Chapter 3 – In the Middle of the Road
Elizabeth ran and ran and ran and ran until she couldn't run no further. She stopped, taking deep breaths, and placed her hands on her knees, leaning over to catch her breath. She looked behind her and didn't see Charles anywhere. She noticed she was in an unfamiliar part of town, somewhere out in the vast countryside. Thunder and lightning boomed as the rain started pouring down above her. As she looked around to gage her surroundings, she looked down at her arm and noticed it was bleeding heavily. The sleeve was torn on her cream-colored long sleeve blouse. As she peeled back the torn section of her blouse, she noticed a large piece of glass imbedded in her upper forearm. She knew she'd have to get it removed, which possibly included having stitches. She pushed the pain and the issue to the side and slowly began walking down the dark lone road in the pouring rain.
An hour or so went by and Elizabeth kept wandering down the dark road in the pouring rain. She really couldn't tell how long she had been walking but knew it had been a while. The pain in her arm continued throbbing and she was now crying due to the intense pain and the realization of what had happened to her. Due to the lateness of the night, no one was out driving on this road. A few vehicles had passed her, but none had stopped, probably due to the storm in the area as visibility wasn't the greatest.
A little while later, Elizabeth saw headlights come up behind her and heard the vehicle come to a stop. She had been walking so long that her feet were killing her, and she had slowly wandered out into the road, swaying back and forth due to how tired she was getting. It also didn't help any of all the trauma she had, both physical and mental. She heard a door shut and slowly stopped and turned around. She squinted her eyes due to the headlights and made out a figure slowly approaching her. "Was this Charles?", she thought as she slowly started to back away, unsure if he had found her and wanted to take her back home with him. She started to run but she heard a man's voice calling out to her to stop. Again, she squinted her eyes against the bright headlights and tried to scrunch herself away from the threat coming towards her.
Jack had pulled up to a figure in the road, unable to make out who it was. His military training had come into action as he jumped out his truck, leaving the driver's door ajar, and began sprinting towards the person in the road. What he saw was shocking, to say the least. It was a woman who had been abused. There was no doubt about it. He knew what had happened and didn't ask any questions. He reached the woman and asked her to stop, as he realized she was getting ready to start running due to fear. He met the woman and reached out to her, pulling her out of the middle of the road and back to the safety of his truck.
Jack helped her into his truck, opening the passenger door for her, and grabbed a blanket from behind the seat. He brought the blanket around the woman and put it around her. Elizabeth was zoned out, shivering, and in pain from the abuse she endured hours ago. As Jack placed the blanket around her, he looked over her and noticed the abuse she had suffered. Jack ran to the driver's side and shut the door, looking over to the woman. He took a deep breath, drove off and decided to find somewhere he could pull off at to talk to the woman.
Moments later, he came upon an old gas station that wasn't open, but there were overhead lights where he could assess the situation better. As he pulled into the gas station, he put the truck in park and looked over to the woman sitting in the passenger side.
"Ma'am, I want to help you, but I'm going to need some information. Do you think you could answer a couple of questions for me?" Jack spoke softly to the woman. The woman looked slowly over at him, formed a small smile on her face and nodded to him.
"Okay, first off, I want to know who did this to you. Just a name and where he's at. It's important that I know that first and foremost." Jack let out a quick breath and pulled out his phone that was in his pocket. Elizabeth was hesitant at first, but realized she needed to let this man know about Charles and what he did to her. She began to speak, tears forming in her eyes, and she broke out into a quiet sob. Jack reached out and consoled her, realizing how hard this must be on her. He decided this wasn't the time or place to ask er these questions.
"Okay, I apologize ma'am. I'm going to tell you something. My name is Jack Thornton, and I am a Sergeant with the State Police. I'm off duty right now but I am going to get you some help. Let me make a couple of calls and we can get you somewhere safe. How does that sound?" Jack smiled at the woman, who seemed to stop crying and looked over at him. The woman nodded and pulled the blanket further up her body around her neck, pulling it tighter as she was cold. "Excuse me for just a moment." Jack said as he exited the truck and began to make some calls.
Jack called into the State Police headquarters and knew someone would be there to answer the phone. Even though Jack was off duty, he still had jurisdiction and was still on duty. He told the dispatcher what had happened and told him what gas station he was near. Jack mentioned that he wasn't sure where he was due to getting lost in the rain and low visibility. The dispatcher mentioned they could ping his cell phone and find his location quickly. Jack mentioned to bring a female State Police officer and an ambulance, just in case.
Ten to fifteen minutes went by, and a State Police cruiser and ambulance pulled up to the gas station with no lights on. Jack got out of the truck and went up to the female officer.
"Rosemary. I'm glad to see you." Jack spoke as he walked up to the female officer. "What happened? They wouldn't tell me hardly anything." Rosemary spoke as she walked up to Jack, assessing the situation.
Jack took a deep breath and spoke. "It seems she was physically abused and ran away from home. She's pretty beat up and not talking to me. When I tried to gauge what happened and who did this to her, she broke down and started crying. That's why I asked dispatch to have you come out here. Maybe she would feel more comfortable talking with another female?" Rosemary nodded her head and smiled at Jack. "Poor thing. Say no more. I'll see what I can do."
