Sorry for the delay, my nan is really ill. Anyway because updates might be slower I'm making them longer
Chapter 11
Arriving at the helicopter they quickly gave the anti-venom please to see an improvement. Dean climbed in volunteering to escort her, the crew agreeing wordlessly by giving him a helmet.
"We'll be right behind you" Vince promised as the helicopter door closed, it took off and began the journey to hospital.
They stood there watching the helicopter depart before marking the shortest route out just under an hours walk to the road where someone could pick them up. They packed the stretcher away and began the trek.
It was 90 minutes later when they pulled up to the hospital. They walked in Dean meeting them in the lobby
"They've taken her to surgery to pin the leg and clean and debride the worse of the wounds. They've given her some antibiotics and she has reacted well. At the moment they don't know anymore but they think physically she will be ok" Dean explained
They sat in the cafeteria and waited patiently drinking galleons of coffee. It was 4 hours after Dean announced Lara had gone to theatre when the phone rang to tell them she was out and settled in a private room and was allowed visitors.
Normally they were only allowed 2 visitors in at a time however this nurse could see the worry on their faces and knew that visitors often cheered a patient up. Plus being rescue they'd be quiet and professional and as the patient was in a side room they'd get in nobody else's way.
They crowded into the room Heidi and Dean sitting on the chairs everyone else standing. They noted the dressings to her arm the big cast on her leg, she had a smaller dressing to her temple. Going under the dressing on her arm was some fluids and IV paracetamol, a fan also blowing to keep her temperature down. A quickly glance at the obs machine next to her showed that her pulse was slightly less at 105 and her blood pressure had improved.
"Lara" Dean called quietly as she began to stir drifting in and out of sleep. They noticed her heart rate increasing as she woke she was panicking they knew why.
"Calm down Lara you're ok you're safe. We got you Mark is dead" Dean reassured it seemed to work as her pulse slowed down.
"Dean?" she asked
"Yes Lara it's me"
"Don't forgot to tie the ropes tight" she warned. He looked at everyone confused but kept his voice soothing
"Ok I'll do them as tight as I can" he promised
"OK" she said going back to sleep apparently reassured by what he had said. The door to the room opened as the nurse came in
"Don't mind me" she told them as she rechecked Lara's observations and put up the antibiotic. "The doctor is just outside he'd like to talk to the next of kin, we have it as a Dean Gallagher and Michelle LeTourneau." Neither Dean nor Michelle looked surprised Lara having asked both of them to do it once her father's dementia had become too bad.
Outside they met with a man in scrubs
"Well its good news, the leg was a simple screw she can start weight baring on it immediately, we have cleaned all the wounds and dressed them. None of them were serious enough to need anything more than stitches but will obviously hinder her physio as she will struggle to use crutches with her feet and struggle to use a wheel chair with her hands. She had some glass embedded in her back which I'm pleased to say we removed. There might be some scaring but I imagine it will be barely visible. I would say that the wound she be healed sufficiently within a week and we can start physio then. I expect her to be in hospital 10days, off work for 2 weeks then only on light duties. In 7 weeks we will see her progress but she might be able to go back onto full duties. I recommend she sees someone professional I have a few colleagues I can recommend if you need"
"No we have someone thank you" Michelle said
"OK, the police will be by tomorrow to get a statement and we have had a few phone calls from the hospitals press office they were wondering if you would like to make a statement"
"I will" Michelle said aware that the press were vultures an early statement could make all the difference get the press and the public on the right side.
They went back into the room to relay the news to the others. Michelle and Vince left first to go and draft the press release along with the rescue lawyers. Then the nurse politely chucked them all out until the morning when she would allow one of them back in before visiting times. It was agreed Dean would be the one to come back.
Lara awoke several times in the night the nurses managing to soothe her as long as the light was on and she could sit up and move freely.
Dean arrived slightly earlier than agreed but the nurses said nothing allowing him into the room. Lara had been washed and was sat out of bed her leg elevated on a foot stool.
"Hey you look better" Dean stated, Lara smiled she was feeling better, the pain was a lot less and her head felt less muddled. She knew she was safe but didn't really remember the rescue.
"Hey Dean, I feel better, thank you for rescuing me although I don't really remember it" she admitted.
"Always" he promised as a knock at the door interrupted them. It was the police. Dean felt Lara tense as they came in.
"Hello Lara, Dean I'm Detective Bell and this is Detective Cross we just have a few questions" a thin brunette asked gently taking a seat on the chair next to Dean her rather strapping colleague standing behind her his brown hair reminding Lara of Chases.
"Ok" she consented.
"Good, now we found the photographs that he had taken and now he is dead there is no prosecution case this is merely for the record, if it gets too much that is fine." Detective Bell reassured her. Lara nodded her understanding reaching and gripping Dean's hand
"We will be recording this ok?" Bell warned, again Lara nodded
"OK interview at 0910 on 5th April 2011 at North Shore hospital, attending is Detective's Bell and Cross and Dean Gallagher and Lara Knight case number 7898884, Lara in your own words please describe the incident involving Mark Shepard" Bell said, Lara gripped Dean's had as she considered where to start.
"We were called to a rescue, over a month ago now. Mark Shepard was the victim he had slipped off a cliff at Peaks pike while walking. I was given the role of abseiling down to him, I reassured him secured him and we were hauled up. He seemed normal grateful but normal. It was about a week later I started noticing things, it's hard to put your finger on but strange movements in the corner of your eye, seeing the same car 3 times in a day, things seemed to move in my home. I thought I was being paranoid. I doubled back on myself and set traps round my home and nothing was disturbed so I figured I was imaging things. Michelle asked me on errr" she paused it had only been 3 days since that conversation, it seemed like so much longer
"She asked me if I was ok, I was going to tell her but we had a shout. We got to the shout and we split up to look for Nathan." She stopped, tearing up, "Oh God he died because of me" she sobbed, Dean gently lifted her chin.
