Rae had spent the day in her bedroom after first Cheryl and Martin and then Alex had left. Jesse had called Michael and he had been happy to carry on looking after Eliana, and then he had called Sally and asked whether they could work on a day-to-day basis for a while. Jesse had explained a little of what was going on and she had agreed to do that for a week or so, Jesse had promised to keep in touch and then he had put the phone down and realising how exhausted he was had fallen asleep on the sofa.
It was just after three in the afternoon when Jesse heard a noise and saw Rae moving back towards the bedroom, a mug of herbal tea in her hand. He got up and keeping everything crossed began to talk.
"Rae, please, look at me."
"Jesse, I can't." Rae wanted to move away, so that she couldn't see him, but her legs refused to carry out their instructions, and so she stood there as he moved closer to her.
"Rae, just tell me why I can't be here with you, and Eliana as well. We need you, I love you with all my heart, Rae, I thought you knew that, and Eliana, well, you are her mom, everything she is revolves around you. So why, Rae, why can't we come back?"
"Because, because I just can't cope with it, Jesse. Things keep happening, to me, to those people I love and you and Eliana are the two people I love the most, I just want you to go. If I have to hate you for you to do it then I will. If I have to make you hate me then I will do that too."
"Rae, I could never hate you. Not ever, whatever you do." Jesse moved a little closer and was relieved when Rae didn't retreat, he could see her twisting her engagement ring round on her finger, which she did when she was nervous or up tight. "Rae, when we got married we said 'for better, for worse.' I am not going to leave you or desert you, not ever."
"Please, Jesse, I don't want anything to happen to you, and … and you deserve better." Rae stopped talking; she couldn't really believe that she had actually said that.
"What? I deserve better? Honey, I don't know what you mean, but I do know that I want to find out. Please, come and sit and talk to me."
Rae knew that she couldn't take back what she had said, and also if she wanted him to leave she owed it to him to explain. Slowly she nodded and placing her hot drink on a coaster she sat down on Tony's chair.
"So, how do I deserve better? I don't want anybody but you, Rae. You are all I ever dreamt of. I can't do better than you."
"Jesse, I can't let you near me, every time I do I don't see you I see him, that, that man. He raped me; Jesse, and he did such terrible things to me that I don't think I will ever be able to talk about them. You shouldn't have to live with somebody like that."
"Somebody like what? He raped you, Rae. That means that he took you by force, you didn't want it to happen, but it did. That makes you a victim, you did nothing wrong. Why wouldn't I want to be with you? I still don't understand."
"Jesse, I feel dirty, tainted. I want to wash and wash and wash, but I know that there is no point, because I will never get the filth he did to me off my body. It's inside of me now, Jesse. It's a part of me. You shouldn't have to touch a woman like that… a woman like me, you should have somebody who is yours and yours alone."
"Rae, oh, God, sweetheart, no, I don't feel like that about you. That never entered my head. You aren't dirty…" Jesse couldn't continue. He felt the tears flood his eyes, and he had to turn away.
"There, you see, you can't even look at me. I disgust you. I'm sorry, Jesse, I'm sorry that I spoilt what we had, I didn't mean it, but I don't think we will ever get it back."
"No, Rae, I wasn't …" Jesse couldn't continue because the room was empty. Rae had picked up her drink and retreated back to her room. Jesse slumped back on the sofa for a while and tried to sort out in his mind what Rae had just said to him.
Rae placed her drink down on another coaster on her dressing table and sat and looked at herself in the mirror. She was disgusted every time she saw her face. In fact she hardly ever sat where she could see any of herself in a mirror any more. Slowly Rae put her hand out and picked up the necklace that Eliana had broken. It was a delicate chain and she had always liked it. She picked up her nail file and began to prise open the end links so that she would join them back together. It took her ten minutes to finish the job, and for those ten minutes she didn't have to think about anything else. If she kept busy she kept her gremlins locked away.
Jesse sat for half an hour before he got up and went towards his bedroom. He gently tapped on the door, but didn't wait for a reply.
"Rae, I want you to listen to me. I turned away, not because I couldn't look at you but because I didn't want you to see me cry. You need to tell Brian what you have told me. Maybe he can help you to sort out your feelings, but you have to know that you are wrong, I don't think any of those things that you said." Jesse paused and then when he could see that Rae wasn't going to say anything more, he began to talk again. "I know you don't want me here, but there is no way I am gonna leave you alone. Tony is coming to stay at the beginning of next week. If you want me to leave then, I will, but until then I will sleep in the spare room, and when Tony goes home, I will be back. Ok?"
