A Thousand Lies (15 page)

Jack wiped a shaky hand across his face. “He asked me where they were taking her so I told him.”

“Where is she?” Lana cried. “Where are they taking my baby?”

“Touro Infirmary,” Jack said and walked out.

Like Brendan, he was going to the hospital. He needed to know the extent of her injuries before he closed his eyes on this night.

Grayson turned to his wife. “Get your purse and raincoat. We’ve got to get to the hospital now.”

Lana was still weeping as she began to gather up her things.

He took the purse from her hands, slung it over his shoulder, and led her from the room. He wanted to run. He needed to see Julie’s face to reassure himself she was really alive, but Lana had finally come undone.

****

Brendan beat the ambulance transporting Julie to the hospital and then stood in the breezeway beneath the entrance to ER, anxiously awaiting the arrival. Some people came and went with injuries related to the fire, another came in on his own with a knife wound, while a young gunshot victim was brought in by family members.

He heard an ambulance coming through the city long before he saw it, but had no way of knowing if it would be the one with Julie on board. Then he saw it coming in hot with lights, sirens, and a police escort. It had to be her.

He waited as the ambulance backed up into the bay and moved closer as the EMTs opened up the doors. When he saw them pulling the patient out on the gurney, his heart sank. It wasn’t Julie. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t until he heard her voice that the ground tilted beneath his feet.

God in heaven, Juliette! What did he do to you?

He grabbed hold of the gurney as they pushed it toward the entrance and ran beside it, calling out her name.

“Julie! It’s Brendan. I’m here, baby. I’m here.”

“Bren... can’t see you!”

“I’m here, Julie. I’m right beside you.”

He grabbed her hand as they rolled into ER, and all the while, she kept screaming, “With me... Stay with me. I can’t see! Don’t leave!”

He squeezed her fingers. “I’m here, Julie. Don’t be afraid. You’re safe now.”

Once they were inside, staff took over and began trying to separate Brendan from the gurney.

“Sir, you can’t go any farther. You have to wait—”

Julie screamed. The shriek was ear-splitting and frantic, and brought a doctor running out of another room.

“No! With me. He stays with me! I can’t see. I don’t know these voices. He stays with me—with me!”

Brendan turned to the doctor, begging him to intercede.

“Please! Her name is Juliette March. She was kidnapped less than two hours ago and they just rescued her from the abductor’s home. I’ll stay out of the way, but I need to be close enough that she can hear my voice. She needs to know that she’s with someone she trusts.”

“Related to Grayson March?” the doctor asked.

“His daughter.”

It was the magic connection needed to turn the tide.

The doctor nodded. “But stay out of the way in the corner, okay?”

“Absolutely, and thank you,” Brendan said, and then he hurried into the examining room, talking as he went. “Julie, I’m here in the room with you. I’m just staying out of the way so they can help you. Okay?”

She was moaning again, and from what he could tell, she was once again out of her head, reliving what had already happened. When they began to remove the sheet from her body, he knew he was right.

She moaned as she grabbed at the sheet, thinking she was fighting her abductor, instead.

“No more, no more! Oh God, please don’t hit me again.”

“Miss March, I’m Doctor George. You’re safe. You’re in a hospital.”

Brendan added his voice, hoping to calm her.

“Julie! You’re safe. You’re in ER and the troll is gone for good. Chub Walton was his name and he’s already in custody.”

Her head rolled from side to side, searching for his location with sightless eyes.

“Brendan?”

“Yes. I’m here. Let go of the sheet, baby. They’re trying to help you.”

“Too late,” she whispered, even as she let go.

Then he saw her body and nearly fainted. Besides the lash marks on her face, bloody stripes, oozing fluid and seeping blood, covered most of her torso and between her legs,. Even the hardened ER personnel seemed visibly shaken as the doctor quickly repeated his introduction.

“Juliette, my name is Doctor George. I’m going to be examining you now.” He picked up her hands. “Feel my hands? These are my hands. Long skinny fingers, aren’t they? I always wanted to play piano, but I have a tin ear. I’m going to put them on your legs, and on your stomach, as well. Is that okay?”

