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“Oh my God. Please don’t lie to him,” she begged from beside me. “The captain can’t stand liars.”
So I motioned vaguely and cleared my throat. “She, uh, she’s friends with my buddy’s girl. We’ve all been visiting her. Have you been up to see her yet?”
The captain glanced toward the hospital and grimaced. “No. Not yet. I just…” He shuddered. “I hate hospitals.”
I smiled softly, remembering the first night I’d met Raina and how I hadn’t been able to persuade her to go to the hospital.
“Must run in the family,” I said aloud before I could help myself.
When the captain sent me a funny look for knowing that fact about his daughter, I cleared my throat again. “So, hey, I can walk you up and show you where her room is if you’d like. Whenever you’re ready. She’s on the fourth floor.”
He nodded once and then settled back on the bench, obviously still needing time. “That’ll be fine. Thank you,” he told me. “You don’t happen to know where they’re keeping Kinsey, do you?”
My lips parted, and Raina began to cry as she sat next to her dad. “Oh, Captain,” she sobbed, trying to stroke his arm sympathetically.
“Uh, the, uh, the morgue is in the basement,” I started, only to wince when the captain’s face crumpled with pain. Who would ever want to hear that their child was in a morgue?
“Sorry,” I apologized gruffly.
He waved a hand, excusing me. “They told me over the phone all the things I need to do to get her body home, all the different forms I gotta fill out and permits I gotta apply for.” Covering his eyes with his leathery hand, he bowed his face and shook his head. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I don’t really feel like filling out any forms right now.”
“He hates forms,” Raina told me as she kept trying to stroke his arm.
When he began to cry, she cried with him, and I wished I could give them their privacy, but I was afraid of tugging Raina away from him. So I stepped over toward another bench nearby to sit until they got themselves under control.
It was hard to listen to them. I kept thinking about Hayes and the day he’d died. It had been such a surreal, traumatizing thing for me. And families all over the world had to suffer through this all the time.
It was just too much.
Ten minutes passed before the captain stood and glanced around for me.
I stood as well, stepping forward.
“I’m ready to go up now,” he choked out.
“Yes, sir,” I told him and led the way inside.
In the elevator, Raina tried to press against her father’s side and stroke his arm some more. “I’m still here, Captain,” she assured him. “I’m not going to leave you alone. I swear it.”
“What do you think of cremation?” he asked, not hearing her as he glanced my way.
“I…” My mouth gaped as I slid my gaze to Raina for some feedback.
“I might not have to apply for all the transit permits if Kinsey’s cremated.”
“Yeah. I guess that is one option,” I said slowly after Raina only shrugged and murmured, “It doesn’t really matter now. She’s not going to need her body anymore.”
The elevator stopped on the fourth floor, and I cleared my throat before saying, “She’s this way.”
As I approached her room, Darlene stepped out. “Mr. Union,” she said in surprise when she saw me. “Back again so soon?”
“I ran into Raina’s dad on my way out.” Stepping aside to include him, I introduced, “This is Captain Mitchell Bollen.”
“Cap’n, sir,” Darlene greeted him with a respectful nod of her head. “Your little girl’s right in here. We’ve been taking the best care of her. I’ll get a doctor, if you’d like, to come and explain everything to you when you’re done visiting. And we have some paperwork for you to fill out, too.”
“Of course, you do,” the captain grumbled before stepping into the room and stopping short in the doorway. “Oh God,” he rasped, gaping at the bed before he stepped forward and cautiously approached Raina’s side. “Pookie?” he choked out. “My little rain cloud.”
He touched her head wrap briefly, then took her hand and collapsed to his knees, pressing his forehead to their interconnected fingers. “Please don’t die,” he sobbed. “Please don’t leave me, too.”
