Dirty Secrets

Part 71

At the kitchen table, Darcy clutched her friend's hand while Lyla pressed an ice pack to her aching jaw. Ryan sat at the head of the table, arms crossed and seething. Detective Morales occupied the seat across from the girls.

Steiger leaned just inside the kitchen doorway, stiff as a broom handle.

"You didn't recognize the man in the SUV?" asked Morales.

Lyla shrugged then lightly fingered the raw red patch on her forehead.

"You said Caucasian. How old do you think he is?"

"I mean, I don't know. Maybe thirty-something? I don't know. It all happened super fast."

"You didn't see him?" Morales asked Darcy.

"No. I heard her scream. Then the truck went flying past and I saw--"

"Didn't get the license number?" Steiger interrupted.

Darcy shook her head. "I couldn't even think."

"So what about Rose Ames?" Ryan fumed. "Are you finally gonna lock her crazy ass up?"

Morales replied, "When Ms. Ames is released from the hospital, she'll be taken directly into custody. It's unlikely she'll be able to make bail."

"Highly unlikely," said Steiger scratching his cheek.

"She's facing a long list of charges," said Morales. "Kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon for starters."

"Pretty much a carbon copy of the Amelia Czarnecki assault," Steiger added. "Same M.O., probably the same weapon."

Morales addressed Lyla. "A trial date will be set. You gonna be okay facing her in court?"

"Facing her?"

"Testifying against her."

"When?" Lyla asked.

The detective replied, "She'll be arraigned as soon as she's well enough to appear in court. You don't need to attend the arraignment. As far as a trial date..."

"Could be months," said Steiger concluding the meeting.

Morales stood and reached into her jacket pocket. "This was among her possessions." She set the silver serpent ring on the table. "Before she lost consciousness, she said it was yours."

Lyla felt Darcy's grip tighten.

........

The following afternoon, the fragrance of the approaching fall season rode the rays of sunlight down into the courtyard. Shaniece paced past Lyla, scrutinizing the rows of flowers like a drill sergeant inspecting her troops. 

"Ain't nobody gonna tend to these flowers," Shaniece grumbled, admiring the multi-colored zinnias. "You watch. This garden will be full of weeds in a week or two." Her words were lost on Lyla whose thoughts were elsewhere.

It was more than grief that slowed her breath as she watched Bo, dribbling a basketball while flirting with the new girl. A deep sense of loss hollowed her out. The basketball court had been Packer's realm, an unlikely environment for emotional attachment to incubate. In retrospect, she recognized that she was in love, she just didn't know it yet.

"What? Are we re-doing the pee-tests?" Shaniece brushed the soil from her palms.

Lyla noticed Petie standing at the doorway speaking with the Day Nurse. "Lyla," he caught her eye and waved her over.

She stepped around the coils of garden hose snaking across the walkway to the doorway.

"Doctor Haden wants to see you," said the nurse. 

Lyla followed her into the building. Her clinical, unfriendly disposition typically annoyed Lyla, but today she was grateful for the silence, free of the burden of forced conversation.

As they approached the elevator, the public wall phone at the end of the corridor rang echoing against the tile surfaces. While waiting, the irritating, shrill ringing continued.

Lyla craned her neck and noticed someone working at the Nurses' Station, also ignoring the phone.

"Why doesn't somebody answer it?" Lyla asked.

The Day Nurse glanced down the hallway then back to Lyla with a quizzical expression.

"The phone," said Lyla. "You just let it ring?"

The elevator arrived and they entered.

"You didn't hear that?" she asked.

Still no reply. They rode up to the third floor in silence, Lyla feeling the steely observation as though she were a lab rat in a metal cage.

When the door wobbled open, she found Dr. Haden waiting, wearing a gentle lipsticked smile that matched her blouse.

"How are you today, Lyla?" she asked as they walked the corridor toward her office.

"I'm doing alright."

"Actually, I'm surprised that you didn't take the day off. I'm so glad you decided to come."

"I wanted to see Natalie anyway, so..."

"Poor Natalie." The doctor opened the office door for her. After she'd closed the door she added, "That was a terrible thing. Unimaginable."

Lyla disagreed. She'd imagined Rose's knife attack multiple times.

The doctor gestured toward the upholstered guest chair. Lyla sat, anxiously tapping her feet.

"Lyla, I'm going to recommend that we extend your time."

"What? No."

"Just one more week."

"Why?"

"Well, considering yesterday's incident. That was a very traumatic event."

Lyla sighed.

Doctor Haden said, "As a defense mechanism against severe trauma, the brain can go into shock. Often it does."

While the doctor studied her, Lyla skimmed her fingers across the tufted arms of the brightly-patterned chair, tracing the red and blue flowers on serpentine vines, her feet tapping more rapidly.

"It could be a day, maybe more," said the doctor,  "until the shock wears off. And you begin to fully feel the effects of what's happened. I'd like to monitor you, see how you're doing, okay?"

"What does monitor mean?

"Keep an eye on you. That's all."

"You mean like a nurse following me around?"

"No. Nothing so intrusive."

"Guess it's not up to me, right?"

"Transitioning out is such a critical time," Doctor Haden said empathetically. "And then to have something like this occur,..."

"So I guess that's a no."

The doctor offered a warm smile.

"Can I visit Natalie now?" Lyla asked.

Doctor Haden responded, "I'll have Petie walk you over." She thumbed a message on her phone and received a quick response. "He'll meet you at the elevator at the end of the hall."

Lyla leaned out of her upholstered seat and started for the door thinking she could tough out one more week of this place. She'd made it this far, she could survive another few days.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Doctor Haden said.

When Lyla turned, her mouth went dry. The doctor held a plastic bag containing Lyla's gray and white striped top.

"The cleaning staff found this under Clover's bed a week or two ago. I don't believe it was hers. I asked Shaniece and she said it wasn't her shirt, either. Does this belong to you?"

Lyla struggled to push the words across her dry tongue and out of her mouth. "No. Not mine."

Doctor Haden raised her manicured eyebrows in concern. "Are you okay? Maybe you should sit down for a moment."