Mute
Chapter 3: Death is Picky
"He's not dead."
"What?" Rebecca asked, her skin prickling unnervingly.
"No, he's just slightly wounded. He fainted because of the shock but other than that he's fine." Wendy alleged absently while jotting information on a chart.
"But... the blood loss..." Rebecca stuttered.
"Nothing to worry about. You'd be surprised how able a human body really is." Her friend added cheerily.
"So... he's going to wake up?"
"Yes."
Rebecca managed a weak smile and said goodbye to her coworker. This was horrible... She was in a real predicament now. If her ex fiancé woke up then her Herald wouldn't corroborate the story... He'd invalidate every aspect of it! Oh god, how was she going to get out of this?
Rebecca's heart pounded hastily in her chest once she left the hospital. Everything around her felt like a daunting black hole, elusive and gaping while every thing else around it succumbed to an inevitable fate. She was going to get Billy inadvertently involved, which would definitely prevent them from going to Alaska. She turned the ignition on, her body unusually weak. It was about time to go meet Billy.
Last night was one big blur. She was, of course, brought down to the station where the officers interviewed her heavily. Her mind sank back as she recalled the scene.
"So you shot him?" The detective asked disbelievingly, his eyebrows knitting with confusion.
"Yes." Rebecca responded vehemently, the word cursing out of her mouth like a bullet. What an audacious question! Did she shot him? Wasn't there a damn hole in him? Didn't she say this five times?
"Damn detectives" was a mantra that soared through her mind as she made a left onto the next street.
"Why again?"
"He was going to rape me." She said levelly, eyeing the man before her with profound vehemence.
"What I don't understand, Ms. Chambers, is why you let the man in your house in the first place, and then shoot him." Detective Paul Hamilton countered angrily. He was a young man, in his early thirties. The black hair on his head glistened under the harsh interrogation room lights. His brown eyes stared humiliatingly upon her.
How could this woman be so stupid? Didn't she know he could see right through her spurious drama? This was ridiculous, women just looked for trouble these days.
"How many times do I have to say it?" She asked, tears coming to her eyes. "Look, I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to make me mess up or say something that would contradict my story but it's not going to happen. Herald was going to rape me because I wouldn't have sex with him and I wouldn't have had sex with him until we were married. I was foolish and naïve and I saw a different man in him than I should have when we met. I was blind, ok? So the fact that I allowed someone into my house is irrelevant, it doesn't mean that I should have sex with him damn it!" She erupted furiously slamming her fist upon the stark white table. Hamilton flinched at her out burst but quickly recovered and straitened his tie.
"Ok, so Herald raped you."
"No, I shot the fucker before he could."
"So he got on top of you?"
Rebecca squeezed her eyes shut.
"Yes." She quietly mouthed, her fist flexing hazardously. Nothing would please her more, she thought bitterly, than shoving this guys head in a windowpane. "I brought him into my house because he knocked on my door and asked to come in. I realized that I really didn't want to marry him and so I decided to make some tea and civilly explain why. While I was taking my pot out, he came up to me and started saying things..." Rebecca shook her head at the memory; shrill pangs of horror pierced her mind.
"What things?" The detective asked coldly, the malice in his voice evident. Rebecca felt as if he wasn't dealing with the victim but the crime scene.
"That I looked ... 'sexy.' I told him I couldn't do it. I couldn't give him what he wanted and that I wanted him out of my house. Herald didn't like that so he slammed me against the wall. I grabbed my pot and banged him over the head." Rebecca visualized herself and made a smaller, condensed form of the movement. "I went to run to the door but he tackled me and then..." Rebecca crossed her arms self-consciously. She closed her eyes and imagined the scene, her skin crawling with the touch of him. "I..." She choked and remembered how vulnerable she felt, her body rocking with anger and nearly depleted hope. "He pinned me to the ground and proceeded to untie my robe." She could see it all now, the rasping pending of his breath on her skin, the feeling analogous to death burning a path through her subconscious. "He ripped my bra and underwear but he stopped." Rebecca frowned. "He wanted me watching him."
Rebecca jolted back into the present time when a car honked it's blaring horn. She swallowed the lump in her throat harshly and looked out the window with draining energy. Billy was waiting on the corner, his bulk covered genially by a large leather jacket.
