Sentinel Event

Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

Dreamer and Aidriel had to get a room at another hotel in East Peoria, Illinois, and were too tired to care that they had to use the A.S.M. credit card again. In a daze, they fell into the beds and slept through an uneventful night, though Aidriel awoke several times in a panic. Staring unblinking into the darkness, he was sure the shadows were moving and had to pop pills so he could drift off again.

The next morning, Dreamer was roused to her phone buzzing, and rising to check it, she quietly donned the plain clothes like Aidriel's that she had gathered before they left the last hotel. She put on her shoes and one of the new jackets and slipped silently out the door to return the call.

Aidriel hadn't stirred, but when he got up and found Dreamer gone, he was stunned and slightly worried. He had not changed out of his clothing the night before, but Dreamer had laid out a white T-shirt and his jacket with a pair of black scrubs pants. He got dressed and carefully peeled the blood-caked bandage off the back of his head, gingerly washing his hair at the sink. Finding the injury was well on its way to healing, he went looking for his traveling companion.

She wasn't in the gloomy lobby, or in the little kitchenette area where the complimentary breakfast of bitter coffee and greasy donuts had been set out. Neither was she at the car, or in the parking lot, or back at the room when he double-checked to make sure they hadn't just missed each other in transit.

It was an unpleasant surprise to finally find her in the hotel's pool solarium in the company of Dr. St. Cross, deep in a crucial conversation. As Aidriel approached, Todd spotted him first and got up from one of the tile window benches along the wall of glass panels.

"You're the guy, aren't you?" the nurse asked. "I looked up the video of you on YouTube this morning. Someone at the gas station next to Walmart got the whole thing with their phone of when that Passer nailed you in the throat."

Aidriel was immediately defensive to be greeted in such a way and glared, preparing to respond rudely. St. Cross cut him off by saying his name.

"I'm glad to find you sound, for the most part," the shrink said.

Aidriel looked at Dreamer and narrowed his eyes questioning, wagging his finger back and forth between her and St. Cross.

"What's he doing here?"

"I told him where we were."

"Why?"

"'Cause I thought he'd be better than deTarlo."

Aidriel chose to ignore the fact she had made another important action without consulting him.

"You came from Fort Wayne?" he asked the doctor, in no way lowering his defenses.

"Yup," answered Todd. "We went all the way to Columbus, then Wauseon, and back to Indy, then—"

"Who the hell are you?" Aidriel demanded of the nurse, whose face flashed surprise.

"I can assure you we had your best interests in mind," St. Cross jumped in to ease the tension.

"Oh sure, it's in my best interest to be left entirely out of all decisions that affect me."

"I'm sorry," apologized Dreamer, "the right time to talk about it never came up. We've been playing phone tag since the Bird Cage."

Aidriel didn't want to say something nasty to her that he would regret, and turned away to quell his anger. His eyes fell on the smooth surface of the water and instantly all emotion melted from his face. He realized he had not been near a pool for twelve years and had never thought of how strong the fear associated with it would be.