Chapter 37 ~ no sex, jerks
Mary sat in hospital admissions handcuffed to a bench.
She had ridden in with Erin, she had told the 911 dispatcher that she was losing so much blood so the ambulance crew had a universal donor bag ready as they didn't know Erin's type. It may have saved her life.
In the ambulance after the blood transfusion was started she watched the woman paramedic place large cotton bandages between Erin's legs and apply pressure. It turned red so fast, Mary silently let the tears run down her face.
Erin was rushed into the operating room and Mary was detained at the desk, the woman there wanting as much information about Erin as Mary had. Mary did her best. When the question was, "And what happened to her?" the first thing Mary said was that she thought Erin had been raped by one of the professors at the college. The woman behind the desk looked at Lucy, and after a moment, "Would you please have a seat over there?" and waited for Mary to leave. She then picked up the phone and dialed a number. She thought she was keeping her voice down but Mary could hear her pretty well...."Hi, it's me. You might want to get over here, a student..." she glanced at Mary, assuming she was a student, "has just accused one of your professors of rape." Pause. "Right." Pause. "Ok, I will." The woman hung up the phone and looked back at Mary.
Mary just looked at her, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
It was about 15 minutes later when a man in an overcoat came in trailed by two campus officers, Lucy would have recognized them as Tall Fat and Short Fat. Mary watched the man go to the desk, and the woman there gestured at Mary. The man looked at her and came over... Mary thought he looked like he wasn't happy. He stopped in front of her, looking down. "Are you the one making spurious accusations against professors at the college?"
Mary looked up at him calmly, though she didn't appreciate his tone with her. "Who are you?"
"I am James Benneford III, chancellor of the college, and I'll have you know, young lady, that slander is a crime."
"I see," Mary said, keeping her temper. She didn't like this man at all. "Is rape a crime? If so you might want to check..." she didn't think she knew the man's office number, and knew she didn't know his name. "Room 114 of the..." and then she realized she didn't know the name of that particular building, either. "I will recognize him, I can take you there."
He sneered at her, "I'm sure you can. And most likely we'll find he gave you a bad grade on a test."
Mary smirked at him, "A neat trick since this is the first week of school, idiot." Mary didn't like his suggestion that she was lying, and wasn't in the mood to be nice to this person. Her emotions were raw and she was worried about Erin. She looked away, clearly dismissing James Benneford III.
That's when she felt the clamp on her upper arm, and Tall Fat lifted her up off the bench to her feet. It hurt.
Tall Fat got right in her face, "You will be respectful when you speak to him or you'll find yourself expelled, missy."
Mary tried to wrench her arm away, but he held tight. He squeezed. Mary didn't even think about it, she saw his pig face right down there in hers.... she had a vision of the rattlesnake, Charlie, who had not understood the danger she and Satan represented, that day. She tilted her head back and rammed her forehead as hard as she could into his nose. She used her "move this stubborn cow" strength, she held nothing back. She heard the crack as his nose broke. Tall Fat let go of her, suddenly preoccupied with the blood gushing out of his nostrils.
Before Mary had time to savor her victory her wrists were grabbed by Short Fat, and after a moment Tall Fat recovered himself. With watering eyes put one side of a set of handcuff around Mary's wrist, and the other to the metal arm of the bench she had been sitting on.
James Benneford III looked down on her, sneering. "Well I guess we know who the idiot is, now." He turned his back to her, Mary heard him sneer, "Do something about your nose, imbecile," and walked back over to the desk, Mary thought he heard him asking about the girl who had been brought in.
Mary was certain who the idiots were... she fished in her back pocket for her phone they had not confiscated and texted her father as fast as she could type with one hand chained to the bench.
"Dad help. i have been arrested or something. erin hurt am at hospital with her. need you here now hurry please" *send* She tried slipping her phone back into her pocket, but Short Fat had noticed it and grabbed it out of her hands.
James Benneford III saw... smacked Tall Fat in the back of the head causing him to gasp, and more blood to slip through his fingers. "What the hell do I pay you for? Did she make a call?"
Short Fat held up the phone, James Benneford III saw Mary's last message still on the screen, and suddenly it updated, "Status: Read, Just Now."
Again, James Benneford III, Colossal Prick, sneered at Mary. "How sweet, calling for daddy. Oh how I do hope he comes, he can visit you in your jail cell. Oh, by the way, you're expelled. Daddy can help you pack up." They still thought Mary was a student. I hope they don't find Erin's student ID in my other pocket, she thought.
In Short Fat's hand, Mary heard that she was getting multiple text messages and a call. Short Fat looked Mary in the eye, and dropped her phone on the floor. "Woops," he said to her. "Accident." Then he stepped on her phone with his heel, grinding it down with his considerable weight. "Wooops again, I'm so clumsy," and he grinned at her.
Mary glanced at him, and then looked away. She was angry but forced herself to not show it; these people had no idea what was coming.
++++
Junior had been sitting at the dinner table with Martha and Sam, all of them with their hands around a cup of coffee, but quiet. It was getting late and they knew Mary would be calling any time, Junior and Sam had their phones in front of them. Martha didn't have a phone, she hadn't wanted one.
