by Jill Sanders
Chapter 15
Emily was very grateful that everyone was too busy to see Rafe and her walk out of the abandoned office hand in hand.
She was also thankful that for the next five hours, she only ran into him a handful of times, each time only getting to smile or say hi as they passed in the hallway.
She needed time to think. Not just about him leaving the ER and moving up to surgery, but about her feelings towards him. In the last day, they had made the move from causal sex friends to… more. Hadn’t they?
She knew what she’d been trying to convey when she’d told him that she hadn’t been there before. Had he gotten her meaning, fully?
Jamie had texted her and mentioned that Blaine had suggested they all go out to celebrate Rafe’s promotion after shift.
Since they didn’t clock out until after midnight, they agreed to meet at a bar two blocks from the hospital.
By the time she showered and changed into her own clothes, her back and feet were hurting so bad, she desperately wanted to cancel. But since it was to celebrate Rafe’s new position, she dragged herself out to her car and drove the block and a half to Sharky’s, a bar she’d never been to before. When the smell of food hit her, she realized she hadn’t eaten since lunch.
Seeing Rafe, Blaine, and Jamie sitting at a high-top near the bar, she made her way across the room.
“Hey.” She stopped and gave Rafe a kiss, then scanned her friend’s face. Jamie looked… relaxed. Really relaxed. A look she hadn’t seen on her face for a long time.
“You got laid,” she accused her friend, then turned to Blaine. After seeing the huge smile on his face, she gasped. “You two…” She pointed between them with a giggle as she sat down.
“Can you be a bigger dork?” Jamie sighed and rested her chin in her hands. “I don’t know how you two do this. I only had three hours of classes this afternoon and I’m exhausted. You’ve probably been going all day.”
“I was up at five.” Rafe shrugged. “Worked a double shift today. Emily had class at seven.” He glanced in her direction.
“Five hours in classes and the rest in the ER.” She smiled. “Exhausted, but happy,” she said as Rafe took her hand in his. “How was your trip?” she asked Jamie.
Her friend’s eyes moved to Blaine’s. “Eventful,” she answered.
“Sex can be very eventful,” Rafe joked.
Blaine kicked him under the table, causing him to laugh.
Jamie filled her in on the trip while Blaine and Rafe talked surgery and his new position.
She ordered a burger and fries, opting to skip any sugary drinks since she had to be up early tomorrow to do it all over again.
They were waiting for their food and Jamie was telling her about Blaine’s boat, when she stopped talking. Emily glanced over and noticed Jamie was looking at the television over Rafe’s head. Her friend had turned pale white. Emily had seen the look more than a dozen times over the past few weeks, and she rushed over to catch her before she slid off the barstool.
“What the…” Blaine rushed over and helped Emily hold Jamie up. “Get her to the floor,” he said.
“No, lay her on the booth.” Emily pointed to the booth next to them. She doubted Jamie would want to lay on a sticky floor that was covered in peanut shells.
Blaine easily picked her up and laid her gently down.
“Oh my, what happened?” The waiter rushed over.
“Can we get some water?” Emily turned to the guy while Blaine helped Jamie.
“Should I call 911?”
“No, we’re doctors,” Rafe said easily. “She just passed out.”
“I’ll go check on your food,” the guy said as if that was why Jamie had passed out and turned to quickly disappear.
By then, Jamie was already coming to. “It’s…” Her eyes moved back to the screen. “The car,” she said softly to Blaine.
“What car?” Emily glanced at the screen and watched a news report from earlier that evening.
On the screen flashed the story under the picture.
“Father and son discover a car in a lake via drone.”
Emily turned back to Jamie. “What car?” She sat next to her friend since Blaine had walked over to listen to the report. Jamie was sitting up in the booth, her head resting on the wood table. “Jamie?” She touched her shoulder.
“Em.” Jamie jerked up and wrapped her arms around her. Emily held her as her friend cried on her shoulder.
Emily vaguely heard Rafe ask for their food to be wrapped up to go.
“I’ll drive her back to our place.” Emily took Jamie’s hand and made sure to grab their purses and jackets as she passed by their table.
“I’ll get the food.” Blaine sighed and motioned for Rafe.
Emily was too busy shuffling Jamie out of the bar to hear any more of their conversation.
“Are you okay?” Emily asked once she had Jamie safe in her car.
“Yes,” Jamie said, her head resting back in the seat as her eyes closed. Emily could see the pain on her friend’s face.
“What’s going on?” Emily asked as she pulled out of the parking lot.
“I… can’t.” Jamie shook her head.
A sting of pain hit Emily knowing that her friend wouldn’t confide in her.
“Can’t or won’t?” Emily asked as she drove through the dark streets towards their apartment.
“Both,” Jamie answered, causing more pain to surface. They remained silent as they made their way to their apartment.
“I know I’m hurting you,” Jamie said as they pulled into their apartment complex. “I… don’t know if I want to drag you into this. I’ve already told Blaine…”
“You told him?” She turned off the car and turned to Jamie. “We’ve been friends, best friends, for almost three years now and you told him something that you won’t tell me?” Emily shook her head. “Does this have to do with you taking Molly all of the time?”
