Immortal Secrets (6 page)

“If you want any answers, you’ll let me see my friend. Then and only then will I answer your questions.”

Romos pointed his finger right at me. “You know, you can be charged with obstructing an investigation.”

I had a pretty good idea that I could afford to be brave. I was a federal witness in
a
major mob trial. I was ninety percent sure that threats to arrest me were pretty empty. “Fine, arrest me. Otherwise, I’m going back to the waiting room. I’m tired of this hospital’s stupid games.”

Romos let out a deep sigh. “Fine, I’ll take you to her. You should know that it’s not good. She’s been badly beaten and may not regain consciousness.”

We followed Corporal Romos to another hallway. It was a much busier hallway with nurses, doctors, and few other types of medical personnel that I didn’t recognize rushing in and out of rooms.

Romos pointed to a room marked ‘Trauma 3’. “Please be brief and stay out of the staff’s way as much as possible. They are trying to save your friend’s life.”

Allison and I walked into the room and the heat of the room hit me in the face. “Why is it so hot in here?”

Allison leaned closer to me and whispered. “I think I read somewhere that they sometimes keep trauma rooms over eighty degrees for burn patients. I guess they have to be ready for all sorts of traumas to come in. You know, this is the county hospital.”

I barely heard her. I finally saw Brenda. She was lying in bed with a variety of tubes running into her arm and mouth. Her face was bad bruised. Her husband must have done this. Just for a second, I wanted to kill him or at least hurt him really bad.

I heard Allison gasp. I turned around and saw that she was pale and backing up. She looked at me. “I’m sorry, I’ll wait outside. I can’t deal with this.”

It seemed like cheerleaders weren’t as tough as they used to be. I walked over and stood next to Brenda’s bed. I took her hand but she stayed motionless. I took my other hand and gently brushed some hair out of her face.

I felt a tear running down my cheek. “Oh Brenda, why did yo
u let him do this to you?” I didn
’t know if she could hear me or even feel my presence. Someone needed to pay for what they had done to my friend. I didn’t have many friends and someone had hurt one of them.

I don’t know how long I was standing there before the nurses came in and walked me back to the hallway. It was all sort of a blur. Allison was waiting for me with Corporal Romos. The three of us returned to the family room in silence.

After we all found our seats again, Corporal Romos seemed to study our faces. “Okay, let me ask the question again. What is the nature of your relationships with the victim?”

I went first. “I met Brenda at school. We have a couple of classes together. We s
truck up a friendship right off, t
hat ‘s why my number was in her cell phone.”

Allison piped in. “Well, we are partners in History class. We are writing a paper on how the noble Indians have been mistreated by the truly evil white man.”

Allison was such an airhead sometimes. Jeff was right about that. Unfortunately, he had also been holding out on me. Clearly he, Allison, and Dr. Greene were connected somehow. I could feel the vibe between them. That made me wonder if my theory of Allison and Dr. Greene sleeping together might be a little bit off the mark.

Corporal Romos broke my chain of thought. “Have either of you noticed anything strange or out of the ordinary going on with Mrs. Robison?”

My eyes locked with his. “You mean besides the fact that her husband sent her to school with a black eye? I guess tonight wasn’t the first time he’s beaten the crap out of her.”

He wrote something down. “Okay, I’ll get that information to the detectives. They can follow up on that.”

A nurse escorted us back to the waiting room. As we walked back into the waiting room, I glanced at my watch. It was almost ten thirty at night. Boy, it had gotten late in a hurry. Allison nudged me and pointed to where we had been sitting earlier. Jeff and Dr. Greene were sitting there. As soon as they saw us, they got up and headed our direction. We met each other half way.

Jeff walked straight toward me and opened his arms to give me a hug. “Hey, are you okay? I heard Brenda is in pretty bad shape.”

I didn’t get a chance to answer. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Aunt Jenny walk into the waiting room. I couldn’t even get a hug from what
I
hoped was about to be my boyfriend without her somehow interfering.