Suddenly Junior's phone vibrated, he flipped it open.... he had the most out-of-date, most simple cell phone that could still send and receive text messages. He read it, turned it toward his wife who suddenly looked worried, and turned it to Sam, who read it and grabbed her own phone. She called Mary while Junior was answering her text, "We are coming." He closed the phone, sat quietly for a moment. Then he flipped it back open, filed through his address book, and pushed the button to call a contact.
Sam said, "It was ringing then went to voicemail. What does that even mean, she thinks she has been arrested? For what?" Obviously no one there knew, but Sam was upset and thinking out loud.
Junior sat for a moment. He'd lived a long life, faced down evil men, pitch-black nights, bad horses, the occasional rattlesnake. But he'd never really known fear, real fear. Now, as a father of a child who was in trouble far from home, he felt real fear for the first time. He waited as the phone at his ear began to ring. A few moments later Junior spoke, "Pete, it's Junior. How's things?" Pause. "Great to hear it. Hey, I have a problem. I wonder if y'all have that helicopter handy, again."
++++
They wouldn't tell her about Erin, and the Colossal Prick had left hours ago saying something about how she would be arrested in the morning and she could enjoy the bench for the night, both Tall and Short Fats looking over her. Tall Fat now had a big bandage on his nose covering half his face, and both eyes were blackening. That amused Mary, staring at him and her work became her way to pass the time. He wouldn't look back at her.
She tried to doze on the bench, but whenever she would begin to fall asleep Short Fat would 'accidentally' kick the bench, jarring her awake. She pretended it didn't bother her, but she marked him, she put him on her list right after the guy in that office who was cleaning blood.
According to the clock on the wall it had been eight hours since she'd arrived with Erin... at one point she yelled, "Can you even tell me if she's alive?" but she was still ignored. She was tired and having a hard time controlling her emotions. Then the local police came in, Mary assumed they were real since, unlike the campus police, these guys carried guns. They talked to Tall Fat too far away from Mary to hear, looked over at her, and then approached. They looked down at her. "You have the right to remain silent," one of them said.
He never finished. "BELAY THAT," Texas Ranger Pete Rollins said, striding into the room standing tall, the heels of his cowboy boots driving into the linoleum floor as he approached. He hadn't shouted, but his command voice projected and every other sound in the hospital admitting room ceased. He looked about the room as he walked in, noting Mary, her hand cuffs, and the location of everyone else currently in there. Mary hadn't realized how scared and unraveled she had been becoming until she saw her father following him, followed by two more people, one dressed as a Texas Ranger, the other with "CSI" on his windbreaker. Seeing her dad made her feel better.
Pete Rollins approached her, she met his gaze and held it, and smiled... the one who'd come when the horses were dying... the one who came in the helicopter at the spring, that time. He always seemed to be there when she needed help, she briefly wondered if he were her guardian angel. Mary smiled, looked over at Tall Fat. You are so fucked, now, she thought.
Rollins bodily pushed past the two local policemen and stood before Mary, then knelt before her, looked her over with a glance. "Are you ok?" he asked softly.
"I am, but they won't tell me about Erin. And I have to pee."
He nodded. "Tell me what happened to Erin, quickly," he said to her softly.
Mary took a deep breath. "I found her, I heard screaming and I found her. I found a man in an office cleaning up blood. I followed the blood trail, found Erin in her room. I stopped Erin from..." she looked to the side. He said quickly... "I came in the ambulance. I told them I know who... raped... her. That fat college cop grabbed me so I broke his nose. They made me sit here all night. Then you came."
"He grabbed you and then you broke his nose. Were you informed before then that you were being held by law?"
"No..." Mary thought back. "No, some guy came in here telling me I was in trouble and I called him an idiot, then the taller one grabbed my arm and told me to watch my mouth. So I broke his nose for him."
He gave her a small grin, and nodded at her. "Let me take care of this for you," he said, and she smiled and nodded. He stood, glared at the two policemen, never saying a word, until they stepped back away from him. He turned to the man in the CSI jacket, "Martinez."
"Sir?"
"Find out everything you can about Erin Banks, a patient here. Tell them this is a crime investigation and patient privacy is suspended. Report immediately."
"Sir." Martinez walked over to the woman at the desk, his badge already out. The woman behind the desk... she'd been there all night... looked up at him with wide eyes.
Rollins now looked back at the patrol officers that had been about to arrest Mary. "You sure those cuffs are enough to hold her?" he asked quietly, sarcastically.
The shorter one said, "Hey, we just got here. We got a call this morning from the chancellor of the college, said there was a girl here being detained by campus police, she assaulted one of his security officers. Also something about slander, but I don't know nothing about that, I just got the call to come here and arrest her."
"Give me a minute," Rollins said to them.
"Uh.... sure," one of them answered. They really weren't sure what was going on here, because suddenly, Texas Rangers.
Rollins looked over at the security officers, against the far wall... they seemed to wilt under his gaze.
