20.
After receiving a call of that nature, Alexx wasted no time in getting to the hospital. She had her wallet out, seeing the policeman standing at a door and approached the nurses' station.
"Excuse me…" she said, leaning over the counter and holding out her identification. "I'm Dr. Alexx Woods, I need to see Schell Demereau."
"Oh, yeah," said the nurse, looking up at Alexx curiously. "Just show your ID to the officer, he knows Miss Demereau asked for you."
She had been asked for, specifically. That had set alarm bells off in Alexx's head, especially when the nurse who had placed the call explained that Schell was in distress. Alexx believed it to be because of Lionel Harrison. She thanked the nurse and turned towards the room where the officer stood. Approaching him, she presented her ID and said, "I'm here to see Miss Demereau."
"Ma'am?" he inquired, as he looked at her in suspicion first, then looked at her ID before he nodded and twisted around to peek into the room. "Looks like she's asleep, but you're welcome to go in, she's been asking for you. Been an active day."
"How's that?" Alexx asked, slipping her ID away into the depths of her purse.
The officer's lips twisted slightly into a smirk. "She puked all over an Internal Affairs agent's shoes. Pissed him right off!"
"Internal Affairs!" Alexx snapped, looking the officer over. The man nodded and jerked his head towards the room, trying to smother his smirk. Alexx looked at him suspiciously for a moment, then went inside.
Schell looked pretty much as Alexx expected a car accident victim, having just had surgery, to look, but there were tear tracks on her face and she looked positively grey. Coming to the rail, she reached up and set a hand gently on Schell's right shoulder.
"Schell?" she asked quietly. She awoke with a sharp intake of breath, and looked at Alexx in alarm for a moment, before sagging into the pillows, the head of the bed still being raised up. Alexx looked at her in compassion. Schell had a few cuts on her face, from the pieces of plastic that had broke off from where the airbag deployed. One of which had cut deeply into her face just above her upper right lip, requiring stitches. "Easy, easy does it, it's just me, sugar. It's Alexx, you were asking for me, baby?"
She was appalled to see tears immediately forming in Schell's eyes and the look of deep hurt and trouble that filled them. Alexx turned a little, dropping her purse in the chair, then reached up and disengaged the rail of the bed.
"Sugar, what is it? What's going on? What can I do?" she asked immediately.
"Where's Horatio?" Schell whispered, struggling to keep her composure.
"Horatio's at the lab, Schell. They caught the man who did this. They are interrogating him as I speak. He has to be there."
"Caught?" Schell whispered, looking confused. Alexx smiled, stroking back some of Schell's hair.
"Yeah, baby, they caught the guy who shot at you. The one who caused the accident?"
"What?" Schell asked, looking at her in confusion. "We were shot at?" She glanced away, struggling to make sense of what was happening. Alexx, watching her, could see the confusion. Then she looked at Alexx in dread.
"Lionel? Where's Lionel?"
Alexx gripped Schell's hand. Clearly Schell didn't remember or she hadn't been told anything; then again, she hadn't been out of surgery for very long, either.
"Oh, sugar," she said sadly, looking at Schell's face and seeing comprehension in Schell's dark blue eyes. "I'm so sorry, I am so sorry…"
"Not Lionel…" Schell said looking away, shaking her head and beginning to tremble. "No, not Lionel…" she whispered, looking back at Alexx in desperation..
"Schell, hon, Lionel never suffered. You have to believe me, he never saw what happened. Trust me on this, I know it." She forced Schell's attention back onto her, looking her in the eyes. "I know it, Schell. He never felt a thing."
Schell looked at her for a few seconds, tears still welled in her eyes. Alexx could see she was at total loss for words. She could also see that something was deeply troubling her, on top of the news regarding the accident.
"Schell, why was Internal Affairs here?" she asked. Schell's instant response was to begin silently shedding tears. She looked at Alexx, struggling to speak, shaking her head in denial at something. Something clutched at Alexx's heart.
"Sugar? Was it a tall man? Dark haired? Was his name Rick Stetler?"
"He… he was saying… saying things about Horatio. He was… he said…" Schell's look of distress increased until she got a look at Alexx.
Alexx's eyes grew bright and hard as she clamped a vise grip down on an anger that threatened to bubble over.
"What did he say to you?" she demanded softly. "What did he do?"
"He said… he said that Horatio was wanted for murder?" Schell managed to whisper, looking at Alexx in horror. "That he was seeing this girl and that he was wanted for her murder? That he… that he was wanted for a murder in New York… that… that…" Schell stammered and looked at Alexx helplessly.
"No, Schell!" Alexx said sternly, waving a finger at her. "You listen to me a moment all right? You listen to me. You tell me exactly what Stetler said to you, all right? Exactly. Everything."
Schell, still struggling with her emotions, looked at her. Slowly, and with difficulty as she tried to keep her emotions in check, she told Alexx what had happened. "What do I do? Is what he was saying the truth?" She pleaded, searching Alexx's face.
"Oh, baby…" Alexx said, gazing at Schell as she wrestled with her own growing anger and the obvious need to help Schell out. "I want you to listen to me and listen very carefully."
Schell nodded, unable to hide the pleading and fear in her eyes.
"Rick Stetler has it in for Horatio, sugar. And he will try to hurt him any way he can. Do you remember the other day when I told you that Horatio was dealing with some very hard things, and that he was a very private man? Well Stetler just wiped that all away."
"Then what he was saying is…" Schell started.
