Thicker Than Water (The Briar Creek Vampires Book #2) by Jayme Morse & Jody Morse (2 page)

“Dr. Stevens!” Mrs. Collins said warmly as the
man in the white physician’s coat stopped in front of them. “I need
you to let me into the morgue so that I can say goodbye to Justin.
I’ve already asked my son’s girlfriend, Lexi, to come into the room
with me for moral support, if that’s okay with you.”

“I don’t see why it would be a problem,” Dr.
Stevens replied, as he unlocked the door to the morgue, but the
look on his face told Lexi that he wasn’t too happy about it. Dr.
Stevens was the same doctor who had treated her mom the night she
died and had also lied to Lexi about the cause of death. Even
though he seemed like a friendly guy, Lexi didn’t trust him one
bit.

Lexi watched breathlessly as Dr. Stevens
lowered the white sheet and placed it under Justin’s chin. Painful
tears clouded her vision. It was her fault he was here, laying
lifelessly on the ice cold, metal morgue table. Mrs. Collins let
out a pained sob and held onto the table to keep herself from
falling. Lexi placed a hand on Mrs. Collins’ shoulder, trying to
comfort her the best she could. It was a little bit difficult to
comfort someone, though, when you felt in pain yourself.

Mrs. Collins placed a hand on Justin’s bare
chest. “Justin, you were my baby,” she said, through sobs. “You’re
always going to be my baby. I know that wherever you are right now
is a better place than here. You’re probably already up there
rolling around in the dirt with Max,” Mrs. Collins said, glancing
over at Lexi and adding in a whisper, “that was his Golden
Retriever when he was a kid.” Turning back to her son, she
continued, “I know that I’ll see you again one day, Justin. I love
you.”

Lexi had no control over the tears that fell
from her eyes. She looked at Mrs. Collins and Dr. Stevens and said,
“I’d like to have some time alone to say goodbye, if that’s all
right with everyone.”

“Of course, dear,” Mrs. Collins gave her a
tight hug and hovered in the doorway, looking at Dr. Stevens
expectantly. “Ahem,” Mrs. Collins cleared her throat when the
doctor didn’t follow. He shot Lexi a look that said
don’t touch
anything
, and reluctantly closed the door behind
them.

Lexi leaned over Justin’s body and looked at
his pasty bluish-white face. Memories flooded back to her. She
remembered their very first kiss when they went to Wildwood on
their first date. At the time, she had considered that the worst
kiss she would probably ever have; they had been at the very top of
the Ferris Wheel, overlooking the ocean at sunset when Justin
leaned in and kissed her—unfortunately, he didn’t know at the time
that Lexi was afraid of heights and on the verge of puking. Even
though so much had happened since then and she had lost feelings
for Justin long before he had died, she wished that she could go
back to that moment right now.

If Lexi hadn’t agreed to let Justin come to
Briar Creek to see her, this would never have happened. He would
still be alive, playing hockey at some ice rink in New
Jersey.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Justin…for
everything,” Lexi whispered, wiping at her tears as they flooded
down her face. “I love you.” Lexi bent down and kissed his
cheek.

Lexi raised the sheet and began to slowly cover
Justin’s head. She felt as if she were covering a part of her past
– of Justin’s past – that never should have happened. He should
still be alive. Lexi knew that along with Austin and her mother,
she wouldn’t be able to make peace with any of their deaths until
she found out exactly what happened to them.

Glancing around the morgue, an idea occurred to
her. She was just feet away from getting the answers that she had
been searching for during the past few months.

She had been obsessing over her mother’s true
cause of death. Dr. Stevens had told Lexi that her mom had died of
food poisoning from eating beef, though Eileen was a vegetarian.
Lexi realized that now was her chance to find that
answer.

Lexi rushed over to the tall, black filing
cabinet that stood in the far corner of the room. “Please don’t be
a dead body,” Lexi whispered to herself before pulling the middle
drawer out. To her relief, she was greeted with a drawer full of
files. Some of the folders that held the files seemed old; they
looked worn and had accumulated dust. Luckily, the files were
alphabetized.