"No Lara Nathan is safe because of you, he broke his arm but he has a cast on it which apparently he wants you to sign. He is already out of hospital" Dean reassured her, Lara smiled still crying, he had lied.
"He lied he said he'd killed them because I'd left the note" Lara informed them.
"Going back to the rescue" Bell prompted Lara took a deep breath in before continuing.
"So we split up I was walking along the path to check the car park, kids are more likely to stick to the path. I saw his shoe and radioed. Then there was a gun." She touched her head remembered the coolness of the barrel against her temple.
"He said I better lie if I told anyone or hinted there was anything wrong he would kill me and Nathan so I sent false grid references. I had to give him my radio and drop my alarm, he searched me. Then he let me patch Nathan up before ordering me to carry him. I put him on a ledge and managed to write a note and he let me radio my real position before he electrocuted me it hurt a lot then I don't remember anything until I woke up in the chair." She stopped as all the memories came back to her. Dean squeezed her hand again.
"I couldn't move," she said even that short sentence was hard to say.
"It's ok take you time" Bell encouraged
"He was there, taking photos, there was flashes. He told me he had killed Nathan. He told me about Debroah, he seemed to love her but then he killed her, there were photos, a lot of photos, he killed so many, then posed them like they were dolls." Lara stopped the memories overwhelming her. She knew she was shaking and felt really sick. Dean was there with a vomit bowl as the small amount of toast she had had for breakfast came back.
"I'm sorry" Lara apologised.
"It's ok" Bell soothed, "We saw the presentation he made and the other victims we are working on identifying them as we speak"
"Deborah was his wife. Maggie a doctor I think she was a psychiatrist. Claire was a vet he met her after taking a dog to her. Simone an actress was in spiderman. Kirsty was a chef she wanted to travel. Kate was a street racer she tried to escape. Maria was a ballerina. Samantha was a programmer designed inserts for games. Helen was a photographer he wanted her to appreciate his genius she refused. He killed them all. He wasn't walking by that cliff he was getting rid of Helen's body" Lara said, she knew those 9 names would never leave her. Their faces would haunt her dreams for a long time to come.
"How did you escape?" Bell asked
"He left me alone; I knew if I didn't escape I would die, before becoming another photo in the presentation. I rocked the chair I thought he would hear me but he didn't it tipped and the arm broke off. I managed to untie myself and waited behind the door. He came in and I whacked him on the back of the head with it and then ran. The stairs came out by the kitchen I took the water and some bread. The door I had to smash it. Then he tackled me. We fought and he was strangling me." Lara was touching her throat. Dean gently touched her wrist
"You survived, you made it" he reassured her
"I hit him in the head with a spade and then ran. I knew he wouldn't be down for long. I ran into the bush. I was running for ages I kept hearing him behind me then I picked a direction and just ran. The first night I slept in a tree then continued I found water and decided to follow it. It was soothing but then the banks grew to cliffs. On the second night I found a ledge on the cliff, it lead to a cave. I knew it would be warmer and drier, it was so cold. I was climbing up and grabbed something squishy, it was a snake it bit me. I did a pressure dressing but I only had a tea towel. I knew I needed help and started walking. It was so hot and I felt so dizzy but then my mum was there. She helped me but then she left me again. I was about to give when you came Dean" Lara said to Dean's confusion
"You said you wouldn't leave me, that you would find me and you did" Dean smiled guessing she was hallucination
"I will always find you Lara" he promised. They forgot for a moment they weren't alone until Bell cleared her throat.
"Then he was there chasing me, he wanted me back I was running, I tripped and my leg hurt. I couldn't run anymore so hid, it got cold and then I was being tied down again. I remember a loud noise then I was here" Lara said the last few hours of her ordeal being blurred by the fever and snake bite.
"Ok, we can confirm that Mark Shepard is dead he was identified by his sister. We can also confirm we have found 8 bodies of females, we haven't found Helen yet, and might never do so. It is likely he killed both his mother and his father taking his kill count to 11 people that we know of currently. You were very lucky" Bell claimed Lara nodded.
"What now?" she asked
"We will use the information you gave us and photos he took to identify the victims and try get some closure for their families" Bell promised. Lara nodded
"We will leave you now; there are 2 uniformed police officers on your door to stop the press getting in. Mark Summers is being described as one of Australia's worst serial killers there is a lot of interest. They closed the door as Lara looked to Dean for an explanation.
"You survived, your photo is in every paper, on every news channel in the world" Dean said gravely, Lara looked shocked
"Me?"
"Yep they are all clambering over themselves for an interview with you, or any of rescue, there is talk of a book deal too if you are interested" Dean offered
"I think I'll pass, I just want things to be normal" she said
"I know, when you get out Vince has arranged for us to all stay somewhere safe until this has passed." Dean promised.
"Stay with me" Lara begged, the news all too much. After escaping the house and getting to freedom she had never thought past that.
"Ok, Lara I've never told you but I love you" Dean whispered the thought of losing her broke his heart. Lara grinned kissing his cheek.
"I love you too Dean, but we need to take this slow date first." Dean nodded.
"When you get out of here I'm going to take you to the nicest place I can find" he warned her
"Why wait until then this hospital food sucks" Lara complained. Dean nodded
"I'll be right back, you need anything else?" he asked
"My own clothes, magazine and my mobile" Lara listed, Dean smiled and kissed her on the cheek,
"I'll be back, I promise" Dean said as he left the room he rang Heidi she promised to go with Jordan to pack Lara a bag of things she would need. He'd been reassured that although there were press camped outside the hospital none of them had staked out Lara's house knowing she was at the hospital.