INK: Vanishing Point (Book 2)

by Roccaforte, Bella

  Chapter 5

  Impending Discharge

  Shay

  I’ve been in here for two weeks now; well, two weeks since I woke up. I’ve had many small victories like being allowed to pee alone and eat solid food. Of course the food is rubbish, but Eli sneaks in the good stuff from the sandwich cart downstairs. I had a wonderful lemon muffin this morning; it was like eating sex.

  Eli had Jerry bring in a few art supplies so I could at least doodle and when the headaches aren’t bad I get a little reading done to pass the time. Soap operas and cheesy court shows with bad freeze-frames aren’t my thing. Besides, I think Eli and Dad don’t want me to catch the news in case I’m on it. For whatever reason part of the big the secret they are keeping from me is apparently for my own good. I’m too tired and anxious to get out of here to even bother trying to drag the truth out of them.

  The nurses have finally given up on trying to get Eli to leave. They are letting him shower in my bathroom. I’m definitely worried about what all of this is going to cost. Raphael was strong-armed into giving us benefits last year, but the insurance is crap.

  Eli said that the law firm is picking up the bill. Something about having a private room is in my best interest in the event that we have any conversations that we wouldn’t want to be public. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but whatever. I'm trying to be good and not stress out. I don’t want anything to get in the way of my getting out of here.

  Once I’m out, I’ll be able to start getting some answers. I haven’t heard a peep from McNab directly. Just a few cryptic messages through Carl, but Eli doesn’t want him in the room. He comes in when I send Eli for snacks and BLTs. Carl may speak a bunch of different languages, but I just wish one of them was plain English.

  Aiden hasn’t been in either. Eli changes the subject or starts making excuses that I can’t be upset every time I ask him anything. He promises he’s going to tell me everything when I’m released. But I wish he would just get it over with and just spill it that Aiden took off. It’s what he does: he leaves.

  What happened to me is a complete mystery. I really don’t remember much. Most of it’s just bits and pieces, like looking at yourself in a broken mirror. None of it makes sense.

  There’s a cop guarding my door, I can’t even get Eli to tell me why. I don’t know if he’s keeping me in or someone else out. Now that the heart monitors are off me I can get angry about how much he and Dad are keeping me in the dark.

  I stand in front of the mirror and examine the gauze on my neck. I want to look under it, but I won’t. I still don’t know what happened or who shot me. The left side of my head was shaved just above the ear. A bullet grazed my head but left a nasty gouge that required stitches. I look like Frankenstein. If it weren’t for the stitches it wouldn’t look half bad, but I’ve receive assurances from everyone that my hair will grow back. Duh! Like that's actually my biggest concern. Hello, somebody shot me.

  I don’t give a shit about a strip of hair. I want to know what happened. I want to know why there is a cop outside my door. I want to know where the hell Aiden is. I want to know why Eli and Dad have kept all of my visitors on lockdown.

  Trish sent me flowers. The card read:

  Hey Girl – Come back soon. I miss you. They won’t let me in to see you.

  Love Ya, Trish

  P.S. Tell Eli to fuck off.

  But today is the day. The day I get to go home. It’s exciting and feels like the great unknown.

  I sit back down on the bed, dressed and ready. Everything is packed and on one of those little hospital carts. I just need to talk to the doctor one more time and then I’m out!

  Eli steps out of the bathroom wearing only his pants. They are undone and his belt is hanging loose. He’s drying his hair. The water glistens on his skin like jewels. Every muscle is his chest twitches with his movement. My eyes are immoveable from his form. It has to be illegal to be that delicious. It’s giving me a hot flash just looking at him. I bite down on my lower lip. He stops drying his hair to look at me, and a devilish grin spreads across his luscious lips that light up his eyes. McNab’s words go through my mind, “What are you, in heat or something?”

  “Yes” I say softly looking at Eli like he’s a piece of crispy bacon.

  Eli puts the towel down on the counter and comes to the edge of the bed, “What?”

