-l-l-l-

Chapter 27

-l-l-l-

Innocent gently pushed on the door to James' room, peeing in to see if he was awake. PC Bell, sat in a chair next to James reading the newspaper out loud. Mindy had squeezed herself on to the bed next to James so he could pet her.

"Come in Ma'am," James invited Chief Innocent.

"How did you know I was here," she asked. James' eyes were still bandage.

"I'm a detective," he smiled. James could hear her faintly snort. "I can smell your lilac perfume." He finally confessed.

Realizing her perfume gave her presence away, Innocent moved closer to the bed. "James, I have someone I would like you to meet," Innocent motioned for Sarah. Sarah approached the bed looking at James. "James, this is Sarah Swan."

"Hello," confused, James wonder why Innocent was introducing him to anyone.

"Hi, James," she shook her head and shrugged her shoulder. "What happened?" She questioned him so she could hear his voice.

"I really don't remember too much. Why?" He was even more confused.

"I would like to help you remember," Sarah held his hand and looked at his wrist. She knew right then this young man laying before her in the hospital bed did not kill Dr. Wills. She turned to Chief Innocent. "This is not Mr. Smith."

"How..," relieved Innocent stuttered.

"Who?" James questioned. He wanted to know what was going on.

"Smith's hands are much larger than James'," she smiled as she held James' hand. "Smith's hands were huge and he had a scar on his left wrist." She drew a line on James' wrist to show where Smith's scar was.

James could hear a collective sigh of relief from everyone the room. "What's this about?" he asked.

"Sarah is a nurse at Wycombe Hills Sanatorium in High Wycombe," Lewis informed his friend.

"And?" James asked needing more information.

"We had an amnesiac patient at Wycombe and they thought you might have been him," Sarah explained. "I'm thrilled to say you are not that man."

"Why?" he asked.

"He killed a doctor while escaping," Sarah continued to hold James' hand. "Mr. Smith also attacked a young nurse."

"And you thought I was this Mr. Smith?" He felt betrayed. "Thanks!" He said sarcastically. "Nice to know who your friends are."

"James, I'm uhm, I just wanted to tell you..." she hummed and stammered trying to apologize.

James interrupted, "You said Smith attacked a nurse. Is she all right?" He wanted to change the subject. He did not want to listen to Innocent attempting to apologize, she was never very good at apologizing to anyone.

"Aisling Gillpatrick is her name," Sarah told him about the young Irish nurse. "She's going to be fine. And the good news is her boyfriend, David, finally asked her to marry him."

"I'm happy something good has come from all this," he dryly spoke. He was tired and the pain in his head was starting to become unbearable. Innocent's thinking he killed someone was not helping. All James wanted was to be left alone.

Before he could say anything to his friends, he heard someone walking into the room. James hoped the new person would be a nurse coming to chase everyone away.

"Rebecca!" Sarah was surprised to see Dr. Wills girlfriend.

"Sarah, I didn't expect," Rebecca couldn't speak. Her voice choked with emotions.

"Come. Sit," the elderly nurse left James' side and steered the young distraught veterinarian to a nearby chair.

When Mindy heard a familiar voice she bolted from the bed leaving James alone. Mindy's tail was wagging and her tongue was licking Rebecca's face enthusiastically.

The emotional reunion between the veterinarian and Mindy brought tears to everyone's eyes. Rebecca was so thrilled to see the dog she thought was lost, she cried uncontrollably.

"Oh, Mindy, I thought I lost you too," Rebecca cried as she hugged the dog. "I heard there was a dog." Tears of joy interrupted.

"This is Mindy? Your Mindy?" Sarah questioned.

"Oh God, thank you. Thank you," she buried her face into the dog's neck and cried harder. Days of an emotional roller-coaster finally came to a head when she once again held Mindy.

"Rebecca, shhh. Hush now," Sarah tried to console her friend. "It's all right."

Sarah turned to the others. "This is Rebecca Myers. She and Dr. Wills were very close."

Everyone stood around them watching the dog and Rebecca reunite. Innocent tried to wipe the tears from her eyes without anyone noticing. She had grown fond of the scruffy stray that led them to her Sargent.

-l-l-l-

James never thought he could feel any more lonely until now. When Mindy left his side to be with her owner, he felt empty and all alone in the universe. He had grown attached to the dog he never seen, to the dog that saved his life. He loved petting her and playing with her soft ears. He always felt safe when she was around, something he has not felt in a while. Now all that was gone the instant she walked through the door.

His mind was racing, James was not listening to any of the conversations. He knew everyone was clustered around the woman that came to take his dog away. All he wanted to do was cry out for Mindy to return, but she belonged to someone else.

James tried to talk himself into believing everything would be all right. He tried to force himself into thinking he never wanted that dog, any dog, but his mind refused to believe.

The stress of loosing the dog he fell in love with, added to being accused of murder was causing James' head to ache. The pain was growing. He felt as if his head was about explode.

James tried to focus on pushing the pain away. He was biting his lips to keep from crying out aloud. James did not want the others know he was in any pain, however one knew.

-l-l-l-