Obsession With Murder

by Jenn Vakey

  She stopped and listed, but no response came. The anger was leaving her as her fear started to take over once more. “Ben!” she yelled again, her voice shakier than before. She ran through each room, not taking the time to clear them before moving to the next. After quickly covering the first floor, she moved up to the second.

  “Ben!” she yelled a third time. Tears started rolling down her face as she stuck her head in the first two rooms only to find them empty. She was just reaching out for the doorknob of the third when she heard a moan from within.

  She pushed the door open and rushed in, the air leaving her lungs when she did.

  “Ben!” she exclaimed, dropping her gun to the floor before hurrying toward him.

  “Stop,” he moaned. He was laid out on a large, heart-shaped bed with his eyes still closed. “Just leave me alone.”

  She moved her hand gently through his hair before leaning down and kissing him hard on the lips. When she did, he groaned and pulled away.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s me. It’s Rilynne. I’m here, baby. I found you.”

  “Rye,” he whispered groggily, his eyes still not opening. “Rye.”

  She pulled the silky red sheet off of him, and found herself relieved to see him wearing pajama bottoms. She laughed at herself for having the thought, but with what Nancy was wearing, she couldn’t push it entirely from her mind.

  “Are you all right?” she asked, looking him over quickly. There was a diagonal bruise running across his bare chest that she knew was from the seat belt. Though he had a couple smaller bruises his upper body and face, he appeared to be fine.

  When she moved her hands over his legs, though, he let out a quick cry.

  “What is it?” she asked, pulling a knife out of her back pocket. He didn’t utter a word as she gently picked the pants up off of his right knee just enough for her to slide the knife into them. When she sliced down to the ankle, she pulled the fabric aside and found his leg wrapped in a thick white bandage.

  She looked back up to him and found him still unconscious on the bed. Nancy must have been drugging him. After gently caressing his face, she started cutting away at the bandage. He whimpered groggily as she worked her way down, and let out a groan when she peeled it off his leg. When she looked down at it, she closed her eyes and had to force herself not to cry out as well.

  Though she couldn’t be certain, it appeared that Ben has suffered a compound fracture that Nancy attempted to reset herself. There was a wound just below his knee that appeared to be healing, and his leg was severely bruised. She had hoped to wake him enough to move him, but he wasn’t going anywhere on this.

  Before she could think of anything to do, she heard noise coming from the front of the house. She slid gently off the end of the bed and crossed to the window, relieved when she looked out.

  Rilynne pulled the phone from her pocket and started dialing.

  “I need paramedics upstairs,” she told Wilcome when he answered. She watched him until he looked at the window and met her eye before she turned back to Ben. “I’ve got him,” she said, the joy and relief sounding through her voice. “He’s hurt and he’s been drugged, but I think he’s all right. Matthews is in the basement with Nancy Santos. I would recommend sending Lori in with a female officer if you have one. She isn’t exactly dressed.”

  She hung up without waiting for a response. Unsurprisingly, he stepped in the room behind her, short of breath from the run she was sure he took, not fifteen seconds later.

  “It’s his leg,” she said, running her fingers gently through his hair.

  “Rye,” he whispered, though he still hadn’t opened his eyes. He seemed more relaxed than he had when she walked in. Although he was still out, she was convinced he knew she was there and she wasn’t going to let anything happen to him.

  Wilcome looked over his leg as they both remained silent and waited for the paramedics to arrive. The weight Rilynne had been feeling all but disappeared. She pulled Ben’s hand up to her face and rested her cheek against it. As she closed her eyes, the tears began flowing freely down her face. She had him back.

  Wilcome had to physically pull her out of the way when the paramedics arrived so they could get him off of the heart shaped bed. Though the sheets were red, she could see the blood stains when they moved him. She tried not to look at them, but it was hard not to.

  “Will you be riding with him?” the paramedic asked as they wheeled him to the door.

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation. “He’s my husband.”

