Twisted Innocence

by Terri Blackstock

  The thought of their reaction nauseated him. His parents deserved better than this.

  He sat up. The room seemed to be spinning slowly. He reached out to get his bearings, dropped his feet to the floor, and stood. The room tilted to the side . . .

  He balanced himself against the wall. Sweat beaded on his forehead, over his lip. His breathing seemed blocked. He should call the teacher . . . no, it wasn’t a teacher. He wasn’t in school. He should call the . . . what did they call the man out there? The one in the costume . . . He shook his head. No, not a costume . . . uniform . . . The man who watched over him . . . the guard.

  What was happening?

  He turned to look at the food tray by the door. What had he eaten? He took a step toward it, called out for help. The room flipped. His face hit concrete. He forced himself to his knees, tried to sit up, tried to call out. The cell wouldn’t stop spinning and the lights grew dimmer . . .

  CHAPTER 36

  The phone started ringing as Holly rinsed the shampoo from Lily’s little head. She hadn’t gotten adept yet at giving her baby a bath, and she tried to ignore the ringing. She would have to call them back.

  She poured another cup of warm water over Lily’s head. Lily started to kick and wiggle. “It’s okay, sweetie. Mommy’s not gonna let you drown.” She heard her answering machine pick up, then Cathy’s loud voice.

  “Holly, pick up! It’s an emergency.”

  An emergency? What now? She pulled Lily out of the bathtub, threw the hooded towel around her. Lily didn’t like being wet and cold, and she wailed. Wrapping her in the towel, Holly made her way to the phone and snapped it up. “Hello?”

  “Oh, good. You’re there,” Cathy said. “I knew you’d want to know. Creed was just taken to the hospital.”

  “The hospital? Why?”

  “He collapsed at the jail. Nobody knows what’s wrong with him, but he was really sick. I’m at the hospital now. I heard the paramedics saying that his heart rate was down to like 30, and his blood pressure is 70 over 30.”

  “What?” Holly said. “He could die! Where is he?”

  “They brought him to Bay Medical. They’re taking him for tests.”

  “I’m coming. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” Holly hung up. What could have caused this? He hadn’t been sick earlier. Maybe that cut had gotten infected.

  She dried the baby and quickly dressed her, though she screamed and wriggled. “We’ve got to go somewhere, honey,” she said. “I hate to take you back out. I know you’ve had a rough couple of days, but something’s wrong with your daddy.”

  She caught herself the moment she said those words, and her heart sank. Was she really going to think of him that way?

  Why not? That’s what he was.

  She snapped Lily into her car seat, grabbed her diaper bag and her purse, and rushed out to her taxi. Lily cried all the way to the hospital.

  Holly tried to think over her daughter’s misery. Miller’s goons were after Creed. They wanted to see him dead. Had they managed to get to him in the jail? No, Cathy would have told her if he’d been stabbed or beaten. And Max had promised to keep him isolated.

  Holly’s cell phone chimed. Cathy. She answered quickly.

  “I just learned that he’s vomiting. He had just eaten before he got sick. I think he was poisoned.”

  Holly just made it through a yellow light. “Miller has people in that jail.”

  “I just talked to Max. He’s working on finding out who fixed Creed’s tray and who delivered the food,” Cathy said. “Are you on your way?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m calling his family. They need to know about this.”

  “Cathy?” Holly’s voice cracked. “Is he going to die?”

  “I don’t know how bad it is.”

  Holly felt sick herself as she navigated her way to the hospital. God, I don’t want him to die.

  When she got to the ER, they let her go back, but the doctors were in the room, so she waited with Cathy in the hallway. While they waited, Max and his partner, Al Forbes, showed up to wait for the results of the blood work.

  It seemed an eternity before someone finally came with the initial lab report.

  Cyanide poisoning.

  Panic choked Holly. “How did they get to him?” she demanded of Max. “How did they poison him if he was isolated?”

  Max set his jaw. “Miller has a long reach.”

  “But who had access to his food?”

  “Could have been anybody who had kitchen duty.”

  “Inmates?”

  “Yes. They handle all the food.”