Rebecca breathed heavily and parked the car, her heart humming with apprehension. Billy walked up with a jaunty smile slashing across his face.
"You ok?" He asked as she got out of the silver Honda, his senses picked up the somnolent tension. Rebecca looked down to quickly hide her worn visage and sighed with doleful exhaustion.
"He's alive." She abruptly said, the air breaking like shattered glass with her recent announcement.
"I know." Billy said matter-of-factly, his eyes roaming the hoary horizon.
"What? How do you know?" Rebecca asked scrupulously, her eyes knitting in absolute astonishment. She stroked the scarf around her throat subconsciously, her body swaying acquiescently to the bitter cold swirling sharply around her.
"Because I took a little trip to the hospital this morning."
"But, Billy! If the cops know you were there... I don't know... Oh god, why did you go to the hospital!?" She blurted nervously.
"Chill, Doll-face. I got you covered."
Rebecca flinched slightly. Doll-face? He called her that once, she remembered hollowly. Her thoughts floated back to the time they were in the train, the moonlight wrestling the artificial tawny glow from the overhead luminosity.
Her senses were bombarded with signals: peril, fury, and pure unadulterated fear. Life was a crumbling trueness enveloped in an impertinently lovingly way by the surreal actuality of their situation. In a world where uncertainty often collided with truth, she was forced to make friends with a murderer to survive certain death.
Now, as her yawning mind was debarred from the grotesque nightmare that frequently scratched at the back of her psyche, it all seemed so very strange to be standing in the middle of a normal life with this living relic of her past. He seemed incongruous, his essence misplaced in this city; it was strange to see him without a sliver of scarlet blood cutting his shirt or some arbitrary person's brain nesting on his boots.
"What?"
"I took a visit to Pretty Boy's room just as he woke up." Billy said in a simplistic manner that made her tense.
"You're kidding..." Rebecca moaned dubiously.
"Naw, I just made sure he wasn't going to mess up our little plan."
"How?"
He shrugged haphazardly and grinned. "I just threatened his life, nothing major."
"You're crazy! With what, a plastic butter knife? You don't have a weapon anymore."
Billy smirked and scoffed at her remark. "Real funny, Short stuff." He bent low to whisper in her ear. "A man has got to have more than one weapon, don't you think?" His body pressed terrifyingly close to hers, the familiar rigidity of steel pushed firmly against her hip. "How the hell did he get another gun?" Rebecca thought sarcastically. Billy backed away and delighted in the look of recognition in her face.
Funny, he thought she looked surprised. Didn't she expect he'd be prepared? Her sea green eyes were slanted in slight uncertainty but he suddenly realized for the first time how expressive they were in their innocence.
"Well it didn't really matter." She blurted hotly.
"Why?"
"Towards the end of the interrogation some guy came in and said that Herald has had a record of sexual battery and harassment. They also believed that your gun came from a friend and since it couldn't be tied to any murders... they let me go. They just asked to keep the weapon for further analysis but hey, it's done. I called my job and thank goodness I never took a sick day, I also had a vacation coming up which was convenient so I took it earlier. I have a total of two weeks and a half weeks starting tomorrow. Will that be enough?"
"Maybe, I wouldn't count on it though." He said briskly, his pride harshly circumcised.
"Well... I could always quit but... You know... I don't know what's going to happen."
A moment of silence passed and Rebecca took in her dismal surroundings. Winter was coming and the stark cold in the air floated around them with loving fingers. It was pressing and squeezing, trying to slip into their jackets with a malevolence only known to nature.
They were both thinking heavily of the situation. Neither quite sure of the future.
"Damn." Billy cursed after several long moments.
"What?" Rebecca asked, the concern dripping off of the syllable.
"Nothing... it's just..."
"What?"
"Death is picky."
88888
"I don't believe her." Paul said flatly. His supervisor, Don Novak, rubbed his temples furiously, thick tan fingers at stark contrast with his pallid hair. The thin wisps were slicked back roughly, the high shinny baldness of his head pulsing under antagonism.