"Baby, you listen to me, he played you. He expertly played you like the rat bastard, son-of-a-bitch that he is. He told you these things were happening in a present tense, but now you listen to me, and what I am telling you is the truth. I know, because in some aspects of it I was directly involved."
"What?" Schell asked.
"Stetler told you he was under investigation for the murder of Rachel Turner, that he was seeing her? That he was the prime suspect in the case?"
Schell nodded her head.
"Baby, that was bullshit!" Alexx said. "Horatio cared about the girl. And yes, he went out on one date with her, but he didn't kill her and he no longer is a suspect in the case. The case was set aside as an unsolved only because the real killer was too damn good at erasing evidence for us to hold him. Horatio knows who that killer is and is still after him. Do you understand?"
"Horatio didn't…?"
"Sugar? You've spent time with Horatio. Does he seem like a man capable of stabbing a woman to death?"
Schell stopped and frowned, looking down.
Alexx nodded her head. "Now do you understand why he's been having such a bad time lately? He was implicated and cleared, all past tense. Paste tense," she emphasized. "He was framed in that case by the real killer. A killer trying to embarrass Horatio. Stetler presented it to you like it was still happening and that simply isn't true."
"What about New York?" Schell whispered, looking up at Alexx.
"I don't know all the details there, but I know this. Horatio was involved in the death of the man who killed his mother, while that man was killing her. This was over 25 years ago and he was exonerated in that case. Stetler went to New York seeking to cause Horatio trouble and managed to talk a new, hotshot, District Attorney --trying to prove he's got stones-- into reopening the case. This just added more trouble on top of what he was dealing with already." Alexx explained.
"And now Stelter's trying to drive a wedge between you and Horatio. If there is one thing I know, sugar," she smiled sadly at Schell, "Horatio needs all the friends he can get, and I know that if you really care for him, like I think you do? You need to stand beside him and not doubt him. Do you understand? Rick Stetler is trying to hurt him some more. You have to decide if you are going to let Stetler get away with it, or not."
Schell, looked away again, thinking on her words.
"Schell, I've seen him the last few weeks, and he's looking better then he has in months. I know it's because he's been seeing you…" Alexx replied, squeezing her hand.
"What about his sister-in-law?"
"His sister-in-law, for reasons of her own, didn't just disappear like Stetler has put it. Yelina filed for retirement. We think she moved back to Colombia to be near her family. It was getting too painful to be around the people who knew about the death and circumstances surrounding her husband, Horatio's brother."
Schell looked weary, suddenly, utterly drained of energy. She settled her head back in the pillow, seeming to sink into the bed.
"Alexx, I am so damned confused…"
"That's understandable, sugar." Alexx smiled and set her hand on the good side of Schell's face, smiling into her eyes. "You just got out of surgery to put you back together after a bad car accident, then you get interrogated by a cop with a grudge? I can just imagine all those drugs they're pumping through your system are only making you feel even more confused. But you listen to me, all right?"
Schell nodded her head.
"I know Horatio, I know he would have wanted to protect you from most of this, but now that you know? Don't turn your back on him. He needs you, baby. Whether or not he will admit it, he needs you. Don't you let him down. You can trust him."
"Is this why he's been looking so tired?"
"That's right, sugar. That's exactly right. You've seen that haven't you?" Alexx smiled at her. "Don't you let Stetler ruin that for you, do you understand me?"
"That day we met?" Schell said softly, "When you took me out to lunch? He sent over a big vase of flowers, then he came over and apologized for that night at the party…" Schell said, her eyes welling a little with tears. "He looked so relieved when I let him come up that when he sat on my couch? He fell asleep."
Alexx nodded her head in understanding, and squeezed Schell's hand in acknowledgment.
"I told you he'd do something to apologize to you now, didn't I? I'm telling you girlfriend, he needs you… Just don't let a vindictive snake like Stetler twist the truth and drive you apart."
Schell looked at Alexx steadily and nodded her head.
Alexx smiled at her, "You have got to be exhausted, and I imagine once the initial drugs wear off you are gonna be hurting."
"I don't even know what all is wrong yet, just that my collarbone snapped." Schell sighed, looking wretched.
"Seatbelt injuries, sugar. I was at the crash site. Your seatbelt and the airbag saved your life, but the Doctor, a good friend of mine, did have to go in and remove your spleen, that and repair a bit of damage to you liver. However, they were more concerned about that collarbone. You just rest assured, sugar, they took care of everything and given some time, you'll be back to normal." She reassured. "In the meantime, you need some rest."
"What about…" Schell started to ask, but Alexx just smiled and shook her head.
"He'll be here, just give him time to do his job, sugar. Trust me on this."
"All right…" Schell conceded, her eyes drooping wearily. "Alexx just make sure that guy doesn't come back."
"Oh, you can count on that, sugar!" Alexx said with promise. "You wait 'til I get done with his sorry ass!"
Leaving Schell somewhat more relaxed, Alexx went out into the hall and paused, letting some of her fury bubble up as she stared momentarily at the elevators. She reached up to run a hand down her face when one of the nurses approached her.
"Dr. Woods?" she asked.
Alexx looked at her sharply.
"My name is Greta, I was in the room just after Miss Demereau got sick."
"She got sick?" Alexx asked.
"Oh yeah, its not uncommon, you know that. But it was aggravated by that detective."
"No doubt." Alexx replied sarcastically.
"Anyway, she was so desperate to have him removed from the room, that he left this behind."
Greta pulled out a small voice recorder. She held it out to Alexx. "I was gonna return it to him but…"
Alexx looked at the girl and took it from her hand with a smile. "Don't you worry about it Greta, I'll return it to him. I promise you that!"