Orli alone in NYC, and Dr Willis
Finding out about the US phone cards and how one got them took the bemused Lynne a few moments, and she relished the diversity of the human race in the process. Before long she founds herself a phone booth and was happily dialing away.
It being early Monday morning she caught quite a few people before work, and asked the pertinent questions, using the story of her relationship to Nathaniel, she eliminated many possibilities. One, however, did yield a result.
Dr Michelle Rubenstein of Mt. Sanai hospital had just got home from night shift, and at first was a bit hesitant to ask questions. Orli's honest concern won her over however.
"Well, I don't know about it specifically, but I do recall Dr Willis mentioning some disturbance at St Sebastian's church yesterday, sorry two nights ago... that was before the fire there."
Lynne asked what specifics she could remember.
"Well, to be honest, I don't really know what was going on. You probably should speak to Dr Willis. She was going on shift when I was leaving."
Lynne thanked her, and put a little asterisk next to Mt Sanai on her list.
She left the phonebox and unfolded Jason's careful maps thoughtfully, trying to avoid people jostling past on their way to work. Holding a map was an immediate indication of touristhood, but she was too engrossed in poring over its veined surface to pay much attention to the hawkers and irritable locals who complain loudly about how people should keep out of the way. All people should feel as protective of their home environments, she considered warmly... but found somewhere more quiet to stand.
She decided to go directly to the Mt Sinai hospital to try to find this doctor, which nicely messed up the neat itinerary the librarian had recommended. As she located the public transport, she decided not to upset him by telling him that though. She would get the front desk to page the doctor and see what she could see.
"Certainly, ma'am. Can I ask your name and your reason for asking for the Doctor?" said the young man at reception, dressed in immaculate hospital uniform. His name tag declared him as Stuart Littlemore, and his fresh appearance and youthful efficiency were a warm greeting of themselves.
"I'm Lynne. Lynne Hunter. I think she helped a good friend of mine who collapsed a couple of days ago, and I wanted to thank her, and to see if she could tell me anything that might help me find him."
He took a moment or two to use the machines in front of him, before turning back to Lynne. "It should not be too long. Please, take a seat."
She thanked him warmly, "I really appreciate it..." and found somewhere to sit.
After a brief glance around the room she picked up an old copy of some magazine and flips it open, but the glossy pages were very uninteresting compared to the flow of people in the waiting room around her. She put the magazine aside, finally and helps an old woman to operate the coffee machine. The woman wasn't really ill, Orli intuits, she was faking something in order to get herself admitted because she likes the warmth and the company in the hospital better than her miserable apartment. The old woman scolded a couple of children who were playing chase around the waiting room chairs, who returned to their seats, chastened. The angel made a rather sharp, audible comment to her companion about hospital resources being strained to the limit -- she was weighed down by the knowledge that the children's mother was dying of cancer and their father was in prison. The receptionist looked up, overhearing, and something in his eyes implied that the old lady was well known by the hospital staff. Orli was about to expound at length as to the injustice of the American hospital system and the immorality of people who took advantage of it when (fortunately?) Dr Willis strode in.
She was small woman in her early thirties, with short cropped black hair, deep brown eyes, with a clip board in her hand. She strode confidently to reception, expression serious. "Who is it, Stuart?" she said in a voice that bespoke entire volumes of no-nonsense an I-am-much-too-busy-for-this. When he pointed, and she found this woman's gaze on her, Lynne felt as though she had been rapidly sized up, analyzed, categorized and in short order filed away under the 'found-wanting' category. The curt, "Yes?" was her only greeting.
The angel dusted down her lapel absently and turned to the doctor with a polite smile, using her resonance on the woman.
"Dr. Willis? I'm very grateful for the time. An old friend of mine is the priest at St. Sebastian's church, the one that burned down... He seems to have disappeared and I'm really quite worried about him. I heard that he collapsed a couple of days ago, and I spoke to someone here.. a Dr Rubenstein.. who said that she thought you might know more about it? I'd be really grateful for anything you could tell me, Dr."
