Authors: Angella Graff
Before the lunch, Greg offered her a small back room on the patient floor as a place to get some rest, and Abby happily accepted. Mark stood there in the hall with Greg after Abby had gone inside, his glasses on his face, but his eyes were locked on Greg.
“I’m worried about her,” Mark said. “She’s not sleeping, and she’s not herself.”
Greg scratched his chin and peered in the small window where they could see Abby climbing onto the hospital issued bed. “I wouldn’t worry just yet. This is an unfamiliar, and extremely stressful situation. I’d tell you if something was off about her, but she seems fine. Untouched,” Greg finished with a knowing nod.
Mark caught his drift and let out a sigh. “Just let me know if you notice anything, please.”
“I will,” Greg vowed, and he took his leave of Mark to finish up his day.
Mark headed down the elevator and crossed the street carefully, heading to the café where he and Ben had a lunch date with Stella. Ben was standing in front of the restaurant, staring down at his cell phone with a slight frown. He looked up when the tip of Mark’s cane caught his shoe.
“Apologies,” Mark said quietly.
“She’s already inside. I told her I was waiting for you. This whole disguise thing is getting old,” Ben said as Mark took his arm.
“Again, my apologies. If it’s any comfort, as soon as Yehuda is in my possession, we’ll be leaving.”
“Considering all the suspicion surrounding the two of you, it’s not much comfort,” Ben said as he led the way into the restaurant, to the back booth where Stella sat.
Mark could see, even through the dim glasses, that Stella was very pretty. She looked of Middle Eastern descent, dark hair and dark skin, her brown eyes very wide and framed by rich lashes. She wore very little make-up and was dressed in a women’s pantsuit, crisply pressed and flattering.
She stood as Mark and Ben approached, and gave Ben a nod as the two men sat. “Mark, this is Detective Stella Horvath,” Ben said in a monotone voice.
“Pleasure,” Mark said, extending his hand in Stella’s direction.
She looked mildly uncomfortable as she shook his hand, and she snatched hers away rather quickly. Mark couldn’t tell if she was uncomfortable with disability or with the fact that she might know who he was, if Asclepius had been right about her.
“Nice to meet you, Mark,” she said, her voice tense.
Ben let out a small sigh and held up his menu. “Shall we order first?”
Mark and Stella both agreed and before long, the trio had placed their order, and while they waited, Stella pulled out a rather large briefcase with several folders which she carefully spread out on the table.
“I’ve only been able to get a couple of interviews done with hospital staff,” Stella said as she opened one of the folders. She glanced at Mark, who was doing his best to sit with his face pointed away from them. He had spent years perfecting this particular disguise, and he wasn’t sure how much this Stella person really knew about him.
“That’s fine, I can see what help I can be from San Fran,” Ben said, taking the folder and flipping through a few pages. “I take it no one saw anything, like my cases.”
“It’s all quite strange, really,” Stella said with a frown. “I took a look at your case files and they’re all so similar. I’m surprised no one red-flagged the cases before this John Doe went missing.”
Ben was reading over the pages, his lips moving over the words, and he sighed. “Same thing in every case. Power went out, security cameras glitched, despite being attached to a separate power source. The nurses were all called off to a different floor minutes before the power outage, and then the patients were just gone.”
“I thought we had a break in the case last week, when we found blood on the hospital sheets, but it turned out to be the blood of John Doe from the IV removal,” Stella said with a small sigh. “Right now, all we have to go on is the potential list of ex-employees.”
“Depending on what we find, that might be all the information we need,” Ben said.
Stella gave him a small smile and reached into her case for the last file. “Alright, here are the terms of your consulting position with our department. It gives you access to all the case files and any potential lead information. It also gives you access to anything in the evidence room here at our precinct, should you need it, though right now we have a bed-sheet and a hospital gown.”
“Hospital gown?” Ben asked.
Stella shrugged. “Yeah, when John Doe went missing, he left behind his hospital gown and bed sheet.”
“Odd. In the other cases, the patients were reported having left in the hospital gown. In the one video I have where the patient was caught on a parking lot camera, they were in the hospital gown.”
“Definitely something to note,” Stella said.
The server arrived with their food, and Mark tucked in, keeping a tight ear on the conversation. There was something Stella wasn’t telling Ben, that was certain, and she also seemed very desperate to have him on the case. Still, Mark couldn’t put his finger on what was different about her, and while Asclepius had insisted she was one of the others, Mark couldn’t see it. She didn’t seem any different from any other human in that restaurant right there.
By the time the meal was finished, Ben had signed all of the necessary paperwork, and had excused himself outside to make his hotel reservation and to secure himself a car. Mark was left at the table with Stella, who was staring at him openly.
“Can blind people tell when people are staring at them?” she asked suddenly, her voice cold but curious.
