by Barbara Ebel
Rachel’s breath got sucked right out of her. Her face paled as she realized Leo - her former boyfriend - was a lot worse than she had imagined. It was bad enough Julia had suffered abuse from him, but it could have been her rather than the mayor’s daughter who had been found dead in his house.
“Rachel, Rachel.” Danny grabbed her arm and gave it a tug. “Are you okay? You don’t look well.”
She wiped the back of her hand across her face. When a big breath expanded her lungs, she felt a little better and nodded at Danny. “I’m … fine,” she said, signaling them all to start walking.
As she cleared her thoughts, they started the ascent back up the rugged trail and the irony of it all became unmistakable. A woman had died and that was too bad but Leo did deserve a foul fate. He had also hurt Julia in horrific ways, leaving scars which she’d carry the rest of her life.
Rachel had little knowledge about criminal deeds and their outcomes but, based on what Evan had just said, Leo would probably end up behind bars for years and years. The excitement at the prospect made her giddy. The retribution and payback she felt was palpable, and her head swam with glee. She couldn’t have come up with a better scenario for him if she’d schemed for a year.
Leo’s predicament was so pleasurable, in fact, she could barely keep from chuckling. If all these people weren’t around me, she thought, she’d burst out laughing. A celebration was even in order; maybe a fantastic bottle of wine or a night on the town. Better yet, sit at Maxine’s bar - Leo’s favorite - and drink to his misfortune.
She thought of another fun scenario against the wormy, snaky creep; she’d love to get into his house and slice up his mounted buck at the front door. Smiling with the satisfaction of retribution, she half-heartedly watched the irregularity of the sloping path. Lifting her sneaker to avoid a tree root which winded its way across the dirt, she didn’t quite lift it high enough and her sneaker tip snagged at the last moment. With no forewarning, she didn’t extend her arms and the weight of her entire body centered in the middle of her face as she went down like a dead horse. In the blink of an eye, Rachel heard the splitting and crunching of facial bones as she crashed on the hard earth.
She had no idea of the damage, if she’d pass out due to a brain injury or if her eyes had been pierced by rocks or roots. One thing was for sure … the pain was horrendous.
-----
Some primal instinct told Rachel to get up immediately. She didn’t want to go comatose or die at some freaking state park. The blood poured from her nose like a spigot in the center of her face. Her right hand went up and covered it, trying to hold bones in place as well as to stem the onslaught of bleeding.
Since Danny was behind her, he saw the fall in its entirety. “Rachel!”
Casey and Evan turned around. As they all surrounded her, Danny said, “Let me see.” He pried her hand away and took a look. “We need to get you to a hospital.”
Danny whipped out his cell phone and handed it to Casey as Julia began to sob in Evan’s arms.
“I don’t know if you’ve taken a hard hit on your frontal lobe,” Danny said, “so we have to monitor you if you lose consciousness. Can you walk with us until help comes?”
Rachel grunted a ‘yes’ as Evan cuddled Julia and Casey called 911.
“We’re out here in the middle of nowhere,” Evan said. “Would it be better if we drive her to the nearest hospital ourselves?”
“They may be here by the time we get back to the parking lot,” Danny said. “And they’ll start an IV in the ambulance and begin giving her fluids. She’s losing a lot of blood.” He stopped there because he didn’t want to mention worse scenarios in front of Rachel although, with her tech experience, she was more aware than most people.
Casey told Dakota to stay while he dropped the leash, made the call and explained their location to the operator. As he finished talking, Evan tapped Casey’s arm. “If they get to the parking area before us or if something happens to delay us, tell them we’re walking back to the lot using the upper access gravel road.”
Casey nodded, relayed that information and then they headed back at a faster pace than they had come down. All the while, Rachel held the front of her face like her life depended on it. Her pink tank top turned mostly red as blood dripped down through her fingers. She focused on each step, blocking the pain with expert mind control. Complaining about the pain would serve no purpose so she kept it to herself. Men had no concept about excruciating pain anyway, she thought … that’s why they weren’t meant to have babies.
