Chapter Thirty-Three
The night after the incident was a blur of interviews and a sexual assault kit at the bigger hospital four towns over. The EMTs had to literally pull me off Dane. They wouldn’t let him come with me to the hospital. I had a complete meltdown, screaming and crying because he was the only person I felt safe with.
I was transported by ambulance because they were worried about my heart since I’d been tased. They were also assessing my collarbone and wrist, along with a possible skull fracture and internal bleeding due to the assault. While they were loading me up, I insisted on someone searching for my purse either by my hearse or in Boyd’s vehicle. It would have all the damning evidence I needed to keep Dane a free man.
After scans and examinations, they ruled out anything concerning my heart or internal bleeding. They confirmed a concussion, a hairline fracture to my clavicle, a sprained wrist, and a chipped canine tooth. They also found probes in my back from where he’d hit me with the Taser.
With my consent, pictures and samples were taken prior to cleaning me up and afterwards. I kept warning there would be DNA from Dane on my skin, not just Boyd’s. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to compare how differently each man had interacted with my body. One man’s gentle kiss up my neck was another man’s viselike grip.
I started zoning out and humming to myself while the sexual assault nurse examiner took pictures of my chipped tooth, split lip, and the blood vessels that ruptured in my eyes from him choking me. They also took pictures of the marks on my neck, around my breast, over my hip where he’d knelt on me, and all the scrapes on my skin from sliding down the ravine. Any evidence I could offer to prove this was self-defense and to save Dane, I would.
Along with the jacket, I’d lost my favorite cowgirl boots and the golden sun pendant Kaylee had given me. They were all coated in Boyd’s blood and considered forensic evidence. I had already lost so much. It made me angry.
Afterwards, they gave me plain navy sweatpants and a gray shirt to wear. For some reason, that got me emotional. I was all alone. Kaylee was in Greece, completely unaware, and I had no clue where Dane was. I’d been assaulted and the love of my life had murdered someone, but there I was, all alone in borrowed clothes. It made everything feel too transient.
Everyone was clinically polite, but I could feel the undertones of pity. I didn’t want them to pity me. All I could focus on was Dane. He’d killed a man. He’d stepped over a threshold you really couldn’t come back from, even if it was in the name of self-defense.
An investigator named Chuck came into my hospital room. He wanted to get my statement while it was still fresh. Deep wrinkles creased his ruddy skin, and when he sat down, I got a whiff of wintergreen mints. He had my purse, thank God. I snapped into indifference, digging in my bag to show him the ticket and the creepy note. I told him the entire story, from the bachelorette party to the traffic ticket to finding the note and how Dane had gotten me out of town because I’d been scared of Boyd.
I provided screenshots of the texts to Kaylee along with the selfie I’d snapped when I’d been pulled over and the video I’d recorded. I also told him to find Rosie because she’d witnessed the whole exchange between Boyd and me and the sketchy drink offering.
Chuck knew about the complaint I’d filed about Boyd and tried to hide his regret that no one had contacted me. I thought he knew his team had dropped the ball on that one. He left me with his card and instructed me not to leave the state until he could corroborate details with others in the investigation. I was also not allowed to contact Dane until further notice.
By the time the medical examinations and interview were over, it was the middle of the night. I guessed I’d been up long enough to rule out any worry of a major concussion because a nurse brought me a surprisingly delicious burger and even better pain meds than I’d received earlier that night. They conked me out, but my dreams looped over and over in my head: Boyd pinning me to the ground, the crows, the primal scream of Dane behind us, the frightening splatter over me.
The next day was a blur of sleeping and additional scans. A crisis counselor came to my room, but I didn’t have much to say. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the meds or the shock. Probably both. I had guilt knowing most people in my position wouldn’t receive this kind of care and that I was immensely privileged. It deepened as my mind drifted to Dane and what hell he was possibly in. Then the loop of flashbacks played in my mind once more.
By late afternoon, I was cleared to go. My sprained wrist was wrapped, and they were going to send me home with some pain meds for my clavicle. While I signed the discharge papers, a nurse explained they arranged a ride for me. As I walked out into the waiting room, Azalea stood up from her seat. I didn’t know she’d be there, but I was glad and walked right to her.
“Oh, Maisie,” she whispered, folding me into a warm hug. With our height difference, I felt almost like a child with how my head came to her chest, her hand smoothing my hair. “I’m so sorry.” Her body quaked from holding back emotion.
I broke the hug, groggy with pain meds. “How did you know to come here?”
She squeezed my arm with a soulful look. “Dane sent me. He told the cops you didn’t know anyone else in town. They don’t want you staying at his cottage. And you need some rest.”
“But I . . . He didn’t do anything wrong. I want to see him.”
“I know you do. I would, too. But he can’t come right now.”
“Why?”
She hooked her thumbs in her pockets nervously. “He’s still at the station.”
“Was he arrested?” I whispered.
“I don’t think so.” She guided me away from the sterile surroundings of the hospital, wrapping her arm around me protectively. “This place is awful. Let’s get you out of here. You can come and stay with me at the inn.”