Instead of answering, Jamie sighed heavily and then swallowed.
“Fine.” Emily started getting out of the car.
“No.” Jamie took her hand. “I’ll tell you, just…” Her eyes moved to the apartments. “Inside. Let’s wait for Rafe and Blaine. That way I only have to say it once.”
Emily nodded and swallowed the hurt. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I will be.” Jamie reached for the door handle, but Emily rushed around and helped her out.
“I may be pissed at you, but I don’t want you falling on your face,” she said. “I just showered all the blood off from my shift.”
Jamie smiled. “I love you.” She stopped and hugged her. “No matter what you think of me after… I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said, hugging her friend in return.
“I’m going to go change into something more… comfortable,” Jamie said when they walked into the apartment.
Emily tugged off her shoes and threw her purse on the table. She had pulled out a bottle of wine and poured two glasses when Rafe and Blaine knocked on the door.
By the time Jamie came back out of her room, the food was all set up on the table.
Emily could tell instantly that Jamie had taken something and felt frustrated that her friend felt the need to lose herself in drugs instead of trusting her friends.
“Hey.” Blaine took Jamie by the shoulders. “We talked about this, remember?”
“That was before…” Jamie shrugged him off and walked over to the television and flipped it on. After finding a news channel, she motioned to the screen as the story played again.
There were images of a crane pulling a submerged car out of dark water.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Rafe asked, as he took a bite of his burger. “Sorry, I didn’t have lunch or dinner.” He motioned to the food.
“I’m eating too.” She sat down and took her own burger.
“Eat,” Jamie chuckled. “This can wait.” She turned to Blaine. “It’s waited this long. Wha
t’s a few more minutes?”
Blaine walked over and wrapped his arms around Jamie, saying something softly in her ear.
Emily was too engrossed in filling her stomach to hear.
“You should eat something,” Blaine told Jamie and nudged her into a chair at the table.
Jamie took up a few fries, but then reached for the glass of wine Emily had poured.
“No.” Emily scooped it away from her. “I poured this before I knew you had taken something. You only get wine if you’re sober to begin with.” She poured the extra wine into her own glass and swallowed some of it.
“Bitch.” Jamie sighed and took up another French fry.
“You know it.” Emily saluted with her glass before taking yet another sip.
She was thankful that Blaine forced Jamie to eat half of her chicken sandwich and fries. By the time everyone was done eating, Jamie looked a little steadier.
They all moved into the living room and Blaine reached over and unmuted the television. Everyone listened to the report of the father and son taking their new drone out for a spin, flying it over the lake, and seeing a submerged car on the camera screen. They called the police, who responded by pulling the car out. They had discovered a body locked in the trunk of the car.
Jamie rushed from the room upon hearing this, and Emily could hear her emptying her stomach in the bathroom as Blaine rushed to help.
“What the hell is going on?” Rafe asked softly.
“Hell, if I know.” She leaned forward and listened to the rest of the report.
“…body discovered in the locked trunk,” the report continued, “which appears to have been placed there over two years ago…”
Emily’s stomach dropped and suddenly she felt light-headed. Two years. That’s when Jamie had started going on a self-destructive path. Before then, she’d been a little wild, but nothing like the turn she’d taken two years ago. Emily had questioned for that long what had caused her friend to go off the deep end. Jamie’s Molly use, the drinking, the wild one-night stands, all the pent-up rage her friend seemed to have. It suddenly all made sense.
“Oh my…” She hadn’t realized she’d said it out loud, but when Rafe took her hand, she looked over at him.
“What?” He frowned.
Emily stood up and rushed to the hallway just as Jamie and Blaine were coming out of the bathroom.
“Two years…” she said, and after seeing Jamie’s pale eyes and the desperation behind them, Emily gripped the wall. “Jamie, tell me you didn’t kill someone two years ago.”
“It’s not what it seems,” Blaine started, but Rafe stepped in.
“Then I suppose it’s about time the both of you started talking.”
Everyone moved back into the living area. Jamie and Blaine sat down on the sofa while Emily took the chair and Rafe sat on the armrest next to her.
“It was seven months after we’d moved in together.” Jamie’s eyes met hers. “Our first spring break, two years ago.” Jamie leaned up and took Blaine’s warm beer and took a drink of it. “You bailed on me and went out on that cruise with your dad.”
Emily nodded, remembering the surprise cruise to the Bahamas her father had sprung for them.
“I decided to go out with some friends, but when I got to the club, they texted me and bailed on me as well.”
“What club?” Rafe asked.
“Full Throttle,” Blaine answered for Jamie, making Emily wonder just how long he’d known the secret her friend was trying to get out now.
“I had a drink.” She shook her head. “I woke up in the trunk of a car.”
“What?” Emily sat up. Fear and anger flooded her.
“I only remember someone buying me a drink.” She looked down at her hands. “He had big hands…” She paused.
“The reason you freaked and passed out with Rocko?” Emily asked.