I quickly made some introductions. Dr. Greene suggested that we all head outside to compare notes. Of course Jenny wanted to head straight home but I managed to stall her for a few minutes. Dr. Greene told me and Allison that he did speak to the charge nurse. Brenda was critical and they would be moving her to Intensive Care within the hour. We would not be able to see her until the next morning.

I finally gave in to Jenny’s desire to leave. My only condition was that Jeff be allowed to walk me to the car. She even stayed and talked to Dr. Greene for a moment before following us. At least she stayed at a discreet distance behind us.

We arrived at the car too soon for my taste. “Listen, I don’t think I am going to school tomorrow. I was thinking of coming up to the hospital and checking on Brenda.”

Jeff gave me a crooked smile. “Want some company? I think I might skip school tomorrow. We could both be wanton law breakers tomorrow.”

“I would like that. Can you come pick me up in the morning?”

“Sure.
Besides
,
I think you’re marshal friend still wants to talk.
”

I spent a restless night trying to sleep. My brain refused to shut do
wn. When I closed my eyes, I saw
the image of Brenda’s beaten body. Even when I was able to ignore the image of Brenda, I started worrying about Jeff. He was coming over to talk to Jenny and pick me up. I didn’t care who or what Jeff had been before I met him.

I was much more concerned about what he would do once he started finding out about my past. I had no illusions about the conversation Jeff and Jenny were going to have. Jenny wanted to know exactly who Jeff was and whether he was really who he said he was. Jeff might tell her some of what she wanted to know. However, I was sure it would come at a price. There was no doubt that at least some of my past would come out.

By the time my alarm went off at seven a.m., I was already up and dressed in my jeans and a gray t-shirt. Jenny and I had a quiet breakfast without either of us really talking to the other one over our bowls of cereal. A little after eight o’clock, I heard the sound that I had been both dreading and living for. The doorbell rang.

I knew that it was Jeff who was ringing the doorbell. I knew it was time to pay the piper. I took a deep breath and answered the door. As I opened the door, I saw Jeff standing there, dressed in jeans and a red t-shirt. He was also holding a dozen red roses.

I couldn’t help but smile. “For me?”

“Well, I guess they are. I bought these flowers and told them to take me to the prettiest girl in the state of Texas. They led me to you.”

I laughed. “Do other girls actually fall for that line?”

“I am deeply hurt that you don’t believe me.”

“Whatever, get in here.”

I took the roses to the kitchen and handed them to Jenny. “Can you put these in a vase for me? I know you want to talk to Jeff. But I am going to talk to him first, in private.”

Jenny started to protest but I walked away and grabbed Jeff by the hand. “You come with me.”

I led Jeff to my bedroom and locked the door behind us. “Let’s sit down and talk for a second.”

Jeff looked puzzled. “I thought it was Jenny that wanted to talk to me.”

“She does and I’m sure she still will if you are still speaking to me after I tell you a few things.”

He took my hand in his. “Do you like me?”

“What?”

“Do you like me? Do you like me enough to date me?”

“Of course I do.”

He leaned over to kiss me. I pushed him away. “Wait, you don’t understand. Allison was right. I’m a tramp.”

“It doesn’t matter to me what you did or didn’t do before I met you. I can tell you are a good person.”

“Oh, no. Trust me, I have been a very bad little girl. In fact, I have been so bad that you’ve been right all along about the marshals. I am supposed to testify in a big trial in a couple of weeks.”

“You don’t have to tell me any of this.”

“Yes, I do. It is going to come out at the trial. You deserve to know the truth if we are going to be together. I lived in New York. I was involved with a man named Tommy Demarco.”

“Wait a minute, I know that name. Isn’t the Demarco family a major player in organized crime back East? I remember hearing about a huge FBI bust about a year ago. Didn’t that involve the Demarco family?”