Perhaps it was the distraction of the hospital and the many people all with their own individual problems, or perhaps it was this woman's fierce and harsh front, but Orli could feel nothing of the doctor.
She in turn opened her mouth to reply, managing a "St Sebastian's? I don't see how ..." before Lynne's phone rang. Dr Willis' face darkened a notch or two as Lynne smiled at her apologetically, before picking up the line to hear Jason's voice speaking rapidly.
�Hey Orli, I just got off the phone with Karen, she said that Melanie didn't even hear the disturbance this morning, which she thought was odd, as Melanie has been pretty perceptive of these things in the past. Maybe it was the Shield. Anyway, she said that Uriel was the one who caused the destruction. She worked for Uriel once, so I guess she would know. Apparently Uriel does not tolerate dissonance, seeking always to purify the world. Karen thought that if an ArchAngel had gotten dissonance maybe Uriel tried to purge Him/Her. Anyway, I got you guys tickets, just pick them up at JFK. Karen and I are going to hang out here, but let us know if you find out anything about Nat or anything else."
Orli listened silently to Jason's comments, mainly because she was trying to suppress a panic reaction -- which archangel? When Jason paused she took a deep breath.
"OK, thanks, I see." There was a brief pause, then she added, "Thanks for everything, I do appreciate it and for what its worth, I wish you the best of luck. I'll be in touch, but if there is anything I can do, feel free to call. I'm .. still planning to go and see for myself."
Dr Willis had been tapping her clip board impatiently during the conversation. When Lynne hung up, she said in a curt tone, "Mobile phones as supposed to be kept off when you are in the hospital buildings."
Lynne cocked an eyebrow at her, still assimilating Jason's news. "I'm terribly sorry," she apologized mildly, "I must have missed seeing the signs. I'll turn it off."
She offered the doctor a dazzling smile and flicked the thing on to its vibrate setting before sticking it back in her pocket.
The Doctor frowned, then proceeds with answering the previous question. "I am sorry, I am not sure what I can do to help you. I attended mass on Saturday night. The Father Nathaniel collapsed. I had a look at him, he seemed to be suffering from a mild dizzy spell. After a moment or two he recovered. End of story."
Something in the back of Orli's mind was bothering her, but she could not place exactly what. The doctor eyed her critically as if preparing to excuse herself.
"I see," Lynne nodded gratefully, "It sounds as though he was fortunate that you were there." She was uncomfortable now, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. She hesitated and then adds as an afterthought, "You go to mass regularly then?"
It was just playing for time to try to track the uneasiness down. Ultimately, there seemed no way forwards from here and she felt no justification in keeping the doctor from her job any longer.
And that playing for time yielded something of a clue. Clearly the question seemed to have hit a mark with the Doctor, because for a split second there was a flash of discomfort.
When she answered, she did so just a little too rapidly. "Yes, of course." She muttered. Orli, self trained for thousands of years in the fine art of learning truths, spotted the lie immediately. The pupils dilated, the cheeks flushed, the eyes wavered... not much each individually, but enough. The question clearly caused discomfort, and perhaps, even, fear.
"Now if you will excuse me, thank you very much for your... thanks." she said with some hesitation. "But I had really best get to work."
Orli finally realized what had been bothering her. The church, St Sebastians, was Russian Orthodox. Dr Willis had neither the name nor the features to have been of Russian descent, and the odds of her being a convert to the faith seemed somewhat small. What was she doing at the church for Saturday evening mass?
Orli nodded to the doctor and extended a hand politely. Instead of shaking, she grasped the other woman by the wrist and stepped towards her.
"Actually," she said softly, voice barely rising above a whisper, "I think maybe that's not all. You're looking edgy, Dr Willis. I think it would be a good idea for you if you were to tell me why you were really there, who you are really working for, and where he is."