Jamie nodded and took another deep breath. “The guy flipped out when I spilled some of my drink on my top. I’m pretty sure that’s because it was drugged.”
“He drugged you and threw you in a trunk?” Emily reached over and took her friend’s hand.
“Yes, but since I didn’t drink the entire thing, I think I woke up early. I was in the trunk of a car and totally freaking out. I looked around for my purse, my phone, but the only thing in the trunk was a tire iron. The car drove for what seemed like hours. When it stopped, I waited…”
“What happened?” Emily asked when Jamie stopped talking. Emily could tell she was trying to muster up the strength to continue. Concerned that her friends would turn on her.
After taking another sip of the beer, she continued.
“I could hear someone talking, then when the trunk opened, I swung out.” Jamie’s eyes were closed now. “I must have caught him off guard because he went down easily.”
“Did you see his face?” Rafe asked when she grew silent again.
Jamie shook her head. “I… no.”
“What about after?” he asked.
“There wasn’t enough left, after.” Jamie leaned down and put her head between her knees. “Oh god. I killed him. I killed a man and then stuffed his body into the trunk of his own car and drove it into the lake he’d parked in front of. I had to walk for hours to get back to civilization.” She cried out as Blaine gathered her into his arms. “I hid a murder for two years. Oh god.”
Emily turned to watch the muted television screen as the car was once more pulled out of the water in the repeated footage.
She’d come very close to losing her best friend two years ago. The fact that she was only now finding out stung, but no matter what happened, Emily was going to do everything in her power to help Jamie.
Chapter 16
Rafe stayed for as long as he could after Jamie had confided in them. He even thought about crashing at their place, but in the end, the need for clean clothes won out and he drove back to his apartment to crash for a few hours.
He knew Blaine and Emily would take care of Jamie. He didn’t know a lot about the legal side of what Jamie had done, concealing the kidnapping and murder, but he had a few friends he could call, if the need arose. Still, he didn’t doubt she was justified in her actions.
When his alarm went off the next morning, he dragged himself out of bed and took a cold shower to wake himself up. He even drank three cups of coffee while getting dressed and shaving to help wake him before heading into work.
Today was to be his first day in surgery and, even though he was excited, the weight of what Jamie had sprung on them last night loomed over his head.
After checking in with Mark, he was told he would be shadowing Dr. Brittany Woods for the first day. He found the surgeon easily enough in her office down the hall from Mark’s office and introduced himself to the older doctor.
He’d worked with Dr. Woods in the past and, out of the group of surgeons on staff at UM, couldn’t have picked a better one to shadow on his first day.
Shortly after she motioned for him to sit across from her desk, she answered a call and he listened to the one-sided conversation. When she hung up, she stood up.
“Well, we’re up already.” She rolled her shoulders and stretched slightly. “We’ve got a twenty-seven-year-old female with internal bleeding.”
“Car crash?” he asked as he followed her down the hallway.
“No.” She glanced at him. “She was kidnapped and found in a shipping container. From the extent of her wounds, sounds like she was beaten pretty bad. We won’t know more until we get in there and look around.”
He remained quiet as he started to scrub next to the doctor. It was a task he was used to, and he took his time doing it. His gloves were slipped on him by a waiting nurse, and he followed Dr. Woods into the operating room.
Since this was his first day, he was keen on taking in every detail. However, after stepping into the room, he stood for a moment in shock.
“Crissy?” He moved forward to check and confirm his eyes weren’t deceiving him
.
“You know her?” Dr. Wood’s glanced over at him.
“Yes, I… I work with her,” he said as he took in the bruises and cuts all over the unconscious woman’s face and exposed skin. The rest of her body was covered in medical blankets to keep her warm during surgery.
“Out.” Dr. Woods glanced over at him. “Sorry, it looks like you need to sit this one out.”
He nodded. “I’ll wait outside.” He moved to step out of the room. For the next hour, he watched from behind the glass.
He didn’t fault Dr. Woods for requesting he sit this one out. He hadn’t known Crissy intimately, but he did consider her a friend.
When the doctor walked out, she was smiling.
“Your friend is very lucky. She has a bruised spleen and a couple of broken ribs, but I was able to stop the internal bleeding.” She touched his shoulder. “Take a while if you need. We’re scheduled for another surgery in an hour.”
He nodded. “Thank you. You’re impressive in there.”
She smiled and tossed the soiled apron into the bin. “I’m going to go talk to her family, if you know them…”
He shook his head. “I’ll let you. Her husband’s name is Carl. He’s a good guy.”
Dr. Woods nodded and glanced down at her watch. “Be back here at a quarter til.”
He glanced at his phone and nodded.
Stepping out into the hallway, he made his way to the break room and sat down. He pulled out his phone and was about to call Blaine and fill him in on the news that Crissy had been found when a news report flashed on the screen.
Walking over, he turned the volume all the way up and watched as the police talked about where they had found Crissy and how many other women’s bodies they were finding on the property of the man they had found submerged in water, locked in the trunk of his car.
He felt his stomach roll at the thought of Jamie being one of them. With shaky hands, he pulled out his phone and dialed Emily instead.