-----
Reaching the area of the big fall’s platform, they all took uneven steps to an upper level. To the right was a top ridge trail but Evan guided them straight, bringing them onto a gravel road through the woods back to the entrance of the park.
Julia had increased her sobbing and had reached out for Danny. So he now held her close and soothed away her tears by occasionally whispering in her ear, “It’s okay. Your mommy fell but the doctors will make her better. Dakota will lead the way to the car and we’ll take another ride. You are a good girl and we all love you.”
She took solace in his words and, halfway through their hike, she grew heavy with sleep. Danny continued to eye Rachel – keeping tabs on her mental status - and Casey stayed close to her as well, his paramedic instincts watching her closely.
By the time they approached the lot, they heard the loud sirens of the ambulance. A park ranger came out of the station house and walked down the road, tailing the vehicle. The ambulance pulled up next to them.
A stout young woman driver and her older male partner jumped out. Rachel sat on a picnic bench, leaned over, and spat out several mouthfuls of blood. After Danny and Casey gave them details, they hoisted her onto a stretcher and loaded her inside. The man was already looking for a good vein for an IV while the woman poked her head out the window. “Cookeville’s hospital is right up the road,” she said. “You’ll see signs once you get close.” They were gone in a flash.
“You folks just follow the road to the left,” the park ranger said while petting Dakota’s head. “Sorry you had so much trouble and I hope she’ll be okay.”
“Thank you,” Danny said. “We hope to come back. Beautiful spot you have here.”
“It’s a well-kept secret. Good luck.”
-----
People came in and out of Rachel’s emergency room doing all the customary things under the circumstances. A large bore IV was in place and the fluids were running into her liberally. They’d taken blood for labs and, in her opinion, had taken a useless EKG. X-ray personnel had been in and taken a series of facial films and she’d also been imaged in the CT scanner. Now the ER doctor stuffed pledgets into her nostrils to help stop the bleeding.
“What’s on them,” she asked. “Cocaine or neosynephrine?”
The serious doctor grinned. “Medical personnel know too much. I’m not serving you any cocaine today. It’s neo.” He left slowly, walking with a limp.
When the men, Julia, and Dakota arrived, they opened the car windows wide for Dakota and then walked into Rachel’s room just as the ER doc was giving her an update.
“I have bad news,” he said. “You need the trauma service and ENT or a maxillofacial service which we don’t have here. We’re trying to transfer you to Vanderbilt but they said they’re full and can’t take you. It’s going to take some time to get you placed, perhaps at Knoxville or Chattanooga.”
“Maybe I can help,” Danny said after introducing himself. “Do you have films yet and what is her diagnosis?”
Rachel took the circular pan and expelled as much blood as she could from her mouth. It kept draining from her sinuses into the back of her throat and much of it was being swallowed and was accumulating in her stomach. She placed her hand on her jaw and realized it lay slack and easily moveable. Before the ER doc could respond, they heard her mumble.
“My mandible! It’s wiggling around like it’s barely attached to my face.”
“Yes,” said the ER doctor. “That blow resulted in fractures of your mid-maxilla, your inferior orbital rim, your nasal bridge, and the maxillary sinuses. Your face is extremely busted up; there are more fractures, but I think you have the picture. Sometimes these types of breaks are unilateral but you’ve done a good job and you have them on both sides.”
Knowing the classification of this type of trauma, Danny asked, “Is it a Le Fort I, II or III?”
“A Le Fort II,” the doc said, holding onto the counter to stabilize his bad leg.
“Okay,” Danny said, “Let me call into Nashville and try to get her admitted there. They have excellent care there for something like this.”
-----
While Danny made phone calls, Casey checked on Dakota and walked him. When he went back into Rachel’s room, Danny had good news.
“They’ll take you at Vanderbilt. But it’s going to take a little while for the transfer and ambulance to be arranged.”