Rae just nodded. Part of her was extremely grateful to Jesse for being so understanding, but the other part still wanted him to leave. The grateful half won out for a change, and she turned. "Thank you, Jesse." Rae moved over and drew the curtains against the fading light then, and Jesse knew he was being dismissed.
The two days of the weekend gave people a chance to heal, to collect evidence, to carry on with their lives. Nothing very much was happening, and Rae had spent most of her time in her room. Although she said nothing, when Jesse left the house to go and see Eliana, she felt empty and alone, but she wouldn't go with him, nor would she let him bring their baby home.
Jo had been surprised just how much she had needed to recuperate. When she read articles in the newspapers about people escaping accidents with cuts and bruises she had imagined them going on with their lives almost immediately. Now she knew that wasn't the case. Steve had been in and out of the house all weekend, working, running, just doing all the things he usually did, and the normality of him had helped her a great deal.
By the Sunday evening Jo was curled up in the living room, a magazine by her hand and her goddaughter in her lap. The little girl had just fitted right into their household, and Jo knew that they would all miss her when she went home. "You, young lady should be going to bed. Your mommy won't thank me for gettin' you into bad habits."
"Mamamadadada." Eliana smiled her happy smile up at her Aunty Jo, and the world seemed a better place for both of them. Jo snuggled the child closer to her and smiled back.
"Five more minutes then, but it will be bed after that, ok?"
"Dadadadmamadada" Eliana's words were a little muffled by Jo's sweater, but that didn't matter, whenever she spoke her muddled up little sounds they seemed to fit whatever was happening, and right now, life was definitely better when it was a little muffled.
Jesse heard Rae up and about the next morning as he began to stir. The house felt strangely quiet and empty without their daughter in it, and Jesse knew that he would have to go over to Jo's as soon as he could, he just ached to hold Eliana in his arms, to hear her laugh and see her beautiful face in front of his own. There was a tap on the door, and he called out. Slowly it opened and to his delight he saw Rae standing there with a cup of coffee for him.
"Oh, Honey, thank you." He sat up in bed and shuffled over, hoping that she would sit next to him. He was disappointed but not surprised when she just placed the drink on the nightstand and then turned to leave the room. "Rae, I am gonna go and see Eliana again this morning, will you come with me?"
"No, Jesse, I have to go see Brian… I'm sorry, I can't see her, she will forget me quickly enough, I won't see her." Rae rushed out of the room, but not before Jesse had heard the emotion in her voice, and seen the start of tears on her face.
Steve got up for work quietly so that he wouldn't disturb Jo. She had been restless in the night, and now that she seemed to be sleeping peacefully he didn't want to wake her. Grabbing his clothes Steve went to a bathroom down the hallway so the noise of the shower wouldn't be too loud. As he walked past the nursery he heard a noise, and carefully opening the door he peeked in.
Eliana was sitting up in bed, the soft dolly that she slept with in her hands. She was chattering away to it in her own little language, and then as she turned she caught sight of herself in the safety mirror that Jo had hung over the side of the crib. They had bought a proper crib for the room, and now it was decorated with all kinds of sleep toys, but it was her favorite old dolly and the new mirror that seemed to be best loved. Eliana looked at her reflection and smiled. The face smiled back at her and she began to bounce up and down in excitement. Balance, being a skill still to be learnt she ended up on her back, not at all bothered by this she just lay there and gurgled.
Steve closed the door and moved on down the hallway, he couldn't understand how Rae could send her baby away to stay somewhere else. He knew that when she finally moved back with her mommy and daddy he was going to miss her terribly, and he was only an uncle, and godfather, I am her godfather. As he put his clothes down on the chair in the bathroom his cell phone began to ring. "Sloan here…Hi Jess, no of course not, she's your baby… No, I'll be at work, will Rae be coming…? Oh, right, yeah, I knew she was seeing Brian just not when …I'll see you soon, Buddy." Steve put his phone on the chair and got ready for his shower. He hoped that Rae would open up to the man, she had stopped talking to him, and, it seemed, to Jesse, so Brian was all she had left.
Cheryl climbed the stairs to the squad room early the next morning, not feeling as if she had actually been away. There was something really bugging her about the problems with Rae, and as yet she hadn't worked out what it was. Part of her couldn't believe that she could have killed Lee Tennant and attacked her best friend, another part of her knew that rational was not a word you would use to describe Rae right now. She walked in through the doorway and stopped as she saw Martin already at his desk.
