Out For Justice (22 page)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Sam opened his eyes and winced at the dim light above his hospital bed. Even though it wasn’t bright, it still hurt his eyes. He blinked several times to help his eyes adjust. With the beeping, whirring, and faint sucking sounds of the machines surrounding his bed, it took him several minutes to realize that there was someone else in the room with him. Someone he couldn’t see, but could hear their heavy breathing.

 With a breathing tube down his throat, hooked up to the ventilator, he had no range of motion for his head. He couldn’t turn to see who was in his room. Nor could he speak and ask who was there.

Discouraged, it reminded him of his frustration earlier when Karen was here with his wife. He felt helpless and upset that he couldn’t make her understand. She asked about the day he was attacked. Of course he remembered it. How could he ever forget?

He’d been on the cell phone with Karen talking to her about the arrest warrant for Raymond Alan Thomas. Karen had secured it and was on her way to the house so that they could serve it when Thomas arrived. He’d just ended the call to check for messages when he heard a faint noise behind him. From that point on, it seemed like everything around him slowed down. He turned and saw a foot coming toward his face. With no time to react, he took the full brunt of the kick while his face exploded with pain and blood. Blackness threatened to creep across his vision as he tried to shake himself alert.

While he went into slow motion, the kicking foot pounded his head and face. Through a stream of blood that flowed from a cut that had opened up on his forehead, Sam saw blonde hair and a face full of rage. Maggie Morris screamed as she slammed her foot into his chest and knocked him backward, staggering into the furniture. A table on his right overturned. He struggled to get back to his feet while he fumbled inside of his suit jacket searching for the handle of his gun. His hands wouldn’t work. He felt like they were weighted down with lead weights. He couldn’t lift his arms. He couldn’t ward off Maggie’s attacks. Again, he watched as her foot came toward his face and the heavy blow hit his throat and neck. A loud popping noise echoed in his ear as a warm sensation started in his neck and ran down his back and along his nerves to his fingertips and toes. The blackness that had threatened to overcome his vision crowded inward, obscuring his sight. He knew he slid down, but there was no sensation. Unable to lift his arms to protect his body, his head crashed into the floor as the darkness enveloped him.

The next thing he remembered was waking up in this room with his wife’s face looking down at him, concerned and scared. He wanted to tell her he was all right, but couldn’t make the words come out of his mouth. He panicked. Inside he was thrashing about, but outside his body remained abnormally still. The doctors said that with time he’ll regain the use of his limbs. They said that in time the swelling will go down and the paralysis will leave his body. Time. But he didn’t have time. Karen was in danger now and he had to figure out a way to tell someone.

Sam rested his mind and listened. Whoever was in his room was still there. He moved his eyes as far to the right and left that he could, seeking any movement or shadow. A low rumble in the distance told him that a storm was coming.

Tiny alarms were going off in his mind. Having someone in his room like this wasn’t right. It wasn’t the calm breathing of his wife, nor would she stay out of his line of sight. Concentrating hard, he fumbled with his left hand and managed to move it a mere fraction of an inch on the sheet. If only he knew where the call button was for the nurse. He slowly moved his fingers along the sheet, searching for something solid to hold onto. Anything he could find that might make noise.

The breathing was getting closer. Sam could hear it plainly now even over the noises of the machines surrounding his bed. He could hear the faster beeping of his own heart rate as it raced with fear. His heart thumped in his chest. Even as his chest rose and fell with the steady breathing of the ventilator. Up and down. In and out. Steady, even breaths.

 He moved his eyes and looked quickly to the right. Something moved. He was sure he saw something. There, he thought he saw it again. He could feel the sweat breaking out on his forehead. He blinked hard to keep the beads of moisture from running into his eyes. Anxious, Sam listened for any noises coming from the hall. Wasn’t it time for a nurse to come into his room? How long had he been awake?

A flash of color. Sam blinked. Blonde hair. He blinked again. Maggie’s face. His heart jumped in his chest. Her face grinning down at him with a maniacal twist to her lips. She was laughing at him. Fear ripped through Sam as he lay helpless in his bed.

Crooning softly, Maggie’s hand reached up and stroked his forehead. He willed his body to move away from her heated touch. He couldn’t turn his head away and had to endure her fingers on his skin. Inwardly, he groaned in frustration. With half of his attention on listening for someone to come down the hall, Sam only partially heard Maggie as she spoke in whispers.

