Page 1 of Call Out
I blink awake from what feels like a deep sleep. Foggy objects. A familiar smile. The scent of sweetness laced with antiseptic.
“He’s awake. Hurry, Mike, get the doctor,” a woman’s voice whispers in the depths of my dreamlike state.
“Mom?” I rasp.
Her face looms over me. Worried pale blue eyes crease at the corners and an uneasy smile tugs at thin lips. “Don’t move, honey.” Warmth folds over me. A cautious peck presses to my forehead. “I promise you, Danny, you’ll get through this.” Words flit like ghosts.
“What?”
“Mrs. Rocco. Can you and your husband wait outside the room, please?” A different voice wipes the softness from her features.
Tingles crash in waves, fizzing into parts of my body. Instinctively, I wiggle my fingers and raise a hand into the air. A tube spirals the length of my forearm and a steady beep drills into my skull.
A sudden brightness burns my eyeballs when a flashlight shines directly on each one in turn. “Do you know your name?” A mustache twitches as a wide mouth moves before me.
“Danny,” I croak out. “Rocco.”
“Can you feel this?” The light flicks away. A dull tap on the sole of my foot injects all the nerve endings in my legs with electricity.
“Yeah.” I glance at the room, noting the heart monitor and closed door. “What happened? How did I end up here?”
“Mr. Rocco, do you have any recollection of the events leading up to your accident?”
“Accident?”
The door swings in, held open by a police officer. In the corridor, my mother scrunches a cotton handkerchief in her fist. A second police officer strides past my parents and enters the room wearing a stern scowl. “Danny Rocco?” he asks with no hint of pleasantries.
“Can this wait?” The doctor tending to me sighs. “I have to check over my patient. Kindly wait outside the room.”
The officer cracks his neck. “This won’t take long.”
“What the hell is going on?” I try to shuffle up the bed, but my legs are dead weight and my cloudy brain thumps.
“Are you Danny Rocco?” he persists.
“Yes.”
“Danny Rocco, I’m arresting you for the death of Jeff Greer.”
“What? Death?” Jeff’s voice drifts through my memory. ‘Danny, turn the car around. Stop the fucking car.’“This is a joke, right?” The beeping gathers speed. “Mom?” I yell.
“It’s certainly not a joke, Mr. Rocco.”
“Jeff’s dead?” I whisper. “How?”
“That’s what I need to find out. You killed your best friend, and I want to know what happened.”
“Goodnight, Myrtle.” I lean over the elderly woman with salt and pepper curls and a gummy smile. “Please swallow your tablets. I know you hide them under your tongue.” I smirk.
Myrtle offers me a childlike grin. “Goodnight, Vivian.”
I wave across the lounge. “See you tomorrow, Mr. Roberts.” The seated gentleman by the window salutes. He’s dashing like an aged Clark Gable with swept back silver hair and a thin mustache. “Hopefully the English tea delivery has arrived. I’ll bring it with me tomorrow.”
A wiry brow dips when he winks. “Thank you, darlin’.”
The hot Californian sun gently dips beyond the trees lining Blossom Grove Retirement Home. It’s been a long day with paperwork and staffing issues, and that was before a resident hit her head on a hanging pot plant. Being the manager, I had to complete a full health and safety inspection and take down all hanging pots immediately.Who knew a swinging plant would cause a head trauma?
My beat up Volvo is parked on the sidewalk close to the entrance. It’s only a ten-minute stroll to my house, but what woman walks home alone at night? Not this girl. Nonna raised me better than that.