"Hey, partner, I guess I beat you in, huh?" He didn't smile as he spoke; there was no way he felt like joking at the moment.
"Yeah, you bothered about this Rae thing too?" Cheryl looked at him and could see from the state of his desk that he had either been in very early indeed, or hadn't actually gone home.
"I can't believe that she would do anything like this. She's a good cop, she's my friend, and well, well, she's just Rae."
"Yeah, I know, but like I said to Steve, if it was anybody else we would have had them in here hauling their ass over the coals to find out what the hell was going on." Cheryl moved over to the coffee machine as she spoke. She saw Chapman and Bannister working away at the other end of the room. They were working the sniper case that Steve was on, they had both been here when she left the night before, it seemed that nobody was getting much sleep around the place right now.
Rae had retreated to her safe place after speaking to Jesse, and was sat curled up on the bed, the dog that Alex had bought her on her lap, a picture of Eliana in her hand. It had been taken on her wedding day, and she had been so beautiful. They had found a white lacy dress for her to wear, and she had been so good all day. She missed her so much, but she just didn't dare to go see her, or think about her too much, otherwise she knew that her resolve would fail and she wouldn't be able to do what it was she needed to do. Rae checked her watch and realised that she needed to move if she was to get to Brian on time. He had that strange little man who never interacted with anybody before her, and he always came out dead on time.
Jesse was just putting his breakfast bowl in the dishwasher when he heard a sound behind him, and turning round saw Rae standing in the doorway. He stood and moved towards her, but stopped when she took a step backwards.
"Ok, I won't come any closer, are you off to see Brian?" Jesse saw her nod and then he spoke again. "You look nice, that purple sweater is one of my favourites, and … hey you fixed your chain."
"Yeah, I guess I could have just bought another one, but well, I liked it and it wasn't too hard to mend."
"I'm going to go to Jo's once you go, call me when you get back and I'll come home. I mean it Rae, call me, ok?"
Rae just nodded and then headed out to her car. She waved at the security guard as she went through, and suddenly realised that she wouldn't be able to get back in very easily, because she had lost her smart card.
It took Rae just over half an hour to get to Community General, and she parked in her normal space. Most doctors had a space they parked in, and she guessed she must have picked one that was generally empty. It always seemed to be there waiting for her. She walked in, and up in the elevator and smiled at Helen as she moved over to the desk.
"Hey, Rae, you're bright and early today, how are you?"
Rae knew that Helen was privy to most things that happened in Brian's office, she typed up reports, kept his filing in order, as well as being a fully qualified psychiatric nurse.
"I guess just early would cover it. I don't remember the last time I felt bright, but I will get there, I have too." You have too much to lose not to.
"Good, I'm glad to hear you say that. You know, I have to tell you something, I know it's gossip, but it did make me laugh. You know Alex Martin, don't you, he's your doctor isn't he?"
Rae nodded, her heart feeling a little lighter as she heard the enjoyment in Helen's voice.
"Well, did Jesse tell you about the auction? It took place last week, and you could bid for a doctor or a nurse for the night. If staff were married then they couldn't take part. There were some other people as well, I think some of the janitorial staff, and the catering department joined in as well. Anyway, Alex put himself up for auction, and he was a smash! It cost the winner $1,500 to go out with him for a night." Helen paused, she was enjoying herself immensely, and not only that she could tell that Rae was reacting to her as well.
"And, there is either an and or a but isn't there?" Rae waited expectantly.
"Oh, yeah! When Alex went to find out who had won him, there are five student nurses standing there, and they all clubbed together, so Friday night he is going out with five student nurses!"
Rae heard herself laugh; she hadn't done that in a while. She leant over and placed her hand on Helen's arm. "Thank you." She turned as she heard the door to Brian's office open and saw the usual scene unfold before her, as the current client came out, across the landing, and into the elevator, without lifting his eyes from the carpet.
"Rae, would you like to come in?"
Rae moved into the office, and shut the door behind her. She sat down and wondered how things would go today. She felt better about herself just because she had been able to laugh for a moment, and, she realised, rather belatedly, that talking to Jesse had also helped.
Jesse pulled up outside Jo's house and climbed out. He had two packages in his hands as he waited for Michael to open the door.
"Good morning, Doctor Travis, how nice to see you, Sir."
