TWENTY-SEVEN
Three days later Angela was still in the hospital, but she was hopeful they would release her soon. A lot of the swelling had gone down. Everything was still sore, though.
She wanted to go home to her cabin and crawl into bed there where people wouldn’t come in and wake her up at all hours of the night to take her temperature and blood pressure and give her pills. She was tired of having to roll the IV stand along with her when she went to the bathroom.
She had just returned from another one of those tricky bathroom trips and settled back into bed when two men in plain clothes came up to her room and stood in the doorway. They knocked on the doorframe and at the same time identified themselves as detectives Preston and Vaughan. They were both middle-aged. Both were dressed in suits. They had police badges hung on chains around their neck. The badges rested over drab ties.
“Are you up to talking with us?” Detective Preston asked. He was the older of the two, heavyset, with a buzz cut.
“Sure,” Angela answered cautiously, fearing they might have come with more accusations about her selling drugs or that they might even want to charge her with carrying a concealed weapon. “What is it?”
“We’d like you to take a look at some photos of some men,” Detective Vaughan said. He was thinner, taller, and with even shorter hair. His eyebrows and eyelashes were a light color that looked weak against his penetrating blue eyes.
Angela was relieved to hear that and gave them a nod. They rolled the food tray in over the bed and positioned it in front of her. She used the buttons to elevate the top half of the bed until she was almost sitting up. They laid out two rows of three photos each. The six photos looked like they had been made on a black-and-white copy machine, but the men in the photos were recognizable enough.
“Take your time,” Detective Vaughan said, “and tell us if you recognize any of these men.”
Angela looked at all six faces only briefly. A brief look was all she needed.
“No. None of these are the men who tried to kill me.”
Detective Preston took them away and Detective Vaughan laid down two more rows of three photos each.
Angela pointed at the last one before he had even finished laying it down. “Him. That’s Emilio.”
“None of the other five look familiar?” Detective Vaughan asked.
When Angela shook her head, Detective Preston took the photos away, keeping Emilio’s mug shot to the side.
After Detective Vaughan laid down six more, Angela pointed at the one in the middle of the top row. “That’s Juan,” she said, her anger rising. “He was one of the four men who tried to kill me.” She pointed at the photo beside it to her right. “That’s Pedro.”
Angela held out her hand as Detective Preston took them away, keeping two of them aside. “Just give me the rest of them and if Miguel is in there I’ll know his mole-covered face when I see it.”
The two detectives shared a look and then Detective Vaughan handed Angela the rest of the photos. She went through them quickly, one at a time, laying them facedown on the tray in front of her until she got to the photo of Miguel. She would recognize his face anywhere. Angela plunked the photo down for the two men to see.
“That’s Miguel. That’s all four. If you have their mug shots, does that mean you have them under arrest?”
Detective Vaughan nodded. “They were just picked up a couple hours ago. We wanted to make sure we had the right men. From how certain you are, it appears we do.”
“When is the trial? I want to testify. I want to help put them away forever.”
Detective Preston smiled at her eagerness. “We’ll be in touch and let you know what happens at the arraignment.” He laid his business card down on the tray. “In the meantime, if you have any questions or think of anything else here’s my card.”
“And mine,” Detective Vaughan said as he laid his down beside it. “A lot of victims are afraid to testify. We’re glad to hear that you would be willing.”
A short time after they left, Barry stopped in to see how she was doing. It was his second visit. He assured her that the bruises on her face looked better, as did her neck. She didn’t know if he was just trying to cheer her up or if he was being honest.
Barry was a nice guy, but he wasn’t the type who was comfortable expressing sympathy. He didn’t know what to do with his hands as he stood beside the bed. Before long he said he wanted to let her rest, so he didn’t stay long. Angela appreciated him stopping in.
He told her not to worry about her job, that once she was better it would be waiting for her. He smiled, then, and said that she was the best bartender he’d ever had and he wanted her back.
The next afternoon, Dr. Song stopped in. It was earlier than she usually came by.
“This morning’s CT scan looks better,” she said. “If you feel up to it we could release you today. But only if you feel up to it. I can tell you, though, that the less time you spend in a hospital, the better.”
Angela sat up. “I’m good. I’m ready to go home.”
Dr. Song smiled at Angela’s impatience. “I’ll send down the release orders, then. A nurse will come by in an hour or two and take out your IV and sign you out.”
“All right,” Angela said, already eager to leave. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”
“Happy to help,” she said with a smile. “But I want you to take it easy. No strenuous activity. No physical exertion. It would be best if you got a lot of rest for the next couple weeks. Eat light meals. No aspirin—we’ll give you a few pain pills to take home and a prescription for more, but if you feel any increase in abdominal pain you need to let me know right away.”
Angela simply nodded. She didn’t want to tell the doctor that she had no intention of taking pain medication. The drugs made her feel sick. She’d rather have the pain than the nausea.
By later in the afternoon, she had been unplugged from everything and had signed all the paperwork. Julie brought her a shirt and jeans from the lost and found and told her where she had moved her truck into the parking lot. Angela thanked her for all her help and promised to buy her a drink if she stopped into the bar once Angela was back to work.
Julie paused for a moment. “Do you remember Carrie, the nurse who worked here? She gave you samples to be taken to the lab not long ago.”
“I remember her,” Angela said. “I heard about her being abducted.”
Julie smiled, even though her eyes watered up. “Somehow, God intervened, or something, and they were able to find her body along with the guy who did it. We all wish she was still with us, but at least it’s some comfort for her family that they were finally able to give her a proper burial.”
“I’m so sorry …” After an uncomfortable silence, Angela finally spoke again. “Thank you for taking care of me while I was here.”
Julie wiped a tear away, smiled, and rubbed Angela’s arm. “Glad to watch over you.”
As she left the room to get an orderly with a wheelchair, Angela thought, You all watch over me, and I watch over all of you.
It’s what they did. That’s what Angela did.
Julie finally brought back an orderly with a wheelchair. As they wheeled her to the door, and then out into the parking lot to her truck, they offered to call someone to drive her, or to call her a cab. Angela thanked them, but insisted she was fine. When she carefully climbed into her truck, relieved to be free at last, the first thing she did was check that her gun was still there in the center console. It was right where she’d left it.
She drove through town slowly to be sure she wouldn’t have to slam on the brakes for anyone. She felt a wave of relief that she had survived the attempt on her life and that she had finally gotten out of the hospital. The four men who had raped her and tried to kill her were finally behind bars. She would rather have them down the hell hole, but at least they were in jail. She hoped they spent the rest of their lives in prison.
When she reached the drive up to her cabin, she let the cable drop to the ground so she could drive in. She would have liked to leave it there and simply drive up to the cabin, but she wanted it back across the drive.
Her four attackers were in jail, but she didn’t want anyone else coming up to her place uninvited. She struggled to pull the cable tight across the drive, but she finally got it locked back on, happy that she would be left alone.