Jamie-5 (3 page)

“No. I want you all to get out. And take her with you. I’m leaving as soon as my friend gets back.” Dane was standing now, not very well, but she was off the floor and had her gown over her breasts.

Cait reached under the bed and pulled out the bag that the staff had put her clothes in when Dane was brought in. Cait dumped the contents on the bed and picked up the shirt.

“I wouldn’t put the bra back on, not with that injury. If you need help with changing, I can get you a nurse. I do need to get a statement from you about what happened. I know you don’t like me, but—”

“I loathe you. I’ll give my statement to anyone but you. Not that I figure anyone connected to you will get it right, but I’ll give it to them.”

“Now see here, that’s no way to talk to my wife. I’ll have—”

“Wife? Christ, could this get any more surreal? And this man, he’s your brother-in-law? I don’t believe it. You know, on second thought, I don’t remember a damned thing that happened.

I just remember waking up here and nothing more. I guess you’ll have to—”

“Dane, that’s enough,” Cait finally snapped. “My family didn’t have anything to do with what happened between you and me. Let Damon look at your back and I’ll take your statement.

Once we’re through, you can leave.”

Cait was not sure she was going to cooperate, but after several tense seconds, she turned so that Damon could examine her back. It did not get any better with a second look.

The board, or whatever they had used to hit her with, had caught her right across the middle of her back. It was already darkening and there were a couple of abrasions. Damon lifted his hands several times, but he did not touch her.

“If you let me know when you’re going to touch me, I’ll be able to brace for it. It’s the sudden unexpected that hurts. Try not to linger. I’ll let you know when you need to step back.” Dane’s voice was low and tight.

Cait watched as Damon spoke softly to Dane and watched as she tensed up under his touch.

Dane must have learned a great of deal control in the ten years since she had seen her. Before, she hadn’t been able to have anyone touch her for any amount of time. Jamie went to stand in front of Dane and smiled encouragingly.

“If I use your gown, can I have you brace against me? Sometimes it helps to have something to push against when he checks for broken ribs. I’ve had a few broken in my time.”

“No. I can…it’ll be too much. I can’t…there are too many…no. I’ll be fine. Thank you.” Cait stepped out of the curtained area and into Spencer’s arms. She hated to cry, but no one had ever told her that they loathed her before. Nor did she feel she did not deserve it. She had done Dane wrong and she had every reason in the world to hate her as much as she did.

“O’Malley, honey. Tell me what happened in there. What’s the history between the two of you?” He stroked her belly, huge now with their child.

“I can’t. Not until I…she has good reason to hate me, Grant. I hurt her. And I’m part of the reason she’s scarred like she is, both on her back and in her soul.”

~CHAPTER 3~

Pi showed up a few minutes into the exam, but luckily, she was waylaid by Cait so she didn’t see Dane’s back. When Damon finished and Jamie stepped out, Dane pulled her shirt over her head and waited. She didn’t have long.

“I wish you’d reconsider spending the night, Miss Wallace.” Damon was pulling off his gloves as he spoke. “The injury to your head it quite severe and your back is badly bruised. We can keep an eye on you in the event that something happens through the night.”

“It’s doctor, and no. I’m going home. I think I’ve had enough excitement for one night.

Thanks for your concern, but I think I’ll take my chances at home. If you could have someone give me the proper paperwork to sign, I’ll be ready to go.”

“A doctor of what, if you don’t mind me asking?” Damon sat on the bed and looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Probably didn’t.

“Psychology, I’m a Psychologist. I deal with children who have had trauma in their lives. I take a few adults, but not many. I’m…I’m waiting on my boards to come through. I’ve not been in the States for a while.”

“Where are you going to practice? I’m always looking for someone to help with children that have a lot to deal with. It seems that they have more and more to deal with all the time.” She didn’t answer. She supposed he could find her if he wanted, or at least her office. But she didn’t want to get friendly with these people. That would mean dealing with Cait O’Malley, well, Grant, she supposed.