"Thank you, Michael, you are sure it is convenient for me to be here?"
"Of course, your daughter needs to see her daddy." The butler smiled at the doctor, it wasn't his place to comment, but he was very distressed by the situation that seemed to have developed in the Travis household.
Jesse came in and smiled as he saw Jo come down the stairs with Eliana in her arms. As soon as the little girl saw her daddy, she began to babble. "Dadadadadmumum."
Jesse felt a lump in his throat as he smiled at her, it hadn't really been that long since he had seen her, but it felt like eternity. "Hi, Sweetie, oh, Daddy's missed you so much." He put his parcels down and Jo handed his daughter to him. He kissed her gently on the cheek and stroked her softly curling brown hair. Jesse crouched down and picked up his things and then he followed Jo into the living room. There was a playpen in the middle of the room and reluctantly he lowered Eliana into it, he wanted to hold her forever, but he had something to give to Jo. There were all sorts of toys in it, and Jesse could see that his little girl was being spoilt rotten by his Aunty Jo, Uncle Steve and he was sure by Michael as well.
"Jo, this is for you and Steve and Michael, I can't thank you enough for looking after Eliana for us. I wish I could explain everything to you, but I don't understand it all myself."
"Jesse, you didn't have to do that, it has been a pleasure. Steve even got up at two this mornin' without complainin' an' that is a minor miracle."
Jesse looked at his wife's best friend, and saw the bruises and marks from her very lucky escape. "Jo, I'm sorry I didn't even ask, how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, but…" Jo stopped talking and Jesse moved closer to her.
"Jo, what's the matter, are you in pain, is there anything I can do to help?"
"You can tell me that you don't think Rae did this to me. Steve said that Cheryl an' Martin think that Rae cut my brake lines!" Jo had seen Jesse over the weekend a few times, but she hadn't mentioned her accident.
"No, I don't think she did it, and neither does Steve, there are a few things that make it look like it might have been her, but you are her best friend, she couldn't hurt anybody, but least of all you."
"Thank you, Jesse, I just needed to hear somebody else sayin' what I knew already." Jo began to tear the paper off the box she held in her hand. Inside was a box of candy.
"There are three layers, one each." Jesse smiled at her. He was useless at buying presents, but candy was always popular. As Jo went and put the candy on the table Jesse ripped at the paper around the other package. Inside it was a pink giraffe. It was soft and cute and as soon as he had seen it Jesse had known he had to get it for his daughter. He handed it to her and she took it from him and immediately began to suck it. In a moment or two the pink soft fur was pink soft, sopping fur, and Eliana was chattering away to it.
Jo moved over and kissed him gently on the cheek, and then, as both of them realised that they needed it they hugged silently for a minute.
Rae came out of Brian's office, just over an hour later and spoke quickly to Helen as she walked across the landing. The session had been unproductive; although she had told some of her fears to Jesse after she had seen Brian the last time, she hadn't been able to repeat them, and Brian had told her that he thought it would be better if she took two days before she came back again, and try to write down some of her fears and worries in that time.
Brian sat in his office, he wrote some notes down about his session with Rae. He was very worried about her, and he knew that this session hadn't helped her at all. She hadn't seemed to be able to open up to him, and normally that hadn't been a problem. Rae had seemed happy and relaxed when she was talking with Helen, but once she had come in and shut the door she had seemed to retreat within herself. Brian looked at his watch; it had been ten minutes since Rae had left, his next client should have arrived by now, he buzzed through to Helen, and waited for her to reply.
Steve parked his car in the parking lot of the precinct, and his mind on everything except the cases he was working on, he moved slowly across towards the entrance. Bob was coming out on his way home as he entered, and they stopped for a moment to talk.
"Bob, you aren't actually leaving are you?" Steve smiled at him, as he spoke.
"Contrary to popular belief, I do in fact have a home to go to, a wife, two children and a dog!" Bob was smiling as well, but if he told the truth he was getting a little fed up with people commenting on how many hours he worked.
"Yeah, well, I'm getting there, now I have a house and a fiancée, I'll worry about the rest later." Steve realised that it was a lame reply, but he got the feeling that the desk sergeant wasn't really enjoying the conversation and he had no idea how to finish it.
He ran up the stairs and into the squad room, looking round as he did so. He saw Bannister getting himself a coffee and moved over to speak to him.
"Hey, George, anything new?"
