Part 29
By Tekhne
I sat beside the hospital bed watching Bella sleep. Most of it was over by the time I arrived, and she was out of danger, but somehow, guilt overwhelmed me. It was irrational, but I felt like I'd failed her when she needed me. Luckily, Travis had been there.
In the hallway, Bella's doctor spoke to the police officers. "She might be unconscious for another twenty-four hours. Or she could wake at any time. We'll notify you when that happens."
"We'll wait. It's important we talk to her as soon as possible," one of them replied. His voice was deep, a strong bass.
"We'd like to talk to the boy who brought her in," the other said. I could tell from his accent that he wasn't from the west coast originally, but I couldn't be sure where he'd come from.
The first one added, "And the other boy, too."
"That's fine. I'll send them out to speak to you," the doctor assured them.
"One at a time," the first officer snapped.
I couldn't imagine what they thought I might tell them, but I was willing to do anything to help.
The doctor stepped inside, closing the door. "The officers want to talk to you. Both of you." He nodded at Travis. "You should probably go first."
"Sure," Travis whispered as he followed the doctor into the hallway.
After checking his name and some other perfunctory details, Bass began to explore what had happened to Bella. "So tell me, what's your connection to this young woman? And how is it that you brought her in to the hospital?"
Travis hadn't really told me what happened, just that Bella was here in the emergency room. That was enough for me to drop everything and fly down. One of the nice things about working was the savings I'd started. There was more than enough for a ticket, so I could get here fast.
"There isn't much to tell. We were at a party. Most of the people there had finished their finals and wanted to celebrate the end of the semester. I didn't see her anywhere, and when I asked about her, someone said she must have gone home. I'd promised to walk her back to her suite so she didn't have to cross campus alone, so that didn't make sense." He spoke quickly, nervously. The police probably scared him. I was used to police; Charlie was like family and the other officers in Forks were nice guys. But we didn't have much crime in Forks. They could afford to be friendly.
Travis took a deep breath and continued at a slower pace. "I went looking for her and found her with another guy at the party. She was barely able to walk. I told him I'd take it from there. I knew I couldn't get her across campus in that condition, so I called a cab. When she passed out in the cab, I was worried. She'd gone from perfectly sober to passed out in less than an hour."
"So she was drinking?" Accent asked.
The question made me angry, but I wasn't worried about changing. I'd learned to control my phasing, even when I felt rage like this. Still, I clenched my fists.
"I don't think so," Travis spoke hesitantly. "I've never known her to drink, and I couldn't smell any alcohol."
"Then what happened?" Bass was doing the questioning again.
"We arrived at the hospital and I called her boyfriend," Travis said.
There was silence for a moment before Bass spoke again. "Why wasn't her boyfriend at the party? Are they having problems?"
"He wasn't at the party because he lives in Washington state. He flew down as soon as I called." There was tension in Travis' voice. He was just realizing that the police were suspicious of him.
"Can you give us the names of any other kids at this party?" That was Accent. Of the two, he seemed the most open-minded. Bass apparently thought that Travis had done something to Bella and had second thoughts.
Travis began to list names when Bass interrupted. "Who was the kid you saw with her?"
"His name is Patrick. The party was at his house. Well, the house he shares with a couple of other guys." He rattled off the phone number and the address.
Patrick. I didn't like him. Neither did Bella.
Bass asked one more question. "Do you know if she had sex with anyone tonight?"
I swallowed my fresh anger and listened to the exasperation in Travis' voice. "I told you her boyfriend was in Washington. He got here after she was already in the hospital. Bella isn't the kind of girl to sleep around. She wouldn't cheat on him."
"Did you want to sleep with her? You were taking her home. You'd already promised to walk her there." Maybe Accent wasn't so open-minded after all.
"I wanted her to get home safely," Travis said, his voice steady. "Bella is my friend." His voice faded. "She was actually trying to help me with another girl. One that I'd like to date."
Bass spoke once more. "So that guy in there is the boyfriend?" Travis must have nodded because I didn't hear him speak before Bass said, "Let's talk to him now. See what his story is."
One of them walked into the room with Travis. I guess they didn't trust him to just send me out. They seemed suspicious of both of us. "We're ready for you," the officer said and I matched a face to the voice. Accent. I followed him into the hallway.
"So you're the boyfriend?" Bass said. He was a small man, probably about five-seven, five-eight. He looked up at me, scowling. I nodded. "And you weren't at the party?"
"I was in La Push, Washington. I live there."
Bass raised an eyebrow. "You got here awfully fast."
"I took the first plane I could get."
"Pretty expensive for a kid like you," Bass said, his voice full of doubt.
A kid like me. What did he mean? I knew I looked older, so it wasn't because he thought I was too young. "I can afford it." I couldn't have a year ago. But I could now.
Accent was quiet, but Bass had a lot of questions. "You live on the rez up there in Washington?"
Ah. So that's what he meant. A kid like me. An Indian. I hadn't spent much time in Seattle, but I'd heard the stories about cops there. I'm sure it was even worse in Los Angeles. "I live on a reservation in Washington. There are lots of them there, you know. I'm Quileute."
"So how does a reservation boy afford a flight to L.A. at the drop of a hat?"
"I'm a mechanic. I do good work. And my competition is either overpriced or far away. I can afford a lot of things now that I couldn't afford a year ago." I took a deep breath. On the one hand, these men, at least this one, were offensive. But on the other, they were trying to find out what happened to Bella. I could suck it up and play along. For her.
"Like drugs? Did you do steroids to get those muscles?" Bass asked.
"The muscles are hereditary. Most of my friends have them." I struggled not to laugh. Even steroids couldn't make muscles like mine. He had no idea.
Accent muttered under his breath. It was for Bass only, but he didn't know about werewolf hearing. "That doesn't have anything to do with this."
Bass sighed and nodded. He eyed me and began asking more questions, mostly wondering if Bella and I were having trouble. He kept it up until the doctor returned.
"Hey, doc!" he called out. "I have some more questions. Did they find alcohol in whatever they pumped out of her stomach? Or drugs?"
"Officer," the doctor replied, "I'm sure you know that a public hallway is an inappropriate venue to discuss private information about a patient. And until she regains consciousness, she can't give consent."
Bass couldn't take a hint. "Did you run a rape kit?"
The doctor stared at him. Finally he spoke, "There was no reason for us to assume she had been raped. When she regains consciousness, if she'd like, we can do a rape kit then. That will be her choice."
The thought hadn't really occurred to me, but now it was hard to keep from throwing up. What if someone had raped her? I took a deep breath and swallowed, hoping to keep the contents of my stomach down. "Are you finished? I'd like to get back to her."
Accent spoke before Bass could. "Sure, kid. Go on back in." Bass didn't look happy, but he didn't contradict his partner.
I walked slowly, quietly, into the room, then pulled a chair close to Bella's bed. I took her hand, the one that didn't have the IV, and held it in both of mine. There was nothing I could do but wait.