  Holly wanted to scream. “Did it ever occur to you that Miller could have gotten messages to his compadres inside the jail? That they shouldn’t be handling the food of the guy they want dead?”

  “I couldn’t let him sleep in the interview room!” Max said. “I had to put him somewhere.” He jammed his fists into his pockets and paced a few steps up the hall, then back, then up the hall again. “We’re going to put a guard out here to make sure no one else gets to him. We’ll only let him eat what we bring to him.”

  Tears stung Holly’s eyes. Cathy took a few steps across the hall, set her hands on her hips, and turned back. Holly could almost see the gears turning in her sister’s brain. “Is anybody else sick at the jail?” Cathy asked.

  “No. Nobody’s reported anything.”

  “Did you get the food? Did you test it?”

  “The tray had already been cleared and dumped into the same garbage where the other trays had been dumped.”

  Holly’s reaction surprised even her. “Do people die of cyanide poisoning?”

  “Maybe not,” Max said. “They found him pretty early. He’s in the right place. They might be able to save him.”

  Holly held her baby under her chin and kissed her sleeping head. Please, God . . . help them get that out of his system . . .

  “Whoever helped with this is on Miller’s team,” Cathy said, “and whatever you can find out about him might lead us closer to Miller.”

  “Right,” Max said. “We’re on it, Cathy.”

  CHAPTER 37

  Holly stood in the ER waiting room with her feather-haired baby, her nursing cover over her neck so the blanket would cover Lily’s head, hopefully blocking germs as she slept. This was the last place a five-week-old baby should be. Holly said a silent prayer that her immunity would protect Lily, but what about those monstrous super-bugs that turn healthy organs to mush or fill up a grown man’s lungs with fluid? Though the place smelled like Clorox, it was filled with disease, virus, and bacteria.

  She tried not to touch anything, and from time to time she went to the hand sanitizer on the wall and pulled some antibacterial agent onto her hands. It dried them out and made them feel as rough as sandpaper, but if that’s what it took to keep Lily healthy . . .

  She didn’t know if Creed was alive or dead, or if the antidote to the poison was readily available in this hospital, or if his organs were harmed or his brain was damaged . . . and not knowing gave her a sick, burning feeling in her gut.

  She looked down through the round hole of her nursing cover. Lily slept in shadow, her little eyes moving under her eyelids as dreams made synapses fire in her brain. She grunted in her sleep, smiled, stuck her pointed little tongue between her lips, sighed . . . Holly wanted to kiss her, but she couldn’t do it without collapsing the cloth protecting her and waking her from that fragile sleep.

  The glass doors slid open with a hum, and she heard a commotion at the desk. She walked to the corner and looked around the wall. She recognized the man and woman who’d come in—Creed’s parents. His mother looked a mess, eyes red and swollen, an expression of weary terror on her face. His father held it together and took charge at the desk, asking where his son was, if they could go back to see him.

  The glass doors slid open again, and the woman Holly had seen at the T-ball park and assumed to be Creed’s sister rushed in and joined them.

&n
bsp; Holly stepped back behind the wall, trying to listen to what they were told. They would be allowed to go in because they were family. Only Cathy had been allowed to stay with him until now.

  The woman behind the desk told them which room he was in. The double doors near Holly clicked and slowly opened when the receptionist disengaged the lock. Holly stayed against the wall, holding the grandchild they knew nothing about, as Creed’s parents flew past her, along with his sister. None of them even noticed her.

  When the doors closed, Holly wanted to cry. It didn’t make sense, the emotion overwhelming her. It wasn’t as if she was in love with Creed. She barely even liked him. She’d been angry with him for most of the last two days . . . yet there was an attachment there. They had things in common. Shame . . . regret . . . Lily.

  She wiped the tears on her face and wondered if she should just take Lily home. There was nothing she could accomplish here if she couldn’t even go in. Still, her heart stumbled with anxious possibilities, and she couldn’t escape the feeling, however ludicrous, that her being here would somehow keep him alive.

  “Holly, honey. What are you doing here?”