Junior stood over Mary protectively when Rollins left her, reaching down to take her hand, she reached up with her free hand to grab it. With his other hand he gave her his cell phone, "Call Sam," he said simply.
Mary let go of his hand and dialed her number, she picked up immediately. "Is Mary ok?"
"Sam it's me," Mary said. "Dad is here. I'm ok... it's going to be ok."
"You're ok?" Sam asked.
"Yes honey."
"Seriously.... you're not being arrested?"
Mary glanced over at Pete Rollins, approaching the security guards who looked like they wanted to be anywhere but there. She smiled, "No, I don't think I am. The Texas Rangers just rolled in and everybody is crapping their pants," and she laughed a little.
"So you're ok."
"Yes baby."
"I love you, Mary."
"I love you too."
"Let me talk to Junior." Mary thought she noticed a hint of doom in her voice, with that last request.
"Ok, hold on." She handed the phone up to him. "Dad, Sam wants to talk to you."
Junior winced. He took the phone, slowly moved it up to his ear. He took a deep breath. "Hi Sam."
Mary couldn't hear what Sam was saying, but it was loud, and Junior had to move the phone away from his ear so her voice wouldn't pierce his eardrum. It went on and on, for at least two minutes.... Mary was wondering what Sam was so upset about. Later she would find out that Sam had wanted to come, but Junior wasn't sure what the situation was in Nebraska and didn't want to worry about both his daughters. Pete Rollins knew what Junior was getting at so he backed him and also forbid Sam from coming, citing it would nail down the misuse of Texas property... they weren't a taxi service, and they only needed the parent to come collect his daughter. But Sam insisted, no one was leaving without her. Junior had told her fine, he'd changed his mind, go grab a change of clothes. And when she ran back into the house.... Junior and Pete Rollins had run to the helicopter, leaving Sam behind. Sam apparently had an opinion about that. Mary did understand the four words at the end of her loud tirade.... "PUT MARY BACK ON."
Without a word, Junior handed her the phone.
"Hi?" Mary asked softly.
In a perfectly level voice, as if nothing else in the world was bothering her, Sam said, "I just wanted to say I love you again, call me when you get things sorted out, ok?"
Mary giggled a little.... "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine now that I know you're ok. I love you baby. Call me soon."
Mary smiled, "I will. Love you," and hung up. She handed the phone back up to Junior. "Are you in trouble?"
He grimaced back down to her as he took his phone.... "Lots. I didn't know she knew that many cuss words."
Texas Ranger Pete Rollins sized up pretty quickly which of the two of the campus security guards were in charge of their little team as he walked up to them, he stood in front of Tall Fat, looking closely up at his face..... the fat security guard still had four inches and about 130 pounds on him. "Did she do that to you?" he asked softly, much too close for Tall Fat's comfort.
"Yeah... she.... she just attacked me for no reason. I'm... p...pressing charges," he blubbered.
Pete was quiet. "Is that when she got those bruises on her arm in the shape of your hand? After she attacked you?"
Tall Fat was quiet, looked away hoping this nightmare would end.
"What do you weigh.... about 310?" Pete asked him. "She's 95 pounds soaking wet. Do you get off manhandling little girls? Huh? Does that make your little pecker hard?" Pete was moving uncomfortably close. In Tall Fat's ear he whispered, "You want to try moving me around?" Rollins asked with deadly sincerity.
Strong Fat tried to back up through the wall.
"I didn't think so, I'm not a young girl," Rollins said, moving back out of his face, just a little. "I know this girl, you got off lucky if all you have is a broken nose." He moved in closer again so no one would overhear, "It wasn't long ago she chewed off a man's cock and spit it on his chest as she left him to bleed to death."
Tall Fat, already scared, paled. He glanced over at Mary, she had been watching with restrained glee while Mr. Rollins scared the crap out of those two college guards. When she saw Tall Fat look over at her with fear in his eyes.... she smiled as sweetly as she could to him, showing lots of teeth, and gave him a cute wave, wiggling her fingers. He actually flinched.
"Look at the both of you," he said, looking them both up and down in disgust. "Even if you don't carry a gun, that uniform means you are still in a position of authority." Pete began the speech he gave all his people when they needed a little motivation, a reminder of what they represented. "Your job is to protect the weak. To set an example. And what do you do... hurt little girls, play enforcer for a bully." He looked at both of their faces, one a time. "You represent hope. And look at both of you. The only hope you represent is hoping there's another donut left. You're both disgraces."
Speech over. It would either soak in, or it wouldn't. "Now..." Pete said softly, making him strain to listen. "Take those fucking cuffs off her and get the fuck out of here." Pete gave him exactly one second to get his ass in gear... when he hadn't gotten it in gear, in a little more than his command voice this time, he shouted "MOVE," in his face.
Tall Fat visibly jumped, peed in his pants a little, and ran around Pete Rollins, Texas Ranger, giving him a wide berth. The man with the broken nose... fumbling his handcuff key... unlocked Mary and left, not bothering to take the other side of the cuffs off the bench. Short Fat followed him out the door.
When Tall Fat was well away and feeling brave again, he called James Benneford III, Colossal Prick.
