Chapter Twenty-three 13 page

“We started seeing changes about seven months ago, but I had hoped she’d show improvement after we placed her in the program near our home back in Texas,” Tully said before pivoting in her seat and looking back at Bailey. “Pearl, could you come over here and sit down. This is for your own good.”

“Kiss my ass,” Bailey said without turning around. She sounded sincere.

“It’s okay, Ms. White. Paying attention and participation aren’t necessary just yet.”

“Thank you. It’s just been hard on the whole family, but we’ve heard you can just do wonders in getting kids back on track.”

The woman stopped writing and glanced up at her. “So you were recommended?”

“The Nicolas family said you worked with their daughter Kara, and she went on to become a doctor. We just want the same opportunity for Pearl.”

“Kara Nicolas…yes, she was one of the first patients I worked with here.” Her voice faded away as she punched some more information about Bailey into the computer. She scanned the screen before taking her glasses off and turning her attention to Tully, as if she didn’t realize what she’d just said. “It was the beginning of the ecstasy craze, and we caught her just in time. Kids don’t always realize the long-term effects of some of these drugs.” Grabbing her clipboard, she stood and waved to the door. “Would you like a tour?”

Tully’s cell phone rang as she was about to answer. “I’m so sorry.” She flipped the phone open as she stood, trying to appear ready to join the tour. “I have to get this, since my son is still back at the hotel.” Tully pinched the skin on her forehead between her fingers. “I see. Try and make him comfortable and I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

“Something I can help with?” the woman asked.

“I’m sure it’s from drinking the local water, but my son’s taken ill and I have to go back and check on him.” Tully copied what the man at the airport had been doing and grabbed Bailey by the bicep.

“You could leave Pearl with us so we can get started.”

“I’d like to take the tour first just to ease my mind about leaving her here. You understand, of course.”

“I’ll call you later on this afternoon at the hotel, then.”

“Please do, and I have a good feeling about this,” Tully said as she shook hands with the woman without letting go of Bailey.

“Pearl? That’s the best you could come up with?” Bailey asked when they were driving out the gates.

“I thought it was a great name, and you never even asked what your middle name is.”

Bailey turned in her seat, obviously so she could more effectively glare at her. “I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“Well, Pearl Lee, you should be.” Tully couldn’t help but start laughing.

“You wrote down Pearl Lee White, and that woman didn’t figure out we were totally bogus?”

“I’m sure she figures that’s why you’re taking drugs.”

They both laughed.

Tully kept to the speed limit as they drove back, making a call to Libby. “I promise to take all three of you on a vacation in Mexico during your first school break, but we need to head back as soon as we can get a flight.”

“Pasco called while you were over there, so I already booked it.”

“We’re almost back, so save it.” Tully hung up and handed Bailey the phone. “Sorry this was so short, but I’m glad you came. I don’t think me going in there alone and asking about Kara would have had the same result.”

“Just remember you promised a vacation.”

“I’m sure after the next couple of weeks and the work we have to do on this case, we could all use one. Oh, by the way, Libby told me that Hurricane Katrina just made landfall in Florida.”

Chapter Twenty-four

“Judging from the amount of product Kara’s buying, she’s got a pretty strong habit,” Pasco said. He had been waiting for them at the airport on Friday afternoon to give her a complete report and them a ride home.

“What in the hell is going on?” Tully asked as she looked around the terminal, still packed with people despite the late hour.

“Florida slowed the storm down, but it’s in the Gulf, and a few of the models have it coming our way. I guess these folks want to get home just in case the majority of forecasters are wrong. It’s a shame that it’s cutting their vacations short, but most of the weather guys have the storm heading to the panhandle of Florida in the next couple of days. We all know how wrong they can be, though.”

“Honey, should we stop for some stuff?” Libby asked.

“If it’s for storm supplies, you’re about to find out you’re marrying the most anal person alive when it comes to preparation,” Ralph said. “Mom’s got enough water, food, and gas to start her own city, believe me.”

“Pop-Tarts don’t count, buddy,” Libby said.