"Hamilton, I'm a little fed up with your last few investigations. I put you in the rape unit because you're a good cop but my patience is wearing thin. You didn't believe any of the last few rape victims and I can't have someone this indifferent dealing with these women."
"But she's playing a game!"
"That's what you said about Doris Eve, and her attacker made a video of the whole thing! How can you even begin to denounce incriminating evidence like that?"
"She was acting it out? Can't you see? Women can get away with so much these days and we can't prove them wrong."
"Oh... So what? You're going to tell me that Herald Dubois was just feeling up on his girl and she didn't like it so she shot him?"
"Yes!"
"Get real Paul! She was a cop before this! She knows the law and she works in a damn hospital now! How are you going to tell me that an upstanding citizen like that just wanted to kill Dubois?"
"That's my point exactly. She knows the law. She can step her way around this easily."
"Ok... So lets say that despite her being this fancy smart doctor at her age, what is she?" Novak peered in his file to check. "21? So she's smart, beautiful, and brilliant. She decides to kill this guy. But why? She's got everything going for her: a good job, great income, and good friends. It doesn't make sense! And Dubois has a history of sexual assault; you can't tell me that he's changed. We've even linked his DNA to a rape three weeks ago. If anything, she's helped us. Besides that, we looked at the crime scene, there is the ripped underwear, bra. The place where he slammed her in the wall has hair and the paramedic found bruising on her arms." Don spoke softer now. "Give it a break Paul. She's gone through a lot in the past 24 hours."
"The glass though! There is an extra set of DNA on the glass. How does that make sense? Those friction ridges aren't hers! And the angle from which she shot him! Chambers is 5'3", someone at least several inches taller had to have wounded him."
Don sighed.
"Herald even agreed to the story, Paul. It's done. He admitted to the crime half an hour ago. Someone went to the hospital and they sent this file back." Don said pointing to an open folder.
"Explain the extra set of DNA, damn it!"
"I can't! I can't explain it! Maybe one of her friends came over, we don't know! But Dubois admitted to attempting to rape her and that's all that matters now. We know she shot him because he said so."
"Come on, Novak. You know something's not right. Let me interview her, let me find out why this doesn't make sense."
Don looked steadily into his friend's eyes. This was ridiculous but he knew Paul and Paul wasn't a quitter, he wouldn't give this up. Why was he so lenient?
"All right. You've got the case. But Chambers is on vacation now. She deserves it."
"Did she mention where she was going?"
"No, she said she needed to take a break from life. I agree, her attendance at work is impeccable. She's never taken a day off and she even works holidays. Chambers is devoted."
"I'll find out what she's hiding Don. I know something is not right." He said ignoring his superior.
Novak's eyes wavered as he passed the file over.
"Just don't make me regret this." Paul reached for the document but Don slammed his meaty fist on the file. "I mean it, Paul. You mess this up and you'll be handing in your badge."
"Then I damn well make sure I find something." Hamilton said steadily ripping the file away with vehemence.
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AN- God I hate how this is turning out..... So crappy.... Well this chapter is crap to me at least. Maybe I'll write better someday. (sigh) ... sooooooo .... I have to go now... Um ... to my reviewers-
Spider-Bear: You are my true hero! You're such a loyal viewer. ((loves))
Black Phoenix KaT: Awww.... Sorry you couldn't be first. You still rock.
TheDonutMistress: Loooooove the name!!!
JoJo10: Well ... I am continuing!
Daishi MK2III: Thanks for the encouragement!
CassSpaz: Now... ((cough)) Normally I wouldn't say anything about constructive criticism but I do have one tiny little problem. Yes, I am aware that I use a slightly larger vocabulary than most but it's to pay homage to a certain writer (Koontz). Asides that, I thought "Hey, this girl really knows her stuff," and I kind of liked your spunk until I read your profile. You have a nice (well ...beautiful) writing style but excuse me if I say that you seem to like being the only one in your "caste." You take pride in the fact that you are 13 and write so well, and that could be a good thing, but to others you just seem kind of... I don't know... conceited? No... maybe not THAT extreme but... Well, to others who aren't in such high a category as you it's kind of daunting and overwhelming. But I analyze too much, don't listen to me. Anyway my point is, I wanted to thank you for not conforming to the crowd and stating what you really feel.
