Gray's Domain: Purgatorium Series, Book Two by Eva Pohler Read Free Book Online Page B

whispered at her ear, “Don’t do it. You’ll ruin everything.” His eyes were urgent, almost fearful.
    “My apologies!” the captain shouted. “Everyone okay? Joe?”
    Daphne glanced across the deck for her father and saw him lying on his back on a bench clutching his chest.
    “Oh my God!” she cried, hurrying to his side where Brock bent over him. “Is he okay?”
    “He’s having chest pains,” Brock replied. “I think they started in the water.”
    Daphne crouched beside her father, putting a hand on his chest. “Daddy? You alright?”
    “I’ll be fine,” he said, not getting up. “Just give me a minute to catch my breath.”
    Daphne could no longer stand what she’d done.
    Soon her mother was there, too. “Joe? What’s wrong?”
    “We need to get him to a doctor!” Daphne said.
    “ I’m a doctor,” Mary Ellen said, joining Daphne and her mother at Joe’s side. “Jim, take us back to the resort.” She turned to Daphne’s mother. “Don’t worry, dear. He’ll be safe in my care.”
    Daphne narrowed her eyes at the old woman. Was she really a doctor, or was she pretending? Why hadn’t Cam introduced her as a doctor? He had, after all, introduced Hortense’s colleague in behavioral psychology as Dr. Lee Reynolds. It seemed odd that, if Mary Ellen were also a doctor, that the title was never mentioned.
    She watched on as Mary Ellen asked her father a series of questions, which the woman might have learned from a number of medical dramas on television.
     
    Vince drove Daphne and her parents directly from the pier down to the main building. Mary Ellen and the others waited for Roger, whom Vince passed on the way down. Daphne escorted her parents to the second floor to the supposed infirmary, anxious to find evidence that it really was an infirmary. When she saw all the familiar paraphernalia—a reception desk and waiting area, an examination room with anatomical posters, a narrow table covered in paper, a desk with a rolling stool, tongue depressors, cotton balls, a scale, and even an ear checker, Daphne had to admit that if it were a suite full of props, it was convincing. She still wasn’t sure if she believed Mary Ellen was a doctor, but she did think someone there must be one, and it only made sense that an operation of this magnitude would have a resident physician and an infirmary.
    Mary Ellen soon arrived with Brock and Cam trailing her. After an initial exam, she sent an assistant for an EKG machine and asked everyone but Joe to wait outside. The others went to shower and change, but Daphne and her mother sat in two chairs just outside of the examining room. Mary Ellen had cleaned and bandaged Daphne’s leg on the ride in, using the boat’s first aid kit. When they had arrived at the infirmary, she was given a bottle of antibiotics to prevent infection. Daphne had a towel wrapped around her, and she still had Cam’s cap on her head, but her clothes were still wet, and she trembled. Her mother had begged her to return to her room for a hot shower and change of clothes, promising an update as soon as she knew anything, but Daphne was afraid to leave her parents.
    “Go back to your room,” her mother said again. “We’ll call as soon as we’re done here.”
    Daphne had a better idea. She stood up, gave her mother a weak smile, and marched down the hallway toward room 200.
    Daphne knocked on Hortense Gray’s office door, but did not wait for a response before opening it. She was shocked to see Arturo Gomez holding the doctor in his arms. They separated, the resort owner greeted Daphne, and then he excused himself as he hastened from the room.
    “What can I do for you?” Hortense asked unapologetically as she stood behind her desk. “Please, have a seat.”
    Daphne remained standing, confused. Wasn’t Dr. Reynolds supposed to be in love with Hortense Gray? So Mr. Gomez was as well? “Is Mary Ellen really a doctor?”
    Dr. Gray sighed. “No, but Philip Johnson is, and he’s