He had to give her credit. She didn’t fight back, merely glared at them and said nothing. Knowing her, she was coming up with some convoluted plan in her mind to save her fierce independence.
Before he could say anything else, someone knocked on the door, and from the window he could see it was Keith. He motioned his friend to come inside. The man was obviously in his official capacity as an NYPD detective, as he was more formally dressed than usual, and Drew spotted his detective’s shield clipped to his belt.
“Hey, thanks for coming so fast.” They hugged briefly before Keith went over to his grandmother.
“Well, Esther, what do you have to say for yourself?” Keith’s bright blue eyes twinkled.
“My, you boys all look so handsome in your suits and ties. It was almost worth getting sick to get to be surrounded by you all.” She laughed.
“Nana, really.” Rachel’s exasperated groan sent him and Keith laughing and shaking their heads.
“Okay, Esther. Drew said you had some visitors before you got sick. Can you remember and tell me what happened?” Keith pulled out a little notebook and pen, then sat in a chair next to her bed.
Drew glanced at the heart monitor, which was still attached to his grandmother and setting off steady beeps. At the first sign of any change, he’d make sure to cut off the questions. Rachel stood by her bedside, like a protective sentry, holding her hand.
“Well, it was funny. Remember I said two young men had come by and cut my grass and trimmed the bushes for me the other day?” They all nodded, and she continued. “They came back, which I thought was strange, since I obviously didn’t have any work left for them to do.”
“Did you tell them that, Esther?” Keith had stopped writing in his notebook.
She nodded. “I did, and they laughed at me and said some strange things.”
“Like what, Nana?” Rachel dropped her hand and sat on the edge of the bed.
His grandmother looked at him. “They mentioned you, Drew. Not by name, but said, ‘Tell your grandson and his friends to keep out of our business.’” She dropped her voice and fingered the edge of the sheet. “They started cursing and saying horrible things about you, darling, and Asher and Jordan.”
Keith’s eyes had turned into chips of blue ice. “Did they threaten you, Esther, or touch you?”
After a little hesitation, she nodded. “They pushed me against the wall and said to tell Dr. Drew that things would get worse if he continued helping those kids.” She glanced up at Keith. “They used a slur, and I’m not about to say it, even for you, dear. I don’t use that kind of language.”
Keith’s normally smiling face vanished, replaced by a stone-like facade. He patted Nana’s hand. “Don’t worry about it, Esther. I know what you mean.” He wrote for a few minutes in his notebook. “Is that all?”
Nana thought for a moment. “Yes. They left, laughing as if it were a big joke, but not before pushing me around a little.” Her voice rose with indignation. “What kind of world are we living in with such a lack of respect for women and someone of my age? Who is raising these hoodlums?”
The machines kept up their steady beeping with no change, Drew noted. He turned his attention back to Keith, who continued to ask questions.
“Esther, what did they look like, and did you hear them call each other by any names?” Keith watched her with an expectant look on his face.
Her face scrunched up in thought for a moment. “They were both young, teenagers, I’d guess. One was tall and nice looking. He had very short hair and brown eyes, but his lips were thin. I tell you I’ve never trusted a man with thin lips. The other was shorter and broader, with that crazy hair all over his face, like they like to wear nowadays.” She shrugged. “I don’t know why they think it’s attractive.”
Drew looked over at Keith and caught his lips twitching as if to hold back his laughter. He turned back to her. “Any names, Nana?”
She shrugged. “No. I’m sorry. But I would definitely recognize them again if I saw them.” Her eyes brightened. “Maybe you could bring me down to the police station, and I could look through pictures.”
Keith laughed. “Esther, I have a feeling you think this is like an episode ofLaw and Order.”
“Well, I do love that show,” she grumbled. “And that’s what their witnesses to crimes always do.”
Keith stood and went over to the bed to give her a kiss. “I’ll take you myself in a squad car with the lights on the top and let you look through pictures, but only after your doctor clears it.” He stuck out his hand. “Deal?”
She took his hand and shook it as everyone in the room laughed. “Deal.”
The nurse came in and shooed them out. “Mrs. Klein needs her rest. Everyone out now please, including you, Dr. Klein. No special treatment for you because you’re a doctor.” Mrs. Albright winked at him. The two of them went way back, to when he was a resident here and she was the toughest nurse, always giving the new doctors the hardest time.
“Yes, ma’am.” They filed out of the room into the waiting area. Drew was surprised to see only Jordan and Mike. Where was Ash?
When he posed the question to Jordan, his friend merely shrugged. “He left a long time ago. Got in the elevator and went. Forget about him, Drew. I told you a long time ago he’s a player and a bastard. He’s no friend to you.”
Drew couldn’t believe Ash would simply up and disappear. Not after last night and the truths they’d bared to each other. He was convinced Ash had never told anyone else about the brutal and degrading way he’d lived before he reinvented himself. That had to leave scars, not only ones visible to the naked eye, but also deep emotional ones. Those were the hardest to deal with.