88888
"He's not dead."
"What?" Rebecca asked, her skin prickling unnervingly.
"No, he's just slightly wounded. He fainted because of the shock but other than that he's fine." Wendy alleged absently while jotting information on a chart.
"But... the blood loss..." Rebecca stuttered.
"Nothing to worry about. You'd be surprised how able a human body really is." Her friend added cheerily.
"So... he's going to wake up?"
"Yes."
Rebecca managed a weak smile and said goodbye to her coworker. This was horrible... She was in a real predicament now. If her ex fiancé woke up then her Herald wouldn't corroborate the story... He'd invalidate every aspect of it! Oh god, how was she going to get out of this?
Rebecca's heart pounded hastily in her chest once she left the hospital. Everything around her felt like a daunting black hole, elusive and gaping while every thing else around it succumbed to an inevitable fate. She was going to get Billy inadvertently involved, which would definitely prevent them from going to Alaska. She turned the ignition on, her body unusually weak. It was about time to go meet Billy.
Last night was one big blur. She was, of course, brought down to the station where the officers interviewed her heavily. Her mind sank back as she recalled the scene.
"So you shot him?" The detective asked disbelievingly, his eyebrows knitting with confusion.
"Yes." Rebecca responded vehemently, the word cursing out of her mouth like a bullet. What an audacious question! Did she shot him? Wasn't there a damn hole in him? Didn't she say this five times?
"Damn detectives" was a mantra that soared through her mind as she made a left onto the next street.
"Why again?"
"He was going to rape me." She said levelly, eyeing the man before her with profound vehemence.
"What I don't understand, Ms. Chambers, is why you let the man in your house in the first place, and then shoot him." Detective Paul Hamilton countered angrily. He was a young man, in his early thirties. The black hair on his head glistened under the harsh interrogation room lights. His brown eyes stared humiliatingly upon her.
How could this woman be so stupid? Didn't she know he could see right through her spurious drama? This was ridiculous, women just looked for trouble these days.
"How many times do I have to say it?" She asked, tears coming to her eyes. "Look, I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to make me mess up or say something that would contradict my story but it's not going to happen. Herald was going to rape me because I wouldn't have sex with him and I wouldn't have had sex with him until we were married. I was foolish and naïve and I saw a different man in him than I should have when we met. I was blind, ok? So the fact that I allowed someone into my house is irrelevant, it doesn't mean that I should have sex with him damn it!" She erupted furiously slamming her fist upon the stark white table. Hamilton flinched at her out burst but quickly recovered and straitened his tie.
"Ok, so Herald raped you."
"No, I shot the fucker before he could."
"So he got on top of you?"
Rebecca squeezed her eyes shut.
"Yes." She quietly mouthed, her fist flexing hazardously. Nothing would please her more, she thought bitterly, than shoving this guys head in a windowpane. "I brought him into my house because he knocked on my door and asked to come in. I realized that I really didn't want to marry him and so I decided to make some tea and civilly explain why. While I was taking my pot out, he came up to me and started saying things..." Rebecca shook her head at the memory; shrill pangs of horror pierced her mind.
"What things?" The detective asked coldly, the malice in his voice evident. Rebecca felt as if he wasn't dealing with the victim but the crime scene.
"That I looked ... 'sexy.' I told him I couldn't do it. I couldn't give him what he wanted and that I wanted him out of my house. Herald didn't like that so he slammed me against the wall. I grabbed my pot and banged him over the head." Rebecca visualized herself and made a smaller, condensed form of the movement. "I went to run to the door but he tackled me and then..." Rebecca crossed her arms self-consciously. She closed her eyes and imagined the scene, her skin crawling with the touch of him. "I..." She choked and remembered how vulnerable she felt, her body rocking with anger and nearly depleted hope. "He pinned me to the ground and proceeded to untie my robe." She could see it all now, the rasping pending of his breath on her skin, the feeling analogous to death burning a path through her subconscious. "He ripped my bra and underwear but he stopped." Rebecca frowned. "He wanted me watching him."
Rebecca jolted back into the present time when a car honked it's blaring horn. She swallowed the lump in her throat harshly and looked out the window with draining energy. Billy was waiting on the corner, his bulk covered genially by a large leather jacket.
