Family Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 2) by Debra Trueman

asked.
    “Positive,” I assured her.
    Maddie looked to Felicia for confirmation.  “Yeah, I think he’s
right,” Felicia said.
    “I am right. Do you want to stay together or split up?”
    “Let’s stay together until we check the rec room,” Maddie
proposed. “If he’s not there, we’ll decide then.  Do you think there’s a rec
room for each wing?  That would at least limit the number of rooms we had to
search.”
    “I don’t know,” Felicia said.  “Remember how many patients were
in there last time – at least 15 to 18; but there’s at least that many rooms in
a wing.”
    “If we’re going to do this, let’s get on with it,” I told
them. 
    We climbed the stairs and I looked down the hall before we
exited the stairwell.  An orderly was going into a room at the far end of the
hall.  There was no one else around.  We walked down the hall, passing
abandoned wheelchairs and a roll-away bed.  The hall was poorly lit and it
smelled like piss; very different than the impression from outside the place. 
We continued until the hall dead-ended at another hall, this one brighter and
less pungent but still with that distinct hospital smell.  A woman sitting in a
wheelchair at the intersection  smiled when she saw us.  If I were guessing,
I’d say she was in her mid-60s, but she was frail with too much skin that hung
from places it shouldn’t.
    “Can you wheel me into the living room?” she asked.  “This old
chair is so hard to steer with one arm.”  Her left arm was in a sling across
her chest.
    “The living room?” I asked.  “Is that the room with the games
and the television?”
    “Yes, that’s it.”
    Maddie and I exchanged a smile.
    “Is there just the one living room, or is there one for each
wing of the hospital?” I asked.
    “I’ve only been to the one, but I guess there could be others. 
It would make sense wouldn’t it?” 
    Yes, and it would make a search for the Faker much simpler
too.  She reached for me with her bony hand.  At one time she must have had
beautiful hands; her fingers were long and her nails were still immaculate.  But
when I took her hand in mine, it felt like I was holding a skeleton.  She
squeezed my hand before releasing it, and I moved behind the chair and started
to push.
    “Which way?” I asked, and she pointed in the direction we’d
been heading.
    We turned down another hall, passing a nurse who showed no
interest whatsoever in the four of us, and I wheeled my patient into the living
room. Maddie nodded and smiled, indicating that the living room and rec room
were indeed one and the same.  A woman in a white coat who I assumed was a
doctor was leaving as we came in.
    “Good afternoon, Mrs. Silva.  You have more visitors than most
of our patients combined,” she exclaimed, but she continued out the door before
Mrs. Silva could correct her.  I stepped out behind her, leaving Mrs. Silva in
the living room with Maddie and Felicia.
    “Excuse me,” I called out, and the doctor turned around.  Her
hair was streaked with gray and she wore it up in a matronly bun.  At first
glance, she seemed old enough to be my mother, but on closer inspection her
complexion betrayed her age.  There was a complete absence of lines anywhere on
her face. She was either twice as young as she appeared, or she’d had one hell
of a Botox job.   “Hello.  I’m wondering if all the floors have a room like
this for the patients, or is there just this one?”
    “No, no.  Each section has its own living room and dining
facility.  Is this your first visit?
    “Sure is.”
    “Well, I hope you’ll visit again.”  She turned and left without
further discussion and I went back into the living room.
    Maddie and Fee had already made the rounds and I could tell by
the look on Felicia’s face that the Faker wasn’t there.  She looked like she’d
swallowed a sour grape.
    “He’s not here,” Maddie said.
    “Each area of the hospital has its own living