“Nah, it’s more like canned ravioli.”

Libby grimaced. “Okay, a trip to the grocery before we go home, and we’ll be set.”

“We do have a lot of stuff,” Tully said as she picked up their bags.

“Honey, if the electricity goes out we’re not eating pasta out of a can for days on end. I’m sure Pasco has to get a few things. If not, he can drop us off at the house and I’ll go.”

“Let’s go grocery shopping, boss,” Pasco said, grabbing half of the luggage from her.

After Pasco had given Tully a complete update, he went for other supplies with Libby and the kids, but Tully stayed home and prepared her case alone. She wanted to call in her associates but didn’t want to take them away from their families for the weekend as the paranoia about the upcoming storm began to grow.

After a few hours, with Libby and the kids safely home, she checked the generator and supply of gasoline. Ralph had joked about how anal she was, but having been raised by a couple who made their living on the water, she had taken their lessons on survival to heart. And after she’d had kids, her desire to prepare for every situation had only grown, even as Jessica’s mocking laughter at her axe, life jackets, and box of supplies in the attic rang in her ears.

Libby spent time in the kitchen making a huge meal while Tully went over her class assignments with her. Having a live-in tutor was cutting down Libby’s study time and helping her keep her mind off the weather. When they finished eating and putting away the leftovers, Libby followed Tully upstairs to the guest room.

They never undressed, but lay down together and enjoyed the utter silence outside the window. After seeing how freaked Libby was, Tully didn’t want to leave her alone.

“We’ll be okay, right?” Libby asked.

“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that we are.”

The scenario that the forecasters had predicted changed on Saturday. The models had the storm coming ashore anywhere from the Mississippi line to Florida, but with each passing hour the lines drifted farther west.

As Bailey, Libby, and Ralph sat in the house watching the Weather Channel, Tully stepped outside and studied the sky. She couldn’t see a single cloud, and the blue expanse appeared as if someone had painted it. The only uncomfortable thing was the temperature. The heat was stifling, seeming to suck the oxygen out of the air.

“Honey, don’t you want to come in here and take a look at this?” Libby asked from the back door.

Tully held up her hand to request a few more minutes as she took out her phone. “Rox, call the staff together and have them meet me at the office in thirty minutes. I don’t care what they’re doing, tell them to be there.”

“What’s wrong?” Libby asked when Tully snapped the phone closed.

“What did your father do for a living?”

Libby appeared confused. “He was a train operator for big freight. Why do you ask?”

“My dad and a lot of generations before him were fishermen.”

Libby could feel the sweat dripping down her back, the drops losing their battle at the waistband of her shorts. “You okay? I know what your dad does, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s just that I often wonder how many people died years ago when things like this happened and they ignored the more-than-obvious signs. If you didn’t live on the water and know what to look for, something like Katrina could catch you unawares and with little time to get out of the way.”

“You’re starting to scare me,” Libby said as she put her hand on the side of Tully’s face and tried to get her to focus. “What are you talking about?”

“Two hundred years ago, if we’d been standing here looking up at this sky, would you have guessed a killer was churning through the Gulf?” She waved her hand toward the south. “Without the radar images and the television coverage, how would we have known?”

“I guess we wouldn’t have, so it’s a good thing we’re not living two hundred years ago.”

“But even though this is just like so many other summer days, there would’ve been a sign if you were looking, even without the benefit of the Weather Channel. Tell me what you see.”

Libby turned in a slow circle and did as Tully asked. She mentioned all the things that Tully had noticed when she first walked out there, like the lack of clouds. She guessed Tully would eventually let her in on why she was doing it.

“Now tell me what you don’t see,” Tully said.

Libby made the same slow circle, but nothing was jumping out at her. Everything in the yard and beyond looked the same. “Nothing’s missing.”

“I don’t see or hear one bird out here. It’s the middle of the day, without a lick of wind or a cloud, but don’t you find it strange there isn’t a bird anywhere around?”

Tully was right. The house was situated in an older, established neighborhood with plenty of big shade trees that were a haven for birds. Now that Tully had pointed it out, the silence of nature was so overwhelming that it became instantly conspicuous to Libby.