"Oh, hey, Steve, no, nothing. We thought that we'd found a pattern, each shooting seemed to be three days apart, we stayed here all night, and nothing, all we have now are two seriously tired detectives and …" George paused as he watched Steve stifle a yawn. "I was gonna say one wide awake one, but you look like you got about as much sleep as we did."
"No, I wasn't up all night, but we have Eliana staying with us right now, and she woke up at two and didn't want to go back to sleep." Steve smiled as he remembered her little face as she saw him lean over the crib, he just loved the way she got so excited when she saw somebody she knew.
Steve made himself a coffee and was about to go and talk to Cheryl when he saw her pick up her phone.
"Homicide, Banks… Ok, no, we'll meet him there. Thank you… Martin, come on, there's been a murder at Community General." Cheryl grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair and Martin picked his up from where it had fallen to the floor.
"Cheryl, wait, Community General, was it Dad who called?" Steve looked across at his old partner, and waited for her to speak.
"No, a shrink, um named … Brian Dobson called it in, that was dispatch." Cheryl was walking out of the door as she spoke, and didn't see the look on Steve's face.
"Do you know who was killed?" It was Martin who spoke, he was looking at Steve and he could see that the Lieutenant was instantly aware who Brian Dobson was.
"Yeah," Cheryl turned for a moment, "a nurse called Helen Baxter, she was found in the ladies room on the fifth floor, she had been stabbed."
Cheryl and Martin went off down the stairs, and Steve stood at the top for a moment and watched them leave. He went slowly down towards the parking lot, and got back into his car. As he drew out into the traffic he thought that the worry might overwhelm him.
Rae arrived at the security gate and wound her window down. "Hi, I'm Mrs Travis, I live at number thirty-seven. I don't have my smart card, I left my purse at a restaurant the other night."
"I have you down as already being inside, ma'am. I must be mistaken. Ok, I know you are definitely here this time." The gates swung open and Rae drove through. The street was almost deserted. The gentleman who lived across the street from them was out in his front garden pruning his rose bushes, and a little further down she could see somebody watering their hanging baskets, but that was it. It was almost lunchtime and there were only two people to be seen. Rae loved it; she knew that this was the place she was meant to live.
She went into the house and picked up the mail. There was a letter from her daughter, Mara, which she put to one side, and then she checked the rest. Two bills, and a circular from a credit card company, she put the two bills on the kitchen counter, the circular in the waste basket and turned the kettle on. Five minutes later Rae was sat in Tony's chair opening the letter from her daughter.
Dear Mummy,
I know that Daddy is coming to see you next week, and he said that I could just give him a letter to give to you, but I wanted to write and tell you that I got the best part in the Christmas play! It is all about a cat that saves all the mice in a church choir, and I play the cat. I have a long ginger tail, and ears, and a blue velvet waistcoat to wear. I know it is nearly Christmas but do you think you could come and see me please?
I hope that you and Jesse are still having fun, and I bet Eliana is a big girl now, is she walking yet? Daddy just read this and he says no, she won't be yet.
I love you mummy, please come visit soon,
Lots of love
Mara
x~x~x~x
Rae put the letter down on the floor and lay back in the chair. Slowly her eyes began to close and five minutes later she was fast asleep.
Cheryl and Martin took the elevator up to the fifth floor of Community General and were met at the door by a uniformed officer and one of the hospital security guards. Cheryl showed her badge and moved further onto the landing. She could see an office door open and a man sitting inside it. He looked very shocked, and Cheryl guessed that he would be Doctor Dobson, she was sure she had seen him someplace before. If she had she knew she would soon remember. "Ok, officer, where is the body?"
"Right this way, Detective. Apparently the Doctor's eleven o'clock appointment was late coming in so he buzzed through to his receptionist. When there was no reply he opened his office door, only to find his next client waiting for him, but no receptionist. He moved down the hallway to see if he could see her, and well, this is what he found."
They had arrived at the ladies restroom and Cheryl and Martin could see a body lying just inside the door. The feet of Helen Baxter were holding the door open, and they could see a large pool of blood under the body.
"Do we know who was the last person to see Ms Baxter?" Martin was looking at the officer as he spoke, his pad ready for him to take notes.
"No, I haven't checked the appointment register yet. The doctor was real shook up, I thought it best to stay with him."
"Ok, thank you." Cheryl pulled on a pair of latex gloves and was about to step round the body when she heard the ping of the elevator and turned to see Amanda coming out.