  Oh shit, I said that out loud, “Nothing.” My face flushes and I flash a coy smile.

  The door opens and the nurse comes in with a clipboard full of paperwork, “Mr. Walker, this isn’t a hotel.”

  Eli winks at me then goes to his bag and pulls a t-shirt over his head, then slides on his button-up blue dress shirt. The color pales in comparison to his eyes that are like endless azure oceans you can fall into forever.

  “Miss Baynes, you are being released today. I can see this isn’t news to you.” She looks me up and down, noting my clothes. “There's an X everywhere you need to sign. I wanted to get this paperwork started so as soon as Dr. Shah comes in and signs off you can go wherever it is you’re going.”

  “I’m sure you’re sad to see me go.” I’m having a hard time holding in a giggle, as if Eli and I got caught doing something. It breaks the tension. This nurse is particularly rough around the edges.

  “Not that we haven’t enjoyed your visit, but we’ll be glad to be rid of all the extra people that come along with you.” She hands me a pen and starts flipping to the pages I have to sign.

  Dr. Shah comes in shortly after I finish signing the paperwork. “Miss Baynes, how are you feeling today?”

  “I’m okay; still a little headachy but mostly all right,” I answer with a grimace.

  “You’ll need to change the dressing on your neck daily. Use an antibiotic ointment. You’ll need to come back or visit your GP in about two weeks when the wound heals to remove the sutures." She shuffles through the paperwork.

  “My main concern is the headaches.” She pulls a report from the stack “Honestly, the wound to your head was not that bad, so we aren’t sure why you would be having headaches, but we did find some anomalies in your MRI and CT scans. For that reason I’m going to have you follow up with a neurologist.”

  “Okay, I can do that.” I answer a little curious about what she means by ‘anomalies,’ but I’m guessing the neurologist will be able to explain all of that.

  “Light duty, no heavy lifting. You need to get an ample amount of rest. Try to avoid stressful situations.” She still hasn’t looked up from the paperwork.

  Eli comes closer and takes up my hand. “Is there anything else we should avoid or watch out for?”

  “No driving or operating heavy machinery. I’m prescribing a painkiller for the headaches. Take them as needed.” She looks up to see Eli’s red faced grin. “Light activity.”

  “Can I go back to work?” Not that it really matters I do most of my work from home anyway, but an excuse to not have to go to Orlando would be great!

  “I’d give it a few days. Follow up is very important. If the headaches get worse or you start feeling any heat or swelling in your neck you need to call your doctor. The bullet did a lot of damage so you are going to need physical therapy and you may find that some of your motor skills are limited, but I have every expectation that you’ll be back to one hundred percent in no time at all.” She flips the papers back to the top sheet on the clipboard. “That’s it; you are free to go.”

  “Thank you Dr. Shah.” Is all I can really think to say, I am really thankful to be going home. She leaves the room and Eli and I both let out a collective exhale.

  His expression darkens and he picks up both of my hands. I don’t like where this seems to be heading, like he’s about to tell me something I don’t want to hear. He couldn’t tell me before I was free to go? Now I’m probably going to have some kind of nervous breakdown or cardiac arrest before I ever set foot outside the hospital.

  Carl walks in the room glowering at Eli.

  Eli returns the l
ook. “We’ll be a minute.”

  “I’m staying.” Carl folds his arms tightly across his chest.

  “Carl can stay; he’s a friend” I say simply.

  Eli considers it all for a minute and continues, “Fine, stay. Listen, I don’t want you to get upset. There’s a couple of things that we need to talk about. We have to go down to the law office. You’re going to meet with Jason and Bob, then detective Glass is going to question you.”

  “About what happened?” I assumed they knew what happened and just weren’t telling me.

  “Yes, we’ll talk more on the way there, but essentially you need to do exactly as Jason tells you. No variations, no ad-libbing, got it?” The seriousness about him says there's more to this than he’s letting on.

  “Okay.” Piece of cake, really.