“What does that mean, exactly?”

“Mom, the news just said Katrina became a category three,” Bailey said from the back door.

“Honey, talk to me.”

Libby grabbed two fistfuls of Tully’s T-shirt.

Tully could tell Libby was truly scared from the way she was shivering when she wrapped her arms around her.

“I’m not going to lie to you. This isn’t good. I really thought this thing would blow apart after crossing Florida, but the hot water in the Gulf is fueling it, and I don’t see it slowing down any. If the news is right, a jump from a tropical storm to a cat three in a day doesn’t bode well for us.”

“But the forecasters still have it going toward the Alabama/Mississippi border.”

Tully sighed and nodded. “That they do, but in this case I’m going with what I’ve been taught. And from what Gaston Badeaux beat into my head, I don’t think this is going to turn out well.”

“We’re leaving, right?”

Tully held Libby tightly against her chest. “You have to calm down and know that I’m not going to let anything happen to you or the kids. I may take chances every day at work to get the best outcome I can, but I’ll never gamble with your or the kids’ safety.” She put her fingers under Libby’s chin so she would look up. “I need you to start packing the essentials and get organized.”

“Where are you going?”

“I have to go pack the files at the office, back up the servers, and make copies of those tapes to take with us. We have a responsibility to our clients. That shouldn’t take more than an hour. Then I want my people to get out with their families, and when I get back we’ll leave.” She framed Libby’s face with her hands and kissed her. “You’re not alone anymore, sweetheart.”

“I know I’m acting insane, but stuff like this really scares me.”

Tully kissed her again. “Understandable, but go ahead and get the kids ready. Once people realize and accept what’s coming, the traffic is going to get crazy.”

Because Tully had taken Libby’s small car, the SUV was packed and ready when she returned from the office. Before they left, she opened her home-office safe and took out all the available cash she had on hand and the sidearm her father had given her years before. As the hysteria rose, so did the feeling that all hell was about to break loose within the part of society that never followed the rules anyway.

Tully sat them in the kitchen for a serious talk before they left. “Guys, I’ve been listening to the news and they’ve started contraflow on the interstate, so everything is heading out of here. From the sound of this, we could come back to a very different city, so I want you to walk through the house one last time and take anything, within reason, that’s important to you.”

From what Tully could see going and coming from the office, the public was starting to panic. Every market and pharmacy had lines out the door of people trying to buy last-minute supplies, and others were trying to find a way out of New Orleans.

“Just don’t take too long, okay?”

They waved to their neighbors as they backed out of the driveway, but instead of heading toward the interstate, Tully turned in the opposite direction. She suspected that her passengers knew exactly where they were going, but none of them said anything. Despite what had happened between them, Tully still felt some obligation to Jessica.

“I won’t be long,” Tully said as they stopped in front of the hospital.

“Take all the time you need,” Libby said.

Ralph piped up from the backseat. “She really amazes me sometimes.”

“Yeah, most people would’ve let Mama rot,” Bailey agreed.

“If you ever wonder why I love her,” Libby pointed to Tully as she walked through the front doors, “this is why. Her relationship with your mother might be over and beyond salvation, but she’s still your mother, and that’s why Tully’s here. It takes someone special to put her personal feelings aside.”

Luckily, Jessica was standing in the lobby directing some of the personnel who had been called into work. Since the nonessential surgeries had been called off, Kara wasn’t too far away, leaning against the wall with a sullen look on her face.

“What in the hell do you want now?” Kara walked toward Tully with her finger up, her wrist captured in a vise grip before she touched Tully’s chest.

“I’m not here to see you.” Tully squeezed hard before letting go and continuing on to Jessica. “The kids are outside, and if you want, you can come with us. Neil should understand you want to be with your family.”

“I can’t leave, you know that, but I would like to know where you’re taking the kids.”

“I’m going to get on the road and start driving until I find a place that’s well out of the path of this thing. Don’t worry. I’ll call you as soon as we get settled.”

