Chapter Nineteen

Rudy immediately rushed to Jaime's bedside, sweeping her into a tight, comforting hug. "I'm so sorry, Honey," he told her softly. "You shouldn't have had to go through that." As he eased her back onto her pillows, he couldn't help but wonder about her story. It simply didn't quite add up. There were pieces missing – and if he noticed it, he was sure the other men had, as well. He couldn't undo it (as much as he wanted to) but Rudy was determined to help her in any way that he could.

"How did he...die?" Jaime managed in a very small voice.

"I don't know – they didn't tell us." He pulled a chair right up to the bed and tried to figure out the most gentle way to phrase what was on his mind. "Jaime, where were you when you fell?"

"By the river." Watching water flow, listening to the sounds it made as it tumbled over the rocks, had always calmed her and helped her to think more peacefully.

"Did you – ah – hit your head?" Upon seeing Jaime's questioning look, he continued. "The river isn't very far from here...and you were gone a long time...did you maybe knock yourself out? Possibly wander around a bit before you were entirely awake again?" Her clothes had been dry when Rudy had found in back in her bed, so at least she hadn't fallen into the freezing water.

"I don't know..." Jaime answered.

That wasn't what Rudy had hoped to hear. "Tell me exactly what happened, Honey – what do you remember?"

"I was sitting on a bench. I really wasn't very tired – like you said, it wasn't very far – and then....I was sitting on the ground."

"So you fell off the bench?"

"I don't know! But...I must have...I guess...'cause all of a sudden, it was two hours later and -"

Two hours? Rudy winced involuntarily. How had she lost two hours? "What about your hand – do you remember hurting it?"

"Maybe I landed on it when I fell? My...arm...sorta hurts, too."

Rudy got up and silently closed the door to Jaime's room. "I need to have a look," he told her. "Can you take off the robe for me?"

Slowly, Jaime complied. Rudy gasped before he could stop himself. Jaime's left arm bore a clear, purpled 'twist pattern' bruise – with deep, angry fingermarks – just below her elbow. As she peeled her robe off, her hospital gown drifted open, exposing a large, fresh bruise on her side. Jaime had obviously been battered – but had it happened at the river, with someone possibly taking advantage of a fragile young woman's collapse...or had something much worse happened to her?

Rudy carefully probed the mark on her side with a gentle hand, causing Jaime to wince in pain. He pulled the robe around her body again; the interrogators didn't need to see this – at least, not now. Jaime's eyes filled with fresh tears. "Rudy, what happened to me?"

"I don't know," he said honestly, "but I promise we'll find out." He brushed the stray hairs from her face in a gesture of comfort and in tucking them back, located one possible reason for her loss of the two hours – there was a bump on the side of her head and an even larger one in the back, toward the base of her neck. He needed to get her down to X-Ray (preferably without attracting any attention). If his worst fears were true, the investigators would find out on their own, soon enough.

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