She searched through the H’s, and the file that
she had been looking for stared her back in the face.
Hunter,
Eileen
.

Lexi flew through the pages quickly, looking
for anything that seemed out of place. Finally, on Page 4, she
found what she was looking for. The file read,
Cause of
death:
and beside it, the answer glared back at her.

The word ‘
Confidential’
was stamped in
red ink.

Lexi huffed in frustration. Of course the file
wouldn’t give her the answer she was looking for. This only
confirmed her suspicions that someone was trying to hide what had
happened to her mom the night of her death. She shoved the file
back into the drawer, careful to put it back in the same spot that
it had been in. Lexi began searching through the G’s, but the
folder that she was looking for wasn’t there. There was no file for
Austin Graham.

*

“Do you think she remembers anything that
happened the night of the accident?” Violet spoke quietly, but the
sound of her voice echoed throughout the room. “If she remembers,
we’re going to have to…take care of the situation.”

“Violet, I already told you. We have enough
attention drawn to us now that everyone has caught wind of the
accident. The last thing that we want to do is put the spotlight on
us again.”

“I suppose you’re right. But you better pray to
God that my
neice,
” Violet said, a hint of sarcasm in her
voice, “doesn’t remember what happened last night.”

“Violet. I don’t think now is the time or the
place,” another male voice that Lexi didn’t recognize sternly
scolded her aunt. “Perhaps we should continue this in the
hall.”

Lexi laid in her hospital bed, listening to
their conversation and trying to pretend she was in a deep sleep.
As they were walking out of the room, Tommy asked, “Does anyone
know where Gabe went yet?”

Lexi’s eyes flew open at the mention of Gabe’s
name.

“No,” Violet replied. Lexi sensed anger in her
voice. “He knows that we’re angry with him, and he has a warrant
out for his arrest. I don’t think he will be willingly showing his
face in Briar Creek anytime soon. He just left her for
dead.”

Gabe
was
alive. Lexi was relieved, but
she didn’t know if she should be happy that he was alive or
disappointed that he hadn’t come to see her. Then again, he had put
her here in the first place, so what did she really expect from
him? Shaking the thought away, Lexi decided not to make judgments
until she knew everything that had happened that night…if she ever
knew.

“If Mary-Kate hadn’t come across her when she
did, Lexi would have died,” Tommy said quietly.

Mary-Kate Lawrence, who was the mayor’s
daughter, was Austin’s girlfriend before he had died. When Lexi
learned that Mary-Kate had been cheating on Austin with Dan while
he was still alive, and that she had also been seeing Dan’s
brother, Dave, shortly after that, Lexi thought the girl was just a
slut at first. Before the accident, Lexi’s own love life was
getting more and more complicated, so she was beginning to relate
to Mary-Kate, or at least understand her a little better. Plus, the
more time she spent with Mary-Kate, the more she liked
her.

As much as she liked Mary-Kate, though, some of
the other things Lexi knew about her made her wonder. Mary-Kate was
the last person who Austin was supposed to see before he died and
even though she claimed that he had never shown up that night, the
Facebook message and journal entries that Lexi had found made her
think differently. Apparently, Mary-Kate had been trying really
hard to pressure Austin into doing something that he was not
comfortable with and it was making him consider breaking up with
her. Lexi still hadn’t figured out what the messages could be
about, but whatever it was didn’t seem good.

“And that would have been tragic for all of
us,” the man chimed in. “We all need to let Mary-Kate know how
thankful we are that she just so happened to be driving up the same
road on the night of the accident. It really was a miracle,
considering it was a back road in the middle of nowhere. It makes
me wonder what Gabe was even doing driving there in the first
place.”

“
As well-meanin’ as Mary-Kate was,
she sure got out of here real fast.” Lexi recognized this fourth
voice to belong to Gertie. Gertie was an older woman who worked at
Annie’s Diner. She had made Lexi’s mom mad when they ate lunch at
the diner just a few months ago.

