Carolyn Jourdan - Nurse Phoebe 02 - The School for Mysteries Read Free

over-rated. It’s a dangerous delusion.”
    Ivy poked Phoebe with her elbow. “Come on,” she said.
    “What I’m trying to say is that I’ve learned from dating longer than you’ve been alive that friendship is real, but what’s commonly meant by the word romance isn’t,” Phoebe explained. “These days I’m looking for a friend, someone fun to travel with, or go to the movies or eat out with, but not a husband. I was never looking for a husband. I was always looking for a decent, reliable buddy.
    “You know the first people Dante ran into on his trip to hell were a romantic couple totally wrapped up in each other. They were locked in a whirlwind together. Dante fainted when he saw what they were reaping as a result of their so-called romance .”
    Phoebe knew Ivy was too young to care about things like this. She was still in thrall to youth, and that was understandable and right. But she’d asked, so Phoebe had given her something to think about.
    “Enough about men,” Phoebe said. “I have some really great news. I’ve been saved! I got a job this morning. It starts tomorrow. Just one patient and a whole lot of money.”
    She told Ivy about the phone call and her friend congratulated her. Then they sat in companionable silence, enjoying the view together. “You’re right,” Phoebe said. “This place really is paradise.

Chapter  3
    The sound of wind rustling through the leaves was being progressively drowned out by a rhythmical thumping that was gaining volume. At first Phoebe thought it was the beating of her own heart. She wondered if it was palpitations or if she was about to have a panic attack from the height. Maybe the exertion of the climb was bringing on a heart attack. Then she realized it was a helicopter approaching. That was strange. She knew it wouldn’t be tourists because this area of the Smokies was famous for deadly wind shears. They were called orographic lifts , and they could be over a hundred miles an hour.
    It was a local phenomenon caused by the Smokies being the first major windbreak between the Atlantic Ocean and the rest of the country. So many aircraft had crashed because of these notorious winds, authorities were extremely reluctant to send any air rescue to the area, even in the most dire emergencies. There was no point in adding to the body count.
    Injured people were frequently airlifted from other areas of the National Park and taken to a hospital in Knoxville. It was much faster than an ambulance on account of the distance and the dense, slow-moving traffic that surrounded the nation’s top family vacation destination. More than nine million tourists a year visited the Park. That made for hideous traffic.
    The helicopter sound was getting very loud. The two women couldn’t help but look up even though the dense vegetation meant they’d get a quick glimpse at most, and that only if the chopper passed directly overhead. But then suddenly, there it was.
    Before Phoebe could even register what she was seeing, a large pale form flashed into her field of vision, fell toward her, and hit the net she and Ivy were sitting on with a powerful impact.
    She reflexively grabbed Ivy’s arm to help keep her balance as the platform recoiled like a trampoline. The two women were able to keep their seats, but just barely. They turned together to look behind them and were astonished at the figure that lay there, splayed out. It was the body of a man, naked, lying face up, draped bonelessly across the rope netting.
    Had the body blown out of a stretcher mounted on the side of the helicopter?
    Had it fallen out of the helicopter itself?

    Ivy was immediately on her feet. She glanced at Phoebe and said, “Did you see that? It looked almost like those guys threw him out the door of that helicopter!”
    No, Phoebe hadn’t seen it, but her eyes weren’t that good anymore. Her focal length no longer transitioned smoothly. She needed at least four pairs of glasses to make it these