Rebecca breathed heavily and parked the car, her heart humming with apprehension. Billy walked up with a jaunty smile slashing across his face.
"You ok?" He asked as she got out of the silver Honda, his senses picked up the somnolent tension. Rebecca looked down to quickly hide her worn visage and sighed with doleful exhaustion.
"He's alive." She abruptly said, the air breaking like shattered glass with her recent announcement.
"I know." Billy said matter-of-factly, his eyes roaming the hoary horizon.
"What? How do you know?" Rebecca asked scrupulously, her eyes knitting in absolute astonishment. She stroked the scarf around her throat subconsciously, her body swaying acquiescently to the bitter cold swirling sharply around her.
"Because I took a little trip to the hospital this morning."
"But, Billy! If the cops know you were there... I don't know... Oh god, why did you go to the hospital!?" She blurted nervously.
"Chill, Doll-face. I got you covered."
Rebecca flinched slightly. Doll-face? He called her that once, she remembered hollowly. Her thoughts floated back to the time they were in the train, the moonlight wrestling the artificial tawny glow from the overhead luminosity.
Her senses were bombarded with signals: peril, fury, and pure unadulterated fear. Life was a crumbling trueness enveloped in an impertinently lovingly way by the surreal actuality of their situation. In a world where uncertainty often collided with truth, she was forced to make friends with a murderer to survive certain death.
Now, as her yawning mind was debarred from the grotesque nightmare that frequently scratched at the back of her psyche, it all seemed so very strange to be standing in the middle of a normal life with this living relic of her past. He seemed incongruous, his essence misplaced in this city; it was strange to see him without a sliver of scarlet blood cutting his shirt or some arbitrary person's brain nesting on his boots.
"What?"
"I took a visit to Pretty Boy's room just as he woke up." Billy said in a simplistic manner that made her tense.
"You're kidding..." Rebecca moaned dubiously.
"Naw, I just made sure he wasn't going to mess up our little plan."
"How?"
He shrugged haphazardly and grinned. "I just threatened his life, nothing major."
"You're crazy! With what, a plastic butter knife? You don't have a weapon anymore."
Billy smirked and scoffed at her remark. "Real funny, Short stuff." He bent low to whisper in her ear. "A man has got to have more than one weapon, don't you think?" His body pressed terrifyingly close to hers, the familiar rigidity of steel pushed firmly against her hip. "How the hell did he get another gun?" Rebecca thought sarcastically. Billy backed away and delighted in the look of recognition in her face.
Funny, he thought she looked surprised. Didn't she expect he'd be prepared? Her sea green eyes were slanted in slight uncertainty but he suddenly realized for the first time how expressive they were in their innocence.
"Well it didn't really matter." She blurted hotly.
"Why?"
"Towards the end of the interrogation some guy came in and said that Herald has had a record of sexual battery and harassment. They also believed that your gun came from a friend and since it couldn't be tied to any murders... they let me go. They just asked to keep the weapon for further analysis but hey, it's done. I called my job and thank goodness I never took a sick day, I also had a vacation coming up which was convenient so I took it earlier. I have a total of two weeks and a half weeks starting tomorrow. Will that be enough?"
"Maybe, I wouldn't count on it though." He said briskly, his pride harshly circumcised.
"Well... I could always quit but... You know... I don't know what's going to happen."
A moment of silence passed and Rebecca took in her dismal surroundings. Winter was coming and the stark cold in the air floated around them with loving fingers. It was pressing and squeezing, trying to slip into their jackets with a malevolence only known to nature.
They were both thinking heavily of the situation. Neither quite sure of the future.
"Damn." Billy cursed after several long moments.
"What?" Rebecca asked, the concern dripping off of the syllable.
"Nothing... it's just..."
"What?"
"Death is picky."
88888
"I don't believe her." Paul said flatly. His supervisor, Don Novak, rubbed his temples furiously, thick tan fingers at stark contrast with his pallid hair. The thin wisps were slicked back roughly, the high shinny baldness of his head pulsing under antagonism.
"Hamilton, I'm a little fed up with your last few investigations. I put you in the rape unit because you're a good cop but my patience is wearing thin. You didn't believe any of the last few rape victims and I can't have someone this indifferent dealing with these women."