Tully lifted her hand, but before she could put it on Jessica’s shoulder, Kara’s fist connected with the side of her face.

“What in the hell did you do that for?” a police officer standing close to them asked. “You all right?”

“I’m fine, Gus,” Tully said, reading his name tag, “and your memory isn’t going to go bad on me, is it?”

“I work for the city, not the hospital, so look me up when the time is right. My memory will be just fine. I’d offer to bring her in, but in this mess I think that’s going to be impossible.”

“Don’t worry about it, Officer.” She accepted a tissue from Jessica for the blood and pressed it to her cheek. “Last chance, Jessica.”

“Stay here, Kara. I’ll be right back,” Jessica said.

“You walk out and you’d better keep on walking.”

For once, Jessica let go of the fear of losing her new lover and let some of her ire show. “I’m going to talk to my children, so calm down and go do something useful.” Once they were outside she stopped and turned to Tully. “I’m sorry for what happened. It was uncalled for. But please, no more lectures, okay?”

“I’m here because of the kids and the kind of example I want to set for them. What you do with your life is your concern now. I just hope you don’t allow her to do this to you just to keep her around. No one’s worth that, Jessica.” Taking away the tissue, Tully showed her the forming bruise so Jessica would know exactly what she was talking about.

“You just worry about your life and the child you’ve chosen to become a part of it, Tully. That’s another issue we’ll have to deal with eventually, once all this craziness is over.”

Tully motioned for the kids to get out of the car and kept walking to the driver’s side without another word. Libby was waiting with a makeshift ice bag and a sympathetic smile. “What is it with that woman and your face?”

“How’d you know it was Kara?”

“Just a wild guess, since you seem to trigger her violent streak every time you meet.”

“Maybe she thinks if I look bad enough you’ll leave me so she can start an ex-Tully harem,” she joked.

They spoke softly to each other, not looking to see what was happening outside as Jessica and the kids stood talking. It didn’t take long for them to finish, and Bailey and Ralph didn’t say anything when they got back in the car. In her rearview mirror, Tully noticed that Jessica stayed outside watching them leave until they turned the corner.

After they crossed the Huey P. Long Bridge over the Mississippi River, Tully stayed on the small country roads as they called to arrange for lodging and to find where her parents and brothers were going to ride out the storm.

Finally Libby and the kids found the whole Badeaux clan rooms in Lafayette for as long as they needed. But since ninety percent of the city was trying to evacuate, they had no idea how long the drive, usually two hours, would take.

Along the way they saw old cars, unable to sit in traffic for hours, parked on the shoulder with their hoods up. To be stranded now would truly be a nightmare if the storm came farther west. Alongside the folks trying to get their cars started were the pet lovers who’d brought their furry family members along for the ride. Bailey and Ralph spent some of the time pointing out playful dogs in the median.

Everywhere they stopped, those fleeing from the storm had become like an extended family. They offered conversation as well as luck whenever Tully stopped for gas or for something to eat, and when they arrived at their hotel she shook her head at how many folks were out in the parking lot grilling, offering to share with whoever passed by.

“Why are they cooking all that stuff?” Libby asked as Tully drove around searching for a parking spot.

“For something to do to forget what we’re facing, and it’s better to cook it than to bury it in your yard when you get home.”

Ralph stuck his head up front. “What do you mean, Mom?”

“If we’re out of town for a few days and the electricity goes out, all that stuff in everyone’s freezer will go bad, so why not enjoy all those shrimp people were storing for gumbo instead of throwing them out? You were too little to remember the last time we had to leave for one of these things, but the atmosphere was pretty much the same. This is a good example of why the rest of the country thinks we’re a breed apart, but if the damn boat’s going to sink, then why not go down with a beer in your hand and the band playing,” Tully joked.

One of Tully’s classmates from law school was cooking a huge pot of jambalaya, so they accepted his invitation instead of trying to fight the crowds at the local restaurants. They set up a few more pots in the parking lot when the rest of the Badeauxes arrived so Alma could start frying the fish and shrimp she’d brought with her.