“…never find me in here.” Her hand moved to Sam’s cheek and stroked the few days’ worth of stubble. “You’ll be gone, just like everyone else. Soon, soon you’ll be gone too,” she crooned softly.

“What do we have here?” Sam could see that Maggie was no longer watching him but eyeing the machines that blipped and whirred around him. “So many machines for one man. I wonder what this one does?”

Sam could no longer see what Maggie was doing, but he knew in his heart it wasn’t good. She shouldn’t be touching those machines. His life literally depended on them. He wanted to take a deep breath and shout, but the only noise that could be heard was the faint sucking and whirring of the ventilator as it took its steady, even breaths.

“You should never have come back, you know that, detective?” Maggie moved back into Sam’s line of vision.

Sam stared at her with wide, frightened eyes. He sought out her hands. They were no longer touching any machines. Sam blinked while maintaining eye contact with Maggie.

“You understand me, don’t you?”

Sam blinked again, slow and deliberate.

“Yes. That means ‘yes,’ doesn’t it?” Elation brightened Maggie’s face as she eagerly watched Sam’s eyes. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The storm was drawing closer.

Blink.

“Good, then you’ll understand what I’m going to say to you. That makes it all the better. You’ll know. But you can’t do anything about it.” Maggie stopped twisting her hands together along the hem of her hospital gown and touched the side of Sam’s face. “Yes, you poor thing. Stuck here in this bed. Not able to move.” Her hand touched the hose that was connected to the tube in Sam’s mouth. “Not able to breathe.”

Alarms went off inside Sam’s head. She was going to remove his hose. He couldn’t let her. He had to keep her talking, but he didn’t know how. He blinked rapidly while surreptitiously moving his right hand along the edge of his bed. There had to be a nurse call button somewhere.

“Are you scared, detective?”

Blink.

“You should be scared of me. Everyone should be scared of me, but are they? No. No one is. No one ever suspects little Maggie.” Maggie practically spit the words out as she kept her voice down.

Blink.

“Well, that lady detective won’t think I’m so nice the next time I see her. I gave her a taste of what I gave you.”

Sam felt a hand touching his face again.

“Yes, you are badly bruised. But not bad enough. You know, you weren’t supposed to make it.” Maggie pinched his cheek. “You’re such a bad man. You didn’t die like the others.” She slapped his face, but Sam noticed she was careful not to make a loud sound. “We can fix that, though, can’t we?”

Blink. Blink. Sweat slipped down the side of Sam’s face. He knew she had plans to interfere with his life support. He urged her to keep talking with his eyes. He had the impression that she didn’t need much encouragement. It was as if she wanted to talk to him. Wanted to tell him.

“No, you didn’t die like the others. But then it was easier with them. They made it so easy. The idiots. They’re so gullible. So easy. So stupid. Such a waste of my time.”

Sam watched as Maggie got a faraway look in her eye. He blinked slowly. Lightning flashed. Thunder roared outside the window of his room. The storm was closer, nearly to the hospital.

“Talk about a waste of time. You and that partner of yours wasting taxpayers’ time and money running around trying to find Ray when Ray was dead all along. You never figured it out.” Maggie leered at Sam. “What a waste of energy. I could have told you. Any time I could have told you. But I didn’t. It was more fun letting you think Ray was still around. Wasn’t it fun?”

Blink. Blink.

“I had fun with Ray, but he had to get all righteous on me and start freaking out about killing that kid. He sure was enjoying it while we did it, but afterward he had to go all paranoid and spooked. Do you know what it feels like to hold someone’s life in your hands and know that you have the power to take it?” Maggie snapped her fingers. “Just like that?”

Blink. Blink.

“I do. It’s better than any high you could ever imagine.” Maggie cocked her head to the side. “Do you get high, detective?”

Blink. Blink.

“You should try it. Too bad we couldn’t try a little now before…” Maggie smiled. “Well, before you have to go.”

Sam knew what she meant. He knew she meant to kill him. There was still time for him to find the call button. His fingers crept along the sheet, a fraction of an inch at a time, searching.

Sam heard voices in the hall. He couldn’t help himself; his eyes darted in the door’s direction.

Maggie heard the noise as well. “Close your eyes,” she demanded. “Close them, damn it.” She reached for the ventilator’s hose. “I’ll pull it right now. Close your eyes!” The words spat from her mouth.

Afraid, Sam did as he was told. Before he closed his eyes, he saw Maggie duck out of sight. The voices drew closer. The storm rumbled outside. Was someone stopping at his door? He could only imagine. Would they come in? He willed whoever was out in the hall to come into his room. There were two people just outside of his room. He could hear them talking about the storm.