  She turned and saw Juliet. “I wanted to . . . I’m worried he . . .” Holly’s voice broke off at the cliff-edge of her emotions, and she didn’t even try to go on. Juliet touched the back of Holly’s head, pulled her close, and pressed a kiss on her forehead.

  “Is he all right?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I can’t get any information. Cathy’s back there but hasn’t texted in a while. His family just went back.”

  “Honey, you shouldn’t have Lily here. There are germs—”

  “I know that,” Holly said. “You think I don’t realize that? I haven’t touched anything except the hand sanitizer. I haven’t even sat down, because the chair handles—”

  “Why don’t you let me take her home?”

  Holly looked down at Lily. She didn’t want to let her go. Life seemed so dangerous right now, and she wanted her close. “I don’t know. Maybe he’ll . . . need to see her or something. Maybe it’ll make him fight harder.” Holly burst into tears, and she hated herself for it. “We shouldn’t have made him turn himself in there. Maybe if he’d gone to Southport, Miller’s men wouldn’t have had anyone there.”

  “This is not our fault, Holly.”

  “I know.” Holly smeared the tears across her face. “I’m just scared because nothing will stop them, and now they know he’s here.”

  “When Cathy called she said they’re putting a guard outside his room. No one will get in.”

  Holly didn’t trust the guards or the nurses or doctors . . . Anyone could pose as anything in here. An intern walked past, a name badge hanging from a lanyard around his neck. Anyone could fake a badge. Maybe they should instruct the guards not to let anyone in his room unless they recognized them.

  Security policies had kept her from going back. If they did it right, maybe they would keep criminals out too.

  She looked through the opening in her nursing cover again. Lily slept soundly now. Her little dream of puppies and kitties or gentle smiles of loving family members had eased now, and her mouth hung open. Holly should either leave here and take her home, or stay and let Juliet take her.

  Holly let out a sorrowful sigh, took the nursing cover off her neck, and put it over Juliet’s head. Quickly, gently, she transferred Lily to her. “Just feed her the formula you have if she wakes up. I won’t stay here all night. Just until I know he’s going to be all right.”

  Juliet made sure Lily was covered. She lowered her voice to keep from waking her. “What if he isn’t?”

  Holly’s eyes filled again. “I don’t know.”

  Juliet stared at her. “You went after him to make sure he stayed out of your lives. Now you don’t know?”

  Holly wiped her nose. “I know it doesn’t make sense to you, but I spent time with him over the last couple of days, and he . . . he reminds me a lot of myself.”

  “How do you mean, honey?”

  “I mean, he’s made a lot of mistakes, and now the consequences are chasing him down, but he wants to change. There’s still so much potential. People can change. I did, didn’t I?”

  Juliet’s eyes filled now, and she reached with her free hand and pulled Holly into a maternal hug. “I’ll take her home. She’ll be fine. Just stay in touch, okay?”

  “Don’t touch anything on the way out. Do you have my key to get her seat out of the car?”

  “No. I left it at home. She’s too little for Robbie’s car seat.”

  Holly would have to walk Juliet out and help her get the seat out of her car, but she didn’t want to leave.

  Just then, the double doors leading into the examining room hallway swooshed open, and she turned. Creed’s sister stepped into the waiting room, and her eyes fell on Juliet. “Are you Holly?” she asked.

  Juliet shook her head.

  Holly spoke up. “I’m Holly.”

  Creed’s sister came toward her. “I’m Kelsey. My brother wants to see you,” she said. “His attorney—Cathy—said you were out here in the waiting room.”

  Gratitude pumped through Holly’s heart. “He’s awake, then? Conscious?”

  “Yes, but he’s really sick. They said some of his organs were shutting down when he was brought in. His kidneys, his liver . . .” Her voice trailed off, and she stared at Holly, myriad questions in her eyes. “Who are you?”

  Holly met Juliet’s gaze, unable to meet Kelsey’s. “I’m just a friend.”

  “Just a friend,” Kelsey repeated. “How are you involved in all this?”

  Juliet adjusted Lily on her shoulder under the nursing cover and walked away, toward the chairs, swaying gently with each step.