For once, patrons in the sport bars and at every available television were glued to the Weather Channel instead of ESPN. The later it got, the more it seemed that the doomsday scenario the forecasters had predicted for years was about to materialize.

When the wind started to pick up, everyone retired to their motel rooms, but the kids wanted to stay with Tully and Libby. Sitting together on the king-sized bed, they watched television to pass the time. At one in the morning on Sunday, Tully held Libby and her children and watched as Katrina was upgraded to a category four, then six hours later to a five, with winds of 165 miles an hour. The record-setting pressure readings being reported filled her with dread.

The talking heads kept showing the progression from the time the hurricane left Florida and now marveled at the intense and well-formed storm. It was a killer, but the satellite photos showed a huge, perfectly shaped storm with a compact eye. Though it might kill hundreds of people, some of the announcers seemed enthralled with the power of Mother Nature.

Tully closed her eyes to shut out the screen and ended up taking a twenty-minute nap. When she woke up the satellite images showed the edge of the storm making landfall in Buras, with the outer bands already reaching New Orleans. The eye and its more devastating winds were headed for the Mississippi coast, but at eight in the morning Katrina arrived in the Crescent City.

The rest of her family was awake when the storm moved northeast just as quickly as it had hit land, and Tully released a deep breath of relief. All the planning, worry, and running had been for naught, but she was glad that they’d left.

After merely an hour she realized she had made one of the wisest decisions of her life. Tears streamed down her face and none of them said anything when, a little after nine o’clock Monday morning, most of New Orleans and the surrounding suburbs were full of water.

Hell had begun for those who had stayed behind either by choice or by circumstance.

Three days later as they rode to a local bakery to pick up breakfast Ralph asked, “Do you think our house is full of water?”

“If it is, there isn’t much we can do about it, buddy. In the end it’s just some stuff we can replace.” Tully put her hand on the back of his neck and squeezed gently.

“Do you think Mama’s okay?”

“I’ve been trying to reach her but haven’t had any luck. You have my word that as soon as we can head back, she’ll be the first person we’ll go and see.” She turned the ignition off and looked him in the eye. “She’s at the hospital, so I’m sure she’s fine. You saw how many police officers they had stationed there keeping an eye on things.”

“It’s just that I was so mad at her, and all that stuff they’ve been saying on TV didn’t sound good.”

Ralph was right—the picture the media had painted of what was happening in the city was in some cases horrific, and the cavalry was mired in bureaucratic red tape.

“Your mom is going to be fine, and I’m sure she knows that it was just going to take you a little while to get over the hurt of everything that happened. She’s not going to hold anything against you.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Like I’ve told you, buddy, we’re your parents, and no matter what, we love you. Just remember that I’m here if you need to talk about anything. What happened between your mother and me didn’t affect just us. You and Bailey are in this too, whether you wanted to be or not. Things may be different now, but how I feel about the two of you is as constant a thing as you’ll ever find.”

At Children’s Hospital they had barricaded the doors to keep out those needing a fix and wanting to raid their medicine supplies. Katrina hadn’t just washed away homes, trees, and parts of history, but also the dealers who stood on the street corners peddling their shit. Those who visited often in sunny weather with sweat-soaked dollar bills hoping to score a few rocks of something were beyond desperate.

Stressed by the inability to move critically ill patients and the heat of the locked-up building, Kara Nicolas had finished her hidden stash, and her hallucinations were worse. With no phone service and no way of knowing when help was coming to evacuate them from the facility, she’d just wanted an escape, even if it was into the drugs that helped her numb the pain of life. By seven Monday morning, as the storm raged outside and she became convinced the halls were full of snakes, the staff had had to subdue and sedate her.

Despite the pandemonium around him, Neil Davis gave thanks that Tully wasn’t there to witness the drug-induced breakdown. Before help arrived they had to break up some of the desks and nail them to the windows and doors to keep the violence that had broken out in the city from overrunning the hospital and those trapped inside.