Dr Willis gasped in surprise and was taken completely off balance. She tried to escape Orli's gaze, but found she couldn't, and tried to move away, but found herself out maneuvered. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it again quickly.
Orli�s gaze hardened, song of harmony ready in case anything did get violent. "I'm sure that if you exercise your own judgement you'll realize how much more easily this will go with a little co-operation."
Dr Willis opened her mouth once more, this time in surprise at the implied threat, and there was hidden in the back of her eyes a panic that had, till this moment, been carefully suppressed under a wall of gruff indifference. "Who... who /are/ you?" she managed in a soft voice, putting into those few words a much greater number of questions ...
As yet she had not recovered enough of her wits to simply step back or call security. As yet the two of them had not drawn any attention.
"When I said I was an old friend of Nathaniel's, that meant a very old friend," Orli whispered, seeking out the other woman's eyes, watching for a reaction. "He and I were choirmates, the last time we met. I have no quarrel with you that I know of, except in that I do need to find him."
The angel's words seemed to confuse Dr Willis further, her face becoming a mask of confusion. She made no effort to move away on her own.
She released the doctor and folded her arms, angling her body away from the reception so as to keep her face in shadow. "I serve Judgement," she said with an air of finality. "Now I would also appreciate some answers..."
These words cut into the woman's confusion like a knife. She reacted particularly violently to the word Judgement.
"You... You serve... and Nathaniel was a...?" Her mouth opened and closed like a fish, in a manner that might have been comical if it was not for the acute sensation that Lynne got that there was something terrible afoot here.
Finally, the strong facade Dr Willis was presenting crumbled utterly. "Oh God." she said quietly. "Oh, thank God..." She sank onto a bench against the wall, eyes finally escaping Orli's.
In a hushed voice that barely carried to Orli's ears, she muttered, "I prayed so hard... I tried, you know, as much as I could, but I couldn't escape It... and It didn't seem to be asking for much..." her eyes raised to Lynne's again, and in them the angel sees abject fear and remorse. "I know what happened was wrong... I am so ... I thought that there was no help, nothing to stop It. Nobody came... And He told me that if I ever spoke with anyone about it..."
With her eyes she was pleading with Orli, asking for an understanding, or forgiveness, but obviously expecting something else.
The angel regarded the doctor quietly, her brows arching into a the shallow v of a faint frown. Whatever she had been expecting, this wasn't it.
In part brought on by her inability to sense the relationships of what was happening with this woman, and for the first time in a while when dealing with humans, Orli felt a lack of clarity. In some ways it mirrored the confusion within her soul ever since her last meeting with Domenic. She became acutely aware of her own limitations, and of her own lack of understanding.
"It didn't seem to be asking?" she mirrored the words, and then paused again, trying to make sense of them. "Is It still asking for things?"
Orli could feel the people watching around her, and one or two sets of eyes were beginning to seek them out. The Doctor seemed close to tears, and this quiet word was about to become a scene. If this conversation was to continue, they would have to move elsewhere. The Doctor seemed suddenly pliant enough, at least at the moment.
Uncomfortably aware that the It may prove to be a bodiless demon, Orli maintained the straight mask, and touched the woman on the arm. It was perhaps not the most enthusiastic gesture of comfort, because the giver was wrestling with a certain amount of concern. "We do need to talk," she said finally, with more certainty in the tone. "all right?" There was no promise in it of leniency. Not yet.
The woman swallowed back her emotions, looked about her hesitantly, and then nodded once, emphatically, before looking away.
She took the woman's arm and glanced around the reception, trying to decide where a good place to talk might be.
Lynne eyed the doctor, then decided. "Do you know any place private?" She asked tersely.
The doctor hesitated again, then lead Orli to the reception desk, and, after a brief word to the receptionist, looked down the ledger in front of her. Finding an unoccupied room, she signed it away, and then led Orli to it.