“Go ahead.” He panted. “Could one of you move the bed up a bit? It’s kind of hard for me to breathe in this position.”
Will cranked up the bed. “Mr. Winslow insists you attacked him. What’s your story?”
“The closest I came to attacking him was when I pushed him against the wall. He was threatening Amanda with a knife when I came into the office.” He took a breath. “He was holding it at her throat. I was trying to get it away from him. Have you talked with her yet?”
“She’s on our list.”
Marcus nodded. “He has a history. I alerted you guys about what he tried to do to Cece last spring. Have you called the Madison police yet?You should talk to them. He’s dangerous.”
They took notes.“Are you going to press charges? His knife cut you. That’s assault with a deadly weapon, with intent to harm,” Will Park said.
“If that’s what it takes to put him away, count me in.” He shifted in the bed again, trying to get comfortable. Pain shot through his abdomen and into his back. He groaned as he gripped the side rails. “I need another pain shot. Could one of you ask the nurse to come in?”
A young nurse ushered out the detectives and looked over his chart. “Professor Dunbar, you just had your pain meds. You have to wait at least another two hours.” She turned away from the bed as she headed for the door.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” he said, squinting at her.
“I’m new, my first time on the surgical floor. And it’s shift change. I’ll come back later to give you your meds.”
“Then send Cecelia in. She’s the only one who can make me concentrate on something other than where the doctors carved me up.” He looked toward the door as the nurse left and squirmed to get comfortable and unsuccessfully stifled a groan when pain overwhelmed him again. He gripped the side rails tightly. Then everything spun into darkness.
Cecelia walked into Marcus’s room, the book under her arm. She reached for his hand and patted it gently.
“Marcus, are you too tired to read now? I can come back.Or maybe you need some water. Water helped me when I was here.” She patted his hand again and sat down in the chair, unsure what to do when he did not answer. Then she turned toward the door.“Mom, I think Marcus fell asleep.”
Her mother looked in at her from the doorway. “Then let’s leave. We’ll come back later.” Her mother motioned for her to use her quiet voice.
“But don’t you want to give him a good-night kiss or something? He wouldn’t talk to me. He—”
Her mother approached the bed. “What do you mean he wouldn’t talk to you?”She leaned over the bed then turned suddenly and yelled for the nurse.
The nurse who entered the room took one look at Marcus and said into a box on the wall, “Code Red. Room 210,” before ushering them out of the room.
“Mom, what happened?”
“I don’t know. We’ll wait here, Cece,” her mother said calmly, as they stood in the hall after nurses, aides and doctors rushed into Marcus’s room. But the look on her face told Cecelia something was really wrong.
Chapter 20
Amanda brought Cecelia home. The waiting room in the hospital was no place for either of them that day. She was waiting for Janet so she could return to the hospital when the phone rang.
“Is this Amanda Gardner?”
“This is she.”
“I’m Mike Dunbar. We added your name to the family list—so the doctor will talk to you. But the call we got a few hours ago makes us wonder if we ought to fly out there to say good-bye.”
Amanda gasped, and her heart started to pound.
“I was hoping you could help us out,” Mike continued, “since you know him so well and you’re local. What have you heard about his condition?”
“My daughter was reading him a story when the police came to interview him. Something happened then or shortly thereafter. Cece said he was asleep but then everyone ran into the room and took him back to surgery after I yelled for the nurse.” Tears slid down her cheeks. “Did the doctor say he was dying?”
“He didn’t use those words, but he said things were pretty serious.”
“What do you want me to do? Tell me what you need.” She couldn’t lose Marcus. Not now. “I’m headed back to the hospital as soon as the babysitter arrives.”
“If you could find out the latest and call us back? I left a message for the doctor, but he hasn’t returned our call.”
“Of course, Mike. I’ll get right back to you.”
Amanda left Cecelia with Janet and drove to the hospital. She nodded as she walked past several of his colleagues, who were standing vigil in the hall.