  “My sister’s his attorney,” Holly said. “I got her to represent him.” But Holly knew that wasn’t what Kelsey wanted. She wanted the rest of the truth, and Holly wasn’t ready to give it.

  “Were you at the ball field a couple of days ago? I saw you there.”

  Holly felt nailed. “Yeah. I was looking for Creed. I’d heard he was in trouble. I was just worried about him.”

  Kelsey’s stare was skeptical. “So how long have you two known each other?”

  Holly paused, looking at the floor. “About a year, give or take.”

  Thankfully, Kelsey didn’t follow that trail. “Do you know who did this to him? Who poisoned him?”

  Holly didn’t dare reveal what Creed had confessed to her. He may never want his family to know what had led to this. “No. He was at the jail . . . not under arrest. He had turned himself in and they had him in protective custody.” She wasn’t even sure that was what it was called, but it didn’t matter. “Can I go see him now?”

  Kelsey seemed to shake herself out of the equation she was trying to solve. “Don’t stay long. He doesn’t have much energy, and he’s not out of the woods.”

  Holly turned back to Juliet, and she signaled her to go on. Kelsey looked back at Juliet now, and her eyes lingered a moment too long, then she turned and went back through the open doors. Holly followed her up the hall to Creed’s room. Kelsey opened his door and stepped aside to let Holly in. Cathy stood by his bed, Creed’s parents on the other side. Creed looked as colorless as a corpse, his eyes sunken in, his lips pale.

  “Here she is now,” Cathy said, and motioned for Holly to come closer.

  Creed reached out with the hand from which his IV line protruded. Holly took it in both of her own and looked down at him. “Creed, how do you feel?”

  “Been better.” She could barely hear him, so she leaned down to get closer. “They got me, didn’t they?” he whispered.

  She swallowed the knot in her throat. “I’m so sorry.”

  He turned his hand and stroked her thumb as if she were the victim. “I’m worried . . . about you and Lily.”

  She glanced up at his parents. Tears on their faces, they hung on every word. She turned back to Creed. “Do . . . do you think they’ll c
ome after us?”

  “I don’t know how much they’ve figured out,” he said.

  Holly straightened and looked at Cathy. She could see the worry in her eyes. “They can’t poison all of us,” Holly whispered.

  “Just . . . be careful. I want you to go home and be with Lily.”

  Creed seemed to drift off to sleep, and Sandra, his mother, pulled his covers up, tucked them over his shoulders, felt his forehead. Then she looked up at Holly. “You’re the one, aren’t you?” his mother said. “The one his friend mentioned on the answering machine. The one who had his baby.”

  Holly felt like wild game frozen by a flashlight beam, waiting for the fatal bullet. She couldn’t speak.

  “Her name’s Lily?” his mother asked, tears filling her eyes. “A little girl?”

  The Pandora’s box of Holly’s life seemed pried open, secrets blowing out in the wind. As hard as she tried, she would never be able to catch them all to put them back in. She hadn’t expected them to know already, but of course they did. They’d heard that answering machine message, when Rio spilled the beans. That was what had led the police to her house in the first place.

  “I think . . . it would be better if we discussed this when he’s awake. When he can be in on it.”

  “Can we . . . see the baby?” his father asked.

  Dread filled her heart. Holly looked toward the door, wishing for an escape. Lily was right down the hall in the waiting room. Could she—should she—tell them no, that they couldn’t see their grandchild?

  Tears filled her eyes as she resigned herself to this. She nodded and went to the door. His parents told Kelsey to stay with her brother, then they followed her out into the cold, antiseptic hall to the double doors. Frank punched the green button, and the doors swooshed open.

  Holly stepped through and saw Juliet, still standing and rocking, holding Lily with the ease of a woman who loved the baby she held. Holly went straight for the hand sanitizer, filled her palm with foam, then turned back to Creed’s parents. “I’m worried about the germs in here. She’s only five weeks old.”

  Both of his parents foamed their hands, then rubbed them until the alcohol dried. Holly went to Juliet, and her sister carefully surrendered Lily.