Authors: Brenda Hill
He studied her face. While her cheeks were still swollen and bruised, her eyes were what attracted his attention. They were a rich brown sparkling with lighter specks of gold, with long black lashes.
“Where is your partner?” Tracy asked listlessly. “Isn’t she with you?”
“It’s just me. Look, I think you may have the wrong idea about Officer Cooper. She may be a little abrupt, but when she’s convinced you’re legitimate, she’ll go all the way for you. But I’m here about Karlton Wolfe. What can you tell me about him?” He sat back and watched her reaction.
Tracy went white. Not just pale, but so death white he could see tiny blue veins in her face.
“Are you all right?” he asked, concerned.
She gave a brief nod but said nothing.
“He left during his shift the night you were attacked,” Reese told her, “and hasn’t been seen since. His wife said his clothes and personal things are gone. He’s disappeared. Do you have any idea why?”
Tracy’s eyes were huge now. She took a deep breath.
“He’s...gone?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“Was it him, Tracy? Was it Karlton Wolfe who attacked you?”
She said nothing for the longest time. “I’ve already told what happened,” she said finally, her voice so low he could scarcely hear her. “I can’t say any more than that.”
“Look. I’m here because I need your help,” Reese told her. “There have been other...assaults, unsolved. And, according to statistics, there will be more.”
“What’s that got to do with—” She stopped. “You think it’s the same man.”
“It’s a strong possibility. The crime lab hasn’t completed the DNA coding from your attack, but I believe it’s the same person. We know one man is responsible for at least two other attacks in the area and we think it’s Karlton Wolfe. I think you know something, Tracy. Please, I need your help.”
“I...can’t.”
“Think about it for a moment. Think about the fact that he may do this again. Someone else may be raped because you’re shielding this man.”
Tracy stared at Reese. “Please, don’t do this to me,” she whispered.
Reese saw the anguish in her face. She was getting it from all sides. He felt like the biggest asshole in history.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I have to put a stop to this. I can’t let someone else die.”
“Someone else?”
He sighed and looked toward the window.
“There was a young woman, my sister. She was just about your age, full of life, going to school to become an archaeologist. She was smart enough to do it, too.” He got up to gaze out the window. “She loved people. She felt she could make a difference.” He turned to face Tracy and saw that she was watching him closely. “She could have, too.”
Reese sat back down and leaned forward.
“Crissy was raped,” he said, his eyes misting as they always did. “It was a brutal, vicious attack, by someone she knew. She never got over it. She lost her trust of people, didn’t want to leave the house, dropped her classes. She just gave up on life.”
“At least with you being on the police force, you could help,” Tracy said.
“That’s just it,” Reese said, his voice harsh. “I didn’t help. Oh, I thought I did, I offered the same old platitudes you hear all the time: ‘time will heal; ‘he didn’t kill you;’ and, here’s the best one, ‘after all, it wasn’t as if you’d been a virgin.’ Yeah, I was great. So damn great that one night, after she tried to get some comfort from me, she slit her wrists.”
“Oh my God. Is she all right now?”
“She’s dead.” He shot up and began to pace the room. “She died hating me as much as she hated the guy who raped her.”
“I can’t believe that.”
“I saw that look in her eyes. Me, her big brother, the one person in all the world who should have understood. I was so filled with prejudices that I only added to her pain.”
He blinked rapidly, then coughed a few times. If he didn’t get the hell out of there he was going to break down in front of a victim. He took a business card from his jacket and placed it on the table by her bed.
“I can’t let that happen again, Tracy. I won’t. Think about what I said, and if you want to talk to me, you can reach me any day, any hour. You have to, Tracy. You have to help me get this man and put him away.”
Reese fled the room. What an ass he’d made of himself. Jesus, a schmuck like him shouldn’t be allowed out in public.
Downstairs, he eased out of the parking lot. Even though he didn’t want to think about Tracy, her eyes haunted him. He wanted to help her. But how could he help her or anybody, when he couldn’t help himself?
***
After Reese left, Tracy thought about what he had said. Was Karr really the man responsible for several attacks? Even if he were, there was nothing she could do. She would not risk her son’s life. She could only pray Sergeant Sanders was correct and that Karr was gone for good.
***
Karr waited until visiting hours were ending so there would be a confusion of people, all hustling around for those last few moments with someone.
He wore his uniform with a black windbreaker covering the security patch. Making sure his gun and cuffs were visible, he walked with a cocky stride to the nurse’s station on Tracy’s floor. He had learned long ago that if you looked like you belonged somewhere, people assumed you did. He stood waiting, as a polite officer would do, while the phones rang and visitors impatiently demanded attention. Finally, a harried nurse acknowledged his presence.
“Has my partner been in today?” he asked her. “You know, for Tracy Michaels.”
“You mean the young woman in 102?” She looked at the other nurses who shrugged.
Karr gave her a nod.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “We’ve been very busy, but I haven’t seen anyone except Sergeant Sanders. If you’ll wait just a moment, I’ll call—”
“No, that’s okay, I’ll catch up to him. Thanks.” He turned and headed down the corridor.
Sonofabitchin’ little tramp. She did talk. Damn good thing he cleared out of the house when he did.
But Christ all Friday, he didn’t want to have to run all his life. He had to do something, something to remind the little bitch who she was dealing with.
He’d just drop in for a friendly little visit, see how she’s doing, let her know he was still around.
He was just about to open the door to her room when a nurse bustled past him.
“I’ll just be a moment, Officer, if you’d like to wait,” she told him, all smiles.
Shit!
He nodded as if he had all the time in the world. Instead, as soon as the nurse entered Tracy’s room, he hustled down the hall to the elevators. Of all the fucking luck.