Rosemary slowly walked over to the passenger side of the truck and lightly knocked on the window. Elizabeth looked over quickly and opened the truck door. Rosemary smiled at the lady and removed her hat as Elizabeth opened the door slowly. "Ma'am, my name is Rosemary Coulter. I'm with the State Police. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions if that's alright with you?" Elizabeth smiled back and scooted over to the middle of the truck seat so that Rosemary would be able to sit down and talk to her privately in the truck. Rosemary shut the truck door and began talking to Elizabeth.
About ten minutes later, Rosemary got out of the truck and walked back to Jack, who was sitting in the patrol car that Rosemary drove. Jack got out of the patrol car and walked up to Rosemary, meeting her almost halfway in the gas station parking lot. "What happened? I want all the details Rosie." Jack began pacing in front of Rosemary. Rosemary sat down on the front hood of the patrol car and began telling Jack what Elizabeth told her. "Well, first off, her name is Mrs. Elizabeth Thornton. She's a grade schoolteacher at Hope Valley Elementary School. Apparently, she was at home with her husband, a Mr. Charles Kensington, and she was sitting on the couch in the living room telling him about her first day back to school with her new students. She mentioned that a new man had been hired, a male teacher, that was across the hall from her and that set him off. Next thing she knew, he flew into a rage and began attacking her. From what she can recall, Mr. Kensington smacked her, hit her, threw her into furniture…basically just all out abused the heck out of her. She was able to escape and run away, but she's worried he will find her and take her back home and do who knows what to her." Rosemary had a worried look on her face as she looked up at Jack, who was still pacing back and forth. "Jack, we need to find Mr. Kensington and get his side of the story before we do anything else."
Jack stopped pacing, looking at Rosemary in front of him. "Rosie, you didn't see her like I did, scared for her life when I pulled up in my truck. She was so frightened… she was getting ready to run before I jumped out of my truck to stop her. She thought I was him. I'm not taking her back there just so this Mr. Kensington can control her and convince her to tell us it was her fault. I see too many cases where the husband convinces the wife it was her fault, then later we find out they get abused worse than before, sometimes even killed. No… I'm not letting her go back there. She can go with us back to the city and we can take her to the hospital to get her checked out. If her injuries aren't too serious, the precinct can put her up in a hotel room until we figure something out." Rosemary threw her hands up and agreed with Jack. "Do you want me to tell her, or do you want to tell her?" Jack looked back over his shoulder at his truck and the figure sitting inside the cab. "It'd probably be best for you to tell her since she trusts you. I'll be over here if you need anything." "You're the boss." Rosemary said as she began walking back over to the truck.
The ambulance loaded Elizabeth up and took her to the local hospital back in the city. They had her sit in a wheelchair as they wheeled her into the side entrance and up to the emergency room. The doctor came in to check her over and met Jack and Rosemary out in the hallway. The doctor shut the door to her room and gave the details to them both. "Dr. Shepherd, how is she?" Rosemary reached out to Jack, putting her hand on his shoulder as Dr. Shepherd gave them the results. "Well, it could've been worse honestly. She has a lot of cuts, scrapes and bruising consistent with abuse. She has a large gash in her upper arm due to a piece of glass being embedded in the skin. I was able to remove it and had the nurse on duty stitch it up for me. She does have a small case of hypothermia, probably due to being out in the rain. She has no broken bones, no internal injuries, and no head injuries. She was lucky. I've seen a lot worse. She should probably stay overnight and then she can be released sometime tomorrow if she's up to it. She will need a lot of rest though, so I ask you don't talk to her for very long. If you need anything else, I'll be around." Dr. Shepherd nodded as he walked down the long hallway to the nurse's station.
Jack knocked on the door and heard a faint "come in" as he opened the door and walked inside. Rosemary and him both removed their hats and walked inside, standing near the foot of the bed. Elizabeth smiled at both and them and proceeded to thank them for helping her out. "I just want to say thank you to both of you for your help. I honestly don't know where I would be right now if it wasn't for the swift actions of you both. Thank you." She smiled as she shifted in the bed to get comfortable. Jack was first to talk. "Think nothing of it. I'm just glad I was there to help you." Rosemary smiled and added, "Yes, thank goodness for Jack here. Without his help, who knows what would've happened. We are both just glad you are alright." Jack and Rosemary turned to leave so she could get her rest, but Elizabeth stopped them both before they reached the door.
"What happens next?" Jack and Rosemary turned around and looked back at Elizabeth and then looked at each other. They took a couple of steps back towards her bed. Jack fidgeted with the brim of his hat and told Elizabeth what their plan was. "Well, the doctor told us you need your rest, so you will stay here overnight. If you feel up to being released tomorrow, Trooper Coulter and I will assist you in putting you up in a hotel room for a couple of days until we figure out what we can do about your husband."
Jack was getting ready to say something else, but Elizabeth interrupted him. "Please, don't make me go back to him! I don't want to see him again! I can't face him…I just… I can't…Please!" Elizabeth spoke with pleading eyes and began to sob, covering her face with her hands, tears streaming down her face. The scene broke Jack's heart. He felt so sorry for this woman who had been abused and vowed to right this wrong, no matter what.