Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
“Many other folks have left flowers and cards at hospital reception, but usually with no contact details. People…they don’t realize that no one in the family who has that information is alive or conscious.”
Tim blew out a breath. “Oh Jesus, I never even thought about that.”
“It’s not a normal situation,” I said. “Hard for any of us to process.”
“I’ll ask Hannah about any contacts she might remember, but to be honest, we were just neighbors. Don’t get me wrong—we were good neighbors, always helped each other out, but it wasn’t a deep friendship. Frankly, I was surprised to be invited to the engagement party, but then I saw how proud Sarita and Rajesh were and I figured they just wanted to share that with everyone. Was nice.”
“So you didn’t really talk otherwise, except for neighborhood chat?” There went my chance to track down Bobby’s rugby-playing friend.
“A little more than that,” Tim corrected. “Like when they found out Joseph was good with mechanical things, they suggested he think about engineering. Sarita said he should talk to Bobby’s wife—well, that knocked me for six. Never would’ve pegged her as an engineer!”
“I didn’t know myself until recently.”
“Joseph said she was lovely, supersmart. Talked him through options and possible pathways.” He stared at the caution tape. “She told him she wasn’t practicing because she and Bobby were planning to have kids and they’d both decided the kids should have one parent at home.”
He shifted his feet again. “I mean, he grew up with a mum who worked all the time—you have to, don’t you, when you’re a young doctor? I can see how he would want different for his kids, but real shame about his wife giving up a good career.”
I thought of Shumi’s cheerful presence melded with her absolute inability to refute any request or decision made by Bobby. If he’d asked her to quit, she’d have written her resignation letter that night.
“Sorry I couldn’t help with any contact info,” Tim said.
“What about Bobby’s friend Richard?” I persisted, trying my luck because—quite frankly—I was desperate. “I thought I remembered you talking to him at the party.”
Tim’s eyes lit up. “Yes! Fishing, we were discussing fishing. He’s an electrician, gave me his card when I mentioned we were looking at getting a few electrical upgrades.”
Five minutes later and I had that card in hand and was back in the car.
Tim hadn’t invited me inside this time.
The first thing I did once alone was search for my name online. Hits populated the screen…but they were all from back home. Nothing local.
“Ackerson,” I muttered, certain that she was the reason for Tim’s sudden change in behavior. It didn’t matter. I had what I needed.
I called Richard.
Answering on the first ring, the other man told me to come to a place called Sulphur Point. “It’s just around the way from my jobsite at the Government Gardens. I’ll take a break so we can talk. Been working nonstop since it happened,” he said. “Helps to keep my mind busy. Otherwise I start spiraling, thinking of how it could happen to anyone. Partying one day, gone the next.”
It didn’t take me long to drive to Sulphur Point—per my phone’s GPS, it was only five minutes from the hospital. I’d been here before, I remembered when I parked in the small empty lot beside the wooden walkway that led people on a path that passed mud pools, native birdlife, and smoking craters in the earth.
The thick smell of sulfur filled the air as I stepped onto the walkway. A large red sign to my left listed the dangers in the area, including hydrogen sulfide gas and fumaroles—holes in the earth that emitted dangerously hot steam—but when I walked further along the path, I found myself gazing out at the edge of Lake Rotorua, this part a thick, misty blue that looked unreal: white paint stained by a droplet of blue.
Steam curled up from it, betraying the heat in the water.
Birds sat on the water much further out, where the temperatures were no doubt more normal.
Diya had brought me here, eager to show me her city. “Sorry about the smell, but this place is incredible!” she’d said, holding her nose before she released it with a laugh. “I swear you go nose blind after a little while, barely even smell the sulfur. Still, I’m glad Mum and Dad built over by Lake Tarawera even if it is a little bit of a drive!”
I’d chuckled at the idea of that scenic roughly thirty-minute drive being considered anything but a pleasure cruise. “Babe, you’re talking to someone from LA, the land of freeways and gridlock.”
Her eyes had sparkled at me as she reminded me of a drive we’d taken in LA—she’d wanted to go to one of the big outlets. That part had been fun. The return trip, however, had ended up with us sitting in traffic for three hours…while Diya pulled snacks out of her purse like some magician.