To Catch A Thief. Nan Dixon

pushed her hands away.

      “I just wanted a token,” her mother whispered.

      Would it hurt to give her the cardinal? Carolina twisted her hands. How many more days did she have with her mother? The headaches were getting worse.

      She knelt in front of her mother and dug into her purse. “It was in the front parlor.”

      Her mother’s eyes went wide. She turned the bird over. “How much is it worth?”

      “Worth?”

      “Yes!” Animation filled her mother’s face. “A lot?”

      “I don’t think so.” Was that what this was about? Money?

      “Maybe I should have it appraised.” Her mother turned the small bird over and over, then hugged it to her chest.

      “They wouldn’t leave valuable things just sitting on a windowsill.”

      “Of course they would.” Mamá’s eyes narrowed. “They’re greedy and selfish.”

      “There were three other birds.”

      “Why didn’t you take them all?” Rosa’s voice was as discordant as an out-of-tune piano.

      “I couldn’t. I...wasn’t alone that long.”

      “Next time.” Mamá admired the bird.

      There wouldn’t be a next time. Carolina would ramp up her job search on the island. She wouldn’t steal for her mother again.

       CHAPTER FOUR

      “MAMÁ, ARE YOU HUNGRY?” Carolina asked two nights later from the kitchen entryway.

      Her mother plucked at the pleat in her pants, staring out into the distance.

      “Mamá?” Carolina hurried to her side.

      She knelt, trying to look her mother in the eye. “Talk to me.”

      Mamá stared right through her. No response.

      This wasn’t normal. She pulled out her phone. Blank screen. Damn it. She’d forgotten to the charge the battery after Sage had called that afternoon.

      “I’ll be right back.” She dashed to her bedroom for her charging cord. On the way back downstairs, she heard a thump. “Mamá?”

      Her mother lay facedown on the floor.

      “No!” She ran and rolled her mother over.

      Rosa shook so hard, her head banged the floor.

      Seizure. Dr. Laster said this could happen and had given Carolina some basic first aid.

      She pulled a pillow off the sofa and tucked it under her mother’s head. “Mamá, I’m here.”

      What else?

      Check the time. 7:32.

      Stay calm. Carolina’s breaths heaved in and out. She forced them to slow.

      Make sure she can breathe. How? She closed her eyes. What had the pamphlet said?

      Turn her on her side. Shoving her hands under her mother’s convulsing body, she rolled her. Then readjusted the pillow.

      Snatching up her mother’s cell phone, she punched in 9-1-1. “It’s my mother,” she cried, interrupting the operator. “She’s having a seizure.”

      “Is she safe?” The woman’s voice was so calm.

      “I guess.” How could she be safe if this was happening?

      “Is she still seizing?”

      “Yes. Maybe not as bad as before. She has brain tumors. Cancer.” The words spilled out of her, along with tears.

      “How long has she been seizing?”

      Carolina checked the clock: 7:36. “Four or five minutes?”

      “Paramedics are on their way.” The operator confirmed the address.

      Her mother’s body stopped jerking.

      Carolina pulled a throw from the sofa and covered her, and then clasped her mother’s clammy hand. “Mamá, can you hear me?”

      Even though her mother’s eyes were open, she didn’t answer.

      “Please be all right.” She stroked Mamá’s hair and rested her hand on her mother’s shoulder. “I love you.”

      Red and blue emergency lights flashed on the street. “The paramedics are here. I’ll be right back.”

      She shoved open the door. “In here.”

      Uniformed men and women filled the room.

      “Patient’s name?” someone asked.

      “Rosa Castillo.”

      Carolina was shuttled to the side and a paramedic took her mother’s blood pressure and checked her pupils. Another installed an IV.

      “What’s that for?” she asked, biting her lip.

      “In case we need to administer medication.” They worked and talked, but not to Carolina. And that was fine. She wanted their full attention on Mamá.

      She wrapped her arms around her belly, a chill settling deep in her bones.

      Mamá groaned.

      “Ma’am?” the female EMT asked. “Can you tell us your name?”

      Mamá didn’t answer.

      Please be okay. Don’t leave me. Please be okay. I’ll get you anything you want. If I have to steal or go into debt, just don’t leave me. She repeated the mantra over and over.

      A gurney clattered up the steps. The paramedics gently lifted Mamá onto the flat surface. With precise movements, they strapped her in place. The gurney clacked as they hoisted it up.

      “We’re taking her to Memorial University,” the female paramedic said. “Do you want to ride with her?”

      Ride with her. Carolina held her head to keep her thoughts from spinning out of control. If Mamá was going to Savannah, she needed her car. She didn’t have anyone to pick her up or drop her off. “I’ll... I’ll drive.”

      The woman EMT touched her arm. “Are you sure you can?”

      “I...yes.” She didn’t have a choice. Without her mother, she was alone.

      * * *

      CAROLINA SET DOWN her overloaded tote in the ER waiting room. She’d grabbed her mother’s wallet, both their cell phones, her charging cord and her mother’s makeup. Mamá didn’t go anywhere without makeup.

      Next to a chair, she plugged in her phone. The ER was quiet. Two people sat on the opposite side of the room. One had a bloody bandage around her arm.

      She wanted to pace. Wanted to cry. Wanted to see her mother. Was she conscious? What was happening?

      She headed back to the receptionist. “I don’t think I told anyone who my mother’s oncologist is. It’s Dr. Laster.”

      “Let me update the record.” The woman clacked away at the keyboard. “Patient’s name?”

      “Rosa Castillo.”

      “And her oncologist is Dr. Laster. Got it.”

      Carolina’s stomach dived and banked. “Do you know anything? Can I see my mother?”

      “A nurse will call when you can go back.”

      “Thank you.” Carolina wanted to look over the woman’s shoulder to see what was in her mother’s record. She’d been waiting at least