Chapter Eleven
Haizley
As soon as Gunner walked into the bar, I stepped back further into the corner. For some strange reason, I didn’t want him to know I had been here tonight. I still needed to give my statement, so I asked Deputy Reed if we could step outside for some air.
“Miss Walker, can you tell me what happened tonight?”
“I honestly didn’t see anything. I was here with some friends and didn’t know anything had happened until someone yelled, call 9-1-1.”
Ok, so I know I said I didn’t have any friends. And while that’s not completely true, it’s not completely untrue, either.
I grew up in Diamond Creek and graduated from the local high school. There were fifty kids in my class senior year, so I knew people. I just didn’t classify them as friends really.
At The Diner yesterday, I was eating my lunch, minding my own business until Gunner walked up behind me. The feel of his chest against my back made my brain malfunction, and I couldn’t speak.
So, I just simply listened.
Then he put his lips on me.
After stewing about it all night and all day today I decided tonight was a good night to get a drink. When I got to the bar, I ran into Audrey Barlow. She owned The Coffee Shoppe. And we graduated from high school together. So, while we weren’t friends, we were friendly. She invited me to sit and catch up, and I was really glad I did. Until she asked me about Gunner.
“So, I hear you and Gunner...” She trailed off, taking a sip from her drink, clearly expecting me to finish the sentence.
“There is no me and Gunner. Brian Castor was pestering me on the street last week, and Gunner stepped in. It was stupid. He was stupid for what he said because up to that point, I’d had two interactions with the man, and neither would have led to being friends. Let alone lovers.”
“What about yesterday? At The Diner. I heard Penelope squawking about how you were trying to steal her man.”
I choked on my drink, coughing intensely. Audrey slapped my back, trying to help. I didn’t bother mentioning that wasn’t how you helped.
“Penelope is welcome to have him. But from what I saw at The Diner, he told her to stay away from him.”
“Really? Penny said they’ve been on and off for three years.”
“I have never heard that. Of course, I don’t talk to Penny, ever.”
Penelope Ridgefield was my sworn enemy. When we were seventeen, she told Jerry Swine that I had a crush on him. Jerry was exactly what you would picture when you hear the name Swine.
Penny spread around the entire school that Jerry and I had sex in the cafeteria before school one morning. All because the guy she wanted to go to prom with, Jacob Markham, had asked me.
I turned him down.
I didn’t go to prom.
There was no reason to. There was no one to go shopping with, no one to take pictures when he picked me up. So I stayed home.
Did I regret not going?
Not even a little bit. Prom wasn’t me. I was too focused on school and getting a scholarship. Prom was one night; college would decide my whole life.
“Penny has always been jealous of you.”
I looked at Audrey and asked, “Why?”
“Are you kidding? You’re gorgeous. All the guys in school wanted to date you.”
“Because I had no parents. They all thought I was easy. Especially after Penny spread that rumor around about Jerry Swine.” Just saying his name caused me to shudder violently.
“Miss Walker?”
“Sorry,” I apologized, shaking my head. “What did you say?”
“Sheriff O’Rourke would like you to come to the hospital.”
“Why?”
I wasn’t involved. I didn’t need to be seen.
“Haizley.” I turned at the voice I recognized.
“Hi, Corbin.”
Deputy Corbin Blackwater had been two years ahead of me in high school, but we shared a love of cheesy 90s romcoms. When I was a sophomore and he was a senior, we shared a table in film class. There we learned we were kindred spirits when it came to romantic comedies. When my parents died, he spent a lot of time with me just watching movies.
If there was anyone in this town I considered a friend, it was him.
“Sheriff wants you to be present when Aspen wakes up. She’ll need someone to talk to.”
“Oh gosh. Yes, I can do that. I’ll head over there now. Unless you need anything else, Deputy?”
Turning back to Deputy Reed, I noticed his glare aimed at Corbin. I wasn’t sure why. But it made me take a small step back.
“No, ma’am.”
“Do you need a ride, Haiz?”
“No, thank you. I have my car, and I only had one drink.” I winked at Corbin, and when he laughed, I heard Deputy Reed huff behind me.
Walking to my car, I thought about Aspen. No one knew exactly what had happened. The speculation was she had been drugged, like so many other women in the surrounding areas. What was worse was the possibility that she had been raped.
I was honored that the sheriff had asked me to go to the hospital to be there for her. Parking my car, I walked through the double doors and straight to the counter.
“Hello. My name is Dr. Haizley Walker, Sheriff O’Rourke asked me to come by and see Aspen Winters. She was brought in after an attack tonight.”
The woman behind the counter was older, maybe mid-sixties. She flashed me a sympathetic smile as she nodded.
“The sheriff called. We’ve been expecting you.” She looked around before calling someone over. “Joan, can you take Dr. Walker to the victim’s room?”
“Excuse me, we try not to use the word victim. It has a negative connotation that suggests how someone should feel after an attack, rather than letting them express how they feel without judgment.”
“I’m so sorry. I never thought about it like that. The patient is in Room 405,” she corrected with a warm smile.