Julie ran her fingers over the doctor’s hands. They didn’t feel like the short stubby ones that had been hurting her.

“Brendan?”

“Yes, that’s Doctor George and you’re in Touro Infirmary. You know this place, right? Isn’t this where your Nonny was last time she was in the hospital?”

Julie dropped her hands.

“Yes, Nonny was here. I’m sorry. I’ll be still.”

The doctor was all business. “Good for you. Now tell me, how did you get these cuts and contusions? What kind of weapon did this?”

She shuddered, started to speak but all she could do was sob. “Oh God.” She licked her swollen lips and then took a breath. “A short whip with a bunch of leather strips.”

“Like a cat-o’-nine-tails?” the doctor asked.

“Yes, that. He hit himself and then me over and over. He liked it. He liked pain. Are the cuts deep? Am I going to have stitches all over? Will there be scars?”

“No stitches at all. There are a few places where the skin finally broke, but they aren’t deep. It appears he was quite skilled with inflicting pain without ripping the flesh. I venture to say the day will come when there will not be a mark left on your body as a reminder of what happened.”

Her face crumpled. “I’ll remember,” she said, sobbing softly as they began tending her wounds.

Brendan could no longer see her for the tears in his eyes, but he wouldn’t look away. If she had suffered it, he would endure it. Every few moments she called out his name, and every time she called, he answered.

The sounds in the room, even her gasps and moans of pain, became muted as the doctor and staff worked on her in perfect unison. They wheeled a portable X-ray machine in to make sure he hadn’t cracked any ribs. When they did the rape kit, she nearly lost it, thinking the hands on her body were the troll’s. It took Brendan standing beside her to keep her calm enough to finish it, and when they were done, her whole body was shaking.

The doctor tried to examine her eyes but they were too swollen for the eyelids to open.

“I want antibiotic ointment on her eyes and then bandaged,” he ordered. “I’ll have the pphthalmologist notified to check in on her tomorrow.”

“Am I blind?” Julie asked, reaching toward her face.

A nurse caught her hand. “Don’t touch, dear.”

The doctor didn’t know how to answer, so he hedged. “You’re eyes are swollen, Julie. I’ll have the specialist check them tomorrow after the swelling goes down.”

“Okay,” she said, and then just as swiftly cried Brendan’s name.

“I’m still here. I won’t leave you.”

News of her ordeal was filtering through the ER as well as Brendan Poe’s part in her rescue. Unknowingly, he’d become the hero of the hour.

They were just finishing applying the bandages on her eyes and were painting the wounds on her body with an antiseptic when a nurse stepped into the room.

“Doctor George, her parents are here.”

“No!” Julie moaned. “I don’t want them to see. Mama will say it’s my fault.”

“Tell them to wait,” the doctor said.

Julie called out again. “Brendan?”

“Right here. Not going anywhere until you do, okay?

“Yes.”

****

Grayson March was not a man accustomed to being told no. When the nurse came back informing him they would have to wait, he began to demand.

“She’s my daughter! I have the right to —”

“I’m sorry, Mr. March, but your daughter is the one who asked you to wait. I’m sure you understand.”

Lana moaned and clasped her hand against her heart. “Does she look bad? What did he do to her? Will she be scarred?”

Jack had been sitting quietly nearby and couldn’t believe the first words out of Lana March’s mouth had to do with physical appearance.

The nurse’s eyes narrowed slightly, but she answered in a calm, professional manner.

“She has suffered greatly, but she will heal, Mrs. March. I’ll let you know when they move her to a room.”

“Where’s Brendan Poe?” Grayson asked, frowning first at Jack who would no longer look at him, then back at the nurse.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know anyone by that name,” the nurse said.

All Grayson knew was that Poe had left the police station before they had, but he was nowhere in sight.

“Is there a man with her?”

The nurse frowned. “There are a lot of people with your daughter, sir, and they’re taking very good care of her.”

Grayson doubled his fists as the nurse left the waiting room. He turned on Jack in frustration.

“He’s with her. I know he’s with her. Why the hell will she see him and not us?”