  Getting him downstairs was a slow moving process. There was a turn in them that made it difficult to maneuver past. When they finally reached the bottom, they were met by Lori and Matthews as they led Nancy out through the front, a robe now covering her sheer clothed body.

  “You had no right coming here and taking him,” Nancy snapped. Her eyes still held the same level of hatred for Rilynne they had before. “He wasn’t meant to be with you. You aren’t good enough for him. He deserves so much better. You didn’t even want to be with him until he started showing interest in me. As soon as any sense of competition is gone, you’re going to grow tired and move along. That’s what girls like you do. You’re just like Brittney, and we all know what happened to her.”

  The restraint Rilynne had been holding on to disappeared. She let go of the grip she had on the stretcher and made it to Nancy before anyone had time to react. She could feel everyone tense behind her, but she didn’t care.

  “You listen to me,” she said coldly. “That man is my husband. Just like Danny, Ben has never had any interest in you. I don’t really know how you turn being ignored and overlooked into an attraction, but that’s all it ever was. There is no competition and there never has been. Ben and I were together long before your little ill-placed crush on him, and no matter what delusions you might have, nothing is going to change that. I’m going to tell you what is going to change, though. You’re going to stay out of our lives and you will never come near him again.”

  “You can’t keep him away from me,” she said, not slowed by Rilynne’s words. “If he wants to be with me, there’s nothing you can do to stop him.”

  Rilynne balled up her fist, but kept it at her side. Had she not been standing in the middle of a room filled with officers and the paramedics standing with Ben, she wouldn’t have been able to hold back. “You didn’t even bother asking him what he wanted, did you?” Rilynne asked. “Although, you don’t really listen when he talks, do you? Ben has told you himself that he isn’t interested in you. He has also told me that he told you we were together before you crossed our paths. I don’t see what part of any of that left you with the impression that he wanted to be with you. Your little obsession is yours alone.”

  “That’s just what he told you,” Nancy shot back. “He made it very clear to a mutual friend of ours that those weren’t his real feelings. He wants away from you. I’m the one he really wants to be with. I finally got him out from under your tyrannical control. You had no right coming and dragging him back.”

  Rilynne’s gaze moved from Nancy to Lori and Matthews. Both seemed just as confused by her words.

  “And what friend would that be?” Rilynne asked skeptically, an odd calm passing over her.

  For the first time, Nancy’s confidence faltered. She had a look about her that said she realized she’d said too much. It wasn’t like she had been caught in a lie, like she was making the entire encounter up, but more like she had mentioned something she was supposed to keep hidden.

  “Who told you that, Nancy?” Rilynne demanded.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “We should go,” the paramedic said, breaking the tension in the room.

  Rilynne glared at Nancy for a brief moment, then nodded and turned her back to her. Ben was starting to rouse, and his eyes were finally open. The look he had when he saw her took away all of the anger that Nancy had caused. The confusion and fear that were in them when they opened disappeared, a
s well, when his eyes settled on her, and he gave her the best smile his weak body could muster.

  “I’m here,” she whispered, stepping back to the side of the stretcher as they started moving again toward the door. “You’re safe now. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you, but I’m here now. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  “Rye,” he whispered, reaching for her hand.

  His eyes closed again before they reached the back of the ambulance, but his hold didn’t weaken.

  “How does it look?” she asked the paramedic looking at Ben’s leg, but she didn’t look down herself. She didn’t want to see any more of his injury than she already had. After quickly glancing over at him, she turned back to Ben. With her free hand, she ran her fingers through his hair and moved it away from his face. There were several visible bruises that looked to be in the process of healing. From what she could see, there didn’t appear to be any severe injuries other than that to his leg.

  “The infection seems minimal,” he responded. “He’s been sedated, but his vitals are stable.”

  “Was it a fracture?” she asked.

