Chapter 4 Police powers

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute and the Makah that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe for betaing.

During her next shift, Leah checked the police files. The girl was Makah. Her name was Rose Hoburn. Her home address was in Deadwood South Dakota. Winona Hoburn was the mother. They were good, law abiding citizens on paper at least.

The car was packed for a vacation, not a move across the country. They move the stuff into storage for them. Charlie was thoughtful like that. They trash the damaged stuff. Some bottles broke in the car and the spillage has damaged some things. The vehicle itself is a write off. It is towed to the police compound and left there. It may need to be examined if the girl died and it becomes a case for the medical examiner.

Leah used the excuse of taking some clothes and toiletries to the hospital for the mother. Charlie patted her shoulder and told her he thought she was wonderful and thoughtful. Little did he know…?

She told Charlie she will ask the mother some more questions about the accident.

With her uniform, she can just walk in to the hospital, after checking at the desk. In a small town like Forks, everyone knew all the police officers. Leah had done this before.

Winona was still shocky. She looked like the survivors of a million other car accidents. She was shaky, guilty and facing her daughters mortality. She refused to leave Rose's room. Leah was uncomfortable asking her the questions she needed to in the presence of the girl.

Winona's wrist was in a cast now and she picked at with her other hand. It was becoming a nervous gesture.

"Would you like to go the cafeteria and get a coffee or something?" Leah asked solicitously.

"I suppose you still have some questions for me?" her voice was shaky.

Leah nodded.

The woman exhaled and stared at her daughter.

"It's the greatest nightmare for a parent. That your child might die before you. We don't plan for grandchildren or whatever, you just assume… you know… you'll die and they will still be here…"

Leah touched her hand. Squeezed it gently.

"You are so warm and she…," She cannot finish the sentence.

Leah managed to get her out of the room. They sat in the hospital cafeteria. Cups of coffee sat on the table in front of them.

Leah didn't know where to start. She just needed to get her to talk.

"Mrs Hoburn… can I ask why you were travelling?"

"I needed to go home."

"Home?"

"Neah Bay."

"You are Makah?"

"Yes. You?"

"Quileute."

"Of course."

"It was a vacation? Were you visiting family? Is there someone at the rez we can contact for you?"

Winona didn't question her need to know any of this. She was not really thinking clearly. "No, not really. We were going home to … it seems silly now…," she shook her head. "There's no one you can call."

Leah had a thought of who might be able to help this woman. "Do you know Raven Call?"

"That name… yes I remember her." She frowned with the effort of remembering Raven. "I left Neah Bay when I was quite young. I don't remember a lot of the people there."

"She is the grandmother of a good friend of mine. We could contact her… if you want… she is Makah…"

"No, it's not necessary…" her voice trailed off and she picked at the cast again. She has not touched the coffee in front of her.

Leah wanted to try again. "Raven would come; I know she would. You need someone with you. You shouldn't be alone now." She patted her hand sympathetically. She had learnt through the Sherriff work, that sometimes the fastest way to make someone feel more positive about you was to touch them; on the arm or the shoulder was enough. Not too intimate; that has the opposite effect.

The woman smiled at her weakly. "Perhaps you are right."

Leah stood and thought she should deal with this now. "Excuse me for a minute," she said to Winona. She phoned Embry. Laid it out for him and asked him if Raven would come.

He assured her she would and she could stay with him and Rachel, with no problems if she wasn't welcome at her daughter's house.

Raven was still not one hundred percent with her daughter Marlena, Embry's mother. They were all waiting for Embry's mother to work up the guts to leave La Push. Finding out Embry was a shape shifter was just the final straw for her. She still only thought of herself. He was now in trouble for wasting the 'best years of her life' while she raised him. The fact that it was her decision to be alone and her behaviour that had isolated herself was forgotten. It was all his fault.

Leah sat again, fiddling with her coffee cup. "So you say you saw a wolf."

"I think so… but it was huge… and an odd colour… sandy brown… it is all so fuzzy now… some kind of animal… it was too big to be a wolf, but that is what it looked like."

"You swerved," Leah prompted.

"It's instinct isn't it? You don't want to hit an animal. And then the wheel caught… and the car just flipped. I couldn't even tell you if it was on the road or just beside it… but it gave me such a fright."

Leah's phone buzzed; a text from Embry to say Raven was on her way. "I love that woman," said Leah to herself.

"Raven is on her way. She will meet you here at the hospital. Can I text her, with your mobile number, so that you can meet up?"

Winona gave it to her and she texted it to Raven with her thanks.

"The wolf, if that is what it was… it was so big… the car would have been totalled anyway if we had hit it," Winona sounded almost unsure of herself now.

"You need to drink the coffee, the sugar helps with shock." Leah pushed the cup closer to her.

"I don't take sugar in my coffee," she mumbled.

"You do, today," Leah told her.

She drank it. It was as if Leah's police authority worked here too.

Leah got some more official details from Winona before she escorted her back to her daughter's room.

She grabbed the doctor on her way out and asked about the prognosis for the girl.

"She has suffered a major head trauma. There is some bleeding on the brain so far, but she has shut herself down to heal. It is not sufficient to operate at present. She has a broken shoulder from where she held her arm up across her face. She is very lucky she was wearing a seatbelt. Most fatalities in accidents of this kind occur when the passenger is thrown from the vehicle. She has less leg injuries than we could have expected for the driver. The airbag saved the driver."

"Will she come out of the coma?" asked Leah.

"Just as every brain injury is unique; so is the rate of recovery. One cannot predict the speed with which a brain injury patient will progress from level to level, or at which level the patient will reach a plateau, which is a temporary or permanent levelling off in the recovery process. Prospects for the recovery of consciousness become grim when the vegetative state becomes chronic or permanent, after a month in this state her chances of recovery decrease. If she remains in this state for a year …"

"Thank you doctor," Leah shook his hand. Privately she wondered why doctors couldn't just speak like normal people. They must do a course at university on how to speak like a complete prat. And another one for the appalling hand writing. Can't write legibly and no one can understand a word you say? You should be a doctor.

FF_2154210_ - 12/03/2011 02:27:00 AM

FF_2154210_ - 30/08/2011 07:31:00 PM