He would just have to think of something else.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tracy couldn’t sleep. Was it possible that Karr had actually left town? Afraid to let herself hope, she tried to think rationally, but the possibility was too exciting. Surely, with the police after him, he’d run.
When the morning sun streamed into the window, Tracy, for the first time, wanted to see the view. Carefully swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she slowly pushed herself to her feet. A wave of dizziness washed over her, but she stood motionless until it passed. Then, clutching the metal t-pole holding her IV, she shuffled to the window, propped her elbows on the ceramic-tiled ledge, and gazed at the vista before her.
As far along the Front Range as she could see, the Rockies towered to a height over fourteen thousand feet. Even now in late spring, snow crowned the jagged peaks. From a distance, the foothills were a blue-lavender with patches of brown, green and blue with an occasional burst of red as the timber and vegetation grew to the treeline.
A sparkle of light drew her gaze to the left, to the state’s capitol. Just at that moment, the sun’s rays caressed the golden dome, causing a brilliant burst of shimmering luster.
Tracy felt a tug of pride for her adopted city, and along with the pride, a new determination. She was getting well, and if Karr were really out of the picture, things could work out. She could begin again and make a life for Ritchie and herself. She would make it happen.
***
“Mrs. Michaels? Tracy? I’m Susan Banning.” A short, plump, white-haired woman, who was probably in her seventies, stood in the doorway. An enormous sequined butterfly covered the front of her hot-pink pullover, which fell to her knees, almost covering her lavender polyester pants. Large purple hoops dangled from her ears, and the large, straw handbag hanging from her arms was adorned with a matching sequined butterfly.
Tracy remembered to close her mouth.
“Surprised, aren’t you?” The woman’s blue eyes twinkled. “I get a kick out of everybody’s jaw dropping when they see me. For some reason, I’m not what they expect.”
Tracy couldn’t think of a thing to say.
“Just call me Suzy.” Patting Tracy’s hand, she sat down by the bed and dug in her straw handbag. “Would you like a gumdrop? I keep them with me all the time. Darn doctor made me quit smoking, and they help, you know. Smoked for fifty years. He’d been after me for twenty of those fifty, so to make him feel good, I quit. Actually,” she winked, “I’d been thinking about quitting on my own, but I didn’t let on. Wanted him to think I listen to him once in a while.”
This funny-looking woman smoked for fifty years?
“Why in my time, if you wanted to be with it, you smoked. I enjoyed it. When I first learned, my girlfriend and I would sneak behind the house and boy, would we get sick! Wouldn’t do, you see, just to smoke. You had to have a certain ambience about it. So we’d watch in a mirror, inhale, exhale, until we looked like Bette Davis.”
Even though Tracy didn’t know what to make of the woman sitting next to her, the easy banter helped her to relax.
“And did I love my long holders,” Suzy continued. “The more rhinestones the better. Had different colors for different outfits. Oh well,” she sighed, “those were the days. But so many of my friends developed emphysema or some other lung disease that I finally got scared and gave up the cigarettes. So, now I chew gumdrops. Not so bad, really, and a heck of a lot cheaper.”
Suzy settled back in the chair and placed her handbag on the floor.
“I notice that you’re keeping your face turned away, probably to hide that shiner of yours,” she said cheerfully. “It’s kind of hard to talk to one eye, so why don’t you just face me, head on and let me see.”
Tracy didn’t move. It was still difficult to let other people see her, even hospital personnel.
“Honey,” Suzy said, “I loved a big, handsome hunk of a man for most of my life, bore him three sons and have seen a lot of life. I’ve never fainted at the sight of a black eye before and I sure don’t expect to start now. So why don’t you just go ahead and look at me. Go ahead, then we can relax and talk.”
The older woman waited patiently as Tracy lay rigid. Finally, she turned her head slightly toward Suzy, then more and more until she was directly facing her.
Suzy got up from her chair, and placing her hand gently on Tracy’s chin, she tilted Tracy’s head and carefully examined the bruised and swollen flesh.
“Goodness, that’s certainly a doozer, isn’t it?” she said. “Well, don’t worry, it’ll go down and fade, and that pretty face of yours will be good as new.”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Tracy felt a rush of gratitude for this funny little woman. To be accepted by a stranger, no matter how grotesque she felt she looked, was a wonderful relief.
“Now,” Suzy said. “Why don’t you tell me how you feel.”
Feel? “I...I don’t know. Everyone is so interested in what happened, down to every little detail, that I haven’t thought about how I feel.”
“Ah, I see the police have been here. Well, they have their job to do. They want to catch whoever did it. But what I want to know is, how do you feel? Here, inside,” she added, placing her hand over her heart.
Tracy stared blankly at Suzy, startled that someone was suggesting she put her thoughts into words, forcing her to face her feelings. Even Diana had encouraged her to not think about that night.
“I don’t know,” Tracy murmured, “and I’m not sure I want to know. It hurts too much.”
Suzy’s face softened. She rose and put her arms around Tracy. Then she just held on and hugged.
Tracy felt herself relax in Suzy’s arms until, tears starting to flow at last, she was holding tightly to the other woman. Suzy crooned soft things to her, just like a mother with a hurt child. Tracy allowed herself to be cradled against Suzy’s ample bosom, and felt, for that brief time, safe from the world.
Minutes passed before Suzy released her and tenderly wiped her face.
“You seem so understanding” Tracy told her. “I didn’t expect that.”
“I do understand.” Suzy sat on the end of the bed and looked at Tracy with a soft smile. “You see, I too, was attacked. About thirty years ago. Raped and beaten, left in front of my own home. And when I needed help and understanding, someone was there for me.”