Heal Me

by Grady, D. R.

  “No, it’s not generally about sex.”

  “What then?”

  “Power,” Jenna replied.

  Jerome’s black brows snapped together. “Power?”

  “Absolutely. The rapist wants power. He wants to taunt the police, prove he’s wiser, smarter, more capable than they. It’s also about the power over the victim. Some people get off on overpowering others.”

  Jerome shook his curly dark head. “That seems...wrong to me.”

  “Of course it does. You’re a nurse.” Jenna grinned at him. “You need a certain attitude to do your job well.”

  “Good,” Jerome answered, but he still looked troubled. Jenna watched as his concerned eyes roamed with genuine sympathy over the motionless woman lying in the bed. “I just don’t understand how a man can do this to a woman.”

  “That’s because you’re a real man, Jerome,” Jenna answered. “I think this particular man likes to have control over his victim. He probably knows there are others like him. So maybe he’s working on a drug to enable him to do so. Then he can sell it.”

  “That’s evil!”

  “Yes. Unfortunately, we see a lot of the evil in this world, don’t we?” Jenna responded quietly.

  His lips firmed. “Unfortunately.”

  “But you know, we’re making a difference. We fight the Grim Reaper, Jerome, and so far we’re winning. So we’re making a difference. Don’t forget that,” Jenna coached.

  “Got it, Dr. Fields,” Jerome replied with a semblance of his normally dazzling white grin.

  “Take your pretty face off somewhere else,” Jenna mock growled, and appreciated his deep, rumbling laughter as she turned back to their patient.

  “Hey, Detectives O’Maley and McCully.” She heard Jerome greet.

  Turning, she really hoped her heart would stop beating so rapidly. Somewhere in her suddenly chaotic thoughts, she knew hearts beating as fast as hers wasn’t good. She also knew her breathing had quickened enough to set any competent doctor into alarm. So what was wrong with her? Six foot four inches of incredible masculinity is what’s wrong, her conscience sneered.

  Owen braced himself for the impact of Jenna Fields. After her nurse announced their arrival, she turned and flashed them a quick, distracted smile. Her bright eyes seemed so blue. Her dark hair glistened in the fluorescent lighting and no woman had a right to look so good. He wanted to snatch her away from here, to some place where they could be alone, but unfortunately, he had a freak to catch and she had a patient to help.

  “How is Miss McKane?” he asked brusquely, trying to keep his admiration for the good doctor out of his voice.

  “She still hasn’t awakened. There is something we want you to see,” Jenna said, and moved around the bed to the woman’s head.

  “We have a theory on why these marks are here,” Jerome added as he stepped to her side.

  Owen padded to the other side, but Jenna motioned him to come to the head of the bed. She pointed to something on the left side of the victim’s head.

  “What are those?” McCully asked, leaning over him.

  “We suspect they’re incisions,” Jenna answered.

  “Incisions? Why?” McCully asked, a frown between her eyes.

  He watched Jenna. The brightness of her eyes dimmed as they turned somber. “Remember how the Gentleman Caller’s victims normally come in unconscious?”

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “Each victim appears to have been administered a different substance to produce that state of unconsciousness, and so far, each has come up with a slightly different chemical composition.”

  “Right,” McCully agreed.

  “We believe he administered the agent to produce her unconscious state via those incisions.”

  “So those cuts on her head are due to him drugging her?” His eyes narrowed as he sorted through the facets of their hypothesis.

  “It’s the only theory that makes sense so far. These are three very precise incisions.”

  “Doesn’t look like this was a spur of the moment decision,” McCully agreed.

  “No, I don’t believe so. Also, look at the skin around the cut. See how red, nearly angry it looks?”

  Both he and McCully leaned closer, peered at the skin in question, and then nodded, in sync.

  “The actual making of the cut could have produced an inflammatory response like this, but I’m doubtful. I believe her skin is reacting to whatever she was given.”

