The Choice, chapter 11
As the ambulance pulled away from the curb, Sara reached for Nick, and he scooted closer to her, to the consternation of the paramedic, and allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck.
"She's more scared than hurt," Nick assured him, breaking free just long enough to pull his ID and badge out of his pocket and show them to the EMT. Nick held her all the way to the hospital, allowing the medic to work around them as best he could, taking her temperature, her blood pressure and vitals.
"I have to pee," Sara whispered and Nick softly laughed in relief.
"As soon as we get to the hospital," he promised.
"You won't leave me, will you?" Her normally strong voice trembled.
"No," Nick squeezed her tighter to him. "No, I'll never leave you."
"You came for me," Sara whispered. "You were going to stay with me."
"I never would have...not ever," he murmured into her hair, noticing the thick coat of blood on her tresses. He reached for a towel, and held it to the back of her head tenderly, kissing her temple gently.
"I..." the exhaustion finally got to Sara, and she began to cry. Nick shushed her and rocked her, kissing her brow or temple occasionally, not wanting to release her. When the ambulance pulled up at the entrance to the emergency room, Nick held Sara's hand while they led her into the examination room. Because she wasn't critical, Nick was allowed to stay with her, even though the doctor insisted that she lay down. He'd gave Sara a mild sedative to calm her, and it kicked in very quickly, for Nick had a hard time even keeping her standing as they made their way to the bathroom and back. Nick stayed with her as she fell asleep, then rose to pull closed the curtain around her bed.
The nurse came in, and allowed Nick to help give Sara a quick sponge bath before pulling her in to a hospital gown. They put in an IV to help replenish lost liquids, and Nick knew that Sara would grouse in the morning when she woke up. The nurse bandaged the wound on the back of Sara's head, and Nick noted with relief that it wasn't a serious cut.
He was so angry with himself for not knowing sooner, for not seeing the pieces falling into place. Bryce Caldwell dropping off the missing files earlier that day, specifically, three files, neatly devoid of any remarkable information: his own, Alex "Junior" Caldwell, and Kelly Caldwell Leads.
Even if he hadn't been able to figure out it was Junior, he should have known the killer was close, and that Isabel approaching Sara at the funeral definitely would have sent up red flags to the attacker. Junior and Sara had been "buddies," there was no telling what "personal" information she'd given him about Mr. and Mrs. Sark and their activities. And then, there was, of course, the fact that Junior had already known about them, both of them. Probably from Bryce, probably because Bryce Caldwell was in on it, though Nick couldn't prove it. He hoped the situation was enough to strip Caldwell of his job anyway.
The biggest mystery, of all, however, proved to be that of the "accomplice" and his involvement in the rest of the case. While at one time Sara and Nick had considered the partner angle, it had been all but discarded since the night of their disastrous "surveillance" of Yates.
Nick's mind raced. And Yates! Where had he come from? There wasn't enough money in the world to repay John Yates for bursting in at just that moment. Granted, Davis and Reinhardt hadn't been that far behind, but the incredible amount of courage to come flying through that door, knowing Sara was in danger, knowing he was putting his own life in danger. Nick could only idly wonder why Yates had been there. There would be plenty of time for answers, questions, interrogations and interviews after he determined Sara was unhurt.
Nick, too, fell into fitful sleep in the armchair by her bedside, awakening only to Sara's stirring. He was there, ready, when she awoke, bright and alert, wanting to reassure her that he had not left her.
"Mmm," she sighed, almost happily. "I had the best dream," she sat up straighter, and as she realized where she was and why she was there, her neck weakened enough to cause her head to roll back. Grabbing the bedpan from the side table, she dry-heaved the very little bit of her stomach contents into the metal pan.
Nick wet towels at the small sink and came to wipe her mouth gently when she was done, and then take the pan over to the sink to run water into it. He sat down next to her again, and pushed the call button for the nurse.
