Doreen was more than a little nervous about the next phase of the plan. She worried over it all the way to the hospital. The fake transfer to the long term care facility had her all worked up. She had no idea how she was going to fix this without somebody finding out the truth about Desiree.

When she arrived at Desiree’s room, Nurse Betsy was staring avidly at one of the printouts coming off of Desiree’s machines.

“Hello, Betsy,” Doreen said cordially, putting her things down on a nearby chair.

“Oh, hello, Mrs. Carlson,” Betsy said, a brief smile flitting across her face before the frown replaced it again.

“Is something the matter?” Doreen inquired.

“Well, it’s just... this printout... it doesn’t seem right,” Betsy said, starting intently at the paper. “This makes your daughter seem perfectly normal, not at all like we see with most coma patients.”

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?” Doreen asked. “Maybe it means she’s going to come out of it!”

Betsy dropped the paper abruptly and turned to face Doreen. “Oh, now, I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to get your hopes up. I’ll make a note and have Dr. Novask look at it, all right? I’m sorry. I’m sure I’m just misinterpreting things.”

Doreen smiled, glad Betsy had dropped the issue for the time being.

“Well, I’ll let you get on with your visit,” Betsy said. “I’ve got rounds to make and vitals to check.”

“Have a good time,” Doreen said, closing the door after the woman. She pushed the chair under the doorknob to hold it in place, then crossed to the window and closed the blinds securely. She walked over to Desiree and whispered, “We’re alone. Are you awake?”

Desiree’s eyes fluttered open and she pushed herself up to a sitting position. “Yes, and thank God you’re here, mom! This pretending to be asleep all day long is completely tedious and I hate it. Oh, my God. I actually turned on the tv earlier and then the nurse heard the noise and came in and turned it off! Ugh. Can you please find a way to make them leave it on?”

“I’ll do my best, dear,” Doreen said, “but look, in the mean time, we have bigger problems. I talked to Reese, and we’re all set on that end, but I still don’t know how we’re going to--”

The rattling of the door handle interrupted her thought.

“Oh, God!” Desiree said, and immediately slumped down in the bed. Doreen got up and ran to move the chair from the door.

Burke Armstrong was standing on the other side of the door, holding a small vase of cheery yellow flowers.

“Oh, hello!” he said, his neck turning slightly red.

“Hello... Why, Burke Armstrong, is that you?” Doreen said, recognizing the handsome young firefighter who’d pulled her daughter from the burning restaurant.

“Yes,” he admitted, pleased that she remembered him. “Can I come in?”

“Oh, yes, of course!” Doreen said, holding the door open wide. “I’m sorry. I was sitting in the chair and I didn’t realize I’d slid it back so far that I was blocking the door.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” he said. “I didn’t mean to intrude or anything... just... they changed my schedule this week... So I’m off today instead of Friday.”

“Friday,” Doreen repeated blankly. She looked at him, then looked at the bouquet of yellow flowers in his hands. She deftly put two and two together and gave him a wide smile. “Friday! So you’re the mystery man that’s been bringing my daughter these lovely flowers!”

At that Burke blushed furiously. “Well... I... I hope you don’t mind.”

“Well, of course I don’t mind! I think that’s terribly thoughtful of you, Burke,” Doreen said. “So come in and have a seat, and tell me what brings you by.”

Burke allowed her to close the door again and they took seats opposite one another. Burke set the blossoms on the side table and cleared his throat. “Um... thank you again for the muffins.”

“Oh, sure,” she replied generously, “anytime!”

There was an awkward moment of silence, and Doreen was forced to fill it. “I’m sorry, but did you know my daughter before the accident?”

“No... not really,” Burke said. “I mean, I sort of knew her. I had just met her. See, me and some of the guys went into the Ashton Street Diner once for lunch, and she was there waiting tables...”

“Uh huh,” Doreen prompted, fascinated.

“And... well, I thought she was cute, you know, and sort of... sweet...”