Mark smiled. “When we’re told, though not all blind people see nothing.”
“What do you see?”
“The difference between light and no light,” Mark replied with a shrug.
Stella sat back and crossed her arms. “Are you keeping anything about this case from me?”
“I believe your detectives wrote down all of my information,” Mark said.
“My detectives were idiots,” Stella snapped. “They came at one of the state’s best homicide detectives like he was a suspect and nearly destroyed this case.”
“It’s one missing person, why is it so important to you?” Mark asked pointedly.
Stella laughed. “I should ask the same of you, Father. Why would you care so much about some crazed homeless man in a church?”
“Because he can heal the sick and raise the dead,” Mark said simply. “He healed Detective Stanford and probably others at the hospital that came into contact with him. His stigmata wounds were reported.”
“Last time I checked, the Catholic church took claims of healings and stigmata with a grain of salt,” Stella retorted. “You seem to have a personal interest in this case.”
“As you say, it’s personal. I went through the proper, legal channels to obtain power of attorney of this man, but unfortunately, before anything could be processed, he disappeared.”
“Shame,” Stella said. She shoved the folders back into her briefcase. “I know about the hospital break in.”
“Are you going to arrest me?” Mark asked, leaning across the table and dropping his voice. “Is that what this is about?”
“What? This lunch?” Stella asked and she laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. If I wanted you arrested, I’d send a beat cop to do that. No, Father, I don’t think you’re a suspect. You wouldn’t be here dragging poor Detective Stanford so far out of his comfort zone he’s nearly shitting himself, if you were behind the disappearance. I simply wanted to get your advice on something.”
“Ask me anything,” Mark replied with a genial shrug.
“Jesus’s powers, in the bible, were transferrable to his followers. Not all, but some. Twelve, if I recall correctly.”
“So says the bible, yes,” Mark said in a tense voice.
“So this man, this stigmata man who can heal brain tumors and bleed from his wrists, would he be able to do the same? Give his powers away?”
“What are you getting at?” Mark demanded, forgetting his disguise, and through the glasses, meeting her eyes.
“I’d just imagine that if this John Doe had the power to heal, and that power could be passed on to some passerby and that passerby could then suddenly heal the sick and disabled, one might want to share that gift.”
“It doesn’t last long,” Mark said, letting out a long breath and sitting back. “The gift bestowed onto others doesn’t last but an hour or so.”
“Unless they get recharged,” Stella suggested.
Mark felt his face heat up as what she was suggesting suddenly made absolute sense. “Oh god.”
“I’m more of an Atheist, but I echo the sentiment,” she said. “Humoring this ridiculous theory, one might want to check into any new cults springing up claiming to have the power to heal. Don’t you think?”
Mark’s hands were trembling as he reached for his cane. “Right. That might be a good place to start.”
He started to push himself up from the booth when Stella stopped him. “Can he heal you, Father Roman?”
Mark gave her a soft, sad smile and extended out his cane. “No. Unfortunately, he’s never been able to heal my particular wounds. Have a good afternoon, detective. Hopefully we will meet again soon.”
Chapter Thirty
Ben had walked the block twice before he was able to secure a rental car reservation and a hotel in the city. By the time he got back to the front of the restaurant, Mark was gone, and Stella was standing there looking impatient.
“Sorry,” Ben said. “I take it Mark left?”
“I’d imagine so, since he’s not standing here,” she replied in a harsh manner, her consonants sharply clipped. “Are we done?”
Ben blinked in confusion. “I suppose so, unless you had something else I need?”
“No,” she snapped. She then sighed and rolled her eyes. “Oh right, I was doing you that favor of getting the warrant. I’m going to take time out of my huge case-load to help you now,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I guess we can meet later.”
“Have I done something to offend you?” Ben asked suddenly.
She pursed her lips and glared at him for several, long seconds. “No. I’ll call you when the warrant is ready. You can find a ride from here, I take it?” She didn’t wait for him to answer, and instead turned on her heel and marched across the street to her car.
Absolutely perplexed, Ben walked to the next street over and grabbed a cab. The rental car place wasn’t far, and really there wasn’t much he had left to do besides check in to the hotel and wait for Stella to phone him with the warrant information, if she decided to go through with it.
He was extremely confused by her behavior, and by the time Ben had obtained the rental car and reached the hotel front desk, he was a little uncertain he should even stay. Her switch in personality was a little more than he could handle right then, with everything else going on.
Checking into the room, Ben flopped down on the somewhat uncomfortable bed, pulled out his phone and dialed Stella’s number. It rang several times before going to her voicemail. “Detective Horvath, it’s Ben. I just wanted to check in with you, and let you know that if you don’t have time for the warrant, let me know and I’ll try and obtain one myself. I don’t want you to put anything on hold for a favor. I’ll be in touch soon.”