Chapter 62 – No Good Deed
Bella
The following days at the hospital continued in the same way as the first, with a parade of clergy, parents, and family members coming to either check on a student, or to help the grieving. Every time someone would approach the doors leading outside, the extent of the bitter weather was evident by the freezing blast of air that accompanied them. It seemed fitting for the atmosphere.
I had moved up to the second floor to sit outside the surgery wing. I was waiting for Edward to come out from his last surgery when Dr. Stanley emerged, looking tired and frazzled. She sat down across from me and leaned her head back against the wall, closing her eyes. In that moment, I actually felt compassion for her.
She finally looked over at me, smiling tiredly. "You're one lucky lady," she said, surprising me. "He's an amazing man. I really do wish you both the best." She seemed like she wanted to say more, but she was fighting to keep her eyes open. Edward had mentioned how he thought she was seeing someone, so perhaps that was why she was behaving as well as she was now. I was still a little leery given her recent behavior, but I wasn't one to hold a grudge if someone was willing to change their ways, and my instincts told me that she was being sincere.
"Thank you," I said, smiling back at her, willing to forgive and move on.
She looked down at her watch and laughed through a yawn. "I've been here for over fifty hours straight. My kittens are going to think I've abandoned them."
"I'm sure they've missed you. Do you leave out plenty of dry food and water for them?'
"They're just starting to eat some dry food, but I have a neighbor who's been helping me bottle feed them every few hours, since they're so tiny still. I really shouldn't have agreed to foster them, but I just couldn't help it. They're seriously cute. I'm not usually gone this much, so it hasn't been an issue before. I really should go check on them soon."
I smiled at the thought of Oliver and Felicity. I was so glad my mom and dad were staying at the house and could care for them while we were here.
"Do you need to stay here?" I asked. "Would you like me to go check on them for you?" I didn't know what possessed me to offer. I guessed I was feeling charitable, and a little bit sorry for her.
"That's okay, but thanks for offering. I just live in the condos across the street. It won't take me but a few minutes to walk over there and check on them. I could use the break."
"You'd better bundle up, then. It's freezing outside now," I warned.
"Damn it. When I came in the other day, it was still fairly moderate, so I just grabbed a sweater. I guess I'll have to run, then," she laughed.
"Even running, you're going to freeze badly. Here, take my coat and stuff. I'll be here for a few more hours at least, so you can just grab yours while you're there and bring mine when you come back." I slipped my coat up on her arms and handed her my beret. She twisted her hair up and pulled the beret over it, then wrapped the scarf around her. Fortunately, we were close to the same size, so it fit her great.
"Thanks, Bella. You really are sweet. I can see now why Edward loves you so much." She patted my arm quickly before heading down the long hallway. Maybe she really was being sincere, I thought to myself, as I turned to sit back down. I looked up in time to see her walk through the door that went into the stairwell, heading downstairs. She was gone before I could stop her, but my explanation for avoiding the stairwells would probably have sounded like crazy talk to her, anyway.
Edward came out of the surgery center, looking like he was about to drop. He had been in surgery almost non-stop since coming into the hospital, and he was starting to fade. Unfortunately, he was far from done. He sat down beside me, as a couple of other doctors and scrub nurses filed past, looking just as tired. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled his head over onto my chest, stroking his hair and holding him close so he could relax for a bit. He stayed like that for a while, but he bolted upright at the sound of a bloodcurdling scream coming from the stairwell. One of the nurses came running back into the corridor, screaming for help. "It's Dr. Stanley!"
Edward leaped to his feet and ran to follow her. I stopped at the stairwell door, unable to follow. Edward came back, white as a ghost. "Call security, Dr. Stanley has been attacked."
I ran to the nearest nurses' station and grabbed the phone, quickly dialing security. The hospital went into emergency lockdown mode and was almost immediately flooded by security personnel and police.
After what felt like hours of interviews and examination of the crime scene, I watched in horror, as the body of Dr. Stanley was brought out of the stairwell. Her throat had been slit from ear to ear according to the medical examiner. They believed the attacker had ambushed her from behind, so she probably never saw who had done it or even knew what was happening. It had also happened in a "blind zone" in the stairwell that was just out of view of the security cameras. Whoever had killed Dr. Stanley knew how to skirt around in the stairwells to avoid detection by the cameras. Probably someone who had spent a lot of time in them and knew them well.
Edward talked to the medical examiner and the police for more than an hour, as did the nurse who had discovered the body. The only thing found at the crime scene was a partial, smeared bloody handprint, and a single crushed red flower petal that couldn't be linked to anything at that point. The police on the scene speculated it could have been dropped and stepped on by someone delivering flowers to the hospital. However, it was collected by the investigators as potential evidence. Emmett was still at the hospital, caught in the lockdown, and he remembered something when he overheard them talking.
"That's a really weird coincidence," he said to Edward. "They found a crumpled red rose in Dubois' pocket, but there's no evidence he had anything to do with this. He was little more than a pile of broken bones when we brought him in, and that was hours ago."
The mention of Laurant Dubois again sent my heart racing and my stomach flipping, as I began to sink down to the floor. Edward was beside me in an instant, helping me into a seat in a nearby waiting area. Between the stress of the day and the fact that I hadn't eaten, I was near fainting. Emmett went and found some juice for me and then headed back to talk to the investigators, while Edward held me around the waist, encouraging me to finish the juice.
"You really need to go home, Bella. As soon as the police let people leave, I want you to get a cab and head straight there and get into bed." I started to protest, but Emmett came back just then with Rose in tow.
"We'll take her home, Edward, and we'll make sure she eats something. The police are allowing some people to leave now, and she should be cleared." I went to get my coat, but then I remembered where it was. I stood there for a moment, frozen with terror and turning a whiter shade of pale, as it all sank in, the realization hitting me.
"She was wearing my coat, Edward," I managed to whisper out chokingly. "I loaned it to her, so she could go check on her kittens. She looked just like me from the back when she left…" My eyes were almost as big as Emmett's and Rose's. The color drained from Edward's face. Emmett ran over and got one of the police detectives to come speak with me. I told her about loaning Dr. Stanley my coat, hat, and scarf, so she would be warm enough to walk home to check on her pets. The stairwell…Grammy and Poppa had warned me…
Logic was telling me this was probably some random act of violence, but my gut told me I was the one who was supposed to have been on that table in the morgue, not Dr. Stanley. My nerves were already shot, and now, adding this only served to take me over the edge. I stood up to leave with Emmett and Rose, and that was the last thing I remembered.