He used another wet cloth to tenderly wipe her sweaty forehead and neck. He found her purse, which had been delivered courtesy of RPD Officer Matthews, along with Nick's personal effects from the rental car that he had abandoned on the Maxwell's street. He found her hairbrush, and gingerly brushed her hair, pulling it up into a ponytail. As he was doing this, the doctor entered and talked with Sara.
"I'd like to give you a SART, Mrs. Sark," he said, reading off of her chart.
"I wasn't sexually assaulted," Sara shook her head in weak argument, but the doctor stopped her protests with a palm in the air.
"You were unconscious, at some point, according to the medic. That's enough. Mr. Sark can either stay or go."
"I won't leave her," Nick wet his dry lips as the doctor pulled up a rolling stool. The nurse wheeled in a cart with the necessary items, and the doctor gently conducted the exam, doing all of the things Sara normally did for her victims: blowing hot air onto the speculum, warming the gel, encouraging with soft words as Sara writhed in discomfort. Nick held her face very gently in his hands, looked into her frightened eyes, and sweetly asked her to calm down.
When the test was completed, the doctor confirmed there didn't seem to be evidence of sexual trauma, but prescribed her some sedatives and muscle relaxers before releasing her into Nick's care.
The nurse insisted on wheeling Sara out of the ER, and Nick insisted on carrying her to the cab that the staff had thoughtfully called. Sara, for once, didn't argue, and Nick continued to hold her until they reached the apartment. He prepared their bed as Sara showered, and when she got out, he waited for her to dress before helping her into bed. He almost couldn't believe prickly Sara was letting him assist her in this way, but didn't comment.
She was asleep again within a matter of minutes, and after checking to make sure all the windows and doors were locked, Nick finally felt safe enough to take a shower of his own. He didn't dally, and pulled on a clean pair of boxers before collapsing into the bed next to his love. She looked innocent, very soft and approachable in her sleep, and Nick knew he wanted to watch her like this for as long as he could, for as long as she would let him, for the rest of his life.
Sara awoke to the sound of Nick's soft snores, and she stared over at him blankly, wondering what she'd ever done to deserve such a good man. She'd survived. She'd survived; she had to tell him. She had promised God that she would tell him, if only she survived.
"Nick," she whispered, unable to let him sleep a moment longer. "Nick!"
"Huh? What?" Nick sat straight up in the bed, then turned to look down to her as she sat up, too. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay," she nodded. "I'm going to be okay. I forgot," her voice wavered. "I forgot to tell you that I love you."
Nick sighed in relief, wrapped his arms around Sara's back, holding her closely to him. "I knew," he murmured against her temple. He placed a soft kiss there and then laid back down, pulling Sara with him. They laid together in the dark, their bodies touching, their hearts warm, and their souls mingling softly in the sweet understanding of eternity.
The following morning, Nick knew they had to go to the police station, whether they were ready or not. Both he and Sara got dressed in the walk-in closet, turned away from each other as they chose the best attire for the day. Nick didn't bother to make coffee, or breakfast, as Sara wasn't sure if she could hold anything down anyway.
The drive to the station house seemed impossibly short, though the cab was traveling at the slowest speed possible without being pulled over for reckless endangerment. Going straight in to the Chief's office, they joined the chief and the mayor for briefing.
"Good work, Sark," Chief Abernathy said gruffly. The mayor also shook her hand, and Sara found the courage to smile weakly in return.
"Kelly Leads is in interrogation now, Room 1. John Yates and Ted Pemberly are in Room 2. IA Captain Lark is questioning Davis and Reinhardt in the Captain's office. And the other suspect," he consulted his clipboard, "Kieran Caldwell, is being questioned by IA Sergeant Campbell in Room 4."
"Where is Junior?" Sara finally found her voice.
"In the morgue," the mayor raised his eyebrows.
"And Bryce Caldwell?" Nick queried hesitantly.
