Chapter 37
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Bent had spent far too much of this week eyeball deep in dead bodies and forensic reports. Every top honcho in Fayetteville politics was breathing down his neck. They seriously needed a break in this case. He hoped like hell Alicia Wilton was it.
As they waited for the elevator to the Traumatic Intensive Care Unit, he studied Vera.
She had come to pick him up, but she’d insisted that he drive.
Made sense. It hadn’t been that long since her concussion.
She’d been on fire with the news about the hardware receipt, which she apparently had forgotten to tell him about, and the visit with the Fannings.
He loved watching her when she got like this. She was so animated and . . . beautiful.
Twenty miles into the trip, and she’d crashed. She’d slept the better part of the drive.
When they loaded alone into the elevator, both choosing to lean against the back wall, she sent a glare in his direction. “I still don’t understand why you let me sleep almost the whole way.”
“You were tired.” He held back a grin. That would only piss her off. Instead he turned his head and looked directly at that gorgeous profile. “Besides, you’re going to need that rest for when I get you home.”
She rolled her eyes. He loved it when she did that, but it annoyed the hell out of her. Vera did not like anyone seeing what she was thinking, and right now she was working hard to be irritated at him, but she couldn’t work it up.
“You should be thinking about this case.” She folded her arms over her chest. “Not about that.”
“I firmly believe that you are doing enough thinking on the subject for both of us.”
The doors opened onto the tenth floor, saving him from whatever she intended to blast him with next.
At the nurses’ station, Bent removed his hat and explained that the doctor had called about Alicia Wilton. He and Vera were immediately buzzed into the unit. The nurse in charge was waiting for them.
“I’m Selma Panter. I’m the nurse practitioner who works with Dr. Holden. He had to leave before you arrived, but he wanted me to fill you in.”
“Thanks, we appreciate it.” Bent was way beyond ready to hear from their one witness.
“Mrs. Wilton is doing really well for someone who sustained the degree of head trauma she did and remained in a coma for the better part of five days. Physically she is doing very well. Cognitively her recovery is remarkable. She speaks perfectly and reacts without hesitation. That said, she’s been through a lot.
Her body is weak from fighting for survival, so we would prefer that you limit your time with her to about twenty minutes. We don’t want her to feel overwhelmed.”
“Does she recall the events that brought her here?” Vera asked.
“She knows her husband is dead and that she was attacked. We didn’t press for any other details.”
That was actually more than Bent had hoped for.
“So if you’re ready, you can go in now.”
“Thank you.” Bent turned to Vera and waited for her to go first.
Panter entered the room with them. “Alicia, do you remember me?”
Alicia moistened her lips. “Yes.” She looked to Vera and then to Bent. Her eyes instantly welled with tears. “Can you tell me who did this, Sheriff?”
Bent was grateful she recognized him. Though they weren’t acquainted personally, the fact that she knew the sheriff in the county where she lived was a good sign.
Bent approached the bed, Vera next to him. “Mrs. Wilton, we’re working on that. You can help by telling us what you remember about that day.”
She fiddled with the edge of the sheet folded at her waist. “We all went to the cabin on Friday. I was not happy about it, let me tell you.”
“What part were you not happy about?” Vera asked. She smiled, and Bent’s heart reacted, no matter that the smile wasn’t for him. “I’m Vera Boyett. I work with the sheriff’s office on cases like this.”
Alicia gave a small nod. “I recognize you.”
“You were saying that you weren’t happy about going to the cabin,” Vera prompted.
“Yes.” Alicia sighed. “Seth was an old boyfriend of mine. I hadn’t seen him or Sandy—the woman he brought with him—in ages.
Anyway, he came up here claiming I asked him to come.
That was a total lie, but he just wouldn’t leave.
He kept saying he was afraid for me. That someone was setting him up and me too. ”
“Do you know of any reason someone would want to set you up?”
“No. That’s the weird thing. I mean, I’ve done some things in the past I’m not proud of. Like cheat on my boyfriend or whatever. But I’ve been a different person for a while now. And after I met Thomas, I knew I was never going back to my old life.”
“How did the four of you end up at the cabin for the weekend?” That part puzzled Bent the most in light of what she’d just said, as well as what Sandy Owens had shared with her sister.
