Chapter 4
"I never liked him."
Connie nodded in agreement. "He always seemed kind of strange to me, the way he keeps to himself so much. But he seemed like a nice guy at first. Now, I guess we see he's not."
"What are you guys doing?" Carter asked, walking into the room.
"Just talking," Chuny said.
"You know, she can probably hear you," Carter said, gesturing towards Abby.
"Stop being such a worrywart, she's asleep," Chuny said.
"You guys were talking about Luka?" Carter asked.
"Yeah, they said they might arrest him," Lily informed him.
"Do they have new information?" Carter asked quickly, suddenly forgetting that Abby was sleeping.
Chuny was more than happy to fill him in. "That cop guy that was here? He was questioning everybody in the ER, and Yosh said that he saw Luka punch a guy in the face once, out in the ambulance bay. Nobody else saw it, but they're taking it pretty seriously. They're trying to see if anybody else has seen anything like that. They're pretty sure that he's the one that attacked Abby."
"Have they arrested him?" Carter asked.
"Nope, but they're gathering the evidence. It's not gonna be long," Haleh predicted.
"Poor Abby," Lily said. "But she couldn't have known; none of us knew. He seemed like a nice guy..."
It was getting harder and harder for Abby to pretend that she was still sleeping. Apparently, all of her co-workers had already made up their minds that Luka was guilty, and nothing anyone said would change that. So why was she still not sure that he had done it?
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Luka slammed the door of the car hard enough to tear it off the hinges. Could things possibly get any worse? He didn't think so.
The policemen that questioned him had done everything but place him under arrest, and they made it clear that they didn't think an arrest warrant was far away. He wondered if anyone at County had heard about him being the prime suspect. He hoped not. He had been under enough suspicion for one day.
When he walked into the ER, only Frank was at the admit desk. "So, you're back," Frank said, holding the phone in one hand.
"Back from where?" Luka asked.
"Back from the slammer. What did they, let you out on bail?"
"What are you talking about?" Luka asked with a sinking feeling in his heart. He knew what Frank was talking about. Obviously, Frank knew he was a suspect. And if Frank knew, everybody knew.
"You attacking your girlfriend, what else? You got that many crimes pending, that you can't remember which one you're in jail for? Oh, I've got a call, we'll have to chat later," Frank said, picking up the phone. "County General."
Luka went into the lounge and collapsed on the sofa. So it was out. Everyone knew. Would they treat him differently? Did they think he was guilty?
He wanted to go up and see Abby, but her room was probably swarming with people. Well, he would go ahead and go now, before him shift started. He got her room number, then headed upstairs.
When he got to her room, he saw that Carter, Chuny, Lily, and Connie were already crowded into Abby's room. This was going to be awkward. But he had to see her; he had to apologize for letting this happen.
Carter looked up, and he saw Luka standing outside. He said something, and the three nurses also looked up. He couldn't read the expressions on their faces, but they didn't look happy. His heart quickened. Was everything alright? Had something bad happened to Abby?
Carter met him at the door. "What are you doing here?" he asked. His voice sounded almost hostile.
"I need to talk to Abby," Luka said, his voice urgent.
"I think it's probably best if you don't," Carter said, making no attempt to step out of the way.
Luka was at a loss for words. "Wha-what are you talking about? I just want to talk to her. I didn't do anything!" How many times had he said that phrase today? Why was it that no one believed him?
"Luka, maybe you should just go," Lily said softly, joining Carter at the door. "Abby's been through a lot. She doesn't need any more stress right now."
Chuny came to stand with them, and their message was quite obvious. They didn't want him here. "I can't believe this. You guys are supposed to be my friends! I didn't do this, there's not any proof that I did this. Why is everyone so eager to believe that I'm guilty?"
"They didn't tell you about the second witness?" Carter's eyes were cool, accusing.
"What second witness?" Luka said, his heart sinking,. He had a feeling this wasn't going to be good news.
"A second witness came forward. He claims that he saw a man fitting your description attacking Abby, but he was afraid to go to the police before."
Luka was horrified. Why was all this evidence stacking up against him? "But I...I didn't do it. You have to believe me. This is some kind of mistake."
"I think you should go Luka," Chuny said. She, Lily, and Carter continued to stand there, blocking the door.
Luka lowered his head. Why was it that no one believed him? He had to talk to the police, convince them to keep looking for other suspects.
But until then, there was nothing he could do to convince his co-workers that he was innocent. Head bowed in shame, Luka slowly walked away from the wall of so-called friends keeping him from seeing Abby.
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"Has Luka come by yet?"
There was something strange about the way Carter, Lily, and Chuny looked at each other. Abby immediately knew something was up. "What? What's wrong?"
Lily and Chuny began to slowly move towards the door, so perfectly in time that Abby wondered if they had rehearsed it. After they were gone, Carter said, "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that." He cleared his throat. "Luka is now the police's number one suspect. Another eyewitness came forward and said he saw a man that looked like Luka attacking you."
Abby was floored. "Did they arrest him?"
"Not yet. They're planning to."
"I just...I can't believe this. I never would have thought that Luka would do something like this."
Carter was silent for a moment. "Do you still think he's innocent?"
Abby thought about that. She thought he might be innocent. What was she basing this on? The fact that Luka was a nice guy, that he cared about her? That didn't mean he couldn't hurt her. Did she really trust his word enough to believe that he couldn't do something like this?
Abby didn't want to believe that he had done this, but what other explanation was there? Now two people had come forward and said that they had seen him attack her. And she couldn't remember what had happened, so she had to take someone else's word for it.
But before she made up her mind, she wanted to get Luka's version straight from the source. Maybe if she talked to him face to face, she would know whether he was lying or not.
"I want to talk to him," she said finally.
Carter gulped. Maybe they hadn't made the best decision in forcing him to leave. "Um, he came by here, but he...left."
"Could you call him, tell him I want to talk to him?" Abby asked. What could Carter say but yes?