“Hello, Gertie,” Violet said curtly. Lexi
figured that her aunt probably wasn’t too fond of Gertie for the
same reason her mom didn’t like her. Even though Lexi thought that
she had good intentions, she was a busybody. If there was something
in your personal life that you wanted to keep a secret, you could
count on Gertie to let the whole entire town know if she caught
wind of it.

“Hello, Violet,” Gertie replied. “I’m here to
see Lexi. How’s she doin’?”

“We wouldn’t know. She hasn’t woken up yet,”
Violet replied. Lexi thought that it was strange that Dr. Stevens
hadn’t mentioned to her aunt and uncle that she had already been
out of her hospital bed earlier. Then again, he seemed to be good
at keeping secrets.

“Well, I bought her some daisies. I thought
they might help brighten up her hospital room. Have y’all ever
stayed in a hospital room?”Gertie asked.

“No, I can’t say that I have,” Violet replied
and Lexi could just picture the fake smile on her face.

“Well, let me just say that it ain’t no walk in
the park. I wouldn’t want little Lexi to be depressed durin’ her
stay.”

“Okay, well, I’ll take the flowers into her
room and let her know who they’re from. Once she wakes up, we’ll
have someone pass the word along to you. Thanks for stopping by,”
Violet said.

Lexi heard the clacking of heels against the
white tiled floor as someone entered the room.

“Lexi, you’re awake,” Violet said cheerfully,
coming back into the room and standing in front of her before Lexi
had time to close her eyes and pretend that she was sleeping
again.

Lexi nodded weakly.

“Are you up to talking about the
accident?”

“I guess, but I don’t remember much,” Lexi
lied. She had a crystal clear memory of everything that had
happened that night, but she knew that it was a bad idea to tell
her aunt and risk whatever Austin had been trying to warn her
about.

“Amnesia is fairly common among patients with
head injuries,” Dr. Stevens said, walking into the room just in
time to hear Lexi’s response. “The good news is that amnesia is
only a short term problem. Memory may return at any time. I don’t
see any reason why Lexi can’t go home today.”

“Well, let’s hope that Lexi’s memory returns
soon, huh, Tommy?” Violet asked turning to Tommy, who was now
standing behind her.

“Uh-huh,” he answered, looking down at the
floor.

“Okay, kiddo, you’re good to go,” Dr. Stevens
said. He turned to Violet and Tommy. “We’ve already filled out the
paperwork to discharge her, so you can be on your way.”

The nurse, whose nametag said Myra, helped Lexi
out of the hospital bed and into a wheelchair.

She pushed the chair down the hallway and into
the elevator. Violet and Tommy followed close behind, both seeming
reserved and silent.

Myra handed Lexi a small piece of paper.
Glancing down, she realized it was a prescription.

“This is the medication that Dr. Stevens
prescribed you with. Remember to take it two times a day with a
light meal so that it doesn’t upset your stomach. If you have any
questions or concerns, feel free to call the hospital at any time,
sweetie.”

Lexi nodded her head. She made a mental note to
not take her medication. She didn’t trust Dr. Stevens or his
prescriptions. With her luck, the medication would end up causing
her to have memory loss, and she wanted to keep her
memory.

*

“Brandon came by the hospital several times to
visit you. I sent him home because you were sleeping,” Violet said,
as they sat at the dinner table that night. “He seems like a fine
young man. I think that perhaps I was being unfair when I said you
couldn’t go on a date with him.” Lexi wondered why a date was the
first thing on Violet’s mind.

Lexi tried to force a smile, but she didn’t say
anything. Instead, she wondered why Violet was suddenly trying to
be nice about it now. When she had asked for permission to go out
with Brandon, a guy who she worked with, Violet had flipped out and
forbidden her to date anyone except Dan. Not that Violet was going
to stop her. Lexi had already arranged to go out with Brandon, but
then the car accident had happened.

Her aunt went on and on about all of the things
that they needed to get done before Lexi started school in a week,
from packing away her summer wardrobe to finishing up some much
needed yard work. There was also going to be Lexi’s birthday
celebration, which was in three days.