"I have to pee Daddy," Mary said, rubbing her chaffed wrist and bee-lining toward the door labeled "Ladies" that she had been trying to not look at for the last three hours.
As soon as Junior saw the door to the restroom close, "So you reckon you were going to arrest my daughter for witnessing a rape?" Junior asked casually, finally looking at the two officers who had been standing over Mary.
They didn't like his attitude, they squared off on him.
"Junior," Pete interceded with his hand on Junior's shoulder. "I would never want to stand in the way of a man taking care of his daughter, but could you do me a favor and let me get this?" On another man it would have sounded sarcastic, but Pete respected Junior... it was an honest request.... and he really hoped Junior would choose to not get himself in trouble, here. "I mean," Pete continued respectfully, "I put on my uniform and left Texas for this shithole state and everything.... how about you let me take this."
Junior was glaring at the local police... he was angry, and he had been afraid for Mary, and this wasn't like him... but it was his daughter. It was Mary. He took a deep breath and clicked out the corner of his mouth, like he was calling horse. "You got it, Pete. I'm going to see about Mary," and he walked over to the restroom door to wait for her.
Pete had a little talk to the police about jurisdiction and legal precedence and basically gave them a lesson in the art of not being a couple assholes. He was cooling the situation. He managed to get them shaking his hand and were about to be on their way when James Benneford III stormed back in, he had been having breakfast down the street when Tall Fat had called him. He still had a paper napkin tucked into his belt.
Mary came out of the restroom and walked casually back into the area, Junior at her side.
"What is the meaning of this?" he shouted, looking at un-arrested Mary, looking at the police. He didn't seem to see the Texas Rangers in the room. "I want this girl arrested now! She is to be brought up on charges! She assaulted one of my officers, and slandered a professor!" he wanted to continue, but Martinez finally reappeared.
Casually, Pete Rollins held up one finger directly in front of the raving chancellor's face in a one sec gesture.... and ignored it when James Benneford III nearly went apoplectic with rage. He was not a man accustomed to being put on hold, not in his town.
Martinez whispered in his boss's ear, "Definitely rape, out of surgery, stable but critical, barely conscious, only saying one word, 'Mary.'"
Pete nodded to him, "Do what you can to get Mary to her. Push, but not too hard if she's in Intensive. I'm not yet sure if the hospital is complicit in obstructing this case. Tell Mary how the girl is... give it to her straight. She can take it."
Mary couldn't help it, she smiled up at him.
"Sir." Martinez turned to Mary, said kindly, "She's asking for you, let's see if we can get you in."
Mary sighed in relief... she's alive... but she also could feel this situation was tense, and she could see her father more on edge than she'd ever seen him before. "Daddy," she said.
He turned to her, trying to put on a smile.
"Let's go see Erin."
He looked at his daughter steadily for a long moment. "Let's do just that," he said, and walked away from the situation with James Benneford III looking on in confusion. When he saw Mary about to walk away he lunged at her, and Pete grabbed his hand, twisted his thumb just so, and suddenly the Colossal Prick shouted in surprised pain.
"Oh, I'm sorry sir, you appear to have stumbled," and Pete made a move like he was helping the chancellor catch his balance when in reality he was twisting the man's thumb right to the point of being dislocated. He came in real close, still pretending to help. "Hurts, don't it," he said so no one else would hear. "Now why don't you calm down and let's talk." Pete let go of him, James Benneford III pulled his hand back and cradled it.
"YOU...." he began to yell....
Pete merely raised his eyebrow at him.
The chancellor reconsidered his tone. "You have no jurisdiction here, Texas Ranger. In case you haven't noticed, this is Nebraska. That girl you just let walk away is guilty of assault and slander. She will be arrested and brought up on charges."
Pete looked at him calmly. "You done?"
"Well..." the man looked a little confused. "Yes....."
"That woman is a witness in an international human smuggling case. She single handedly brought down... and I mean she literally came an inch from killing them bare handed... two of the most dangerous, wanted men in Texas. We have them cold on two murders, two attempted murders, and we haven't even figured out how many counts of rape, theft and human smuggling. That little girl. Those men are going to trial in a month, Mary Donners is a state witness, and that makes this my jurisdiction when she runs into some asshole in Nebraska who has a little power and thinks he's powerful." Pete put his finger in the chancellor's face. "You try me, I'll show you power." He continued, "She comes here and witnesses a rape, a crime has been committed and there's a victim in critical condition, and you have your fat piece of shit mall cop rough her up and you're going to arrest her. Have you taken a statement? Have you even let her tell you what happened?"
The local police, overhearing, interjected, "Uh, sir, this is the first we've heard of a rape."
Rollins gave him a nod, and turned back to the chancellor. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but as far as I am concerned you are aiding and abetting whatever happened here by delaying investigation. Why don't you get the hell out of my sight, you pompous ass, before I have my man tase you and zip tie you to this bench for the next eight hours without a restroom break." He sneered at him, and made a decision. "No... no. You stay," he ordered James Benneford III, still holding his hurting thumb. "This is my investigation, now. Mary called you an idiot, and I think she had you pegged. Jonesey," he called to the other Texas Ranger. "Call in the team, on my authority, we have a witness for the state being assaulted and railroaded, here. Let's fix this and get the hell out of this shithole state."
