Needing to lighten the mood and distract Sadie, Kris said, “These are such beautiful flowers, Gabe. It was very thoughtful of you. Let me put them in a vase.”
Sadie handed over the flowers with shaky hands. Kris put them in a green ceramic vase and added some water before setting them on the coffee table. “Perfect. How about we go get that ice cream?”
Gabe met her gaze, approval flashing in the warm depths. “Good idea.”
“Sounds like a very good idea,” Sadie agreed as she struggled to stand.
Kris and Gabe both rushed to help. As they left the apartment, Gabe supporting Sadie, he said to Kris, “Who knows, I might even try a new flavor today.”
Kris arched a brow. “It will be good for you.”
Once they reached the street, Gabe jogged over to his black vehicle to move it closer to the curb for Sadie.
“He’s a keeper, Krissy girl,” Sadie said, with a grin.
“Grams!”
Sadie gave a delicate shrug of her thin, hunched shoulders. “I’m just saying.”
Heat burned Kris’s cheeks. A keeper indeed.
Later that night as Kris worked in her studio printing off the latest batch of photos for a sportswear ad campaign, her phone rang. She glanced at the clock. Who’d call at this late hour?
“Hello?”
There was a brief moment of silence before Sadie spoke in a hushed, frantic voice. “Krissy, there’s something strange going on here. I saw a body being wheeled into the infirmary. You have to come quick!”
Kris tried to let the words register. “Is an ambulance there?”
“No, Krissy. There’s no ambulance. Would I have called you if there was?”
“I suppose not,” Kris muttered.
Was this just another shadow in Sadie’s mind? Sadie probably had a nightmare and was confusing her dream with reality.
But she sounded so upset.
“I’ll be right there.” Kris hung up, quickly dressed, then grabbed her purse and ran out the front door to the old Honda Civic parked at the curb. She started the engine and as the motor heated up, she used her cell to dial Gabe.
“Hello?”
“Hi, it’s me.”
“What’s wrong?”
Warmed by the sudden edge in his voice, she said, “Sadie just called me all upset. She…” What? Saw a dead body? “I’m on my way to see her.”
“It’s kind of late for visiting hours,” Gabe commented.
“Yeah, well, Sadie needs me.” She decided to be straight with him. “She thinks she saw a dead body.”
“I’ll meet you there. Don’t do anything until I arrive.”
Emotion clogged Kris’s throat. “Thank you.”
She hung up, glad to know that Gabe was on his way.
At this late hour, Kris saw only one other vehicle on the road as she drove to Miller’s Rest. Thankfully, the van that pulled up behind her and whizzed past as she rounded the bend right before the retirement center wasn’t a police car, or she’d have been ticketed for sure.
Kris didn’t usually break the speed limit, but Sadie’s agitation formed a ball of concern in Kris’s chest. Sadie was relatively healthy, but you just never knew. Kris’s heart squeezed tight.
She parked and hurried toward the front entrance. She glanced around, expecting to see the security guard patrolling the grounds.
“Psst. Over here.” Sadie waved from a side entrance. She wore the thick terry robe Kris had given her for her eightieth birthday this past fall and rubber-soled bootie slippers. Her gray hair was a mess, as if she’d just rolled out of bed.
Kris hurried over. “Shouldn’t this door be equipped with an alarm?”
Sadie shrugged. “It didn’t go off when I opened it, so I’d say no. Come on.”
“Wait. Gabe’s on his way here.”
Sadie’s eyes widened. “Who?”
Kris’s stomach clenched. She couldn’t have forgotten him, could she? “Detective Burke.”
“That’s good thinking, Krissy girl. But I have to show you. Now.”
Sadie rapidly shuffled away, leaving Kris no choice but to follow. The darkened center sent a chill creeping up Kris’s spine. Dim lights along the edges of the floor illuminated the hallways.
Sadie took Kris to the infirmary. “They wheeled a body in here.”
“A body?” Kris repeated, not sure she really wanted clarification.
“You know. A body under a sheet. A dead body.”
Kris swallowed back the distaste that image brought and told herself it was just another of Gram’s shadows. A nightmare she mistook for reality. Sadie pushed open the door and Kris peered over her head into the medical room. Glass-paned cabinets lined the walls, a desk with a stiff-backed chair occupied one corner. A gurney had been pushed against the far wall.
Kris sighed with relief. No body. “Well, it’s gone now. And who are they?”
“Ms. Faust and a man.”
Odd. Ms. Faust hardly seemed the type to go sneaking around at night. “Grams, you probably had a nightmare.”
Sadie’s chin jutted out slightly. “I couldn’t sleep.”
Kris raised an eyebrow. “So you went wandering.”
“I—”
A door slammed. Sadie shuffled quickly to a window facing the service entrance. Reluctantly, Kris followed. A white van had backed up to the double doors off the kitchen. The rear doors of the van were open, but at this angle Kris couldn’t see the contents. Ms. Faust and two men stood talking.
“Hey, that’s the van that passed me on the way here,” Kris whispered.
“I’ll bet they put the dead body in there,” Sadie said. “I wish the detective would hurry up.”
“He’s probably out front. Come on,” Kris urged Sadie away from the window.
One of the men shut the doors before rounding the vehicle and getting in on the passenger side. The other man climbed into the driver’s seat. Ms. Faust waved curtly and disappeared inside the center as the van drove away.
“We better get you out of here before she sets the alarm.”
Sadie’s urgent whisper galvanized Kris into panic mode. “Let’s get you to your room first.”
“I can take care of myself,” Sadie groused. “You need to leave before we’re caught.” She shuffled back toward the side entrance.
With a rueful shake of her head, Kris followed. Just as Sadie reached for the handle, Kris noticed the black box on the wall next to the door. The green light hadn’t been flashing when they came in. Now the light seemed as bright as a camera flash.
“Grams, no!”
Sadie pushed the door open and a loud screeching siren filled the air. Kris’s warning came a second too late.
Sadie groaned. “Rats!”
“Busted,” Kris said and sagged against the wall.
For the next several minutes chaos reined as the security