Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
Michael rushed through the door twenty minutes later.
Juliana was so relieved to see him that she burst into tears as he wrapped his arms around her.
The police officer who had waited with her returned to his post outside, closing the front door behind him.
“Okay, baby.” Michael smoothed a hand over her hair. “It’s okay.”
“They’re going to kill you, Michael!” Juliana knew she sounded hysterical but didn’t care.
“Killing me won’t stop the trial. They know that.”
She wiped her face. “What about the call? What he said?”
“They’re just trying to scare me. And you.”
“It worked.”
The doorbell rang.
Michael went to answer it. “Tom? What are you doing here?” He stepped aside to let his boss in.
“Hi there.” Tom extended his hand to Juliana. “Tom Houlihan. Nice to meet you.”
“Juliana Gregorio.”
Tom cast an admiring eye around the room. “Nice place.”
“You have time for social calls today, Tom?”
Tom put his hands in his pockets, his shoulders stooping as he turned to Michael. “I want to get you out of here for a while.”
“I’m in the middle of a trial. I’m not going anywhere until those bastards are convicted.”
“I’m not asking you.”
Michael stared at his boss. “You’re ordering me out of town?”
“Either you leave for a week, maybe two, or you’re off the case.”
“You can’t do this!”
“Yes, I can. Maybe you don’t care about your own safety, but what about hers?” He nodded at Juliana. “They have her name, Michael. Are you really willing to risk her just to prove a point?”
Michael sagged as the fight went out of him. “Of course not.”
Tom put a hand on Michael’s shoulder. “The trial is in recess for now while we sort all this out and until Rachelle gets out of the hospital. Your detail will be taking you both to my house at Dewey Beach tonight.”
“I want to go to the hospital,” Michael said. “I need to see her… And her mother.”
“I’ll get you over there this afternoon.”
“They followed us to Newport. What’s to stop them from following us to Delaware?”
“That’s why you’re going in the middle of the night.”
“And when the trial resumes?”
“I’ll bring you back. This is nonnegotiable, Michael.”
Juliana watched them lock eyes in a ferocious battle of wills.
Michael finally looked away. “Fine. We’ll go. But I’m coming back the minute the trial starts up again. No one else is arguing this case, Tom. It’s my case. Do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ll keep me informed of every development?”
“Absolutely.”
Michael glanced at Juliana. “I guess we’re going to the beach,” he said, but she could tell he was still fuming at being exiled.
After Tom left, Juliana told Michael she needed to get a few things from the Collington Street house.
The weather had taken a chilly turn in the last week, and she needed a winter coat and some warmer clothes if they were going to the beach.
He insisted on accompanying her and her detail for the short ride around the block.
Michael followed her as she unlocked the door and deactivated the alarm. She tossed the mail, including Jeremy’s letters, into her purse.
“Have a seat. I’ll be just a minute.” She dashed upstairs and tried to be quick, knowing the last thing Michael needed today was to be in the home she had shared with Jeremy any longer than he had to be.
A few minutes later she went downstairs and found him holding a framed photo of her and Jeremy taken on a cruise several years earlier. Michael studied the picture with such intensity he didn’t hear her approach him.
“Michael?”
He seemed almost surprised to see her as he returned the photo to the shelf next to the TV. “Ready?”
She dropped her bag and went over to put her arms around him.
He went rigid with resistance.
“Please don’t check out on me, Michael. I need you.”
His arms encircled her, but his embrace lacked its usual warmth. “I don’t have a lot to give right now.”
“We’re going to get through this together.”
“How much more do you think we can go through before there’s nothing left of us?”
Startled, she pulled back to look at him. “What do you mean?”
“It just seems like the deck’s been stacked against us from the very beginning.” Gesturing to the photo, he said, “Look at you with him. Anyone could see how much you love him. Paige might be pregnant, Rachelle’s sick… Maybe we just weren’t meant to be.”
Juliana crossed her arms. “So you’re giving up? Five days ago you asked me to marry you. Now you’re saying we weren’t meant to be? Which is it?”
He fixated on the photo. “I don’t know how to compete with that, Juliana. I have two months. He’s had ten years.”
Juliana knew his despondency over what happened to Rachelle was fueling his despair over their relationship. Placing both hands on his face, she drew him down to her and kissed him with all the love and dismay she shared with him.
He whimpered and tried to pull away, but she wouldn’t let him.