The generators had been running the equipment for their critical patients, and he was sure they would soon start losing the weakest among them. While they had plenty of fuel, the back of the hospital where the generators were located had been flooded, so they were starting to shut off one by one.

“What’s she taking?” Neil asked Jessica when he took a break from the chaos around them.

Not since her residency had Jessica felt as tired as she was now. As the systems of the hospital had broken down, she’d been running from one patient to the next, making sure they were stable until the evacuation teams arrived. In this helpless situation, caring for her patients was the only thing keeping her going.

“I really don’t know, and I’m not sure I’d tell you if I did,” she said softly. She had taken a few minutes to sit and regroup and decided to spend them with Kara.

“You know what this means, right?” Neil said. “If, once this is over, someone in the hospital tells Tully about what happens?”

“Tully isn’t going to find out a thing unless you or I tell her, and I’m not about to do that.”

He laughed and slapped his hands together. “You can’t be that naïve. Gossip spreads as fast as flood waters around here. Of course she’ll eventually hear about it. As soon as we’re out of here and back to some sort of normal situation, I’m going to have to go to the board and decide what steps we should take in giving Tully and the Heberts what they want.”

“You can’t take someone’s career away over a moment under pressure and unusual circumstances, Neil.” Jessica sat on the end of Kara’s hospital bed. “Especially if she’s a brilliant surgeon, so stop asking me to help you strip her of something she loves. In my heart I can’t believe that she’d endanger a child’s life.”

“Bullshit, Jessica. Tully was right, wasn’t she? You knew about this and said nothing. Do you know what kind of position you put the hospital in?” The stubble on his chin felt rough against his hand as he massaged his face in an effort to stay alert. “Victor and the board will think I knew about this, and I’m not going down for you or her. Especially her, if she put me in a position to be ripped to shreds.”

“I lived with her and didn’t realize she had this kind of problem, Neil. She had it that under control.”

He laughed again. “Yeah, right. Is that the physician in you talking, or her girlfriend? You know damn well this is a huge cluster fuck.”

“Both.” She tugged on her hair before sitting up and pinning him with tired eyes. “What happened to that kid was an accident. For God’s sake, what kind of monster do you think I am that I’d let her kill a child? She told me it was an accident, and I believe her.”

“An accident? What exactly does that mean?” he rasped, haunted by the sound of Tully’s laugh as she left the hospital after offering him what seemed like a gift now—a chuckle that said, “I know how this happened and I’m just the windshield that’s going to teach you a lesson, you little bug of a man.”

“Just forget I said anything.”

He stood up, grabbed her by the arms, and shook her. “No, you tell me what you meant by that.”

“Mr. Davis.” One of the security guards walked in breathing hard from the obvious run he’d taken to get there. “Two armed men just broke through the back door and are demanding oxycodone.”

“Shit.” He let her go and began to follow the guy out. “This isn’t over, Jessica. I know how you feel about her, but she’s not worth throwing your career away for.”

When she was alone, Jessica slid her hand into one of Kara’s, unable to lift it very high since the orderlies had tied Kara down for her own safety. For some reason she thought about the birth of her children and Tully sitting much like this on her bed holding her hand. Next to them had stood the bassinet they put the baby in, and while Tully had never left her side, her eyes never left the tiny life peacefully sleeping beside them.

The day Bailey was born had been gray and overcast, very similar to the sky Jessica imagined was overhead right now. Only then, her future had seemed brighter. Now she wasn’t so sure what it held and how Kara would fit in her life if she were stripped of all the things that defined her as a person.

Chapter Twenty-five

Tully finally got them back into the city two weeks later, using some persuasion at the police checkpoint. Driving down some of the city’s most famous streets was like maneuvering an obstacle course of trees, electrical wires, water, and general debris. She kept turning down different streets, taking a circuitous route to the house since she didn’t want to accidentally injure any of them.

The word “surreal” echoed continuously in Tully’s head. Some flooded parts of the city had been burnt beyond recognition by looters. Yet some people were sitting on their porches rocking and telling stories, most likely of what they had lived through, though most of them were wearing pistols in holsters in a very visible warning.

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 493