"But she's playing a game!"
"That's what you said about Doris Eve, and her attacker made a video of the whole thing! How can you even begin to denounce incriminating evidence like that?"
"She was acting it out? Can't you see? Women can get away with so much these days and we can't prove them wrong."
"Oh... So what? You're going to tell me that Herald Dubois was just feeling up on his girl and she didn't like it so she shot him?"
"Yes!"
"Get real Paul! She was a cop before this! She knows the law and she works in a damn hospital now! How are you going to tell me that an upstanding citizen like that just wanted to kill Dubois?"
"That's my point exactly. She knows the law. She can step her way around this easily."
"Ok... So lets say that despite her being this fancy smart doctor at her age, what is she?" Novak peered in his file to check. "21? So she's smart, beautiful, and brilliant. She decides to kill this guy. But why? She's got everything going for her: a good job, great income, and good friends. It doesn't make sense! And Dubois has a history of sexual assault; you can't tell me that he's changed. We've even linked his DNA to a rape three weeks ago. If anything, she's helped us. Besides that, we looked at the crime scene, there is the ripped underwear, bra. The place where he slammed her in the wall has hair and the paramedic found bruising on her arms." Don spoke softer now. "Give it a break Paul. She's gone through a lot in the past 24 hours."
"The glass though! There is an extra set of DNA on the glass. How does that make sense? Those friction ridges aren't hers! And the angle from which she shot him! Chambers is 5'3", someone at least several inches taller had to have wounded him."
Don sighed.
"Herald even agreed to the story, Paul. It's done. He admitted to the crime half an hour ago. Someone went to the hospital and they sent this file back." Don said pointing to an open folder.
"Explain the extra set of DNA, damn it!"
"I can't! I can't explain it! Maybe one of her friends came over, we don't know! But Dubois admitted to attempting to rape her and that's all that matters now. We know she shot him because he said so."
"Come on, Novak. You know something's not right. Let me interview her, let me find out why this doesn't make sense."
Don looked steadily into his friend's eyes. This was ridiculous but he knew Paul and Paul wasn't a quitter, he wouldn't give this up. Why was he so lenient?
"All right. You've got the case. But Chambers is on vacation now. She deserves it."
"Did she mention where she was going?"
"No, she said she needed to take a break from life. I agree, her attendance at work is impeccable. She's never taken a day off and she even works holidays. Chambers is devoted."
"I'll find out what she's hiding Don. I know something is not right." He said ignoring his superior.
Novak's eyes wavered as he passed the file over.
"Just don't make me regret this." Paul reached for the document but Don slammed his meaty fist on the file. "I mean it, Paul. You mess this up and you'll be handing in your badge."
"Then I damn well make sure I find something." Hamilton said steadily ripping the file away with vehemence.
88888
AN- God I hate how this is turning out..... So crappy.... Well this chapter is crap to me at least. Maybe I'll write better someday. (sigh) ... sooooooo .... I have to go now... Um ... to my reviewers-
Spider-Bear: You are my true hero! You're such a loyal viewer. ((loves))
Black Phoenix KaT: Awww.... Sorry you couldn't be first. You still rock.
TheDonutMistress: Loooooove the name!!!
JoJo10: Well ... I am continuing!
Daishi MK2III: Thanks for the encouragement!
CassSpaz: Now... ((cough)) Normally I wouldn't say anything about constructive criticism but I do have one tiny little problem. Yes, I am aware that I use a slightly larger vocabulary than most but it's to pay homage to a certain writer (Koontz). Asides that, I thought "Hey, this girl really knows her stuff," and I kind of liked your spunk until I read your profile. You have a nice (well ...beautiful) writing style but excuse me if I say that you seem to like being the only one in your "caste." You take pride in the fact that you are 13 and write so well, and that could be a good thing, but to others you just seem kind of... I don't know... conceited? No... maybe not THAT extreme but... Well, to others who aren't in such high a category as you it's kind of daunting and overwhelming. But I analyze too much, don't listen to me. Anyway my point is, I wanted to thank you for not conforming to the crowd and stating what you really feel.
88888