“When I told Thomas what was happening, he was worried too. He felt doing this weekend thing would maybe help bring out the truth. He wasn’t worried about it being me who’d done something wrong, if that’s what you’re asking.
He knew I was telling the truth. You may not know this, but we’re having a baby.
We weren’t thinking about anything else.
The truth is, once we really talked it all over, we both actually believed Seth’s story about being lured to Fayetteville by a person he thought was me.
Thomas wasn’t quite as certain as I was, but he trusted my judgment.
The weekend at the cabin was his idea. He insisted on seeing how the weekend went down, just to be sure. ”
“If you started to believe Seth,” Vera ventured, “who did you feel might be responsible for what was happening?”
She gave a dry laugh. “Take your pick. They all hate me. Valeri, Helen, Renata, and Jose. I don’t know what I did, but I couldn’t trust them with anything.
Whatever I said or did, they twisted it around and tried to make me look like I was somehow mistreating them.
They even went to Thomas about it. It was just crazy. ”
Bent and Vera exchanged a look, and she asked, “Is there one you felt was the ringleader?”
“Valeri, for sure,” Alicia insisted without hesitation. “She did not like me from the beginning. She preferred having Thomas all to herself.”
Bent could see the possibility. “When did the trouble start at the cabin?” At her pained look, he added, “Take your time.”
“By Monday we pretty much had everything worked out. Thomas was confident someone else was behind the situation, even if he wasn’t ready to believe it was one of his dedicated employees.
He planned to hire a private detective to figure it out.
So we all relaxed. Sandy and I were talking about what we should make for dinner and baby names.
It was a perfect day. I tire easily, so I decided to take a nap that afternoon while the others prepared dinner. ”
She fell silent for a while, but Bent didn’t push. This was difficult enough.
“Something woke me up. A loud noise of some sort. I got up and came downstairs . . . The first thing I saw was Seth on the floor by the sofa.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I ran to him, but he was dead. Then I saw Sandy, and my heart almost stopped.”
She shuddered. “All I could think was that I had to find Thomas. I rushed onto the deck.” Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“He was floating face down in the hot tub. I reached for him, and that’s when I heard someone behind me.
I glanced back, and there was this black figure—clothes, mask, all black.
I ran, but something hit my head.” She touched the bandages there.
“I remember falling. I was face down, and he was on top of me. He kept banging my head into the wooden step. His hand was twisted in my hair, and he banged and banged and then . . . I don’t remember anything else. ”
“You’re certain it was a man?” Bent asked.
“I can’t be sure,” she said, “but the person in black was very tall and broad shouldered. Really strong.”
“Did you notice eye color?” Bent asked. “Did you see any part of his skin that could tell if he was white or otherwise?”
“It happened so fast . . .” She drew in a big breath. “I honestly can’t say. I just remember the black . . . ensemble, I suppose, is the best way to put it.”
“Did you notice how he smelled?” Vera asked. “Did he say anything?”
“He didn’t say anything, and I don’t recall any smells. I think I was too terrified for my baby. The next thing I knew, I was here. I could hear things, but I couldn’t wake up until now.”
After a moment, Vera asked the next question. “Would you tell us why you and your husband as well as your guests were naked?”
Alicia looked confused. “What?”
“When we arrived at the cabin,” Vera explained, “all of you were naked.”
“How is that possible? We all had on clothes. Sandy and I had on shorts and tops. Thomas and Seth were wearing shorts and T-shirts—at least when I went to our room to take a nap. Seth and Sandy had clothes on when I found them.” She hesitated, as if trying to recall.
“Thomas had taken off his tee, but I don’t know about his shorts. ”
“Had everyone been drinking?” Bent held up a hand. “I’m not asking because I want to use the information against you or anyone else, Mrs. Wilton. I’m trying to gauge the situation in terms of how everyone reacted to the attack.”
“Thomas had been careful about how much he drank up until then. Of course I wasn’t drinking at all. But after we figured out that someone had set us all up, everyone kind of let loose, so they may have all gotten pretty buzzed while I was napping.”
“But you’re certain you were all clothed?” He didn’t like pressing the issue, but he needed to know she was certain.
“We were. Yes. No one walked around naked that weekend.” She made a face that revealed exactly how awful she considered the idea. “No one.”
“What about drugs?” Vera asked. “Cocaine was found. There was weed.”
Bent could see that being part of the setup as well.