The Face Behind The Mask

35

Cameron pushed open the front door, stepped out onto the porch, and reached for the mail stuffed into his mailbox. He didn't notice the detectives until he spotted Patrice and her partner coming out of the Washington's house across the street.

Patrice made eye contact with Cam but he diverted his attention to his mailbox. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw them crossing the street and starting up his driveway. Irritable from lack of sleep and worry, he tapped the mail against his thigh. "You two again."

"How's everybody doing, Mr. McKenzie?" Orion asked. Lloyd followed her up the walkway.

"Not much has changed since the last time I saw you."

She nodded with a cordial smile.

Cam said, "Did you find her phone?"

"Yeah. We did. It's being processed at the lab as we speak."

"And the guy who took it?"

"We just missed him. Didn't get there before he ditched the phone."

Cameron gave them a hard look.

"But we're getting close and he knows it," Lloyd said, a tight smile on his face.

Everything they said sounded to Cameron like standard issue police talk designed to hide their incompetence, meant to keep people like him and his family hopeful that justice was being served when, in fact, the cops were stumbling around in the dark hoping to bump into something relevant to the case.

"So you came by to tell me that you have no idea where the guy is, or is there something else I'm missing?" He opened the door to go inside when he saw Brick in the entryway looking past his dad at the detectives.

Orion glanced over her shoulder and saw Mr. Washington peering through his front window at them. She stepped onto the McKenzie's porch. "May I have a quick word with you?" she said, her eyes shifting to Brick.

Cam caught her glance and said to his son, "Give us a minute, okay, buddy?"

Brick sighed and then tromped upstairs, muttering every step of the way.

The detectives entered. Orion looked around, her eyes coming to rest on the framed family photos displayed above the mantel. "You don't have a dog, do you?"

Cam's voice thickened with exasperation. "You came to ask me if we have a dog?"

She soldiered on. "There's a good chance this guy is on the run. Kelsey can ID him and he knows it's just a matter of time until he's apprehended. But you need to be on guard. All of you."

"He hasn't tried contacting you or your wife?" Lloyd asked. "Social media, anything like that?"

"No. Of course not."

Patrice took a breath and clasped her hands behind her back. "Sometimes when they know they can't outrun us, they'll lash out."

"Like a cornered animal," Lloyd said. "Maybe try to go after another family member."

"Do you own a firearm, Mr. McKenzie?" Patrice said.

"What? No. No, I don't own a gun."

She nodded and then lowered her head.

........

Skyden rose from the chair near the window and slowly rotated her head right and then left. Despite feeling stale, she managed a polite smile when the nurse entered.

"Open," the nurse said to the drowsy patient and inserted a probe into Kelsey's mouth. "Close." She watched the timer and then checked the read-out. "That's what we like to see." She grinned the smile she learned at nursing school and withdrew the probe.

Kelsey looked worse than she did when she was admitted. The bruises on her swollen face and body were darker and more pronounced. Two fingers on her left hand were taped together in a splint.

Skyden offered a cup of water to Kelsey who struggled to locate the straw with her tongue. She sipped and a thin stream of water dribbled from the corner of her mouth. Her mom blotted it with a napkin.

The doctor crossed paths with the nurse when he entered. After a quick review of Kelsey's chart, he said, "You feel like you want to go home?" He checked her vitals on the monitor.

She nodded. 

"Is that a good idea?" Skyden asked.

"I don't mean today. I'm recommending discharging her out of the ICU to the general ward. She's progressed beyond the need for intensive treatment. Your daughter is going to be sore for quite some time but x-rays show no fractures."

"I fell off my bike when I was nine." The pain medication was evident in Kelsey's slurred speech.

"She broke her collarbone," said Skyden, offering context for her daughter's statement. "That was a long time ago."

"Well, seems that collarbone has healed nicely." The doctor smiled. "I don't see any indication of internal injury, nothing that is overly concerning. I'd like to keep her for observation for a day or two to ensure her numbers are all headed in the right direction."

When the doctor exited, the nurse entered with a fresh IV bag and approached the bed. "Your name is Skyden, is that right?" She glanced at the bedside monitor.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Huh." She removed the empty IV from the stand beside Kelsey's bed and replaced it with the fresh one.

"It was my grandmother's name."

The nurse inspected the catheter taped to Kelsey's hand. She cut a piece of surgical tape, set the scissors on a tray, and applied the piece of tape over the catheter. The girl flexed her fingers. 

"How much longer does the needle need to stay in?" Kelsey mumbled.

"This could be your last bag," the nurse said with a smile and then turned to Skyden. "Oliver at the front desk said you had a visitor. He told them visitors are not permitted in the ICU."

Skyden checked her Apple Watch and found no new messages. "Did he say–"

"Maybe they'll come back when your daughter is moved to the general ward."