Jack shrugged as he headed for the far end of the room to get a cup of coffee. He fumbled for change and dropped it in the vending machine, then blindly watched a thin stream of hot, dark brew dribble into a paper cup before taking a quick sip. It was not the best coffee he’d ever had, but it would suffice. He headed back to his seat.

“I’d like a cup of coffee,” Lana said.

Jack kept walking without realizing she was speaking to him.

“Excuse me!” Lana said.

Jack stopped and looked back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were speaking to me.”

Lana sniffed. “Well, I was. I would like a cup of coffee, too.”

“Yes, ma’am, but I’m sure you wouldn’t want an unsavory sort like me getting it for you. Grayson, your wife wants coffee.”

He walked back to his seat, ignoring the flush on Lana’s face. He never would’ve imagined how freeing being unemployed could be.

Lana glared as Jack walked away and then tugged on her husband’s arm.

“Did you hear the way he spoke to me? I don’t think you should employ someone so rude.”

Grayson glared at a spot on the floor. “He doesn’t work for me anymore. He quit.”

“So, what are you going to do about Poe and Julie?”

“There’s not much I can do. Julie’s of age, and Poe quit, too.”

Lana frowned. “Really? What on earth did you—?”

Grayson sighed. “Look. When they first told me about Juliette’s abduction, I handled it badly.”

“How so?”

He shrugged. “I accused Anson of being behind it and Brendan of complicity.”

Lana rolled her eyes. “Anson, I can understand, but why would you think the son would be complicit? As undesirable as his family is, he’s treated her well, and while I hate to say it, it appears we also have him to thank for her life.”

Grayson had always been Juliette’s first hero and was not gracious about relinquishing the status.

“I already said I handled it poorly,” he snapped and walked off to get their coffee.

****

By the time they moved Juliette to a room, she was exhausted and in so much pain she could barely stand it. She whimpered with every breath that she took and kept touching the bandages on her eyes.

“I hurt, Bren,” she said softly.

“I know, baby. They just put something for pain in your IV and they put an antibiotic wash on your skin. It should all take effect soon.”

“Brendan?”

“Right here.”

She lifted her hand toward him as if begging forgiveness. “I wanted to die. I asked God to let me die.”

He grabbed her hand, holding it to his cheek, unable to speak.

She felt his tears. He needed to know things. She just didn’t know if she could speak the words. “I wanted to be dead before… before—”

“What he did to you will never change how much I love you,” Brendan whispered.

“He didn’t rape me.”

Brendan sighed. He’d hoped she hadn’t had to endure that, too.

“Thank God, but it wouldn’t have changed me loving you.”

“I know. But it would have made a difference to Mama and Daddy.”

“Fuck Mama and Daddy,” Brendan said shortly.

Julie started to laugh, then winced as the shift of facial muscles pulled at her swollen lips.

“Oh, Brendan, I can’t believe I did that. I didn’t think I would ever laugh again.”

“You’re a grown woman, Juliette. They’re your parents and you will love them for that, but they no longer steer the rudder in your life. You do. Remember that.”

Julie could hear his disapproval and wished she could see his face.

“If I am sailing my own ship, then you’re my North Star.”

Brendan shuddered. “I will love you forever, but I’m not sure that being with me is the healthiest thing that can happen to you.”

She clutched his hand in sudden panic. “What are you saying?”

“Knowing me could harm you. There was a time tonight when I wondered if Anson might’ve had something to do with your abduction. Even though we had the guilty man on security camera, I couldn’t swear Anson hadn’t hired him. God knows I wouldn’t put it past him.”

“But he didn’t.”

“We still don’t know that. By sheer association, I’ve put you in harm’s way.”

Julie didn’t answer, and Brendan thought she was finally falling asleep. And then her fingernails curled into the skin at his wrists.

“What did my father say to you?”

Brendan frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I know you. I can hear something in your voice you’re not telling me, and don’t lie to me. I’ve had enough drama to last a lifetime. What did he say?”

“I’m not going to tell you. If you want to know, you can ask him yourself. What I will tell you is that The Black Garter burned down along with a pretty wide swath of the Quarter and that I will never work for him again.”

Julie’s chin began to tremble. “Oh my God! What happened between you two?”

There was a shuffle of feet behind him. Brendan knew they were no longer alone.