“Are you telepath or empathic, Doctor Wallace? The reason I can guess that is because of the issue with being touched. I thought at first it was from the beating you took, but that’s not it.

Or at least not all of it. Your not wanting people to touch your bare skin is because you can feel much more that way, I’m guessing.”

She looked at him and her respect for his intelligence rose significantly. But she still didn’t trust him. She continued to get dressed, not saying a word.

She was both and more, actually. Both a telepath and an empath with a healthy dose of clairvoyance too. He was right about the touching too. Bare skin touching sent her over the edge; the feelings and thoughts of the other person would bombarded her so hard and fast she would have a migraine for days. It was bad enough being in the hospital with all the despair and pain, but having someone touch her would make her hurt so badly that it would be days before she could sort through all the emotions and feelings to know much about the person.

“Dr. Grant, tell your brother, the one who touched me, that his child will be fine. So will Detective O’Malley. He…I saw them holding him, the baby. I…please don’t tell anyone.”

“No. No, I won’t. Thank you. If you have any problems, I’d like for you to call me. Here’s my home number and my cell. I won’t tell anyone. I realize that telling you that you can trust me is a little farfetched, but you can. I won’t betray your trust.” She hesitated before taking the card he held out to her, but she put it into her back pocket without a word. She was sure she’d never call it, but took it anyway.

“We’ll see, I guess.” Pi came around the curtain as Dane was tying her shoe, the nurse right behind her. After signing the paper work, Dane remembered the statement. “Shit. I have to talk to the police.”

“Go ahead on home. I’ll take care of Cait. If you’ll promise to call the station when you get up in the morning, I’ll let Cait know.”

“Missy Dane sleep only few hours then she up all night. She call station house after one. I make her remember. You go away now, we go home. Shoo!” Dane laughed at the expression on Damon’s face and went out into the early morning with Pi beside her. The cab was waiting for them.

The cab dropped them off at the mall and they took a bus to the station. From there they took another cab to the hospital again then they walked home. Neither of them said a word on the ride other than to tell the driver where they were going. Dane never took the direct route home, not when it was easier to take the long way round. Pi was used to the way her mistress did things and rarely commented anymore. Besides, if Pi wanted home sooner, she didn’t have to stay with Dane. It was almost four in the morning when they unlocked the front door to the house. Pi went to bed, Dane to her office.

It had been almost ten years since she’d seen Cait. Officer O’Malley, as she had been then, and her Captain Hunter had been a part of the task force that was searching for a serial killer.

Dane reached into her desk and pulled out the worn file. Taking a deep breath, she opened it.

The headlines were the first thing there. “Seven Dead and No End in Sight.” The next was more gruesome. “Ten Dead Girls and Not a Clue.” Dane picked up two of the pictures.

The first one was of a little girl, Danielle Sams. She had been the fifth victim. She would have been about twenty now had she lived. She had been brutally murdered and then her body had been torn apart. They had found seventy-three stab wounds over her little torso and more along her arms and legs. She had not been raped, thank goodness, but she had been made to suffer. She had been gone five days when she was found.

The next picture was of Shelby Thomas. Shelby had been five at the time of her murder and she was the ninth. The murders were nearly the same except that Shelby had had her head removed. It had been done before she had died. Dane stared at the body and wondered again, even after all these years, hadn’t anyone else noticed that the little girl had a name written in blood on her along her thigh. It was the first thing Dane had noticed when she went to the police station to offer her help.

At first they acted like she’d had something to do with it. Then later, when she’d told them what she could to, they treated her like she was insane. She had explained to Hunter that she had been finding missing people for years and had in fact just gotten back from China where she had helped find another missing girl. He just laughed at her.

Dane knew better than to go directly to the parents of the victims. She had learned the hard way that police didn’t like people like her “fucking” with their case. So she’d had her mother do it.

Shannon Messenger had not wanted to be associated with her freakish daughter’s silly notions, but when Dane’s grandmother stepped in, Shannon asked the two families to meet at her house. Dane had asked that they bring something of their child’s with them. If her mother would have believed in her, or Dane had just kept her mouth shut, or any one hundred other things that she could have, should have or maybe if’s she had done, Dane would have been fine.