"He's also being held for questioning in relation to these events," Abernathy said bluntly, tossing the clipboard onto the desk. "Blevins and I," he gestured towards the mayor, "are meeting with Lark, Davis and Reinhardt. If you'll excuse us," he left the room and the Mayor stopped to shake Sara's hand again. She felt strengthened knowing Nick was at her back, ready to catch her if she fell.
They worked their way through the unusually quiet bullpen, past desks with quiet officers, watching them pass, but trying hard to look busy. Sara slipped into the observatory of Room 1, watching as Captain Yessen questioned Kelly Leads.
Behind the mirror, Sergeant Danielle Steel was watching the proceedings with disdain. She stepped forward to shyly embrace Sara, before pulling back and briefing both Sara and Nick on the status of the interview.
"Kelly already gave up Junior and Bryce. You know her kid; you've probably seen him around the station, the albino? It's Bryce's kid," Danielle shuddered. "Junior saw it happen, so young, it must have been..." she trailed off. "They've got her kid in one of the other rooms. That's what she keeps calling him, her kid."
Sara only stayed a few minutes, listening to Kelly's lawyer sputter in protest at some of Yessen's questions, and Kelly's calm answers. She was getting out while the getting was good, revealing everything.
Sara and Nick drifted to the second interview, where Yates and Pemberly were sitting together, their hands intertwined. They were hushed as they slipped in just in time to hear Yates explain how he'd been following Sara since the moment she'd left the hospital after seeing Pemberly. Yates knew something was going on, he admitted, because he, too, could not determine why exactly, the new Captain of Vice had been sent to question a rape victim.
IA Officer Bell was behind the mirror, along with one of the Homicide Sergeants, monitoring the interview. Bell advised them that Yates and Pemberly were in the process of adopting a child from Cambodia, and that was the reason there had been such secrecy in the days preceding the attacks. They couldn't risk being exposed as lovers, as a family. Nick and Sara stayed to watch behind the glass until they stopped for a break. Before Nick or Bell or anyone could stop her, Sara burst through the door of the interrogation room, and went to throw her arms around John Yates. Yates awkwardly held her back, and then as he relaxed, he returned the hug fully. He began to nod, and Nick watched in fascination as tears began to roll down his cheeks. Sara was still holding him, whispering to him, and even Pemberly was starting to look teary.
Finally, they released one another, and Sara reached out to wipe tears of Yates's face, wiping them off onto her jeans. The outburst had taken everyone by surprise; Nick's mouth was still hanging open when she re-entered the room, after swiftly hugging Pemberly as well. She smiled gently at him before taking his hand and pulling him out into the hall. They crossed the corridor into the fourth examination room, where behind the one-way mirror, they could see the sullen face of Kieran Caldwell.
Sara saw Junior's "nephew" clearly for the first time, his "almost-white" hair indeed very white under the fluorescent light of the room, and his skin a milky shade of marble with not so much as a freckle or blemish to mar the effect.
"Did you know that it's a myth that all albinos have red eyes? While some have pink or violet eyes, most have blue and some even hazel or green. This kid's got blue eyes, and he just wears these sick red ones to freak people out," IA Officer Kendrick held up the contact case for Sara's inspection as she came to stand next to Kendrick in front of the mirror. Indeed, the teenager's eyes were the most amazing shade of cobalt, but Nick now knew why he'd looked up to see the bright red eyes during the attack. For a moment, his mind had flashed back to all the lore and stories his parents and older siblings had told him as a child, vampires and boogymen with blood-red eyes and long fangs. Knowing the truth made him feel a little silly, but that embarrassment was dispelled when he looked back up to see Kieran Caldwell glaring at the glass as if he saw them standing there.
His shoulder was bandaged where he'd been shot, and his court-appointed attorney was instructing him not to answer any questions. Kieran didn't even know his uncle had been killed; though Nick would have been happy to volunteer to tell the little bastard. What kind of a sick fuck would take a child along to rape someone?