"Cheryl, what has happened? Oh, my. Helen."
"You knew her, Doctor Bentley?" Martin was looking at the medical examiner and he could tell that she was shocked by what she saw.
"Yes, I've known for her years. She was such a nice lady. You will recognise her too, she was at Rae and Jesse's wedding. I can't imagine anybody wanting to hurt her." Amanda knelt down by the body and began her examination.
Cheryl realised where she had seen the doctor before. "Did she go to the wedding with Doctor Dobson?" Amanda nodded her head, already concentrating on what lay before her. "Ah, let us know when you're finished, Doctor Bentley, I guess the doorway is a little crowded right now."
"Ok, Cheryl, I imagine I'll be about half an hour."
Steve went straight to the ER and looked about for his Dad. He saw him coming out of a trauma suite and moved across to him.
"Hi, Dad, are you free for a moment?"
"Sure, Son, what's the problem?"
"Come and grab a coffee and I'll explain."
The two men sat on the saggy sofa and slowly Steve began to describe what had happened so far, and how Cheryl and Martin suspected Rae of being at the very least involved in what was going on. Then he told him how Rae had asked Jesse and Eliana to leave, and that he and Jo had been looking after the little girl while Jesse had been trying to get through to Rae and save his marriage. Then with a deep breath he told him about the murder that had occurred that morning, and how Rae had been due to see Brian at about the same time as it had happened.
"What do you want me to do about it, Son?" Mark was looking extremely concerned as he sat and tried to sort out everything that Steve had told him.
"Could you talk to her? Maybe take her for a meal. I know the one I took her for was a wash out, but we could try again. She could just meet with you for a lunch at Bob's, that would be more informal and she might open up to you."
"Ok, if that's what you want me to do, I'll call her when I get home tonight. I don't start work until the afternoon tomorrow, so I could do it before I come in."
Steve stood up. "Thanks Dad. I'll go, I don't want Cheryl to think I have been snooping around." He touched his Dad gently on his arm, and then turned and was gone.
Cheryl moved over towards the desk, she wanted to interview the doctor as soon as she could, but first of all she wanted to find out who had been here that morning. She opened the diary on the desk and felt her heart plummet. "Oh, great."
"What, Cheryl, what is it?" Martin moved behind her and looked over her shoulder. "Oh, God."
"Ok, I am gonna speak with Doctor Dobson, and then… well you know where we have to go then."
Brian Dobson was sitting in his office, his head in his hands. Cheryl tapped gently on the doorframe and he looked up. "Yes, sorry."
"That's ok, Sir. I'm Detective Cheryl Banks, and this is my partner, Detective Martin Robertson. Can we just speak to you for a few minutes?"
"Yes, of course, please won't you come in?" Brian stood as they entered the room, and then sat down, with a weary sigh behind his desk.
"Can you tell me what happened, and how you came to discover the body?"
Slowly Brian began to relate his experiences once again. Martin sat and quietly took down every word. It was a tale that they had heard in one guise or another many times in the past. Each time it had meant the ending of a life, and the start of a nightmare. Finally Brian stared down at his hands, for the second time he had finished telling his story.
"Thank you, Doctor Dobson, I'm so sorry that you have had to suffer this. Had she worked for you for very long?"
"I have been at Community General for ten years, Helen had been with me for every day of that time… I don't even know if I can continue without her."
"Doctor Dobson, I have to ask, you see some of the more, shall we say, fragile members of society, is it possible that anyone that you saw today could have done this?"
Brian shook his head. "No, no, I don't think so. I had seen two clients this morning, one of them is a young man with a lot of problems, but I don't think that he could do that, he has a great deal of trouble communicating with anybody, and I saw him into the elevator, like I do every week. The other client, no, no she couldn't have done this."
"Doctor, I know the names of your two patients, and I will have to interview them both, if this young man has as many problems communicating as you say he does, maybe it would be better if I interviewed him with you close by." Cheryl was aware of the Doctor's eyes on her as she spoke.
"That is very kind and thoughtful of you. Yes, yes that may be the best idea. I really don't think that he could cope with it otherwise. Everything in this world worries him, germs, loud noises, terrorism, aliens, his next-door neighbour's dog. He never made eye contact with … Helen, but to our surprise, he left her a Christmas card last year." Brian swallowed, and then taking a deep breath stood up. "I'm sorry, I don't think I can talk any more right now. If you don't mind, could I answer any other questions tomorrow?"
