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.Where did this man come up with these strange ideas?They stepped out the door and Bella reached back in to snap off the light before the door closed.Suddenly, a loud squeal pulsated from Garrett's pager."Well, we might as well go back in.I have a bad feeling about our plans." Bella opened the door just as Garrett reached for his cell phone.Trying not to listen to his call, she stepped into the living room and walked across the thick cream-colored carpet.She pulled the drawstring at the insulated drapes that kept the cold from transferring into the room."When did it happen?" He was silent for a long time."Who's seeing her in the emergency room?" Another pause."I'll be there in a few minutes.You take care of your staff."She could hear bits and pieces of his conversation, but she couldn't tell the content of the discussion.One thing she did recognized was the tone of his voice.Something was terribly wrong.Lillian? she wondered with fear.Garrett turned toward her."I have to go to back to the center.There has been an accident.One of the residents in the housing section got locked out in the courtyard.They just found her."My God.That's horrible.Who was it?""I-It's Mrs.Fortney, and she's not doing very well."Bella felt herself go weak in the knees.Mrs.Fortney would never go out into the courtyard without assistance.There was a big problem here, and she wanted to help find the solution."Garrett, can I come with you? Since I'm working as Social Services I should contact her family, see if I can help them in some way."He walked toward the door without answering and just stood there, a puzzled expression crossed his face as he contemplated her request."Get your coat." He opened the door with such power that the door banged against the doorstop and his footsteps thundered down the stairs.CHAPTER TENGARRETT DROVE THE VEHICLE OVER THE SNOW PACKED STREETS; his hands hidden behind soft leather gloves tightly gripped the wheel.Bella stared at him, taking the set of his face, his clamped mouth and fixed eyes.Fear and anger knotted inside her.Who could have done this to Gladys?Bella saw Twin Pine, sitting on top of a hill, lit up through the falling snow.They were diffused like glowing orbs on the snowy night.Huge, fat flakes filled the sky like feathers.The temperature was nearing zero, at least the wind was not blowing which would have created a deadly wind chill factor.A frigid rush of cold danced through her bones, more from the thought of Mrs.Fortney suffering out in the frigid atrium than from the actual temperature.The heater blew warmed air into the interior of the vehicle and dried the delicate membranes around her eyes, stinging them.She shuddered with the chill as fatigue slowed her body.She pulled her coat around her, and looked away from Garrett.She felt the muscles in her jaw pulsating.How could someone have done this to Gladys? She refused to believe the resident would have gone out into the atrium in this foul weather.The woman was not confused.Bella knew there was more to this situation than anyone realized at this moment.Damn it all! What was going on?Settling into the seat, she tried to analyze the problems at the center.They'd begun only few months ago.Before that, the staff members pulled together for the good of the residents living there.What had changed?As Garrett drove around the corner leading to the emergency room entrance, the rear tires of the vehicle slipped on the slick, snow-covered street, bringing her out of her trance.With a quick maneuver of the steering wheel in the same direction as the skid, Garrett muscled the Blazer out of the spin."Good going, Brooks," she said, a flash of humor crossed her face."You did that like you've lived in the mountains all your life."He glanced over at her; a small smile twitched at the corners of his mouth."Thanks."That was the only word he'd spoken on the short ride to the hospital.Bella shrugged her shoulders.She hoped his speechlessness was a reaction to worry….he couldn't be any more worried than she could.After all, she worked with Gladys on a personal level.All the residents were only names on a piece of paper to Garrett.But it wasn't his fault.That was just the drawback of working in administration.No relationships developed between the residents and people accustomed to the daily grind of paperworkHer job was becoming more restrictive in that way, as well.The documentation required so much time.Laughingly, she'd told the staff members she had to record in the resident chart one hour for each five-minute conversation.At least she had Nikki to help her.Just the thought of Nikki's evaluation locked safely away in her file cabinet made Bella cringe.Oh, Nikki, what am I going to do about you? She'd started locking the file drawers after her previous assistant, elderly Margaret McCullough, retired.Bella was spoiled.Having a great employee took very little work.Supervising a marginal worker required development, and that took a great deal of time.It certainly took more than the three short months Nikki had worked for her.Bella worried that she was being unrealistic about Nikki's progress.It was only fair to give Nikki another chance.Just making this decision caused her to relax a little bit
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