When he gave up resisting, he hauled her tight against him and poured himself into the kiss.
“I’m right here with you, Michael,” she said, kissing his face and then his lips again. “We’re going to get through this together. I promise.”
Later that afternoon an unmarked police car took them to the hospital where Rachelle’s extended family had gathered. Apparently, the media had figured out where she was being treated so Michael and Juliana kept their sunglasses on to hide their red eyes from the cameras.
In the parking lot, several TV reporters went into standup mode in front of cameras when they realized who was paying the family a visit.
Rachelle’s cousin greeted them in the waiting room. “I’ll let Monique and Curtis know you’re here.”
When Rachelle’s parents came into the room a few minutes later, Juliana was surprised to discover that Rachelle’s father was white.
Monique’s pretty face was ravaged with fear and rage, which was directed at Michael.
“You gave me your word,” Monique said in a barely audible whisper. “You gave me your word that she’d be safe.”
Michael’s shoulders drooped. “I’m so terribly sorry. I don’t know what to say…” He shook his head when words failed him.
Juliana introduced herself to Curtis. “How’s Rachelle?”
“She’s been horribly sick, but thankfully they don’t think any organs were damaged,” he said. “They’re keeping her for a few days to monitor her. And she’s freaking out that they actually tried to kill her.”
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure whoever did this doesn’t get away with it,” Michael said.
“So you catch them, what difference will that make to us, Michael?” Monique asked, swiping furiously at tears. “Can you tell me that? They’re in jail, and they still managed to do this. She’s always going to be afraid now.”
“It might matter to her to know they can’t do this to anyone else.”
“Whatever,” Monique snorted. With one last frosty glance at Michael, she turned and left the room.
“I’m sorry,” Curtis said. “She doesn’t really blame you, Michael. You know that.”
“She has every right to blame me. I promised her that her daughter would be safe, and she ended up poisoned.”
“Do you think we could see her?” Juliana asked, contending with the huge knot of anxiety that had settled in her chest. “Just for a minute?”
“Of course,” Curtis said, gesturing for them to follow him.
Clutching Michael’s hand, Juliana forced her legs forward down a long corridor lined with cops in the intensive care unit.
In the room, she gasped at the sight of Rachelle’s petite body hooked to beeping machines.
As they approached the bed, Rachelle opened her eyes. “Hey,” she said softly.
“How’re you feeling?” Juliana asked.
“Like I’ve puked my guts up.”
“I’m so sorry, Rachelle,” Michael said.
“I can’t testify, Michael.” Her eyes flooded with tears. “I won’t.”
“Let’s see how you feel about it when you get out of here,” he said.
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I can’t.”
From behind them, Monique said, “We’re taking her to St. Louis as soon as the doctors give the okay.”
“I understand,” Michael said. “I’ll make the arrangements to get you out of here when you’re released.”
“I’m so sorry, Michael,” Rachelle said between sobs. “I know I’m letting you down, but I can’t take any more of this. They tried to kill me.”
Michael reached for the girl’s hand. “You did great. I’m so proud of you, and don’t worry, I’ll find a way to get them without you. You need to focus on getting better. That’s all that matters.”
Michael and Juliana visited with Rachelle until her eyes fluttered closed. They took turns kissing her forehead before stepping into the hallway.
“Thank you for coming.” Curtis shook Michael’s hand and hugged Juliana. “We appreciate all the time you’ve spent with her. She thinks the world of you both.”
“We’ll pray for you all,” Juliana said.
“Thank you.”
Michael held Juliana’s hand as they emerged from the hospital to a burst of flashbulbs and shouted questions from reporters. They kept their heads down and followed the cops back to the car.
Michael stared out the window all the way home.
At two o’clock the next morning, again in an unmarked police car, Michael and Juliana were driven to Tom Houlihan’s oceanfront house at Dewey Beach.
They arrived just after four, and though they went right to bed in the large master bedroom, neither of them could sleep after the emotional day.
Under any other circumstances, Juliana would have been delighted to be staying in a house like the one Tom had made available to them, but her heart was heavy after seeing Rachelle.
She had called Mrs. Romanello to tell her they were leaving town for a week or so, and the older woman was relieved to hear that.
Juliana had been almost startled to realize that other than her brother, who agreed to take care of their mother, there was no one else she needed to tell.
No one else knew about her relationship with Michael.