Rancor: Unrestrained, Book 2 (Haunted)

THREE

Ethel watched Maggie leave with a worker through a set of doors while she walked up to the guard's desk.

"I have an appointment with Doctor Suharto," Ethel said, smoothing the front of her colorful tiered skirt.

The guard looked confused, not to mention a little bewildered by Ethel's Boho-chic attire. "Doctor Suharto doesn't usually see people on weekends. Are you sure you have the right day?"

Ethel knew she had the right day. She had sent a spell his way, convincing him to make an exception for her. He did. "Could you please check it for me?"

The guard acted as if he was wasting his time when he picked up the phone. "This is Tony in the visiting area. Is Doctor Suharto expecting a visitor today?" There was a pause as the guard waited for an answer. "Oh. She's here, I'll send her over."

Ethel was relieved her spells were still strong . . . at least on normal people. She had not used them much before Maggie moved into the apartment building.

The guard made another phone call. "I have a visitor here who needs to be escorted to Doctor Suharto's office." He hung up and looked at Ethel.

Ethel smiled and tilted her head as she ran her fingers over her beaded neckless. "Is everything okay?"

The guard did not smile back. "Someone will be down in a minute to escort you to his office."

"Thank you."

Ethel turned and walked far enough away from the desk so that she would not block the path of other visitors. She looked back to where she and Maggie had sat. Her heart sank when she saw it empty, knowing Maggie was taken back into the belly of the giant beast of a building. She was mad at herself for not trying harder to help Maggie. The court date was only days away and she had not pressured the detective hard enough. She would make a point of it when she got back to her apartment.

Ethel tried not to listen in on conversations between the patients and the visitors while she waited for her escort, but it was difficult not to hear them. Talk of kids, court, and the weather was the talk of the day. One patient became angry, accusing the hospital, the doctor, the lawyer, and whomever she could think of, for treating her badly. Was Maggie being treated badly? She did not think so; she did not get a sense of it when she was speaking with Maggie.

The door to the visitor room opened and a guard came in.

Wade pointed toward Ethel. "She needs to be escorted to Doctor Suharto's office."

"Follow me," the female guard said, looking momentarily surprised by the wrinkled woman's appearance.

"Thank you," Ethel said, following her out the door.

They walked further down the hall to an elevator where they both got inside. Neither one spoke as the elevator was pulled up to the third level. They stepped out and walked down the hall to an office marked with the doctor's name on a placard outside the door. They walked inside to a reception window. The guard stood back and motioned for Ethel to speak.

Ethel turned toward the receptionist. "I'm Ethel Dory. I have an appointment with Doctor Suharto." She could tell her rough voice was getting on the receptionist's nerves.

The young woman, with braided hair, looked down at the computer screen and then looked up at Ethel without raising her head. "Have a seat."

Ethel sat down in an office chair while the guard stood nearby. She was used to people giving her weird looks, as if she were a nomadic gypsy having just arrived in a covered wagon, looking to swindle whatever she could from the unsuspecting townsfolk. Nevertheless, she thought their behavior was unusual, especially for a hospital known to be tolerant of all people, no matter their race, color, or national origin. She was not even a full-blooded gypsy. When the Nazis had shot most of her ancestors on sight in the early 1940s, some managed to make their way to America; eventually abandoning their nomadic ways in the new country.