"Yes of course, we will be in touch with you in the morning to arrange to speak with," she checked her notes, "Mr. Posner."
"How do you know the name of my patient?" Brian was instantly defensive.
"I took them from the appointment calendar. I'm sorry Doctor, but until we find out who killed your nurse, some of the confidentiality that you value will have to be ignored. Unless they have certain substance abuse problems I can obtain the names of your patients. Right now I don't want their medical histories, just their names."
"Yes, I guess so. I'm sorry, please forgive me for shouting."
Cheryl was about to reply when there was a knock on the door and she turned to see Amanda standing there.
"Excuse me, Doctor Dobson, we'll be in touch tomorrow. If you could just let my associate have your home phone number." Cheryl moved over to where Amanda was standing, and she could tell that the pathologist was still affected by what she had seen.
"I need to talk to you Cheryl, can you come outside?"
"Yeah, sure. What's the problem?"
"She was stabbed, through the heart, from the back, I would say by a left handed person." Amanda stopped talking.
"Just like Lee Tennant." Oh, great. I should have been a florist like my mom told me. "Thank you Amanda."
"There's more, Cheryl. When I had the body removed I found this." Amanda was walking as she spoke, and soon the two women were standing looking down at the bloodstained floor. "It was just as it is now, and was in between Helen's feet." There curled up as if it had fallen was a gold chain. There was some hair on the counter by the hand basin, but that could have been there since first thing this morning. The restrooms are only cleaned out each evening."
Rae was woken with a start when she heard the doorbell ring. She got sleepily to her feet and went to answer it. Standing on the step were Cheryl and Martin.
"Hey, Cheryl, Martin, what can I do for you?" Rae was feeling much more cheerful now than when she had arrived home, she decided. Maybe talking to Jesse was the way to go after all.
"Can we come in, Rae? We need to talk to you." Cheryl hated every word she had to say.
"Yeah, sure, what's wrong?"
"Did you have an appointment with Brian Dobson today?" Cheryl had volunteered for the questioning as they had driven over. She knew that Martin had been friends with Rae for longer than she had, and thought that maybe this way it would be easier.
"Yes… Why?" Rae was suddenly on her guard, she looked round and saw that Martin was writing down what was being said.
"What time did you go there?"
"My appointment time was ten o'clock, I left here about half past nine, I looked at my watch just before I left the house, but you can check with the guard if you like, and I was a bit early so I chatted with Helen for about ten minutes before I went in." Rae was watching Martin the whole time. If he seemed to be speeding up his writing she slowed down. She wanted him to get every word right. Somehow she knew it would be important.
"What did you talk about?" Cheryl was watching Martin too. They both seemed to be mesmerised by his writing.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"What did you talk about, with Helen?"
"Oh, about the auction that was held last week, and what had happened to Alex. Then Brian came out and I went in and saw him. Then when my appointment was finished I came out, said bye to Helen… visited the ladies room and came home. I was asleep when you knocked."
"How long were you in the ladies room?" It was Martin who spoke, he was still writing, but he suddenly needed to join in the questioning.
"I don't know, five minutes or so, I guess. I went … well I did what you usually do in there, and then I brushed my hair, and came home."
"And that was all?"
"Yes, no, no, my chain had gotten caught in my jumper, and I untangled it, then I came home."
"Which chain, can you show it to me?"
"Yeah, of course, it's this one." Rae put her hand up to the front of her jumper where the long chain was hanging, but when she felt for it, she couldn't find it. "Oh, it's gone. It must have broken again, I only just mended it, Eliana pulled it off me a little while ago, I repaired it, I guess I didn't do as good a job as I thought I had."
"Rae, we need you to come with us to the station, for further questioning." Cheryl stood up as she spoke.
"Am I under arrest? I seem to recall that your questioning got you nowhere last time you were here, and, as I have no idea what you are trying to find out this time, I don't see how I can help you now either."
"Rae." It was Martin who spoke. He looked over at his partner and saw her nod. "Rae, Helen Baxter was murdered this morning, she was found in the ladies room on the fifth floor of Community General."
"Oh, my God, no, I was just talking to her, we spoke about Alex. Oh …" Rae suddenly stopped talking. "You think I had something to do with this." Rae began to move away from the two detectives in front of her. "No, no, she was my friend, no."
Cheryl moved over towards her friend. "Rae, if you don't come with us voluntarily, we have enough evidence to arrest you and charge you with murder!"