  “Reacting?” The first tremors of understanding coalesced in his brain. “Reacting, like an allergic reaction?” He squinted hard at Jenna.

  “Yes. An allergic reaction. I wonder if he’s using different types of chemicals in an attempt to find one that keeps the victim alert enough to understand what’s happening, but...”

  “But not enough to fight him or remember exactly what happened,” he finished grimly.

  They exchanged mutual looks of alarm at the thought of more drug testing, more allergic reactions, more freaks out to make money at the cost of innocent people. The last case they worked on together, Jenna’s own sister-in-law and brother’s best friend along with a powerful senator’s son had been used as unwilling experimental drug test subjects. [Trust Me – Book 3 of the Me Series] This appeared to be the start of round two.

  “Drugs again,” he muttered, disgusted that he hadn’t thought of the possibility already.

  “I’m beginning to see a definite trend here,” Jenna agreed.

  Eyes narrowed, he thought about her statement. “Care to explain that?”

  “This is the third possible case of illegal drug experimentation I’ve seen.”

  “Fields, Matthews, and Brewster, and now Robin McKane, but who’s the other?”

  “You wouldn’t know of the first one, it happened in Sandovia,” Jenna returned quietly.

  “Oh, right,” he muttered as he remembered hearing from Fred about Hugo Saltaire being kidnapped from his plane two years ago and then used as an experimental drug subject. [Save Me – Book 2 of the Me Series]

  “Three times doesn’t seem coincidental, does it?” Jenna mused.

  “No,” he answered.

  “That’s what I figured.”

  “Has Miss McKane been cognizant at all?” he finally asked her, as they both looked at the newest victim.

  “She stirred before I used the rape kit, but other than that, no.”

  “How long do you think she’ll be out?” Owen asked, brooding.

  “I honestly don’t know.” She stood gazing at her patient and he wondered what went through her head.

  “You’ll let us know when she does awaken?”

  “Of course,” Jenna returned, but as she assured him, the woman on the stretcher opened her eyes. He saw the immediate confusion in them as she looked out upon the crowd of people watching her.

  “Wha....” she said in a strangled moan. She began coughing and sputtering. Jenna and the big male nurse, whom she called Jerome, raced to her side.

  He and McCully stepped back and tried to remain unobtrusive while the medical folk did their thing. Before too long, they had her calmed and breathing normally, and while the confusion remained in her eyes, she responded to their questions.

  Jenna asked most of them, as she was also a women’s advocate. Not only could she examine the patient, but also ask the necessary questions for the police. Cops relied heavily on the advocates.

  “Do you remember what happened to you?” Jenna began.

  “No,” the woman wailed softly.

  “What is the last thing you remember?” she prompted.

  “I got off work at six, and went to the grocery store for some things. Then went home.”

  “And?”

  “I guess I put everything away and started making supper,” she said, her brow knit with concentration and worry.

  “Did you eat?”

  “I don’t remember,” she uttered, still confused. Her eyes went wide. “Someone grabbed me!”

  S
he tried to sit up, but Jenna restrained her with a tender hand to her shoulder. “You’re fine, Miss McKane, no one will harm you here, please just continue to answer my questions,” Jenna instructed in a kind but firm voice. “What happened after you were grabbed?”

  “What?” the patient asked.

  “Did he say anything to you? Did you smell anything? Hear anything? Notice anything that might help us find him?” Jenna asked patiently.

  “I don’t remember how he smelled, but he said something to me. I remember thinking I wouldn’t have acted like he said I did.”

  “So this was definitely a man who grabbed you?” Jerome asked.

  The woman turned her head to look at him, fear creeping over her face. The obvious compassion in the man’s eyes must have caused her to repress her natural inclination to recoil from the large masculine frame.

  “Yes, it was definitely a man. He wasn’t soft like a woman would be. Not as hard as some men, but definitely not a woman.”

  “What did he say? Do you remember?” Jenna prompted again.

