Page 111 of Skeletons in the Closet

I wasn’t getting straight answers.

Two ambulances pulled off the road and crossed the grassy expanse in front of the building, stopping as close to the foot of the stairs as possible. Several paramedics jumped out, and I waved one over as the others pulled gear and gurneys from the backs of their vehicles.

I explained what I knew, which wasn’t much. When I said Tallus seemed more alert since I got him outside, the team moved faster, asking where to locate the woman. I provided directions to Natalia’s office, and two of them moved into the building, one talking into a radio, saying something about getting the fire department on site and evacuating the premises immediately.

“What’s happening?” I asked the duo who had remained behind.

“Precautions,” a female paramedic said as she squatted and rested a hand on Tallus’s shoulder. Her partner brought a gurney and medical bag up the stairs to where we sat.

“How are you feeling?” the woman asked.

“My migraine came back.”

“Are you dizzy?”

“A little. Not like I was before. Seems a bit better.”

The male paramedic placed a device on Tallus’s finger and left it there as he slipped an oxygen mask over Tallus’s face. “Breathe normally,” the woman said.

“We’re going to get you moved to a hospital, my man.” The male paramedic held a thick swatch of gauze over the gash in Tallus’s forehead. “We’ll check you out head to toe.”

“My glasses.”

“I’ll get them.” But when I hopped to my feet, the female paramedic told me not to go into the building.

But they didn’t tell me why.

***

Hours into his hospital stay, I learned Tallus was being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning. Since I had spat rage at too many nurses, I was forced to spend the first hour in the waiting room with a security guard hovering nearby in case I decided to cause more problems. I guess I should have been grateful they didn’t toss me out the door on my ass or call the cops.

When Tallus was more coherent and had met with a doctor, he permitted me to join him in his cordoned-off section of the emergency department. The consent, although given, came with a warning from the hospital staff. If I so much as spoke above a whisper to anyone, breathed the wrong way, or made threats of any kind, I was finished.

Tallus occupied a corner room, and I stalled when I went through the doorway, absorbing the sight.

Stitches lined the gash in his forehead—at least six. The skin under both his eyes was darkening into bruises. A cannula hung over his ears and was positioned under his nose. The hiss of the oxygen being delivered to the device was barely perceptible under the clattering of ongoing hospital noises. The scent of antiseptic permeated the air, curdling my gut. I hated that smell. I hated hospitals. Too many memories. None of them good.

But when Tallus saw me, the disarming smile I’d come to recognize lit up the room, erasing the surface damage and settling something in my chest that had been twisting and coiling me into a knot since he phoned me back at the university. He wore his broken glasses, the left lens a spiderweb of cracks. One of the paramedics had rescued them from the office floorwhen they’d gone to help Natalia, and I’d shouted at a nurse for ten minutes to allow me access to Tallus so I could give them back. In the end, she’d snatched them from my hand and waltzed off like her shit didn’t stink.

“I hear you’re causing trouble, Guns.”

I shrugged, unable to stop staring at his injuries, a deep-seated self-loathing seeping through my veins. It should have been me talking to Natalia. It should have been me who was almost poisoned. What had I been thinking, sending him up there alone? Tallus wasn’t my partner, no matter how many times he made claims otherwise. He was not supposed to be involved. He was not supposed to get hurt on my watch.

“D, I’m going to be okay,” he said, reading my thoughts. But his assurance didn’t erase the sick feelings. It didn’t assuage the guilt.

I didn’t know where to put myself. All morning in the waiting room, I’d been vacillating between wanting a cigarette to help lower my blood pressure and wanting to storm Tallus’s room to be sure he was okay because I was convinced the hospital staff was lying, and if I didn’t see him, I’d go mad. I’d have probably caved on the impulse to smoke had I not adamantly refused to leave the hospital until I’d seen Tallus in the flesh.

Astute as always, Tallus held out a hand, the idea being that I should take it. And when I didn’t right away, he waited.

What I liked about Tallus was he gave me time to process. He never expected immediate results. He never rushed me. Sometimes, he pushed limits but quickly backed off if he sensed he’d gone too far.

I took his hand. Warm. Alive. The curdling in my stomach settled. He didn’t draw me closer, but he caressed the surface of my skin with a thumb. It was soothing, like when he massaged my scalp, and for some dumb reason, I thought of Nana and the gentle way she had always approached me before she’d gottensick. Nana had always understood. Nana never judged. Nana was my only advocate in life.

“The doctor told me Natalia is in the clear,” Tallus said. “She’ll be okay.”

I nodded. I’d overheard the same.

“Do I look like shit? Is that why you won’t look at me.”

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