I stopped us mid-stride. “Okay, but I have one condition. You have to tell me if you find out anything else about Dane. Can you promise me that?”
She nodded, her healthy brown hair shiny in the fluorescent lighting. “Yes, I promise.”
“You know he’s innocent, right?”
“Of course.”
She had a forest-green Subaru that was probably as old as I was. It was covered in tree-hugger bumper stickers. Luckily, she wasn’t super inquisitive on the way back to Pine Bluff. My body felt lethargic. The doctors had explained I would experience malaise because of the Taser, concussion, and just flat-out adrenaline crashing. Getting out of the car, I wasn’t prepared for the exhaustion that swept over me.
Azalea held open the car door, offering a hand to help me. “The inn is booked, but I have a cot I can set up in my apothecary so you can sleep in my room. I promise you’ll be safe and away from all the guests.”
I nodded, unable to say much else.
Her room was at the very top of the Victorian house, her wrought-iron bed in a circular alcove that made up one of the turrets. She pulled down the canvas blinds on the surrounding windows, drawing the lacy curtains that still left the room saturated in the golden light of sunset. I’d usually bemoan trying to sleep without blackout curtains, but for once, I didn’t want any darkness.
I all but collapsed onto her bed that was layered with soft quilts that smelled like rosemary. I didn’t have the deep sleep brought on by exhaustion. I was pushed to the point where I was so tired I couldn’t rest. I’d jerk awake every hour.
Later on, the shift of Azalea sitting at the foot of the bed pulled me from another chunk of fidgety sleep. The room was lighter with dawn. My stomach grumbled with the smell of warm bread. She had brought me a tray with some bland food, like oatmeal and toast, along with tea. I thanked her and scarfed it down while she explained she’d gotten my car keys from my purse and fetched it to park it at the inn. And when she saw my suitcase, she couldn’t help herself and threw some clothes in the wash because she knew I’d lost some in the incident. Maybe it was my mommy issues, but Azalea’s thoughtful nature choked me up. Aside from Kaylee and now Dane, I wasn’t used to people caring for me. Even my ex-husband couldn’t be bothered to do laundry or unload the dishwasher.
Azalea’s mouth tilted in a pleasant smile while I sat down the now empty bowl of oatmeal on the tray. “You just keep sleeping. I have a shift at Silver Springs today, so I won’t be here, but my great aunt, Eugenia, is around. She owns this place, and she can help you with anything. You can stay at the inn as long as you need. You hear me?” She dipped her chin with her question.
I nodded.
She took the tray away. “Oh, and I already checked in with my dentist and she can fix your tooth with something temporary. I’ll take you to her office tomorrow, okay?”
“Thank you.” I ran my tongue around the jagged edge. “You have to promise me you won’t tell Kaylee what happened.”
Azalea sat back down on the bed, shifting uncomfortably. “I don’t know if I should do that. I don’t want to lie to her. You don’t need to be ashamed of what happened to you. It wasn’t your fault.”
I inched closer to Azalea at the foot of the bed. “I know, and thank you for saying that.” I swept some of her pretty brown hair over her shoulder, the faintest hint of something clean and herbal floating from her tresses. “I don’t want to ruin her honeymoon. It would be awful to look back on it and only think of your best friend almost getting raped. If we mention anything now, she’d be on her first flight back home. We both know it.”
She picked at the seam of her Levi’s in silence.
I really didn’t want to pull out the big guns, but I knew I had to, and I knew it was going to be manipulative as fuck. “Remember when I fished that period cup out of you?”
We both fought a chuckle.
“Yes, is this how I’m paying you back? With my silence?”
I bobbed my head. “Blood for blood. I’m not asking you to lie to her. I’m just asking that I get to tell my own story, with my own timing.”
“Okay, I’ll respect that.” She gestured to a slender vase of four white lilies on the nightstand I hadn’t noticed. “I put white lilies from my garden near you. They’re a flower for grief and mourning.” She gathered a breath, floating her gaze from the flowers back to me. “But they also symbolize innocence. It’s important to me that you know you didn’t do anything wrong, Maisie. You didn’t deserve what happened to you. No matter what you did or said, nothing justified what that monster tried to do.”
“Thanks for saying that. And thank you for being so sweet with me.”
She got up and picked up two photos from the dresser. “I developed these after I saw you at the parade. I was going to mail them to you, but I think seeing them now will be helpful.”
She extended them to me. Tears instantly pooled in my eyes while a silent sob shook my shoulders. The first photo was Dane and me dancing at the wedding, giving cheesy smiles, and the second was candid, my head on his chest, his face turned sweetly in toward me as he held my hand against his heart.
Azalea gave me a sympathetic look. “I wanted to remind you that people care about you and there’s men out there who won’t hurt you.”
My chest squeezed with too much emotion and love for Dane. A burning rolled up my throat, making its way to the edges of my eyes where tears flowed.
Would I ever see him again?
Where was he?