The parents of Shelby had come. The parents of Danielle declined. Dane explained what she was going to do and waited for them to ask questions. At sixteen, Dane could not believe that anyone would think she was doing anything but trying to help them. But then, she had grown up a lot since then. She picked up Shelby’s shirt, held it in her hands, and closed her eyes.

“There are two, no, three men. They are tall, one is dark the other two are light, thinner than the first. Shelby was not afraid of the darker man. She knows him, he’s…he’s close. She had a teddy bear, one the dark man gave her to get her to go with him. It’s a van, white or tan. The plate number is seven eight three then I think ‘m’ or ‘n,’ ‘w’ and ‘p.’ They’re not Illinois plates.

These are lighter, the background is colorful. Shelby is picked up at the bus stop and he tells her that her mother…no, her grandmother is waiting for her. He tells her that her mommy and daddy have been hurt. She gets in with him. One of the lighter men, younger than either of the other two, puts a bag over her head and smothers her. She is dismembered later at a garage. There are buses. They aren’t school buses but I think tour ones. They’re too nice for city ones. There’s a street sign, Mac…Mac something, I can’t make it out.”

Dane opened her eyes and looked at the couple. Shock and disbelief were evident on their faces. Before Dane could say anything, her mother stood up.

“You horrible child.” And the slap was swift and painful. “If I’d known what you were going to say to these lovely people, I would never have done what you asked me to. You’ll have to forgive me, my daughter is somewhat of trouble maker. She’s been so her entire life. I’m just sorry you had to be witness to my humiliation.”

“I’m not lying. That’s what happened.” The slap came again, this time knocking her off the couch. Dane sat there and held her cheek as her mother rushed the couple out of the house.

Before she returned, Dane went to her room.

For two days, Dane had to listen to her mother wail about what Dane had done. How she had humiliated the family name and that no one would want anything to do with them again.

Two days of being locked in her room with nothing more to eat than a slice of bread slid under the door by one of the maids and sometimes a candy bar. On the night of the third day, Dane climbed out her second story window and went to find the warehouse. With her computer, she had searched for each of the bus garages in the area and had the name of four. She was determined to find enough evidence to take to the police. She found what she needed on the second try.

~~~

Jamie sat in the kitchen of his brother’s home and looked at his sister-in-law. He had no doubt what she was telling him was something she believed, but he didn’t. Mind readers just did not exist.

“She took me to the bus garage and showed me just where the girl had been cut up. She said that three of the ten girls had been murdered there, but five had been cut up in the garage. I didn’t believe her either. I wish I had. Captain Hunter told me to file her information in the circular file cabinet and to move on to the real work. I did, I’m sorry to say. I was green. She was a kid, even if she was only a few years younger than me. But she didn’t stop. Three days later, Dane called me again. She had them in the garage and she had a gun on them. They had…the men had kidnapped another child, the twelfth, and they had already murdered her. Dane had left me three messages and I never got them. Hunter had had them thrown away.”

“How did she catch them? I mean, damn, sixteen and holding a gun on three grown men?

Her parents must have had a change of heart.” When Cait got up and moved to the kitchen window, Jamie knew he would not like this.

“She followed them for three days until they took another child. If I had gotten the first message, we may have been able to save Allison. The second maybe, too, but by the third, she was already dead.

“By the time I showed up, Dane had already tried to save Allison and had a gun pointed at the three men. She was so angry, so very angry, that I couldn’t look at her. When Captain Hunter showed up, he had her put in the back of a cruiser and taken away. I thought to the hospital.

She’d had a few bruises on her face. He’d had her taken to her parents.

“The papers hailed the police as heroes. When I asked about Dane’s involvement, he said that she was a minor and that her parents didn’t want her name used. I understood it, but I thought she should be recognized in some way. I went by her house the next day and the butler told me that she was away for a while and that he would make sure she got the message. I went to work that night and there was a message from her parents and lawyer. Dane was being treated for her mental health issues and I was not to have any more contact with her or her family.”