He looked like he was having a terrible time relating his tale, so Doreen took pity on him and said, “She is sweet. Go on, Burke.”

“So I went back there a couple of times, just to see her.”

“Trying to work up your nerve to ask her out?” Doreen smiled.

“She’s very, very pretty,” he confided, and Doreen laughed. Burke continued, “Well, I had asked her out, for that Friday. And I was going into the diner when it blew up. I wasn’t there on duty, although my guys were the first to respond. Frankly, if I hadn’t been there...”

“She wouldn’t have survived,” Doreen concluded. “Yes, and thank you for that again.”

“It’s in my training,” he said, stealing a glance at Desiree.

Doreen smiled at him.

“Say, is that a brainwave machine?” Burke said, spying one of the mechanic devices and pointing it out. Doreen looked and saw it was the same tattle-tale machine that Betsy had been so interested in.

“No,” she said firmly, although she really had no idea what it was. “So tell me why you’re here. You’re hoping to keep a date with a comatose woman?”

“No...” Burke said. He chewed his lip for a moment as if trying to decide what to say. “Look, I know this is going to sound weird, but... a couple of times when I went to the diner, I saw this guy... a little Asian guy... and he looked like maybe... he...”

Doreen’s heart pounded in her chest; she was certain Desiree’s must be pounding, too, from the way the heart monitor was speeding up.

“I’m sorry, is she going to code?” Burke asked, standing up to get a closer look at the heart monitor.

“No! She’s fine!” Doreen said frantically, standing up to put herself between the EMT and the noisy machine.

“Something’s weird here...” Burke said suspiciously.

“Look, tell me about this Asian guy!” Doreen said fiercely. “Tell me what happened! Did he hurt her? Was he doing something to her? What happened, damn it?”

Burke turned to look at the senior woman in surprise. The swear word must have gotten his attention. “She was okay. He was just watching her. But he was watching her a little too intently, looking at her like... like...”

“Like what?” Doreen asked, eyes wide.

“Like she was a piece of property,” he said.

Doreen’s eyes narrowed and she said softly, “I’ll just bet.”

Burke said, “Do you know the guy?”

Doreen shook her head vehemently, but Burke was not deterred. He cocked his head and said, “Ms. Carlson, I think you better tell me the truth.”

“I am telling you the truth!” she said, trying desperately to ignore the frantic beep of the heart monitor in the background.

“Why is it so dark in here?” Burke said, suddenly realizing the blinds were shut. “And why was the chair in front of the door?”

“Stop! Stop it!” Doreen commanded. He was going to figure it all out; he was going to expose Desiree. “Please, if you have any feelings for my daughter at all you will just drop this line of questioning!”

“I’ll drop it if you tell me what’s going on,” he bargained quietly. They both stood staring at one another across Desiree’s bed.

“It’s not up to me,” Doreen said simply, shaking her head.

“It’s not up to you?” Burke said, confused. “Then who is it up to?”

“Me,” came the voice from the bed. Desiree’s eyes opened at that same moment, startling Burke so badly that he jerked away from the bed, knocked into the side table, and fell sideways into the nearest chair. “Mom, get the door.”

Doreen hurried to shoo Burke from his seat; she pushed his vacated chair under the door handle and turned to look at him.

“What we’re about to tell you can not leave this room,” Doreen said firmly. “You have to promise us that you won’t tell.”

“I can’t make a promise like that until I know what this is about,” Burke said. “No deal. I’m an EMT, I have a government job. I can’t be part of any crazy conspiracy.”

“It’s not like that!” Doreen said urgently. “This is about my daughter’s safety! Her life is at stake, for God’s sake!”

“Mom, calm down,” Desiree said. She took a deep breath and then sighed. “Look, Burke, I never wanted to deceive you, but like you said yourself, we hardly know each other. I didn’t know if I could trust you.”