  Chapter 6

  Body of Evidence

  Shay

  We walk through the double doors of Roth, Carmichael, Eddins and Brunner. Genie bolts up from behind her desk. She takes me up in her arms and squeezes me tight. “Oh Shay, thank God you’re okay. We were so worried.”

  Wincing, I step out of her embrace, “Thanks Genie, it’s good to be ‘okay.’” Whatever okay is. Eli was still completely tight-lipped all the way over.

  Genie looks past me to Eli. “How is everything?” Her meaning is layered.

  “Everything is fine but I need an empty office and some time with Shay alone.” His eyes quickly motion back to the cop and Carl, who just walked into the lobby.

  “No problem sweetheart; this way.” She leads us down the hallway and opens the door to Oliver’s office. I’ve spent some time in here over the years, but nothing has changed since he died. It’s still furnished with a leather couch, a beautiful mahogany desk and my artwork on the walls.

  “Oliver’s office?” Curiosity rides my tone.

  “Yes it is, Aiden insists we leave it as is. Jason says we’ll fill it eventually.” She sighs, recognizing the waste of space. “Y’all take as much time as you need. I’ll buzz you if we need you.”

  “Thanks so much, Genie. Tell Jason we’ll be ready in about thirty minutes and you should call Preston and Glass to set up the meeting,” Eli says, closing the door as she leaves.

  Sitting uncomfortably on the couch, I feel like I’m about to be scolded, but Eli looks so guilty. It’s as though he doesn’t know what to say or where to start, so I do. "So spill it. What the hell happened? Who the hell shot me?”

  “First I think it’s important to figure out what you do and do not remember.” He picks up my hand, “I know you’ve said there were holes in your memories. That you remember the signing, and you remember the last meeting we had here.”

  “Yeah I remember all of that. I remember coming back from Tampa, I remember the meeting, but that’s it.” I put my head in my hands. It's so frustrating not being able to remember anything. Especially since I’m sure I’ll get the whitewashed version that is designed to protect me. I just want to know exactly what happened.

  Eli guides my chin to meet his gaze. “I’m here with you, its okay. We’re going to get through this.” He says searching my eyes. I can see that he’s trying to figure out what to say.

  “Let’s go a little further back and tackle this chronologically.” He takes my hands again and goes through an inventory of events that have transpired. I remember nearly everything he’s going over but then he hits a nerve. “Do you remember Taffy?” He says it with caution.

  The name sparks an emotional response. I have to take a moment to put it together, but I then remember Sparkles the Hooker. I pull my hands away from his and he smiles. “Okay, so there is our first hole.”

  “Nice choice of words, Eli.” I have gone from complacent to confused to angry in five seconds flat, sadly not close to a record for me. I’d like to kick Eli in the balls and run.

  “You never read my note.” He tries to pick up my hands again but I move away from him on the couch. “If you had you would know that Taffy is, well was, Jerry's girlfriend. She was using my bathroom because the mirror in the other was broken.” His expression darkens.

  Relief fills me and I once again swing my mood back to being slightly okay. It doesn’t mean I like the bitch. “So she’s Jerry's girlfriend?”

  “She was.” There’s something behind his expression that is suffocating my moment of relief from thinking that Eli could have possibly been involved with a skank like her.

  “So one of the two of them had a moment of clarity and dumped the other?” I ask, not knowing whether Jerry or Taffy is the biggest drain on humanity.

  “No Shay, Taffy’s dead.” He watches closely for my reaction.

  A gasp escapes as Eli’s words rattle the memory free, “Oh God, the nightmare.”

  “What nightmare?” Eli’s tone is laced with urgency.

  “I had a nightmare in Tampa. Didn’t Aiden tell you about that?” I ask realizing that he still hasn’t told me where Aiden is. “Where’s Aiden?”

  “He didn’t tell me about the nightmare.” He hesitates a few moments, “We’ll get to Aiden next, but we need to discuss what happened with Taffy.”

  “What…what happened?” I ask dreading the answer, because I’m pretty sure I know the answer. What’s worse is the burning question about why “Eli” was the last word to escape her lips.

