Free Over the Edge by Brandilyn Collins Page A

hospital."

Chapter 11
    FOR A LONG SECOND MY MIND SHUT DOWN. I stared at the closed blinds of my window. How did he know I was here?
    I fumbled to find the nurse call button on my right. Pushed it.
    "What do you want?" I sounded breathless.
    "Just checking to see how your task is coming."
    My task? I wanted to strangle this man. Anger leaked through me. "Which one would that be? Trying to w-walk? Think with a clear head? Maybe just . . . move without pain."
    " Do not play with me, Mrs. McNeil. You know very well I mean convincing your husband."
    "You're insane. I can't convince my husband to refute his scientific f-findings. Besides, I don't even have Lyme."
    A pause hovered. "Is that so?"
    "Yes, it is so." I shot a glance at the doorway. Where was that nurse? "So why don't you just l-leave me alone?"
    "Let me guess. Some doctor told you your Lyme test was negative."
    "Gee, wasn't that a hard one."
    He made a sound in his throat. "Didn't I say you'd entered a war? You're facing the same thing many Lyme patients do. The tests that most doctors and hospitals love to use run anywhere from thirty to fifty percent false negative."
    I blinked. "You're telling me the test is wrong? "
    "Of course it's wrong."
    "Maybe your plan just didn't w-work, how about that? Or maybe you were n-never in my house in the first place!"
    He chuckled—an evil sound. "Then why are you sick, Mrs. McNeil?"
    My mouth closed.
    "After they're done testing you for all the things they won't find, go to a doctor who knows how to treat Lyme. There are a few in the Bay Area, although you'll be amazed at the small number. Seven or so in a population of six million. Can you imagine if we had that few oncologists?"
    "And what's a Lyme doctor supposed to do?"
    "Send you for proper testing, for a start."
    "You're lying. "
    "Am I?"
    "I ought to be able to believe a t-test given by a . . . hospital as respected as this one!"
    "Agreed. It's shameful. But it's not the hospital's fault. They're merely using the standardized test—the one doctors like your husband hold up as the Holy Grail. Tell me, isn't he worried that your doctors are stumped?"
    I thought of Brock's unconvinced tone, the way he'd looked at me.
    "Jannie, maybe your illness is psychosomatic."
    Why was I even talking to this man, after what he'd put me through?
    "If your husband's worried about you, Mrs. McNeil, he'll pursue the answer to your illness, regardless of what it takes. Even if it means seeing past his stubborn mind-set."
    The last two words punched me in the gut. Brock was stubborn. Was he refusing to see the truth about my sickness because it didn't fit into his neat little box?
    I shook my head. "Leave me alone! Do not call me again."
    "Janessa, you must do what I say."
    "He doesn't believe I have Lyme! And besides, what difference would it m-make? I'm already sick. If I change my husband's mind, are you going to wave a magic . . ." The word fled. It made me all the madder. "Wand and make me well?"
    A silent, throbbing pause dragged out. My stomach turned over. When the man spoke again his voice fell to thin, sharp silver. "What makes you think I'll stop with you?"
    Hang up, I screamed at myself. But my fingers wouldn't let go of the phone.
    "You're not the only one who can fall sick, Mrs. McNeil."
    "What're you—"
    "Kiss your daughter for me."
    The line clicked in my ear.
    Heat rolled up my body. "No, wait! Listen to me."
    Silence.
    I lowered the receiver, trembling. Movement on the right caught my eye. I turned my head to see a nurse entering the room. She looked in her late fifties, her hair pepper-and-salt, her demeanor so casual. As if the world hadn't just cracked in two.
    "Hello there, you called for me?" She smiled as she approached.
    "Why did you take so long? You're too late!"
    "Too late for wh—?"
    I shook the receiver at her. "I wanted you to hear. I w-wanted somebody to hear his voice, what he was saying." Heat sank teeth into my limbs. I felt sweat pop out on my