"You got it, boss," the man said, pulling out his phone.
Rollins turned to the two local policemen. "You two don't seem hopeless, you just didn't know what you were walking into." To them, that felt like high praise after he'd just dressed down the chancellor. "Call your superior, tell him or her that I respectfully request their presence, here. We need to chat."
They both nodded and immediately went to the other side of the room, one of them using the radio on his shoulder.
James Benneford III visibly paled. Things had just gotten way out of control.
Rollins wasn't done yet. He was on a roll. Without looking he pointed toward the door... Tall Fat and Short Fat had tried to unobtrusively slide back in behind the chancellor without being noticed. "Do those two fat pieces of shit work for you?" Rollins asked.
JB3 spluttered, "Well, errr, yes. They are officers of my campus security."
Rollins smiled, "Good, then you're my man They assaulted Mary Donners, Texas state witness. Her bruises will be documented, as well as their hands, and charges filed at the state level. A captain always take responsibility for the people under their command, eh? At least the honorable ones do." He had no doubt in his mind James Benneford III would throw his people under any bus as long as it saved his own ass, and he decided he wanted James Benneford III, Idiot, in the mood to throw people under busses. Apparently there was a rapist professor out there and this prick was wanting to cover for him.
Finally, he moved in real close to the now deflated Colossal Prick. "You sit here, right where you kept Mary. I'm not going to zip tie you down... yet. If you aren't here when I come back I'm going to be very irritated, and until now you've been seeing my sweet side."
James Benneford III sat without hesitation, folded his hands on his lap and looked up at Texas Ranger Pete Rollins expectantly, just in case there were any other instructions.
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Mary gasped when she saw Erin, she looked so.... diminished. She lay in a bed in intensive care, there were wires going down into her gown and beeping coming from the machines beside her. The only other occupied bed three down was an ancient woman with wild white hair. To Mary, Erin looked... empty. Deflated. Her eyes were closed but this wasn't the girl she remembered, neither from years ago, nor from her dorm room last night. The girl last night, bleeding, dying, trying to die, even then seemed to have a small level of vitality that this empty shell in bed before her seemed to lack.
"Erin," Mary said softly from next to her bed, Junior and Martinez looking grave, out in the hall watching through the glass.
Erin immediately opened her eyes.
To Mary, even with her eyes open, there didn't seem to be anything behind them.
It took Erin a moment to focus, but found her. "Mary," she said softly.... almost contentedly. Mary could almost hear Erin's thoughts, it wasn't a dream.
Erin closed her eyes again, and began to breathe deeply. She'd fallen asleep.
The doctor came over, he'd been standing to the side. He checked Erin's pulse, listened to her heart. "Ok young lady," he said turning to Mary. "Out." He hadn't wanted to let Mary in at all, but when Mary arrived to the ward he had been on the phone with a call from the hospital administrators, he was to be cooperative with the Texas Rangers. It appeared the woman at the desk had overhead Pete Rollins question whether or not the hospital was complicit in a cover-up, and she'd made another call. After she'd turned over on Mary to the chancellor last night, also on the hospital board of directors, she was afraid of losing her job. She hadn't known they would leave her chained to that bench the entire night....
Out in the hall Mary and the doctor joined Martinez and Junior.
The man in the CSI jacket identified himself and flashed his badge, "I am Robert Martinez of the Texas State Forensics Department. I have been authorized by the Texas Rangers to treat this as a crime scene, and in the case of Erin Banks HIPPA laws have been suspended." He looked at the doctor. "Do you understand?"
The doctor looked at them one of a time, turning back to Martinez. "I do."
"Good," Martinez stated. he continued, "I understand Erin Banks was brought here by ambulance last night at approximately 9pm, bleeding profusely and receiving a transfusion of blood." That's what Mary had told him. "What was her condition, what treatment did she receive, and what is her current prognosis?"
The doctor, still chaffing at being ordered to cooperate, looked at Mary and Junior. "Are they family?"
Martinez was having none of that. "Answer my question or I will arrest you for obstruction."
The doctor still had Erin's chart in his hands. He tried holding Martinez's gaze... but lost. "Well." he said, opening the folder. "Subject was received last night at 9:10pm with severe bleeding and hemorrhaging from her vagina and anus. Scrapes on her knees. No other trauma evident."
Mary felt her heart drop into her stomach, without realizing it she reached for her father's hand. She remembered being hurt like that sometimes, long ago.
