Read Online The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen - Free Book Online Page A

or news programs.
    I was surfing past some woman being interviewed when an item in the bullet list on the screen caught my eye.
    Former TroDyn Scientist
    I turned up the sound. Her name was Dr. Kelly Emerson. I learned she’d been a researcher at TroDyn for several years before starting her own environmental consulting firm. She’d ended up on several presidential committees concerning global warming and was talking about a book she’d written involving the future of food, and the potential adaptation of species to global warming. Survival of the fittest.
    I was disappointed to see the interviewer asked her nothing about TroDyn until the very end. She seemed a little annoyed that the subject got brought up, but her pat reply was no surprise.
    “While my time with TroDyn was enriching to my career, I ultimately decided my best career options lay in another direction, and they amicably accepted my resignation, wishing me well in my new endeavor.”
    After that, TroDyn wasn’t mentioned again.
    I clicked the television off just as Jack returned with small containers of cream and blue packets of sweetener and a plastic tub of powdered-sugar donuts. Jack bit into a donut. His mouth full, he said, “We have a little problem.”
    Reaching over him, I plucked a donut from the tub and bit into it. “What?”
    “When I went into the gas station, there was some guy in a suit asking Lucille questions about a red truck.” Lucille was an older lady who not only owned the gas station but kept an eye on the cabin for Jack’s parents.
    “Yours?” I shoved the rest of the donut in my mouth and chewed.
    “Well, I hid behind the chips before he saw me, but then when he went outside, he stood by the truck for a while, talking on his cell phone.”
    “What did he do when you went back out?”
    He shook his head as he took another bite of donut. “I didn’t. Lucille sent me out the back and had her husband give me a lift. I left the truck there.”
    “Maybe he was some angry husband looking for his wife and she has a red truck? Besides, if someone was looking for us, how would they know we were here?”
    Jack shrugged. “It was dark when we got into town. Even Lucille was surprised to see me, and she’s the town gossip. If she doesn’t know something, no one does.”
    “Do you think someone from Melby Falls knows we have her?” I tapped my fist against my lips. “How?”
    His forehead wrinkled. “There are security cameras in the parking lot at Haven of Peace.”
    I almost spit out my coffee. “Then they probably have it on tape.”
    “About that,” said Jack. “You know, the THEY part? I have a feeling we’re not talking about my supervisor, Suzy, in the geezer ward.”
    “No.” I shook my head. “Doubtful. But do you want to wait around to find out? I mean, isn’t this considered kidnapping?”
    Jack tilted his head. “Mace, did you carry her out of the building, kicking and screaming?”
    It was almost the opposite, actually. “Definitely not.”
    Jack scratched his chin. “We’ll take her back, no harm done. It’s not like someone is going to knock on the door in the next five minutes.” But his eyes flicked to the door as if that was exactly what he expected to happen, which made me nervous.
    So I rationalized out loud, my words coming a little faster than usual. “Okay, so what do we know? Facts, all of them.” I started at the beginning. “She was in the nursing home and somehow the words in the DVD woke her up. And she was confused. Scared maybe. Definitely scared when she started ranting about the gardener.”
    Jack’s words also were rushed. “But that’s just part of the story, right? Maybe it’s like when you fall asleep with the television on and then pretty soon the ten o’clock newscaster is in your dream.”
    That made sense. “Maybe,” I said. “Maybe.” But then there was the rest. “But she threw me over the wall, Jack. That makes no sense at all.”
    Jack pursed his lips and