“By the way,” Casey said, “I didn’t see you fall. Did you trip over something?”
Rachel couldn’t forget what happened. “I think it was a tree root. But there’s more to it than that,” she mumbled. She adjusted the sheet farther up on her gown and wiped blood from her mouth into a washcloth. Everyone waited as Danny patted Julia’s back, who was now fast asleep.
“That man you arrested, Evan. I was dating him before you. I was quite elated to find out his misfortune and wasn’t paying enough attention to the ground.”
“You dated him?” Evan asked, clearly horrified. “And I would barely call being ‘elated’ the proper response to that news.”
“Danny,” she said, ignoring Evan’s remark and looking straight at him, “even though you don’t trust me, I would never hurt our daughter. Leo’s the one who did those things to Julia.”
Chapter 10
“Hurt Julia?” Evan asked. What’s going on here?”
In Rachel’s ER room, Evan’s police instinct heightened as he probed the faces of Danny, Casey and Rachel.
Everyone quieted as a nurse came in and injected pain medicine into Rachel’s IV. When she left, Danny said, “Rachel, how about I give him the short version?”
Halfheartedly, Rachel nodded as the drug started to dull her pain and cause sedation.
Danny finally sat down in a chrome chair with Julia nestled into his shoulder. “I don’t fully know what Rachel has told you, but Julia was a victim of infant abuse. It occurred when Julia was with her mother so that’s why physical custody went to me and why Rachel’s visitation must be with other people present. But Julia’s child abuse would have been difficult to prove and, by being with us, we were assured it wouldn’t happen again.”
Evan pursed his lips as Danny explained. He hated people who got their kicks and power thrills by hurting people who couldn’t defend themselves. “I know about child abusers,” he said. “Most of the time they walk.” He looked at Rachel, who tried to keep her eyelids open.
“I can’t believe you dated such a sleaze bag,” Evan said. “Actually…a murderer. Come to think about it, I found a baby’s pacifier in his house when we did a search. I take it that was Julia’s?”
“Probably,” Rachel slurred.
“I can talk to the prosecuting attorney and give him this information.”
“Evan,” she said slowly, “I don’t really want to get involved. Won’t Leo probably be taken off the streets for a long time?”
“The way it’s looking, absolutely. How about I tell him so they can look into this matter, especially if things don’t go well with the manslaughter rap?”
“If you must.”
A flurry of activity occurred at the doorway and a stretcher and different paramedics came in. “We’re getting all the paperwork, lab and X-rays together, Miss. You’ll be leaving with us in a few minutes,” said one of them.
Evan stepped closer to the stretcher. “I have to get back to Knoxville because I have to work tomorrow. You’ll be in good hands. I’ll call Vanderbilt tomorrow and talk to you.” He didn’t give her so much as a pat on the shoulder but turned and shook hands with Danny and Casey. As he left, he planned on giving Leo Ramsey a visit in jail.
-----
Danny, Casey and Julia also left as healthcare personnel readied Rachel for the transfer. They headed towards the car where Dakota had his head out the window and began wagging his tail. Danny petted him. “We’ll stop at a drive-in window on the way home. What’ll it be, a bowl of ice cream or a burger?”
Dakota barked. Danny knew either one would be fine for his canine food-processor.
Rachel, however, insisted on talking to the doctor one more time. When he came alongside her stretcher, her voice carried further than her previous questions. “You haven’t done one thing to make this bleeding subside. What are you going to do to fix it? It’s cascading down the back of my throat. How much blood do I have to lose to make you do your job?”
“Ms. Hendersen,” he said, “I’m sorry to inform you that your maxillary, ethmoid, and sphenoid sinuses have been pulverized into pieces. We can’t put those bones together again even if we had you in the operating room right now. The bleeding in there will continue until it stops.”
“Are you telling me that with the miracles of modern medicine you can’t fix a handful of superfluous bones?” she barked.
“I’d hardly call them superfluous.”