The doctor continued, "She was receiving blood, universal donor. As she was being examined and stabilized she was typed and three more units of her type were prepared." He scanned down through the notes. He looked up, "I was on call last night, I received her," looking Martinez in the eye. "She had severe tearing in her vaginal walls, and a deep fissure in her anal sphincter. Examination revealed tearing in her rectum, and her cervix is bruised. I stitched her up," and he examined his notes in the folder. He looked down. "She was conscious, kept asking for someone named Mary. Her blood pressure was too low, I couldn't sedate her. I...." he hesitated. "I administered a local anesthetic as well as I could, there was a lot of damage. She has 18 stitches in her vagina, 7 in her sphincter and rectum. There were indications of prolapse but it was not presenting. Ultrasound last night suggested a dislocated uterus, but the follow-up an hour ago suggested that had corrected itself." He closed the folder, held it behind his back. "My prognosis is that she's out of the woods. Her bleeding has stopped and her blood pressure is stable. Ultrasound shows no internal bleeding. Her stitches are holding and to be honest I would keep her for a day or two for observation, but unless something new presents it's just letting her tears and stitches heal. She can do that at home."
Martinez glanced down at Mary, she was steady. He looked back at the doctor, "Are your observations conducive with those of a rape?"
"They are," the doctor held his eye.
"Does that chart suggest that?" This was what his boss wanted him to find out... if the hospital was trying to cover anything up.
The doctor again held his eye. "It does. In fact, I think I collected a semen sample.... the poor girl was a mess and it was difficult to tell. But I took three swabs. They are in the next room."
Martinez nodded to him. "Good man."
+++
Erin slept. She slept deeper than she had in years. Her unique, wonderful mind, pushed past a point where another person would just break... instead retreated. She dreamed, but her dreams were of blackness, of nothing. Sweet, painless nothing.
After a day the doctors got concerned and hooked her up to an EEG, and were fascinated to find her brain was awash with delta waves, usually associated with deep sleep, but also high frequency beta waves associated with consciousness. The visiting neurologist just assumed the equipment at county hospital was faulty and dismissed the results. "Call me if you get functional equipment," he said arrogantly as he walked out.
At a day and a half Erin opened her eyes. She was calm, she didn't move, she merely rolled her eyes around the room. When she saw Mary, she smiled briefly, and her eyes didn't leave Mary's face.
She was in a private room now. Mary was taking care of her bills but Pete Rollins assured her that in the lawsuit the college would be covering all medical expenses and she would be reimbursed. He had arrested Professor Ben Schmidt within 10 hours of arriving in Nebraska, Erin's DNA was found all over his office in spite of his clumsy attempts to clean the blood. His DNA had been found inside of her, though his defense attorney tried to claim there were chain of custody issues, it hadn't been collected by law enforcement. The judge allowed the evidence anyway, "I'm not going to start this by assuming the doctors are liars." College Chancellor James Benneford III, Scared Douche, suddenly became very cooperative when Texas Ranger Rollins told him that unless he cooperated fully he was likely to end up in jail beside the rapist. Texas Ranger Rollins suddenly had the the full cooperation of the College of Western Nebraska.
Upon entering the professor's office, after scoffing at the attempt to scrub blood out of the carpet, Martinez had taken one glance at the desk, put on gloves, picked up a single hair, and looked at it with a monocular he fished out of his pocket. After a moment he said, "Hair dye, Revlon, Black number one." That was the same dye on the few hairs that had been left on Erin's head. Erin's book bag was near the door, Mary's eyewitness account had him cleaning blood moments after the time Erin would have suffered the trauma, and he was pulled out of his house squealing like a pig and crying like a baby trying to get back to his dinner. His wife had made him his favorite that night.... she always tended to do what he told her when he called her a penitent. She smiled a secret smile as her husband was dragged out of the house.
What will people think? the rapist Ben Schmidt thought as he was placed into the back of a police car in front of his gawking neighbors.
+++
But now Erin's eyes were open. She would follow Mary around the room, and others if they called her name loudly enough. They let her eat a small dish of ice cream... the doctor had been feeding her through a tube, but he had injected her with a drug to slow the peristalsis... the digestive process... to give her torn rectum a few days to heal before it went back to work. But they needed to test what Erin could do, and she could feed herself. That was considered a good sign.
But he himself began to wonder if his brain scan equipment was calibrated properly, because even with her eyes open and seemingly awake, the machine still registered Erin as being in a deep sleep.
The machine was fine, Erin was asleep. No one knew her capacity for lucid dreaming, her brain having been hurt and healed so often. Erin had shut everything down. Anything except the most basic awareness hurt too much... too many bad memories.... they had to go. She'd see Mary, remember her, smile. She would smile when Mary showed her pictures of Lucy, Nora, Laura, or Ashley on her new phone. Mary'd asked them all to text her a selfie, for Erin.... she laughed when Nora's selfie was her in the bathroom in front of a mirror, smiling and pulling her shirt up showing her boobs. "She should remember these," Nora had said. Erin smiled at that, too. Erin was there, somewhere. But deep in Erin's mind, deeper than her awareness could comprehend, in the farthest place, there was a pool. A pool of still, cold water. Deep within that pool was a little girl, barely there, straining so hard to reach the surface, but frozen.
+++
After two days Erin was up and walking, slowly, tenderly. The doctor said that was a great sign, examined her, said nothing hard torn. Erin had shown no indication she was aware the doctor was down there, in her body.
The third day there was no more spotting on the pad Erin wore, and they began making plans to take her home.