  “He said something like, ‘Now you’ll notice me, or I won’t be beneath your contempt now’,” the woman shuddered and tears squeezed from her now tightly closed eyes.

  Jenna exchanged another look with Owen and again he wished he could read her thoughts. She cocked a brow, but then turned back to the now clearly traumatized woman.

  “What happened after that?”

  “He dragged me into my bedroom, my bedroom,” she repeated on a sob and Jenna took her hand.

  “Miss McKane, this is not going to be easy, I understand. However, the more you can tell us, the more we’ll have to determine exactly who did this to you.”

  “I know, but it’s hard,” she sobbed.

  Jenna’s eyes softened another notch and when he glanced at his partner, he noticed McCully wore a similar expression. The nurse also took the weeping woman’s hand and Owen was struck by the contrast between his dark skin and her fair as well as the difference between the man’s much larger hand to her smaller. The nurse’s hand was curled around the patient’s in a protective manner and he was impressed with the picture it created. Not all men were monsters who preyed on helpless females. This man was a clear example of a good guy.

  The woman drew in another sob, but seemed to draw strength from the people clasping her hands. “He dragged me into my bedroom and did something odd to my head,” her voice trailed off as she stared at the ceiling tiles, obviously reliving a nightmare only she could see.

  “What did he do?”

  “I don’t know. He just took something over my skin and then pressed something else into it. I felt a sticky substance with my hand, but I can’t remember much after that.”

  “Did it hurt?” Jenna asked. He was impressed by her caring, warm voice.

  “I don’t think so. Maybe. I just remember feeling really odd.”

  “Define odd,” Jenna encouraged.

  “I thought I might be sick, and there were all these little spots that came in front of my eyes.”

  “Did you feel as though you had lost all control over your body?”

  “I think so. By that time things were a little vague,” she answered.

  “Do you remember what the man looked like?”

  “No, he kept my back to him, but...” she trailed off again, her eyes staring at the tiles above her again.

  “But?” Jenna prompted.

  “He must have turned me over because I remember him...raping me...and I think he kept saying something about him being good enough for me now, but after a while, I must have passed out, because I don’t remember anything else.”

  “What did he look like?”

  “Blurry. I think I tried to see his face, but I can’t remember anything.”

  “Not even his hair color? Skin color? Eyes? Nothing?”

  “Nothing,” she shook her head, despair entering her eyes again.

  “Can you think of anything else that might help? Anything at all, even minute?”

  “No,” she repeated, and her eyes began to close.

  “Would you recognize his voice if you heard it again?”

  “I don’t know,” she whispered.

  “You’ve given us enough. If you think of anything else, if something else comes to mind, let us know, please?”

  The woman nodded, even as she drifted back into sleep.

  “Think it was the Gentleman Caller?” McCully asked at his elbow.

  Jenna turned and appeared to wait for his answer, too.

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. Dr. Fields, please check your voicemail again,” he instructed. Fear coiled through his veins, and he shoved away the thought of this freak touching her.

  She fished in a deep lab coat pocket for her phone which she powered on as she hurried to a safe cell phone spot. Pressing a series of buttons on the screen, she finally held the device to her ear and waited for the first message.

  When she went pale, Owen leaped across the room and put out a steadying hand.

  She closed her eyes, and he feared he would pass out, when she opened them again and the stark bleakness that stared out from them penetrated to his very soul.

  She silently held the phone to him and he listened to the message, McCully vying for space enough to hear.

  “Hello, Dr. Fields. Heard you’d be in the Emergency Room tonight, and I so wanted to keep you busy. You got the first one, but there will be more. That little redhead, didn’t her blood look nice in those long strands? I think I’ll go for a blonde next. I’m wondering how blood will look in blonde hair.

