Organized to Death by Jan Christensen Read Free Book Online Page A

sit down. Give the doctor some room.”
    “Oh, Tina. Oh, I can’t believe this. First Crystal, now Nicky. What’s going on?” She sank into a chair and put her head in her hands.
    Two other patients were in the room. An elderly man and a young woman. Both had pulled their feet under their chairs and were staring at Nicky and Ted.
    “What happened?” Tina asked Rachel.
    “We were getting out of the car at my mother’s, getting groceries out, when I heard something—I thought it was a small firecracker. Just a pop. But then I saw Nicky holding onto his arm and groaning. A car sped off, but I didn’t really pay any attention. All I could see was that Nicky was hurt, and I got him back in the car … “Her sobs became too much for her to continue. Sirens wailed, coming closer.
    Two EMTs came in, and another patient followed on their heels. Tina felt the room become claustrophobic.
    Ted had bound Nicky’s arm. One EMT hooked up an IV, the other brought in a stretcher, and soon they had him loaded into the ambulance. Tina volunteered to take Rachel to the hospital, which was just around the corner, and they left a stunned group of people in Ted’s waiting room.
    At the hospital Rachel sat hunched in a chair filling out paperwork, and shortly, two police officers showed up. She put the forms aside while they asked her all kinds of questions, but she couldn’t tell them much. The car had been white, she now remembered. Nicky hadn’t said anything to her about seeing anything or recognizing who shot him.
    When the doctor said it was okay, the police went to interview Nicky. The doctor told Rachel that he’d be fine. The bullet had missed major arteries and passed through the arm. He’d need to be on antibiotics for a while to prevent infection, but he could go home. She laughed at that.
    “Home. The police won’t let us back yet. They’re still searching. Tina, it will take them weeks to go through all our stuff. I should have cleaned it up years ago.” She began to cry again, and all Tina could do was pat her hand and murmur that everything would be okay.
    A volunteer pushed Nicky into the waiting room in a wheelchair. Tina jumped up and said she’d go get the car. She brought it around, and the volunteer helped Nicky into the back seat.
    They rode to the doctor’s office where Rachel picked up their car while Nicky stayed in Tina’s. They drove to her mother’s house. Tina asked Nicky how it was going staying with Mrs. Morris.
    “Good, I think. Rachel’s helping out, and Mother Morris seems to get some comfort from Rachel. So, it’s good we’re here right now.”
    Yellow tape blocked off an area in the driveway where Nicky had been shot, but the police had left. Tina parked in front.
    Mrs. Morris must have heard them drive up because she stood in the doorway, hanging onto the doorjamb.
    Tina didn’t feel it was right to just drop off Rachel and Nicky without saying hello, so reluctantly, she climbed out of her car and went up the walk, shivering from both the cold and dread.
    Nicky was able to walk on his own, although Rachel took his good arm. Tina thought the pain killers were beginning to work because he had a goofy grin on his face.
    “You’re okay?” Mrs. Morris asked. Obviously the police had told her what happened. Crystal and Rachel’s mother had turned plump over the years, but today she looked haggard, her dyed-blond hair like straw, as if she forgot to condition it, her blue eyes red-rimmed, her shoulders slumped.
    “I’ll be fine, Mother Morris,” he said. She stood aside so they could enter.
    “Hello, Tina. It’s good to see you,” she said, closing the door behind them.
    “You look tired,” Tina said.
    “Oh, I am. I am. Have to keep going, though. You know.”
    “I’ll get Nicky upstairs and into bed,” Rachel said.
    Mrs. Morris led Tina into a perfectly organized living room. Tina knew the whole house was organized down to the medicine cabinets. Crystal had inherited her