Questions by Odessa McNiel (ebook voice reader .txt) 📖

the job was more important than my relationship with Nicole.

I shook my head. “Yea, but it doesn’t do me any good if I can’t tell her about this myself.  I didn’t know this morning would be the last time I saw her.” I kicked the wall out of frustration.

“That’s why we’re giving you an ultimatum.”

“You won’t let me choose, though.  The agency always decides for me.  So, what’s the point in giving me a decision?” I shouted in his face, making sure to add a little spittle on the end just to show him how pissed off I was with his ridiculous idea.

He stared at me- the quiet before the storm.  He turned around and walked towards the wall before turning around to face me again.  Mark ground his jaw in frustration.

“Look, Kyle, I hate putting you in this situation as much as the next person, but the agency won’t let me budge with this decision.  I represent the agency that I work for, the agency that I love, the agency that cares for my family when I’m gone.  I’m not going turn my back on them at the last second just because you can’t accept leaving your pathetic little girlfriend for a fucking job.”

“She’s not pathetic, and you’ve seen what the agency can do to relationships.  All you have to do is look at the nasty divorce you got yourself into.”

“Just stop right there, now!”

“Oh no, you brought it up.  You don’t get to walk out on this conversation just because it’s delicate and touchy feely.” He had me on the edge now.  One more crack about Nicole, and I was going to kick ass.

“ENOUGH!  You are doing this regardless of what you want, Kyle.  I’m done talking to you about this!” He crossed his arms across his chest defiantly, reminding me of a little kid trying to throw a temper tantrum.

Well, two could play at this game.  “Make me.”

Three: Nicole

The scene before me was a blur of tears and confusion.  I didn’t understand what was obviously the truth.  I watched as the black coroner’s van rolled up to the scene.  People avoided it like the plague and stepped aside immediately when the medical examiner emerged from the car.  Photographers and news reporters had swarmed the area in minutes, blinding onlookers with their flashing cameras.  Police officers and people in black, plastic jumpsuits picked at random things, placed them in bags, and dusted random things.

I hadn’t even been there for five minutes, but already, I could not move.  My legs felt like jelly, and my brain was a mess of disorientation.  I leaned against the wall for support, staring at the last place Kyle would ever be in his life.  I had just seen him this morning- alive and well and breathing and kissing me on the lips like he had never kissed anyone before, holding me in his arms, not wanting to ever let go.  But, I pushed him away.  I told him to go to that stupid hospital and care for people he didn’t know, didn’t love.  

I only did that because I knew being at the hospital, doing surgeries, and saving lives was a job that he couldn’t afford to lose.  He loved that job, and losing it would crush him.  It was my way of being the ‘supportive girlfriend.’ 

A pang of guilt instantly shot through my stomach as a sob exploded in my chest.  Tears tore from my eyes, pouring down my face and soaking the collar of my sweatshirt.  Desperate cries escaped from my lips as I pounded the side of the building.

Then, suddenly, Risha was there, holding me and whispering things. “It’s okay.” She said as anger and grief raced through my body, making me spasm with sobs. “Let it out.” She soothed. “Let it all out.  It’s okay.”  She rubbed my back and rocked us back and forth slowly as if I were the child and she the comforting adult.

A few minutes later, I pulled away, ashamed.  “What happened?” I croaked through my raw voice.

She glanced back at the alley for a second before turning back.  “I don’t know.” She said. “I was sitting in my car in traffic, and suddenly, I see Kyle walking into the alley out of the corner of my eye.  Someone else walks up ten minutes later.  They talk, and then there’s nothing but gunshots coming from every possible directions.” Risha stares at me, breathless. “The other guy didn’t threaten Kyle or anything, but I’m not sure he didn’t shoot Kyle either.”

I absorb the information, but it goes in one ear and out the other in a matter of seconds.  All I heard was that Kyle got shot.  It was enough to make me freak out, though.

“Oh, Risha, oh God!” she hugged me to her again as another fit of sobs hit me hard.

I looked over her shoulder and, through my blurry vision, saw them rolling a gurney out from the alley.  A black bag, encasing him, lay atop the gurney.  “IT’S HIM!” I shouted as more pain coursed through my veins. “IT’S HIM!  IT’S HIM!  IT’S HIM!  NO!” I worked my way out of Risha’s comforting arms and ran towards the gurney, towards Kyle. 

People stared as I rushed the gurney crew.  “LET ME SEE HIM!” I screamed at the nearest police officer when I was close enough.  I tried to push my way through them to get to the gurney.

They forced me back.  “Ma’m, I’m sorry, but I’m gonna have to ask you to stand back.” He outstretched his arms, pushing me away as the others wheeled the gurney towards the coroner’s van.  

I tried pushing my way forward again. “I have to see him.  He’s my boyfriend.  Please!”

