Dead by Midnight - Beverly Barton [150]
If only she could capture this perfect moment and keep it for the rest of her life. But the moment passed, as all moments do. The gentle kisses turned passionate. The blissful stillness of lying together in the preliminary stage of lovemaking exploded into fulfillment-seeking action. They exchanged dominant positions twice. She shoved him over and got on top, riding him hard and fast as he urged her on and then after she reached her first climax, he toppled her onto her back again and brought her to a second climax before he came.
Chapter 30
“There’s a problem with Mrs. Owens,” Ashley White said as she came rushing toward the nurses’ station. “Monique is with her and trying to calm her down, but she’s real agitated. I’ve never seen her like this.”
“Do you have any idea what upset Miss Terri?” Lila Newton asked the nurse’s aide. Mr. Ransom hadn’t shown up this morning, so she knew his morning visit had not caused the problem.
“No, ma’am, I don’t have the foggiest.”
“Is there someone in her room?”
“No, ma’am. I didn’t see a soul. Of course, one of the other patients from a nearby room could have wandered in and out before we heard Mrs. Owens throwing things and hollering like crazy.”
“Let me see if I can’t calm her down without resorting to medication.” Lila came out from behind the waist-high counter and hurried down the corridor past the security guard, Ashley on her heels. Halfway down the hall, she heard an awful caterwauling coming from Terri’s room, and Monique, one of the day-shift aides, talking to her sternly yet pleadingly.
This was worst than she’d thought, so Lila turned around and went back up the hall. She logged out a vial from the locked medicine cabinet and picked up a hypodermic in case she needed to sedate Terri. She would use the medication only as a last resort.
The door to room 107 stood partially ajar, enough so that Lila immediately got a glimpse of the items that had been thrown onto the floor. A plastic water pitcher and matching cup, Terri’s breakfast tray, with food splattered in every direction, and the extra blanket that was usually folded and tucked neatly at the foot of the bed.
Lila entered the room, careful not to step on the specks of scrambled eggs and the small puddles of coffee. Monique looked at Lila and shook her head.
“I don’t know what set her off,” Monique said. “It’s not like Mrs. Owens to act up this way.”
“Did you say anything that might have upset her?”
“No, ma’am. I swear I didn’t. I didn’t say nothing to her except I guess she’d miss her son’s visits while he was out of town.”
“That shouldn’t have upset her,” Lila said. “Mr. Tyler’s gone out of town before and it hasn’t seemed to bother her.”
“No, ma’am.”
“Miss Terri,” Lila called as she approached the bed where Terri sat straight up, her good arm flaying wildly as she mumbled incoherently. “What’s got you so all-fired upset this morning?”
Terri’s gaze met Lila’s and for a couple of seconds she quieted. “Mu…mu…su…su…buh, buh…” Frustrated by her inability to communicate verbally, Terri pointed to the adjustable wheeled table from which she had tossed her breakfast tray.
Lila gazed down to the spot where Terri’s purple-tipped finger pointed. Grape jelly had been smeared on the top of the over-bed table. Apparently, Terri had used the index finger of her left hand to try to print out a word using the grape jelly as paint.
Terri concentrated on Lila’s face as Lila tried to read the word, but all the letters weren’t legible. She managed to make out what appeared to be a “T” and an “L” and maybe either an “S” or a very crooked “R.”
“T-L-S?” Lila asked.
Terri shook her head.
“T-L-R?”
Terri nodded.
T-L-R. T-L-R. Lila looked at the smeared lettering again. Tyler? “Were you trying to spell out Tyler?”
Terri nodded and motioned wildly with her left hand.
“You want to see Mr. Tyler?” Lila asked.
Terri nodded. “Mmm…mmm…”
“But don’t you remember, Mr. Tyler went out of town for a few days.”
Tears pooled in Terri’s eyes.
Lila leaned over