Burke came around the side of the bed and pulled up the spare chair from the corner. He and Doreen sat warily next to one another while Desiree talked.

“I don’t know where to begin, really,” Desiree said. “I was in a coma, but when I woke up, I realized that I had a chance to get my life back. That Asian guy you saw in the diner—you were right about him. He’s a bad guy, and I know that he did a lot of bad things. He’d like to kill me, and if he knew that I was awake, he would probably try.”

“That’s why we’re trying to keep up the illusion of the coma,” Doreen told Burke. “We’re trying to put her in witness protection, until this awful man can be brought to justice.”

“Well, what’d he do?” Burke asked.

Desiree and her mother exchanged looks, and Desiree said, “Well, he runs a prostitution ring for one thing, and he deals meth for another. He’s an awful, vile, evil man, and I hate him.”

Burke digested this information slowly, as if weighing it for truth and accuracy. “Why don’t you have him arrested?”

“I don’t know his real name,” Desiree said simply. “No one does.”

Burke considered her statement and nodded slowly. “That’s why you were so jumpy around him.”

“But that’s not all,” Desiree said. “He didn’t just threaten me, he threatened my whole family. Don’t you see? It’s best if he thinks I’m dead, so he won’t come after them. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to my family.”

Doreen reached out and took her daughter’s hand, and Desiree squeezed it gratefully.

“It’ll be okay,” Doreen promised again.

Desiree let go of her mother and turned to Burke. “That’s why I’m still pretending to be in a coma. We’re trying to make arrangements to get me transferred to another facility, so we can fake my death.”

Burke rubbed his jaw and stood up. He paced the room. He turned to the pair of women with a thoughtful look on his face and said very slowly, “You know... sometimes... I pick up extra shifts driving an ambulance for Jasmine Falls First Medical Response.”

Doreen held her breath, knowing that good news was coming. Burke continued carefully, “I could call and ask for a day this week, tell them I need the extra cash... We could find a way to... I don’t know... put the other guy to sleep, and we can make the transfer... only, Desiree will never arrive at the other facility. They can’t take her into their care; it would be too risky. It’s already risky. Any doctor or nurse who looks at those printouts would know that she’s not comatose.”

He gestured toward the machines.

Doreen exhaled the breath she’d been holding and admitted, “That’s why I’ve been stealing the printouts at night before I go home. But still... you’re right. It’s getting risky.”

“All right,” Burke said. “I’m going to give you my cell phone number, and you give me yours, and I’ll call you when I know my next shift with First Medical Response, okay? We can plan from there.”

Doreen’s heart soared as she pulled her cellular phone from her purse and opened it. They programmed each other’s numbers into their respective pieces and Doreen felt a sense of calm come over her.

“Thank you, Burke,” Doreen said sincerely. “You are truly our guardian angel. Thank you for doing this for Desiree.”

“I can speak for myself, mother,” Desiree said. She looked at Burke and said, “Thank you, Burke. My mom’s right. You’re totally great, and I really appreciate you saving my life—twice over. Thank you.”

Burke’s neck went red again and he said, “It’s all right. We better get moving before someone walks in on us all chatting it up.”

“Oh, you’re right! Goodness!” Doreen said, looking at her watch. Desiree shifted herself back down onto the bed while Doreen busied herself ripping the printouts off the monitors and stuffing them into her purse. Burke even helped by disconnecting one of them from the wall. Then, by mutual agreement, Burke left first. They decided to refrain from any public contact, so as not to arouse suspicion. Doreen turned on the tv on her way out, and asked the night nurse if she could please leave the television running. She looked at Doreen funny, so Doreen said, “I think the stimulation might help. I have to keep hope, you know.”

“All right,” the nurse said, but Doreen could tell she thought it was a pointless plan.

Doreen tried not to skip as she walked to the elevators. Things were falling into place. She had her third piece of the puzzle, now she could move on to the fourth and final part. Compared to the rest of this, forging a death certificate ought to be a snap.