“Um, I found it. At the nursing home.” I scrolled through my phone’s gallery to search for the image. Thankfully, even with a cracked screen, my phone still functioned. Chael’s hand wrapped around my wrist, stopping my search.
“Did you seek this information out by yourself?”
I couldn’t think straight with his hand around my wrist and that flinty look in his eyes.
“Yes,” I squeezed through the tightening muscles of my throat. “Look.” I turned the phone screen his way.
He took my phone from me to look at the picture up close.
“Sorry about the crack,” I said pitifully.
“I can see it just fine.” His eyebrows dipped, and he looked doubtful.
“The documents say that the resident was transferred, but the staff told me that she died of a heart attack. That has to mean someone is lying.”
Chael’s eyes met mine. “That’s not a lot to go on. Anyone could’ve falsified these documents.”
“But why? Wouldn’t that be a crime?”
He planted his elbows on the table. “Someone like you could’ve falsified the reports.”
My shoulders slumped. He didn’t believe me.
“I don’t believe you did, of course. I’m telling you that’s what any decent law enforcement officer or someone else could say.”
“But you believe me, right?” I needed someone to believe what was happening at the nursing home was all made up in my head.
“Tell me more about what you suspect is happening.”
I swallowed at the directive in his voice and briefly closed my eyes to gather my thoughts.
He reached across the table and covered my hand with his. “When did you first notice something odd going on?” he asked, his voice soothing.
I was grateful for the question. It gave me something to focus on instead of the fact that his hand covered mine. His grasp felt like a warm blanket over my body after a long night out in the cold.
“About a year ago.”
He nodded, reassuring me to keep going.
“I’ve been volunteering at Creekview for almost two years now.” The words came easier, and the more I talked, the more I remembered my purpose. To help the residents at Creekview. Even if no one else cared that something untoward might be happening there, I did.
“About a year ago, I started noticing that almost every week, a new resident passed away unexpectedly. Some, I was told, were transferred.”
“Where to?” he asked.
With a shake of my head, I answered, “That’s just it. I have no idea. Most of the residents didn’t have any family to speak of. They were on government subsidies to pay for their care. I asked some of the staff what happened, but I couldn’t get any straight answers.”
Chael nodded as if he was absorbing everything I was telling him, but that still concerned me.
“Should you be taking notes or something?”
His lips spread into a slight grin, and I stirred in my seat but didn’t sit back in my chair. Mainly because that would’ve felt too awkward with his hand still holding on to mine. Plus, that warm blanket feeling was too good to move away from so soon.
“I have a great memory.”
I didn’t know this man from a paint can, but I believed him.
“In that case…” I told him all of the details that I could think of. Chael was attentive and listened as I shared with him the names of the residents I suspected may have had something happen to them.