  He looked over it for a moment, then gave her a half nod. “It’s possible. The doctors will be able to answer all of your questions after they run tests. From what I can tell, though, he’s a pretty lucky man. Who long did they say he was missing?”

  “Six days,” Rilynne replied, then leaned down and kissed Ben’s hand. She closed her eyes, not to be able to see anything, but because she was happy and felt relaxed for the first time since this had all began. She held on tight to his hand, though, fearing that this was nothing more than a dream and he would be gone again when she opened them.

  Rilynne didn’t let go of his hand until the ambulance stopped in front of the hospital, but she maintained her place by his side until they moved him into a room and forced her to out of the way. Despite their numerous requests, she refused to leave the room. When an officer walked in after the third request, she was sure they had called to have her escorted out. If they had, he didn’t agree with them. He took one look at Rilynne, and then turned to Ben.

  “Do you need anything, Detective?” he asked.

  “No, thank you,” she replied, guilty she didn’t know his name.

  The doctor shot him a quick annoyed look before he walked out, leaving Rilynne where she stood.

  She couldn’t move as she watched the doctors working on him. She held her breath, only taking one when she realized she hadn’t in a while, and waited to hear the news. Though she was sure they were operating at normal speeds, it felt like they were moving in slow motion. It only grew worse when they rolled him out for x-rays and insisted that she stay in the room. Begrudgingly, she complied.

  “Mrs. Davis,” the doctor said when they finally rolled him back in. “It appears that your husband suffered a compound fracture that was then poorly reset. I’m going to have him prepped now for surgery. We need to clean the bone and the wound before we stabilize it. Luckily, it appears that he had been on a regimen of antibiotics, which helped to minimize infection. We won’t know until we get in there how severe the injury was.”

  Rilynne nodded before crossing the room and sitting down at his side.

  “Rye,” he groaned as the doctor walked out. She took his hand and gently ran her fingers over his cheek. He struggled to open his eyes as he looked around the room. “Where are we? What happened? Did she take you too? You have to get out of here. This is all my fault.”

  “We’re at the hospital,” she said softly. “There was an accident.”

  He looked confused. “No,” he said. “I was in a house; she told me you were gone. I thought...”

  “I know,” she said, stopping him before he could continue. “Nancy Santos hit us with her car while we were driving back into town. She took you back to her house and was holding you there when we found her.”

  He still seemed to be out of it. Confusion occupied his face, and was only worsened by her explanation.

  “An accident?” he asked. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m...” she said, choosing her words carefully. “I’m fine. We can talk about all of that when you’re better, though. You’re going into surgery for your leg soon. You had a compound fracture, and they’re going in to repair it.”

  He nodded as his eyes grew heavy and started to close again. “Okay,” he mumbled. “I should have listened to you. That girl’s crazy.”

  Before Rilynne could respond, Ben had already fallen back to sleep. While she normally liked hearing that she was right, it did nothing to help her in that moment. Her relief for having him back was still tainted by the anger she had toward Nancy. In addition to that, though, she was also filled with guilt. She should have known better than to let it go in the first place without putting up a stronger fight. She’d seen people just as unstable as Nancy in her years on the force. She recognized the signs and knew where it could head, but she just didn’t let herself accept that it would ever make it to that point. It was a mistake she’d never make again.

  Ben didn’t wake again before they came back to take him to surgery half an hour later. Rilynne followed them out and sat in the waiting room to wait for news. Her stomach started to moan around two, but she wasn’t going to leave until someone told her that her husband was fine. Though the doctor’s stated the procedure should only take two hours to complete, she didn’t get her satisfaction until just under four.

  “Everything went very well,” Dr. Carnes stated when he walked into the waiting room. “We reset the fracture and managed to save more tissue than I had originally estimated. Luckily, whoever set the leg in the first place did manage to restore blood flow. He’s going to have some work ahead of him, but he should regain full use of the leg.”

