“You did the right thing,” Ava assured her. “This is not something that has ever happened before. I’ve known Sandra for a very long time, and her expeditions are some of the best for miles around, she is an expert.”
“That’s why…” Heather started to choke up, theordeal had obviously been more traumatic for her than she was trying to let on. “That’s why we chose her.”
“We?” Ava asked.
“My sister, Lacey. She’s here too, she’s only seventeen,” Heather said, her voice shaking.
“Have you contacted your parents?” Ava asked and took a seat on the stool next to the bed where Heather was perched.
“No,” Heather said, tears slipping from her eyes. “They didn’t want us to go.” She tried to blink her tears away and looked up at the ceiling. “What have I gotten us into?”
“This is not your fault,” Ava said and placed a gloved hand on Ava’s arm. “But we want to make sure that everyone is alright before sending you home, you and your sister.”
“Okay,” Heather said and slid up onto the bed. She slung out her arm for the tech to draw blood.
Ava nodded at the tech, and she moved over to Heather’s side with the cart. She started prepping Heather for the needle.
“Lacey hates needles,” Heather huffed at the ceiling. “Could we at least be in the same room?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Ava said with a nod. “I know you’ve answered all these questions already, but do you mind if I ask you a few more? The faster we get this figured out, the sooner everyone goes home.” Ava felt like that was a lie, but she didn’t tell Heather about Jesse.
Heather nodded.
“Did Sandra say anything, or do anything that would lead you to believe that something was wrong?”
“No? I don’t think so, but I don’t really know. I don’t know what normal would look like,” Heather said, her voice catching in her throat.
“That’s okay,” Ava said gently. “Sandra was very direct, if she thought something was wrong, she would have said so.”
Heather nodded, and Ava noticed a slight grimace on her face. She started moving her leg back and forth.
“What is it?” She pressed her hand on Heather’s arm.
“I don’t know,” Heather said. “It feels like a cramp, I’m probably dehydrated.”
Ava’s eyes went to Kellie, and she gave a quick nod and left the room.
“What?” Heather asked, catching the quick signal between the two.
“You’re probably right, but we want to be sure,” Ava said.
Heather narrowed her eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?” she demanded. Ava was tempted to spill everything, but she didn’t.
“Let us do our jobs, and we will take care of you,” Ava said. Heather pulled her arm back from Ava.
The tech finished drawing blood from Heather’s other arm and gave her a square of gauze. Ava pressed it to the needle mark and had Heather fold her arm.
“Tell the lab to rush the bloodwork,” Ava said gently. She turned back to Heather. “We want to get you out of here as soon as possible.” That was definitely a lie.
2
ELIZABETH
Doctor Elizabeth Grant stared at her reflection in the airport bathroom mirror. The harsh light accentuated the sharp bones of her face, but she still held a regal appeal. The lines on her cheeks and forehead had deepened with each decade, but she loved her appearance. Straightening her shoulders, she tucked an imaginary stray hair back into her dusty blond hair accented with the perfect amount of gray that was twisted neatly against the back of her head. She took a couple of paper towels to dry her hands and walked back into the busy airport.
Reports had been coming in to her phoneto update her about the strange outbreak in Phoenix Ridge, that was currently being handled by Dr. Ava Jackson.
Elizabeth actually remembered Dr. Jackson from Phoenix Ridge from watching her give a lecture on neurology at a medical conference in Denver over a year ago.