Pete Rollins was lingering, in spite of the crime investigating being wrapped up and evidence secured. Given the orgy of evidence Ben Schmidt's defense attorney was strongly suggesting to him to take a guilty plea to get the least amount of prison time as possible. Schmidt insisted she was a willing sexual partner and had left his office happily, and this was all being blown out of proportion.
In exchange for immunity from prosecution, James Benneford III, Weasel, was also persuaded to tell Pete Rollins, in front of a camera and next to his lawyer, everything he knew about the Oklahoma Compound for Wayward Children. There was a lot. What Pete Rollins learned disturbed him deeply.
He wasn't sure what was going to be done about that yet, but he had to get Erin sorted out, and he got the State of Texas to take responsibility for her due to the incompetence of her mother, still in a mental institution in central Florida. Once that was secured Pete turned to Junior and Mary. "My friends," he started. "I was wondering if you could keep an eye on Miss Banks for me, for the state. Take care of her. See if you can help her."
Junior and Mary spoke at the same time, "Of course." They looked at each other, smiled. Pete shook both of their hands.
The Texas Ranger looked down at Mary, "You sure do keep me busy, darlin," he said smiling.
She smiled back at up him, then embraced him. "Thanks for being there for me again."
Pete wasn't used to being hugged while on duty, but slowly embraced her back. "Any time, darlin. You just call any time."
He looked back at both of them. "I need to get back to Texas, I get jumpy when I am away too long. Y'all get back soon, too."
Junior nodded, but Mary said, "Ugh, we so will. Nebraska sucks."
He left, looking to take his team and go home. When he was gone Mary said, "Daddy, book a flight home this afternoon. I'm coming with Erin, but we are going to Florida first. I want my doctor to see her but she's on bed rest."
Junior looked at his daughter. "Will you be..." ok going alone? Last time... this time....
She smiled. "Yes daddy, I can do this. Erin needs me."
He nodded to her. My brave girl. "Do you have a message for Sam and your mother?"
"Yes... tell them I love them, and I'm coming home tonight with a friend."
+++
Mary was getting accustomed to flying private, she actually let herself think I could get used to this, as she allowed herself to be pampered by the flight crew. She took care of Erin, when she gave Erin a glass of orange juice and a sandwich, she ate it. When she showed Erin the clouds out the window she thought of her own first plane trip, leaving Florida. Erin watched them. The flight crew was getting to know Mary.... they brought her a 7-Up without Mary having to ask.
+++
Mary had given them notice they were coming and Linda had wanted to get in the shower, but Larry told her to stay in bed and gave her a very pleasant sponge bath, instead. She found it to be orgasmically refreshing.
Chief Hawkins met them outside as their car pulled up, helping both the ladies out. He was surprised, Mary had forgotten to mention Erin had a shaved head. "It is lovely to see you again," he said to Erin, offering his hand. She made the motion to take it but sort of did it half way, instead turning to Mary to stand beside her.
"Come," he said. "Linda is anxious to see you and she will be angry if I keep you out here."
Mary smiled and they followed him in.
Mary hugged her old doctor in her bed, leaning over. "Wow you are so pregnant," Mary smiled.
"I know!" Linda smiled and frowned at the same time. "I'm a whale but Larry says he loves it so I don't know... now I'm beginning to question his mental health," and they all laughed. Erin smiled, watching everyone.
Linda turned her gaze, "You must be Erin, I've heard so many good things about you from Mary and Lucy. They say you are a hero."
Erin just looked at her, maybe smiling. Mostly blank.
Linda looked into Erin's eyes.
"They told me you had pretty blonde hair," Linda said, prodding, studying.
Erin was blank.
"Mary says she owes you her life."
Erin's eyes turned to Mary briefly at the mention of her name, but there was nothing.
"Would you like to see your mother?"
Erin looked at her and blinked, her smile gone... Erin couldn't hear the lower-case M in the question.... but then she just looked away.
After a long pause, "Are you in there, Erin?"
Nothing.
Linda frowned. "You poor girl." She looked around, gesturing at some chairs Larry had moved in from the living room. "Please, everyone, sit." She turned to Mary, "You told me she had tests done in Nebraska, have you brought the results?"
Mary turned the satchel that was over her shoulder, opening it. "Yes..." pulling out a sheaf of papers. "The doctor there said his machine may need calibrating because the results didn't make sense." She handed the papers to Linda.
Linda started going through them, spreading them on the bed around her, whichever one she was currently reading she rested on her round, pregnant tummy. She went back and forth, comparing this test to that.
"The calibration tests show within range," she muttered to herself.
She looked up at Erin, looked at her closely. Erin was looking out the window.
She looked down one more time at a paper on her stomach.
"This indicates Erin is asleep, but still has active, lucid motor control. That is.... unheard of." She twisted her mouth, thinking. "Does she close her eyes at night and sleep?"
Mary blinked at her, she never thought of that. "Well... yes. For the last couple nights she closed her eyes like... maybe 10.... then I slept in the chair in her room. When I get up in the middle of the night to pee or whatever she's asleep. When I wake up at daybreak she is already awake looking at me."
