him balefully.

Jake scratched his head. "It was one of those things, Tess. The kid just wanted to try something..."

"He could have been seriously hurt!" she said, her voice louder. "Or killed."

"Well, he could have been, but he wasn't," Jake said.

"No big deal, right?" said Tess.

"Hey, he's gonna be fine. And I'm sorry, okay? But it wasn't my fault. I didn't know he was gonna do something crazy. Fishing from a tree branch," Jake said, shaking his head but with a slight smile. "I better go back and get that pole or I'm going to lose my most-favored-uncle status."

Tess was in no mood to be distracted by jokes. "So the fact that he fell is his own fault," she said sarcastically.

"Ahhh...boys are like that. It's...the way they are. They do crazy things."

"Yes, but you're the adult. You were supposed to be watching him!"

"What? He never hurt himself before? You gotta let the kid take his lumps. You'll turn him into a sissy. He's all right. That's what matters."

"No matter what happens, you've got an excuse," Tess said disgustedly.

"I'm not making excuses, Tess. It was an accident. The kid will live."

"I should have known better than to trust you," she fumed.

Jake looked at her through narrowed eyes. "Oh. So now I can't be trusted?"

"Could you ever?" Tess snapped.

Jake's gaze was venomous. "What do you mean by that?"

Tess opened her arms indicating the hospital waiting room. "Look where we end up!" Tess's heart was hammering in her chest, knowing she would regret reopening old wounds but she couldn't help herself. "Why am I the only one who feels guilty, Jake? It's never your fault. How do you skate away with no guilt at all? It must be nice."

Jake's expression was cold and closed. "If it makes you feel any better, Tess, I was scared half to death. All right?"

"Well, I should hope so," she snapped.

"Tell Erny I'll see him later." Jake turned and stalked out of the waiting room, slamming through the double doors that led out to the parking lot. Tess watched him go, her eyes blazing. It was the first time she could remember, since they were kids, that she had ever gotten angry at her brother. But it felt as if that anger had been coiled within her for a long time-back to the time when he had deserted her and Phoebe, with disastrous consequences. Her parents had always told her it was wrong to blame Jake, wrong to blame herself. But was it wrong? she wondered. She already blamed herself. She always had. Wasn't Jake even more to blame than she was?

Dawn came back holding a can of Sprite. She glanced around the waiting room and then asked, in a soft voice, "Where's your brother?"

"Gone," said Tess. "Where else would he be? Gone."

CHAPTER 14.

Three hours later, Erny was released and Tess was able to get him back to the inn, where she tucked him into his bed and then went into the kitchen to heat up some soup for him. By the time she returned to their room, he was sprawled out on his stomach fast asleep. Tess closed the door to the room gently, leaving her son to sleep, and carried the soup bowl and spoon back to the kitchen.

Dawn was preparing a tea tray with cookies to set out in the sitting room for the guests. The afternoon was completely gray now and cold rain spattered the kitchen windows. Dawn looked up when Tess entered the room. "How's our boy doing?" she asked.

"Sound asleep," said Tess.

"He's had quite a day," said Dawn. "Your brother felt terrible about what happened. These things do happen with kids."

Tess evaded a conversation about Jake. "I'll never get used to the worry. How did you ever manage with four of us?" Tess asked.

Dawn's gaze was far away. "Oh, you do get used to it. All your father and I ever wanted was a big family," she said. Then she sighed.

Tess averted her eyes from the pain in her mother's face. It had been a simple enough wish, Tess thought. Not a greedy plan. Just a desire to love and be loved. And it had been very successful, too. Until a maniac had destroyed their peaceful life.

Dawn put the last of the cookies on a plate along with a steaming flowered teapot, a sugar bowl, and a matching pitcher. Tess was constantly amazed by her mother, who never shirked her duties to her family, to her job at the inn, even when she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Who could ever have imagined, Tess thought, on that sunny, holiday afternoon when they first met the Phalens, the owners of the Stone Hill Inn, that they would all end up so enmeshed in this place.

"Mom, you know, I wanted to ask you something," said Tess.

"Hmmm...?" said Dawn.

"Do you remember the people who used to own this place? The Phalens."

Dawn nodded. "Yes. Of course. What about them?"

"How well did you know them?" Tess asked.

"Not...too well. They were...they seemed like good people," said Dawn. "They were very kind to us."

"Didn't their daughter commit suicide?" Tess asked.

Dawn's expression was wary. "Yes, she did. Why?"

"No real reason," said Tess. "But...suicide at fourteen. It makes you wonder..."

"Wonder what?" said Dawn.

"It's just...unusual," said Tess.

"You mean you wonder if it was their fault? Her parents'?"

"I'm just thinking about everything and every...one in a new light," she said. "Now that we know the DNA results."

Dawn frowned at her. "I don't follow you."

"Well, I mean, we didn't really know Kenneth Phalen. He lived right near the campground. And his daughter killed herself when she was fourteen. Just a year older than Phoebe was. Is it possible he might have...had a side we didn't see?"

"Tess, for heaven's sake," said Dawn. "How can you even think of slandering innocent people with speculation like that?"

"I'm not slandering anyone," said Tess. "The Phalens aren't even around here anymore. I was just...thinking out loud."

"Well, don't," Dawn insisted. "Just stop it."

Tess winced at her mother's angry response. She thought about the photo of Ken Phalen that she had altered with her black pen. It didn't really look that much like Lazarus. Besides, it was just a photo. In real life, she doubted if they looked anything alike. "You're right. I'm grasping at straws."

Dawn was still simmering. "Why do people always blame the parents? The ones who suffered the most?"

Tess thought of Rusty Bosworth, suggesting that Rob DeGraff might have killed Phoebe. "I don't know why people do that," Tess said. "You're right. It's cruel."