Rachel’s alligator complexion got lighter as she reached for the pink container by her legs and she began vomiting; her stomach couldn’t hold the volume of dark red blood anymore and she didn’t stop heaving until a liter of fluid filled the pan.
When there was nothing more for her to upchuck, Rachel asked the nurse for a washcloth and cleaned her face. “Just one more thing,” she said. “Before they wheel me out of here, can you assist me with the IV pole to use the bathroom?”
The nurse nodded but what Rachel wanted more than anything was to look in a mirror and she gasped in shock at the frightful image staring back at her. It wasn’t her, it just couldn’t be. Her face was puffy and swollen, her nose was distorted, her mandible still wobbled when she moved it. Except for her forehead, her skin wasn’t white anymore, just downright ugly. Her complexion - if she could call it that - not only resembled the color of frogs, but toads, too.
She wasn’t beautiful anymore and she took a few seconds to imagine the future; and she didn’t like what she saw. If her looks didn’t improve to what they had been, it could drastically change the methods and style of living she’d been accustomed to. How would men continue to play a major yet subsidiary role in her life? She was in deep trouble.
As Rachel continued to stare, she knew mirrors didn’t lie. Damn that Leo, she thought. If I hadn’t been so focused on his dilemma, this wouldn’t have happened. And Evan, what an idiot. What a hazardous place to suggest we hike. Who cared about that Niagara-Falls wannabe anyway?
-----
For a change, Sara was up before Danny. He silently watched her from the hallway, her hand tapping a pen on an open notebook and her casted-arm resting at her side. It appeared to be her school’s website up on her computer screen. Just like he couldn’t share all the voluminous intricacies of his job with her, it probably worked the other way around, too. She was a thorough and respected teacher, and his heart warmed knowing she was dedicated to her daily responsibilities.
He padded across the room and crouched alongside her. “Have a good day,” he said, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “I’m sorry I have to see about Rachel Hendersen tonight. It will be a long day in any case.” He tilted his head and pouted his lips. “However, I owe us all a celebratory dinner since I’ve taken over the group. We’ll have to arrange something for later in the week. Think about it.”
Sara nodded. “It sounds like she’ll need an expert surgeon. I’m glad you only work on the top of people’s heads. You’ve done enough for her and don’t need to put her face back together again, too.”
“Hmm. Point wel
l taken. But hopefully, she’ll be okay. I bet Julia would be happier later on without a disfigured mom showing up at school functions.”
“You’re right about that. Kids do get sensitive about how their parents look. Okay, off with you. I have work to do and you’re a handsome distraction.”
Danny chuckled. The few minutes with Sara perked up his spirit and he left the house on a Monday morning with a cheery attitude about the rest of the day.
-----
Danny may have liked his old office but it wasn’t taking long to appreciate the extra space that Bruce’s office afforded. All his previous furniture and wall hangings had been moved in and he had room to spare. He decided he didn’t want any more clutter as he hammered a little nail in the wall above his couch and hung his Normal Rockwell fishing print. Propped against the wall for days, it was about time he put it up and admired it.
Danny and Jeffrey both had office patients to see all day while Matthew was at the hospital doing surgeries. As Danny was between mid-morning patients, he finished his decorating task and then called the maxillofacial surgeon who had assumed Rachel’s care. When he talked to the front desk staff, he simply asked if Rachel Hendersen was on their schedule. “Dr. Tilson,” someone responded, “she’s still on today’s add-on schedule. They probably won’t get to her surgery until after five.”
The news made his day easier to manage. He stepped into the hallway and Cheryl approached him with a bounce in her step and a wide smile. “One of your most colorful patients is here for follow-up,” she said while handing him a chart with ‘Varg Dagmar’ written on the tab.
“An accurate description,” he retorted.
“The patient after Mr. Dagmar is running late so you’ve got a few extra minutes to kill with him if you’d like,” she beamed.
Danny laughed softly and patted her on the back. “Go grab yourself a cup of coffee then.” When he went into the room, Varg already had words poised on his tongue.
