Chapter 7
The doctor was about to explain when Olivia's phone rang. She excused herself for a moment, to just outside her office, and let the doctor continue to talk to her detectives. Rollins looked over and could see that the Captain had this look on her face and knew it wasn't good. Olivia reentered her office and said,
"I hate to interrupt but we got a call. Another victim got trapped out on her fire escape. She's alive and they've got her at the hospital. I need you two to go talk to her and get Curry and Velasco to the scene. Call Fin and bring him up to speed."
"We're on it," Rollins nodded. She and Bruno excused themselves, leaving Doctor Fishburne with Olivia.
"I do apologize. This is becoming something that we had not anticipated," she said as she retook her seat behind her desk.
"So, it would seem. Still, I think you need to understand Rachel better or as well as I knew her," the doctor admitted.
"Yes, I think we do. We're trying to find her family, but her friend seems to think that Rachel had come to New York to get away from her family," Olivia said.
"As I was explaining to the detectives, Rachel was very guarded about her family. She spoke very highly of Charlotte, her friend. I think that, even though they were just friends, that Rachel loved Charlotte. Charlotte treated her like family and was looking out for her. It doesn't seem that Rachel had much of that as a child," Fishburne explained.
"How would Rachel have broken away from her family and come to New York? Wouldn't someone who was being abused by their family have a hard time breaking away? From my experience, the last thing the abuser wants is their victim getting out of their control," the Captain told him.
"Yes, that is quite common. It's possible that Rachel saw an opportunity to run and she took it. Regrettably, we didn't get that far. Despite what she was getting out of her relationship with Charlotte, it wasn't enough to stop or reverse any depression that Rachel had. It also didn't address the dealing with the abuse she'd suffered. I had to prescribe Rachel some medicine to help her with depression and her anxiety. She told me that she wanted to get lost in a big city because she knew that it would make it difficult to be tracked down," the doctor said.
"So, she was still living in fear of her family," Olivia nodded.
"Quite. This was going to be a long process of trying to get her to come out of her shell. Unfortunately, it also made her a target. Clearly, another predator found her," Fishburne heaved a sigh.
"Yes, but there are things that don't add up. Charlotte said that Rachel would not have let a stranger into her apartment, yet there was no sign of forced entry. Charlotte said that Rachel didn't like the fire escape and yet she went out there to escape her apartment. We don't even have proof that there was another person in the apartment. Yet Rachel was practically naked when the ambulance arrived – she was only wearing a thin pajama top and no underwear. Abuse victims tend to over-cover themselves. The biggest part of this would be the fact that a seven-foot fall caused Rachel to bleed to death. The medication you prescribed wouldn't cause that would it?" Olivia asked.
"You're right that Rachel would not have let a stranger into her apartment but if someone was already inside her apartment, she may have been too scared to fight back. She may have followed orders up to a point. If that point was the person in her apartment trying to assault her, she may have felt that another assault would be the end of her. I really didn't get a chance to dig deeper and now I really wish I had. Especially since it seems that you have another victim who ended up on her fire escape. As for her medicine, no, it shouldn't cause blood thinning," the doctor said.
"Then we have a very sick man on the loose and it's possible he's drugging his victims. I appreciate you coming in doctor. If you think of anything else, please let us know," Olivia said.
"I will. Also, if I can be of any assistance, please let me know," he smiled before leaving the Captain to her work.
To Be Continued…
