Grantville Gazette 37

'I suppose,' Doris said. 'But I'm going home now, and I'm going out the back door.'

****

Cora sat in the waiting area outside the ER at Leahy Center waiting to hear from the doctors. Every time someone moved, she looked up. She sat there, staring at the blood-stained towel in her hands, doing nothing.

'Aunt Cora?' Nina Kindred burst through the doors into the waiting area. 'Aunt Cora? Are you okay?'

Cora looked up. 'Okay?'

'Are you okay? You've got blood all over you. I'm going to go get someone.'

'No, no. It's not my blood, it's Maria's.'

'Oh, thank God,' Nina said. 'Paul told me that there had been an explosion in the coffee shop, and that you had gone to the hospital, and . . .'

'Hush.' Cora put her hand over Nina's. 'You're not here for the paper, are you?'

'Oh God, no. I'm sure he'll send someone around to interview you but, for goodness sake, Aunt Cora, you're family.'

'That's okay then. You can wait with me? It's hard just waiting.'

'Of course. However long it takes,' Nina said.

'I'm glad you're here. I didn't want to be alone,' Cora said. 'Someone has gone for Maria's family. Her dad works for Johnson's Grocery. They'll be along soon, but someone needs to be here for Maria.'

'What happened?'

'The espresso machine blew up. That's all I know for sure. One minute Maria's frothing milk, the next minute she had a piece of steel sticking out of her face and steam was blowing everywhere.'

'The espresso machine?' Nina asked. 'But you only bought that one about a year ago!'

'Yes. The little one I had from home finally gave up the ghost, remember? So, I had Clarence Dobb's folks make us a new bigger one.'

'Clarence Dobbs? But, he's a plumber!'

'Yes. He makes stoves, hot water heaters, pumps, anything that deals with water. Who better to make me an espresso machine? He took the old one so he could copy the filter piece, and made us the new three-handle machine. I can't imagine what could have gone wrong. She was just frothing a cup of milk!' Cora looked down again at the bloody towel in her hands and the tears started again.

'Come on, Aunt Cora,' Phoebe said. 'Let's go get you cleaned up, get rid of that towel and your apron, and get your face fixed and your dress clean.'

They headed toward the ladies room.

****

Reverend Simon Jones walked into Clarence's Heating, Plumbing and Air Conditioning. 'Afternoon, Bonnie.'

'Afternoon, Reverend Jones.'

'Clarence around?'

'He's over at the pump plant. They're working out some kinks in a new design.'

'You heard about Cora's?'

'Yes. Just a bit ago. How is Maria? '

'I don't know yet. Mary Ellen's on her way out to the hospital,' Simon said. 'I'll pass along what she finds out, but I have another problem. Can you call over and ask Clarence to meet me at Cora's with whomever built that infernal device, say in about an hour?'

'Sure, Reverend Jones. I'll be happy to. Let's make it about an hour and a half. Two o'clock okay?'

'Two o'clock is fine. I'll be waiting.'

****

Reverend Mary Ellen Jones arrived at Leahy Medical center just as Cora and Phoebe came out to the waiting area. 'How are you holding up, dear?'

'Okay,' Cora replied. 'I'm waiting to hear, though, how Maria's going to be.'

Lise Gebauer came through the door to the ER into the waiting area. 'Cora. Maria's going to be okay.' She sat down across from the three women. 'The wand missed the major nerve cluster in her cheek and only chipped the cheek bone. We've stitched that up. There will be a scar. It punched out a piece of tissue too small to sew back in place, and there will be a pucker on her cheek, but it won't be horrible.' Lise took a deep breath. 'She was very lucky. The worst of the burns are second degree. Apparently she fell away from the steam and no part of her face was in it long enough to be cooked. There are a lot of blisters. It is going to hurt, but the steam missed her eye completely. We had to cut away a bit of hair on her right side above the cheek, but she'll recover. We should be able to send her home in the morning. Is her family here yet?'

'No,' Cora said. 'Her dad is out on a delivery run for the grocery. Her younger sister is in school, and you know her mom got that cough last winter and didn't make it.'

Lise shuddered. 'Too many didn't make it through the influenza. . . . We do what we can. Do you want to see her?'

'Of course!' Cora replied. 'I'll sit with her at least until her father or sister gets here.'

****

Chelsea Perkins came out of the staff lounge, and checked with the guard at the front entrance. 'Anything else unusual, Otto?'

'No, Frau Perkins. All is quiet. People reading books.' Otto pointed to the floor where the body had lain. 'The coroner has taken the body, and the janitors have finished cleaning the floor and wall. The front doors should be repainted by noon.' Otto looked at Chelsea. 'How did it happen?'

'Someone screwed up. Someone is not going to be happy.' Chelsea walked off toward the security office.

'All right. Albrecht had the outside tour this morning.' Chelsea looked at Albrecht and noticed the other guards in the room paying close attention. She knew that this was another test of her leadership. 'You have your log book?'

The guard responsible for walking each circuit around the high school had to stop at a number of places where metal stamps had been placed in small boxes, and click the stamp onto a line of his log book. Before he left for the tour and upon his return, he clicked the log book into the time-clock. It wasn't as good a system as the uptime paper tape that showed when each location had been logged, but it at least proved that the route had been walked.

'I do, Frau Perkins. Here it is.' Albrecht presented his log to Chelsea.

Chelsea flipped to the last page. 'This says you finished at 0630, half an hour after the shooting. How could you have accompanied the door guard if you weren't done?'

'I was almost done, Frau Parker. I had reached the station outside the front door when I heard the shots. I tried the front door and it was unlocked, so I ran in and saw the intruder on the floor.' Albrecht paused. 'I assisted with the search and moving the body, and did not clock the round out until I was able to get away.'

'The front door was unlocked? You are very sure of that?' Chelsea asked.

'Yes, Frau Parker.' Albrecht said.

Chelsea looked at the assignment sheet for the morning, then looked around the room. 'Where is Francis?'

'Francis is at home with the influenza, Frau Perkins,' Albrecht said. 'He sent word yesterday that he would not be at work.'

Chelsea turned to Karl Bauer, the watch supervisor for the night before. 'Karl, why is this duty sheet not updated showing Francis is to be out?'

Karl smiled. 'I could find no one to take Francis' shift, Frau Perkins. I stayed over the night. I did not need to write down my name to remind me that I was working.'

'I see nothing to smile about, Karl. What happened this morning?' Chelsea asked very coldly.

'Tuesday, the library closes at ten at night, and re-opens at six in the morning,' Karl said.

Everyone nodded.

'The high school cleaning crew buffs the floors of the hallways during the night, and painting and other maintenance that is hard to do while people are working takes place,' Karl continued.

Chelsea stared at him. 'We all know that. What's the point?'