  “Thank you,” Rilynne exclaimed, jumping from her seat and embracing him. Tears were once again rolling down her cheeks, but this time they were full of joy. Even as optimistic as she tried to remain, she still hadn’t fully believed they would walk away from this without some serious loss.

  Dr. Carnes walked back through the doors as a nurse walked out to meet Rilynne.

  “It should be another half an hour before he comes out of the anesthesia,” she stated. “We’ll be taking him back to the room shortly if you want to meet us there. The menu should be arriving soon to make dinner selections. He shouldn’t have any restriction with eating if you want to put in the order for him. From what I’ve been told, you haven’t eaten yourself since you arrived. Order something for yourself while you’re at it.”

  Rilynne gave her a grateful smile before turning and making her way back to the room. She had just dropped down in a chair when the doors opened and Ben was wheeled back in. He looked just like he was sleeping. Seeing him unconscious in a hospital bed wasn’t an unfamiliar sight for her. In fact, she had seen it more times than she was happy to think about.

  Rilynne sat down by his side and watched him carefully for even the smallest sign that he was waking up. The moment he started to stir twenty minutes later, she was on her feet, running her fingers gently through his hair.

  “Ben,” she said, softly. Her voice snagged in her throat. “Can you hear me? It’s Rilynne, baby. Are you awake?”

  “Rye,” he mumbled, struggling to open his eyes. They were barely cracked before a smile emerged on his face. “You’re really here. I thought it was just a dream and I was still in that horrible place. I never thought I’d make it out of there. I don’t ever want to go back to that house.”

  He was still groggy from the sedation, so she just kissed his forehead and played with his hair until he seemed to be more aware of what was going on.

  “How’s my leg?” he asked, his eyes not leaving her face. “I didn’t... were they able to fix it?”

  Rilynne nodded. “You didn’t lose it,” she said, knowing without him needing to say another word just what he was afraid of. “They fixed you up, and you’ll be back to yourself in no time. How are you feeling?”
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  “I missed you so much,” he said, his eyes fixed on hers. “She told me you were gone. I didn’t think I was ever going to see you again.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she said, watching his eyes grow heavier with every passing moment. “Get some rest, my love. I’ll be right here when you wake up. I promise I’m not going anywhere.”

  Ben’s head nodded so slightly she barely caught it as his eyes closed again. It wasn’t until she was sure that he was out that she let herself give in to the torment she was feeling. He was in so much pain and it killed her that she couldn’t do anything to stop it. If she’d only been more careful in the past, the blow she took might not have taken her memories. If she’d still had them, it would have only taken them a matter of hours to find Ben, not a week. It was her fault he’d been in so much pain, and there wasn’t anything anyone could say that would make her believe otherwise.

  For the first time all week, Rilynne gave in completely to her emotions and cried. She cried so long and hard, she feared she would never be able to stop.

  * * *

  “How is he?” Matthews asked.

  Rilynne looked down to her watch; it was almost midnight.

  “The surgery went well,” she groaned groggily. “Although Nancy did a shoddy job resetting his leg, it wasn’t terribly difficult for them to fix. They had to cut out some tissue, but overall it was better than they expected going in. It’s going to take some time, but he will eventually be back to normal.”

  “Did they use rods or screws?” he asked.

  She shook her head and looked at the device on his leg. “Because of the time delay with treatment, they decided the best option was to go with the external fixation. Personally, I think it looks like he got his leg stuck in a stack of metal rings. I’m still trying to figure out how he’s going to be able to get dressed with that thing on.”

  Matthews chuckled and rubbed his hands over his tired face. “Has he said anything about what happened?”

  “He’s been out of it pretty much the entire time,” she said. She started to sit up in the chair, but quickly changed her mind and pulled the blanket up tightly around her. “He remembered being at the house and that Nancy told him I was gone, but that’s all he’s really said. Every time I get him to start talking about it, he just ends up dozing back off. I don’t really want to push him right now. He’s been through enough. Have you been able to get anything out of her? Has she revealed who she was talking about?”