Linda looked at Erin for a long time, observing. She looked back at papers a few times, but always came back to Erin. "I don't know that these test results are wrong," she finally said.
"Really?" Mary asked.
"She looks like every other chronic sleepwalker we've had through the clinic. I just think she's stuck in that state. I mean," she qualified, "These are just initial observations. But if I was at the clinic I'd run my own EEG, and I know my equipment is good to go. But I think the results would be the same. She has retreated into herself beyond consciousness, but her body is awake." She hesitated. "You said... she had been brutalized. Did you bring...."
Mary reached into her satchel, pulled out a folder and brought it to the bed. "This is bad," Mary warned her.
Linda took it gravely, opened it. The medical records were complete, and included pictures. Pregnant Linda paled and almost turned green, read quickly, and closed the folder. She closed her eyes and was still for a moment, but then reciting a textbook from memory. "Severe trauma can cause a person to retreat into their own mind, sometimes even resulting in the emersion of alternate personalities who don't remember the trauma, or are perhaps just more equipped to process it..." she opened her eyes, looked back at Mary. "I've never seen EEG results like this before, perhaps no one ever has. I just don't know, Mary."
Mary looked back at her, and reached out and took Erin's hand.
Linda noticed Erin held it.
"So," Mary asked, "Should I take her home with me? I can take care of her. And the ranch... it helped me. Maybe it will be good for her?"
Linda considered. "If it were anyone else, I would recommend Erin go straight to my clinic. But..." she looked at Mary. "You know what needs to be done. You've lived it. If there was anywhere in the world I think Erin could be helped, I would say it was with you, in Texas." She was quiet for a moment. "You might think about hiring on a nurse for a month, she still has injuries and you're so remote out there. If she tore some stitches or something you're pretty far from the hospital."
"That's a good idea," Mary said, thinking to herself.
"Can you stay for dinner?" Larry asked.
Mary smiled at him. "I'd like to.... but I told my wife we'd be home tonight and I miss her, and my jet is waiting for us. And now I have to stop in... I don't know... Austin? And get a nurse."
He smirked at her, "Listen to you... my wife. My jet. I took you on your first plane ride," he smiled. "You really surprised us all, Mary."
Linda considered, "Where is your jet landing?"
"Waco, we get on a helicopter there for home."
Larry smirked again. Helicopter...
"If you want I can make calls while you're flying, have a nurse ready to meet you there. For a month?"
"Make it two, just in case," Mary answered.
"That can be expensive... is there a price limit?" Linda asked.
"Get the best one in Texas, if you can. Let them name their price."
Linda smiled at her. "Never go shopping for a car on your own, honey. They'll see you coming a mile away." Linda suddenly looked to the side like something had occurred to her, "You know...." then back at Mary... "Do you remember Janie?"
Mary's eyes went wide... Janie was the blonde nurse at the clinic who was the first person Mary had let touch her, so long ago... she would brush Mary's hair at night. Of course she remembered Janie. "Yes," she said, her voice suddenly cracking. Her heart skipped a beat, she put her hand over it.
"It still sneaks up on you sometimes, doesn't it," Linda asked her, understanding.
"Yeah," her voice a little airy.
Linda nodded and gave her a tender look. "Janie's single and has no kids... she might be available... and she's a certified RN and obviously is well experienced working with mental trauma. I'll loan her to you, if you want. That way you'd know who was staying with you and there wouldn't be any personality conflicts or anything. Would you like me to call her?"
Mary didn't trust her voice. She nodded.
Linda smiled, grabbing her cell phone at her side. She dialed, it rang. "Janie, it's Linda." She paused, "Yes I'm fine thank you, and any day now," and she smiled. "But I was calling you to.... I was wondering.... have you ever wanted to visit Texas?" with a smile on her face.
++
Mary and Janie's reunion at the airport two hours later was emotional, they hadn't seen each other since the day Mary left the clinic. The first thing Janie said to her was, "Mary, oh my god, you're so tall!" Mary introduced her to Erin, and Janie immediately began making friends. Erin even gave her a small, confused smile.
Janie hadn't realized they were flying out of the private terminal, and looked at Mary again as she led to their rented jet, holding Erin's hand.
+++++
Mitch Whitman, formerly known as John Branch, sat at his kitchen table looking at the file he had downloaded and printed at work. It wasn't classified, so no one cared. He had a plan that if he was asked he was going to say he was just doing his homework, it had all happened so close to his territory... but no one had asked.
His very pregnant Mia waddled through the kitchen cleaning up dinner dishes, the Navajo midwife, a houseguest until Mia delivered, was in the living room playing with little Rosalita. They had to keep their fun games private while the midwife was staying, sharing silent cummies in the dark of night... but right now he couldn't stop looking at the picture of the woman in the file.... the girl, really.... who had grievously wounded the two Coyotes. Without a doubt it was the Mary Donners that he knew. What is she doing way the hell out here....
He was wondering what, if anything, he should do about it.... and whether or not she'd know anything about Erin. John didn't know about Google Alerts.
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