  “She was found in a refrigerated warehouse, making it difficult to determine time of death within an eight-hour period.” Eli takes a breath, “You were in Tampa during the window.”

  “Okay, so I’m clear.” I’m feeling a little bad that I'm more concerned about my own skin than hers, but hey, I still have mine, for now. Thinking that way makes me feel so much worse. Especially because now I realize that she wasn’t with Eli and she was never a threat to us.

  “Nobody can account for your whereabouts during a good portion of the estimated TOD. The front desk clerk saw you leave the hotel at the beginning of her shift, then saw you come back while she was going home, eight hours later.” Eli presses his lips into a thin line, “Where were you, Shay?”

  His tone is accusing and it’s making me feel uncomfortable. Squirming in the seat, I answer defensively, “I went down to the dock, I had dinner with McNab, then came back to you and Aiden at the –” I remember now walking in on the two of them. Now I’m getting pissed. I can feel my heart rate pumping as I continue, “I came back to you and Aiden in fisticuffs trying to kill each other.”

  “We talked with McNab. He confirms that you were with him, but Glass isn’t buying it.” He looks down with regret and shakes his head, "I hope for your sake that the waitress can confirm that you were both at the restaurant.”

  “Eli, are you questioning whether I’m telling the truth?” My tone is sharp.

  “No, I’m just hoping McNab is telling us everything. If we catch him in a lie then using him as your alibi is right out the window.” He pleads with his eyes. "Who the hell is this guy anyway?”

  “He’s a friend, and he doesn’t lie.” I hiss, "He also believes in my innocence.”

  To find some peace I go to the window and gaze out onto the river. It hurts and irritates me that now Eli apparently needs third-party confirmation that I’m not a killer. The dock comes into view and the sting of Aiden’s absence spikes in my heart. My arms fold around me to staunch the pain, but it doesn’t help.

  Eli wraps his arms around my waist and kisses the top of my head, “I believe in your innocence, but I have to think like a prosecutor right now. It’s the best way I have to protect you.”

  “I wasn’t even on the same coast when she was killed; how could they possibly pin this one on me?” I question, turning around.

  “Because Glass wants you to go down for it; face it, you’re an easy target. She can be connected to you. They’ve already questioned me about whether she and I had an affair.” He shakes his head, expelling a sarcastic laugh.

  I look at him with a deadly seriousness, “Did you?”

  “No,” he protests,
then flashes me his killer grin, “Shayleigh Baynes, is that the green-eyed monster raising your beautiful ire?" He reins me in by the waist and locks his amazing eyes on me.

  I lower my brows and look up at him through my lashes. “Maybe.”

  “Well you have nothing to worry about. She and I didn’t exactly get along.” Shadows of remorse flicker in Eli’s eyes.

  I realize how insensitive I’m being. Guilt creeps in for accusing him of being with her, and not even considering that Jerry just lost someone he cared about. “How is Jerry holding up?”

  “He’s fine. He’s already moved on. I don’t think he even went to the funeral.” Eli muses at what a dick Jerry is.

  My folly was thinking Jerry had a heart. “Sounds about right!” I want to ask Eli what happened, but I already know. I was there in the dream and remember everything. But now those sketches will never be finished. My Sanguine Specter comic is done.

  There’s a knock on the door and Jason pokes his head in, “Hey, Glass and Preston will be here in about fifteen minutes and I’d like some time with Shay before they arrive."

  “Sure thing,” Eli answers. “Give us a minute we’ll meet you in the conference room.”

  Jason retreats through the door. Eli returns his attention to me. “We are going to go over some things before they get here. I need you to pay attention and do exactly as you are told. You can’t freak out on Glass, no matter what he says.”

  “Just hold my hand and kick me under the table if you think I’m getting any wild ideas.” I smile as though I’m already trying to acquiesce to his request.

  “That’s the thing. I can’t be in there.” Remorse rides his heavy tone.

  “Why not?” Oh God, I don’t want to face Glass without him. I’m hoping to draw on his calm to maintain my own.