Sara nodded, and Nick was brought back to the present as Kendrick advised them the DA wanted to try the kid on three counts of Rape, one count of murder in the first degree, as well as conspiracy charges. The DA wanted him tried as an adult, and it would only be a short matter of time before the request was granted, Kendrick predicted.
Sara couldn't watch anymore, so Nick escorted her back out to the hall, where they passed Lacy McReynolds and Mackey Charles going out the back door, looking tired after their interviews. While no one had indicated they were now willing to give statements, Sara knew that was the case. Neither of the women looked at Sara or Nick as they passed, and Sara wasn't sure she could blame them.
Isabel Shepard had been pulled in for further questioning, as well. Sara knew it was only a matter of time before she and Nick were cornered and was forced to give their statements. Wanting to avoid a scene, Sara found paper and pens for both of them in the supply cabinet at the end of the hall.
Slipping into one of the empty interrogation rooms, they both sat pensively with pads of yellow legal paper and wrote out pages and pages of testimony. Sara filled up almost thirty pages of a recounting of the facts, from the beginning of the investigation to an additional six pages about the attack alone. Nick bested her with an even thirty-eight pages, recalling everything from their first encounter with Bryce Caldwell to getting into the ambulance outside of Maxwell's home.
Officer Delaney in transcription raised curious eyebrows at them when they turned in their pads, and handed over the transcriptions of the interviews with McReynolds and Charles, already completed. Sara realized with a start that they had been writing for nearly five hours straight. The station house was still quiet, and she and Nick slipped into chairs that were lined up on the edges of the hall to read the taped interviews of the other two victims.
Nick started with McReynold's interview, and was sickened to find her Choice had been her own attack or the rape and murder of her young daughter, who was epileptic and mentally retarded. The details were enough to make him nauseated, and when he and Sara traded folders, he was relieved to find the Charles file to be a little less harrowing. Mackey Charles's Choice had been her own attack or an attack on her darling husband, Peter. She'd obviously left some of the more graphic details out of her statement, and Nick was secretly grateful.
Nick recalled Isabel Shepard's interview, and her Choice. Her own attack, or the rape and murder of her beloved partner, Max. He knew she'd been desolated after learning of her partner's fate, having kept quiet to prevent it, only to find it hadn't helped. Isabel, too, had a husband and a child, and at some point during the attack, she had wondered why Max would be her Choice. It was only later, long after she'd left Reno to go home, that she realized how uncanny it was that Junior would have known Max was her weak link. She confirmed, of course, that she would have made the same decision had her Choice involved her family, but it was the threat on Max that truly shook her to the core.
Sara and Nick abandoned the confessions on the secretary's desk and proceeded to exit out of the side door to the station, not stopping. Nick found both of the rental cars in the police impound, and he showed their badges to have them released. He called Enterprise and waited for them to come and pick up one of the cars. Sara stood next to him in the parking lot, silent. He held her hand for a while, then wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they waited.
They still had to wrap up the case. Abernathy wanted Sara to speak to the female officers, inform them of the case and recommend that they all retake weaponless defense courses. They of course, would also have to come back to testify at Kieran Caldwell's trial, but that was months away now.
Nick had already put them on a flight out at four the next afternoon, and come hell or high water, he was determined to get them home.
TO BE CONTINUED...and concluded in the epilogue, coming very soon.
Notes to my loyal readers: Thank you so SO much for coming on this "journey" with me, I know some of you probably thought this would *never* end, LOL. I'm so thankful for you reviews and feedback; just a note from one of you can frequently make my day brighter.
It's important for me to say: one in three women are assaulted at some point in their lifetime. Carry Mace. Don't be afraid to use it. Take a class in weaponless defense. Don't be afraid to use that, either. Don't talk to people you haven't been introduced to. Never go into the home of a person that you don't know. Don't accept rides from strangers. Never accept a drink or food from a stranger. Never go into areas that are not well lighted. Never walk alone at night. Women have to protect themselves, and the best way to do this is to be prepared.