  “Oh, don’t worry about brunettes. I don’t really like them, and even if I did, well, to get you, you couldn’t give me the accolades I so richly deserve. I need you to heal my women,” an evil, gleeful cackle followed. “I do so admire intelligence. And women who consider me their equal. It’s only those who feel they’re better than me who need to worry. And so far, Dr. Fields, I’ve never received that impression from you. You’ve always been so pleasant. But my little blonde wasn’t so I’m going to have to teach her respect. What better way to pass a Friday night?” He cackled again before disconnecting.

  Owen saved the message and hated the look on Jenna’s face. He did admire the determination that firmed her beautiful face.

  “So, I’m probably not at risk from him,” she concluded quietly.

  “No. We’ll take precautions though,” he answered.

  “Looks like he wants you for something else,” McCully mused.

  “Oh?” Jenna asked.

  “He wants you to acknowledge how brilliant he is.”

  “Right,” Jenna agreed.

  “Only one problem with that,” McCully stated.

  He cocked a brow at her.

  “We don’t know who this loser is.”

  Chapter 3

  Jenna wearily unlocked the door into her kitchen. She held the door for McCully, who wrestled a bag through. She turned and locked the door, before reactivating the security system. She waited, at McCully’s instructions, for that one to go through the house, checking doors and windows and for any signs of intruders.

  “We never did ask how Miss McKane figured her attacker got into her home,” Jenna said with a yawn.

  “The investigation team will probably be best at discovering that.” McCully yawned. “Let’s have breakfast and then bed.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Jenna replied.

  O’Maley had decreed that his partner stay with her for a few days until they could be certain she wasn’t at risk. He also mentioned another police officer, named Coulihan, whom Jenna realized was Mark Matthews’s fiancée, to assist McCully.

  Jenna seriously doubted there was a problem, but she didn’t want to fuss, besides being too tired to care at that point. McCully had seemed beyond the point of arguing as well, so they both gave in gracefully to O’Maley’s edict.

  “If it’ll help him sleep better, who are we to argue?” McCully asked artlessly as they s
topped at the grocery store by mutual consent.

  Now, upon arrival at her home, after a quick stop at McCully’s house for clothes, the women placed their bags on the table. Jenna honed in on forks, plates, and mugs, while McCully dug out their treasures from the bags. She brandished a box of chocolate covered doughnuts and the bag of muffins.

  Jenna sipped from a large coffee as she placed the utensils and dishes on the table.

  “Butter?” McCully asked before they tucked into the fare spread out before them. “O’Maley is so not going to forgive me,” she commented happily around a mouthful of chocolate covered doughnut. Jenna noted she held a doughnut in one fist and a muffin in the other.

  “Why is that?” she inquired around her own mouthful of muffin. She decided to eat the doughnut last.

  “We went to the store and got all these goodies without him. He will not be happy.”

  “Let’s agree not to tell him. What he doesn’t know can’t be held against us,” Jenna decided.

  “Works for me,” McCully agreed happily. She hummed before cocking her head. “Will we be able to sleep with all this chocolate and caffeine running through our systems?”

  “I will,” Jenna said wryly. “I’m so tired now, you could hold a concert here and I won’t hear it.”

  McCully gurgled with laughter. “I’m not planning on any concerts in the near future, but I’ll keep that info in mind.”

  “Right.”

  They headed for bed soon after. Jenna’s dreams caused her great consternation. A tall, sexy red-headed man with light green eyes held her captive in his emerald castle far away. He enticed her with chocolate and smoldering looks and Jenna awoke with a flushed start and a full bladder. The problem, when she finally returned to her senses, was that she desperately wanted to be back in that castle with that green eyed man. She especially enjoyed his enticements.

  With a lusty sigh, Jenna shoved the covers aside and heeded Mother Nature’s adamant call.

  Owen, when he finally tumbled into bed, didn’t bother to remove his clothes. He fell on the bed and was asleep before the mattress fully settled from his arrival. He dreamed of a black haired, blue-eyed witch who encouraged him to sink into her bubbling cauldron.