The memories flooded over me. “Yeah, I am supposed to be one of the key witnesses at their trial. Tommy is the youngest of the Demarco brothers. At first I was just Tommy’s girl. We were lovers. Then things changed. Pretty soon I was sleeping with a lot of different guys. They were politicians, mobsters, or anyone else Tommy wanted me to sleep with. Before I knew it, I was Tommy’s prostitute.”

“It sounds like you were in over your head.”

“No, I enjoyed the access, being on the inside of things. At least I did until I had the nerve to complain about Tommy expecting me to sleep with other men. He didn’t like being questioned and started smacking me around.”

“Just like Brenda.”

“Yeah, that could have been me. Anyway, one night Tommy beat me up pretty bad. I thought he was going to kill me. I threatened to leave and he said he would kill me if I tried to leave him.”

Jeff took me in his arms. “I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”

I felt the tears forming in my eyes. “That’s when I did the only thing I could think of. I traded what I knew in exchange for immunity and protection.”

“That doesn’t matter to me. So you’re not a virgin. Neither am I. I really don’t care if your name is Lisa or Kathy. We’re here and together now, that’s what I care about.”

I pulled away from him. “How did you know my name was Kathy?”

“Don’t you remember the first day we saw each other in History class? You almost said your name was Kathy and then you gave some lame excuse about your being catholic. I was just guessing that your name was some form of Kathy. I didn’t necessarily think your name was Kathy that day but when I spotted the marshals, it made more sense.”

“You think you are so smart, don’t you?”

He leaned in again to kiss me. This time I leaned forward until my lips met his. Our lips parted as we explored each other’s mouths with our tongues. His mouth pressed firmly against my own. I could literally taste his desire. He wanted me. Jeff gently laid me down on the bed, with our mouths and tongues still engaged with each other. I wanted him. The emotions were so raw at that moment. I managed to break away from our lip lock.

I caught my breath. “Please don’t ask me to sleep with you right now. Even with Aunt Jenny in the next room, I’m not sure I could say no. I hope that doesn’t make me sound like some kind of tramp.”

He looked down at me. “No, that makes you sound like a woman who has been through a lot and is vulnerable. You sound like a woman asking her boyfriend not to take advantage of her. You sound like someone with a lot of class.”

He leaned down and our lips met for a second time. We finally came up for air. He rolled away from me. “I would love to stay here all day. You are amazing but we need to get this little talk with Jenny over with so when can go check on Brenda.”

I sat up. “You’re right.  We need to be there for Brenda.”

Jeff and I walked into the kitchen holding hands. I dreaded this little meeting. My loyalties were definitely divided. On the one hand, I understood where Jenny was coming from. On the other hand, I didn’t want her grilling the guy that I was definitely falling for.

Jenny had been sitting at the kitchen table. She jumped up when we walked in. “Oh there you two lovebirds are. Why don’t we all sit down at the table so we can chat.”

I was completely caught off guard. I had been expecting the drill sergeant version of Jenny, not the Suzy homemaker version. “Well I suppose we could chat for a few minutes, but we really need to get up to the hospital.”

The three of us sat down at the table. I sat next Jeff as we were still holding hands. I wondered how long Jenny would keep up this charade of being the sweet aunt. Jenny gave me a stern look. “Now Lisa, I think the two of you can spare a few minutes. After all, I let you have your time together in your bedroom. I shudder to think of the naughty things you two of you may have been doing in there.”

Jeff gave her a smile. “Believe me, your niece behaved herself like the lady she is.”

I couldn’t help myself. “He means we both kept all of our clothes on.”

She ignored my little comment. “Well Jeff, tell me about yourself. I’m sure Lisa’s parents expect me to do my due diligence.”

Jeff was not giving away the fact that he already had most of my story. “I completely understand. Well, let’s see, I was born in Ohio but we moved around a lot. I joined the army right after high school. I got out of the service a few months back and decided to go to school.”