“Thank you.”
I had dealt with medical personnel in the past. This wasn’t my first rape case. In Oklahoma City, where I did my residency, it was staggering how many women came in after being sexually assaulted. Often, when I corrected the terminology on behalf of the patient, medical staff and law enforcement scoffed and ignored me.
That was another reason I came home after getting my degree. The people were just nicer here. Tonight’s perpetrator notwithstanding.
Joan led me to Aspen’s room, and I knocked lightly before entering. I didn’t know Aspen well. Like me, she kept to herself except at work. She owned and ran The Flower Shoppe. I had only been in twice since I’d been home. Both times to purchase flowers for my parents’ graves.
Still, Aspen was nice. Sweet and compassionate. It was a nice combination considering all the reasons people bought flowers. Compassion was needed for customers who were in mourning, or maybe men who had screwed up and needed to buy flowers to apologize. But sweetness went a long way if you were buying flowers for a celebration, like a birthday or anniversary. Or when a nervous teenage boy came in to buy a corsage for his prom date.
Stepping into the room, I heard the familiar beeping of the heart monitor and smelled the light scent of disinfectant that was used to wash the floors and sanitize the equipment. My eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness as only one light across the room over the sink shone.
“Aspen? Are you awake? It’s Haizley Walker.”
“Hi, Haizley. I’m not exactly fit for entertaining.” Her quiet voice pained my heart.
I had never experienced anything like what Aspen had tonight. But I had counseled enough women that empathy and compassion were second nature.
“Well, good thing I don’t need to be entertained.”
She returned the small smile I sent her way.
“The sheriff asked me to come by and see you. Thought you might want someone to talk to.”
“Sent the female therapist to question the victim, huh? Thinks I’ll be more likely to talk.”
“I am not here to question you. I am here to listen to whatever you want to say. It doesn’t have to be about tonight if you aren’t ready.”
I pulled the chair over next to her bed. Taking her hand in mind, I added, “You don’t have to talk at all if you don’t want to. We can just sit here in the dark while I hold your hand.”
“Thank you.” The despair in her whispered response broke my heart. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that Aspen Winters had been violated tonight. It was there in those two quiet words that were barely spoken.
I sat with Aspen, holding her hand until midnight, when she asked to be alone so she could sleep. I said my goodbye, and when she asked me to come back in the morning, I assured her there was nowhere else I would rather be.
By the time I returned home, I was dead on my feet. I never stayed up this late anymore. I would have loved to sleep in, but I promised Aspen I would be there with her when she finally spoke to the sheriff.
I emailed my patients for tomorrow and let them know an emergency had arisen and I would not be available. This was something they all knew in advance was possible. I was glad it didn’t happen often.
They each had a new appointment date scheduled. All they would need to do was confirm. Afterwards, I slipped into bed and fell asleep within minutes.
The next morning, I was up early, showered, and on the road by seven. Aspen had asked me to come at eight. She wanted to talk to me alone before the sheriff arrived at nine.
I stopped at The Coffee Shoppe and grabbed two coffees and a bag of muffins. I never had the chance to say goodnight to Audrey, and I wanted to apologize, though she said it wasn’t necessary.
I was almost at my car, ready to head back to the hospital, when a large hand grabbed my arm, spinning me around.
“Where the fuck were you last night?”
I looked into the angry eyes of Gunner. So stunned by his anger, I stood there staring at him, unable to utter a word.
“Well, Haizley?”
“Well, what?”
“Where the fuck were you all night?”
“I was home.”
Gunner leaned down in my face and in a voice I hadn’t heard in our limited communication, he said, “Don’t fucking lie to me.”
Taking a step back, I narrowed my eyes. “How dare you?”
“I know you weren’t fucking home. So, I will ask you again. Where the fuck were you?”
“How?” I asked him, cocking my head to the side. He was adamant that he knew I wasn’t home. But how would he know that?
“How what?”
“How do you know I wasn’t home?” I hissed back at him.
“Haizley—”
“Oh my God! You are following me, aren’t you?”
He looked away down the street toward his shop. And I waited for his answer.
“If I was following you, I would know where you were last night.”
Shit, he had a point.
“You didn’t answer the question,” I reminded him. “You know what? I don’t care. I have somewhere I need to be.”
I turned away from him and he grabbed my arm again.
“Take your hand off me,” I growled.
When he didn’t listen, I dropped the bag of muffins on the ground, and taking one of the coffee cups from the tray in the hand of the arm he held, I lifted it high and for the briefest moment I almost regretted what I was about to do.
Then he opened his mouth.
“Where were you?”
I quickly sunk my teeth into the lid on my coffee and yanked it off. Then, I twisted around and threw the hot coffee at him.
This time, I purposely aimed for his chest.
I wasn’t a sadist. I didn’t want to burn and possibly scar his beautiful face. I enjoyed looking at it occasionally.
“FUCK!”
When Gunner let go, I ducked to grab the bag I’d dropped and rushed to get into my car. Aspen could have the remaining coffee. I no longer needed the jolt of caffeine to wake me up.