The man gave me a troubling look before turning around. “Hey, Mark!”

“Yea,” the gurney stopped.  A man wearing a black and white suit lifted his head. He was tall with brown, shaggy hair.  He might have been attractive had it not been for the swelling bruise on his right eye.

“I have someone here who says she can identify John Doe.  Can she have a quick look-see?”

Mark huffed, looking at the coroner.  The medical examiner nodded. “We don’t have much time to waste, Hugh, but yes, she can have a minute to identify him.” Instantly, the men moved away from the gurney, making space for me to stand. 

I walked forward slowly.  I didn’t want to do this, but I had to know if that was Kyle in the bag.  Not knowing if he was dead would be worse than knowing he was in the bag.

I clutched my hands to my chest, scared.  My heart raced rapidly against my rib cage.  Fresh tears stained my face.  I swallowed, placing my hands on the body bag.  Clutching the zipper, I gently unzipped the bag and pulled the flaps back.                

The corpse in the bag was obviously masculine- the rigged, square jaw and the relatively short hairstyle gave it away.  He was white with a nice tan.  His eyes were a deep blue color with a white film covering them.  The hair was blonde and messy, probably from the bitter wind.  His lips were the fullest I’d ever seen in a man- gorgeous.  I stared at the man in the body bag, frozen in place. 

“Well, do you know him or not?” The man they called Mark asked me.  I lifted my head, looking at him.  He wore a stern face, appearing more or less annoyed by my presence.  Still I said nothing.  “I didn’t think so.” He said, returning to the gurney and zipping the bag closed again. 

They wheeled the gurney towards the van and loaded it inside.  I heard shoes clacking against the pavement as Risha wrapped her long fingers around my arm.  She turned me around, facing her.

“Who was it?” She asked hurriedly.  “Did you recognize it?” She glared at me with worsening concern.  I knew she was anxious to know who was in the bag, but I couldn’t wipe the blank stare off my face.  After a minute, her face slid into a look of grief that I knew was directed towards me.  “It was Kyle; wasn’t it?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said, thinking of Kyle’s jet black hair and melting chocolate eyes, “it wasn’t.”

 

***

 

I paced the living room of my apartment- my mind elsewhere as I chewed on a fingernail. 

“Risha, I’m going to ask you one more time.” I said thoroughly agitated. “Are you sure you saw Kyle in-“

“I swear on my own life, Nicky.  I swear to you that I saw Kyle in that stupid alley.  Now quit asking me!” She was perched on the edge of the sofa, clasping her hands tightly.  She’d called in to work sick this morning and had since changed into a sweatshirt and yoga pants.

“I don’t understand where he could’ve gone between the conversation with that man and being shot at in the alley.” I laughed lightly.  “He works at a fucking hospital.  He shouldn’t be discussing secrets in a back alley behind an antiques store; he should be at the hospital with the emergent surgery he had to go do this morning.  He should-“ I stopped midsentence- a thought whirring in my head at a hundred miles an hour.  “Kyle should be at the hospital.”

“What?”  Risha asked as I searched frantically for my phone.

I pulled it out of my back pocket and speed dialed the hospital.  “If he was injured and not dead, he’d be at the hospital getting-“

“-getting his wounds treated.” She finished.  Relief spread across her face.

“Or,” I said continuing my previous thought, “you just thought you saw him in the alley when he was really already at work.”

Risha looked at me, horrified. “I just said that I saw-“  I held up a hand, silencing her.

Someone had picked up at the hospital.  “Hello, Grady Memorial Hospital.  This is Sharon.  How may I help you?”

“Hey, Sharon,” I said, pacing again.  “I’m looking to see if you have any patients by the name of Kyle Williams with a possible gunshot wound.”

“Hold on, and I will check.” There was a lot of clicking sounds followed by a whir or two before she answered.  “I’m sorry.  We don’t seem to have any patients by that name.”

“Umm,” I muttered, thinking. “What about doctors by that name?  He should be one of the general surgeons there.”  A lot of clicking and whirring sounded from the other side.  I glanced at Risha, but she held the same look of desperation.  This was my last shot at sanity.  I couldn’t go crazy over this; Risha would never allow it.

“Listen, Miss, I don’t know who you are or why you’re asking for this man, but you sound desperate.  If you want me to, I can file a missing persons report or something.”

My heart pounded harder in my chest.  “I’m sorry.  What are you saying?”

The woman cleared her throat.  “Ma’m this man, Kyle, he’s not here.  He’s not anywhere in this hospital.  And as far as the hospital records are concerned, a Dr. Kyle Williams has never been hired or has one ever been treated by this hospital for any type of injury.  I can get the police on the line for you if-”

“No,” I blurted, staring into a trance at the