Kindred Spirits

Part 33

As soon as the phones were open the next day, Joan had called her attorney, Liza Blanchard.

"We need a meeting." Joan said in a clipped tone as soon as the other woman came on the line.

"Good morning to you too, Joan." Liza replied, but Joan didn't appreciate the quip.

"Are you aware what happened to Stevie Simmons yesterday, or are you really that incompetent?" Joan lashed out at the woman.

"I was made aware. I'm sorry, Joan. I really am. I know how much she means to you." Liza replied sincerely.
"I was supposed to meet with her."

"What are you going to do about it?" Joan asked, ignoring the sentiment.

"What do you mean?" Liza asked her.

"I want her out of this place. It's more important now than ever." Joan ground out.

"There's an ongoing investigation into what happened. I'm sure when she returns, they'll put her in protection." Liza replied.

"Not good enough. She still won't be safe." Joan snorted.

"This was planned. We need a meeting. Schedule one for as soon as possible. Say it's an emergency. What ever." Joan demanded.

"Do you know who did this to her?" Liza asked.

"Do your job and schedule the damn meeting." Joan barked, hanging up the phone and walking away in anger. She hated being questioned by such obstinance.

"How'd the call with your attorney go?" Marie asked when Joan stepped back into the unit.

"Nevermind that. Did you get it done?" Joan asked, referring to Marie's getting in contact with someone on the outside. They stepped into Joan's cell and shut the door.

"I did. Borrowed Lou's phone. She was surprisingly in a giving mood." Marie replied and Joan looked at her impatiently.
"He'll print them and drop them off to the police tomorrow."

Joan pulled down her goldfish and dropped a bit of food into the bowl. If was surprising the animal was still alive. It was probably the longest she'd ever kept one alive at a time.

"Let's hope the idiots at the station don't take days to open it." Joan said, increasingly agitated. She wasn't coping well with this chaos.
"Any rumors going around about who gave Stevie that hot shot?"

"None that I've heard. Do you know of anyone Miss Bennett would have any particular leverage over?" Marie asked, and Joan thought about that a moment. It was a good question. Joan had a lot of enemies, but who in Wentworth would be willing to kill Stevie for Vera?

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It took Stevie two days to start coming out of the coma, and when she did she felt like she was suffocating. There was a loud buzzing and then she was being pushed back down on the bed by the nurse who the officer in the room had called for. She tried yanking the tube from her throat, but the nurse stopped her.

"You can't do that, sweetie." The nurse said kindly.
"We'll get that out, but you have to relax now."

Stevie tried to relax, but the feeling was unbearable. She was also scared. What had happened to her? All she could remember was trying to catch Joan at the elevator and the letter. Joan still thought she wanted her to stay away from her. She had to talk to Joan. She tried to pull it out again, but the nurse held her down again. Thankfully it wasn't long before someone was rushing in and they removed the tube from her throat.

"Your throat is going to be sore for a few days." The nurse said after it was finally pulled from her throat.
"I'll get you some ice chips."

"What..." Stevie tried to ask, but she started coughing violently from the dryness and she had to lay back. This was horrific.

The nurse brought the ice chips and wiped the blood Stevie hadn't even noticed on her hand from coughing.

"Dry throat. You're fine, sweetie." The nurse said of the blood.
"The doctor is on his way up. I know you're scared, but you're doing fine. Baby is fine too."

Stevie placed a piece of ice in her mouth, reveling at the coldness that started to ease her throat. The doctor wasn't long in showing up. He was an older man with black rimmed glasses and bald except a few whisps of white hair on the sides of his head.

"Miss Simmons, good to see you awake. I am Dr. Duggan. I would advise you not to speak right now. The tube can do a number on your throat. I'm sure you do have some questions about why you are here so I've brought you a pen and paper. You'll want to use it until your throat heals a little more." Dr. Duggan said as he showed her the items.
"I'll try to explain to you first what happened when you came in and how you've progressed, and after you can ask me any questions you need. Alright?"

Dr. Duggan waited for Stevie to nod that she understood before he continued and explained everything concerning her medical condition and what she presented with. When he explained the drugs in her system she immediately tried to speak again, but started coughing again. She had to calm down and be given the paper and pen before she could dispute the fact.

"Don't do drugs." She wrote, and he nodded in understanding.

"The injection site was in your upper left thigh muscle." Dr Duggan pointed to his own leg.
"Swollen and red. I understand you are an inmate, Miss Simmons. Do you recall being attacked?"

"No." Stevie wrote. All she could remember was trying to find Joan.

"I'm sure the authorities are sorting out what happened." Dr. Duggan replied.

"Baby?" Stevie wrote, needing to hear it again.

"The fetus looks fine. We will want to do a sonogram later, but I want you to rest for now." Dr. Duggan instructed, but Stevie shook her head no.

"I need Joan." She wrote, and he read it and looked at her confused.

"Who is Joan?" Dr. Duggan asked and Stevie wasn't sure exactly how to answer him.
Should she say lover? Friend? Guardian protector?

"I love her. I need to talk to her." Stevie wrote out and the doctor nodded.

"You'll have to let your voice come back before you can speak to anyone, Miss Simmons. Try to rest for now. I'm sure Joan would want you to recover and take care of yourself." Dr. Duggan said.
"If there's no more questions I'll let you rest, but I'll be back later if you can think of anymore."

Stevie slumped back on the bed feeling very defeated. Someone had tried to kill her. She couldn't speak to Joan. Hell, she couldn't speak to anyone for the moment! Joan had to be worried sick. This was what she had feared would happen.

Stevie pulled up the gown and traced her finger over the still swollen flesh on her leg. Why couldn't she remember even being pricked? It was maddening.

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Will had shuffled through the footage of Stevie Simmons leaving her unit the day she'd been attacked and had spotted the other inmate that Stevie had ran into. He'd spoken with the doctor and knew it had to be when Stevie had been dosed but you couldn't prove it by the video. The angle of the camera hadn't caught the needle or the woman's face. He was fucked. He even went through footage of trying to track the prisoner through her movements and it had been impossible. Whoever this was had been extremely aware of the camera angles and their movements. He had lost the woman's movements when she'd disappeared down a hallway that wasn't monitored. Another person hadn't come into view until a good ten minutes later and then it had been a group of women going to the kitchen for work unit. Camera footage wasn't going to help him this time.

He had his suspicions of who was involved, but could he prove it? No.
He also didn't want to believe it either. Vera was many things, but a murderer? It was hard to comprehend. What was even more surprising was that he was currently more aligned with Joan Ferguson. Vera and Joan had went from allies to enemies, and currently he and Joan were allies in protecting one young woman. He felt like he was in the twilight zone at times.