“I hope the power doesn’t go out like last time.”

“We have the backup generators. It’ll be okay.”

“Let me look in on Mr. Anderson.”

“Mary?” Another voice from further down the hall.

“Yeah?”

“Is that Matthew with you?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“I need you both to come help me. We have a new patient checking in from surgery. Apparently he’s a rather large patient and I’m going to need both your help.”

“We’ll be right there. Let me just do a quick check on Mr. Anderson.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Karen shook her head, but winced in pain as fresh stabs of light burst before her eyes. Slowly she stood up holding onto the concrete wall and laid her hot head against the coolness of the cement. Counting to five, she opened her eyes and looked around. Maggie had disappeared.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been knocked out. She checked her watch and realized less than ten minutes had passed. That was ten minutes too many as far as Karen was concerned. 

Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Karen vacillated between racing after Maggie and calling for back up. Her head made the choice for her. She needed to get help. She found her cell phone and pushed the send button to redial Hendricks’ number and held it to her ear. No sound. She tested the phone by trying to dial again, but still nothing. She placed it back into her belt holster and hurried down to the lobby floor. Beaten and bruised, she flew down the stairs taking them one and two at a time. “Police business,” she said to the two people coming up the stairs, mouths gaped open, as they watched her rush by.

Her first task in getting help would be to get in touch with hospital security and have them find Maggie. Next, she needed to find a hospital telephone and get back up sent as soon as possible. She had a dangerous situation on her hands. A very angry and lethal Maggie Morris was loose in the hospital.

Karen knew by the look on the security guard’s face he’d caught a glimpse of her ravaged features. Before he could say anything, Karen showed him her badge. He sprang to attention immediately.

“I’m Detective Sykes from the Hillsborough Sheriff’s office. I was attacked by one of the patients here in the hospital. She’s about five foot two, one hundred fifteen pounds, and has short blonde hair. She was wearing a hospital gown and had bare feet.”

“Yes, ma’am, we’ll do what we can to help you. My name is David and I’ll gather a team to search right away. You say a patient did this? We need to notify the hospital administrator. This is serious.” He reached for the telephone with his left hand. “Here.” He handed Karen a box of tissues. “You might want to get those wounds looked at in the ER.”

David spoke quickly into the telephone, his tone urgent. He relayed all the pertinent information, said ‘Yes, sir, a Code Gray’ several times, then hung up. “We’ll cooperate as much as possible to get this situation under control quickly.”

Taking a few tissues from the box, Karen held them to her face to stop the blood from dripping. She shook her head. “I’m not going to the ER right now. We need to find this woman.” Karen gave the security guard Maggie’s room number and suggested that they start their search there. “My cell phone is broken; do you have a radio I can borrow to stay in contact while your team searches the hospital?”

David reached across the desk and under a newspaper. He pulled out a radio. “This one we keep at the desk, but I think you can take it for now.”

“Thanks.” Karen tossed the bloody tissues into the trash can.

Talking into his radio, David contacted the other security guards in the hospital and gave them Maggie’s description. “Did she have any kind of weapon, detective?” The security guard directed his question to Karen.

“No. No weapon. But she packs a mean punch,” Karen said as she gently touched the deep scratches on her face.

David nodded and went back to talking into his radio.

“Can I use your telephone to call for back up?” Karen said when she noticed the telephone partially covered by the newspaper on the guard’s desk.

“Yeah, sure thing.”

Karen dialed 911. She mused that tonight’s excitement was probably more than security guard David was expecting when he came to work today. Once she connected with a 911 dispatcher, Karen explained the situation and asked that additional officers be sent to the hospital. Karen told the dispatcher that she would meet the officers at the main entrance of the hospital.

Explaining her plan to David, Karen said, “Stay in radio contact with me and let me know how the search progresses. I’m going to brief the officers when they arrive and we’ll proceed upstairs and join the search.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The front lobby of the hospital was crowded. Karen watched the throng of people moving in and out of the open area carefully searching for a familiar head of short blonde hair. She wouldn’t expect Maggie to try and waltz right out the front door, but then she didn’t expect her to attack the way she did either.

It wasn’t long before Karen spotted the familiar uniform of the Tampa police. Two officers walked through the front door. She waved them over to where she was standing against a wall.

“I’m Detective Sykes. We have a dangerous patient running loose in the hospital.”

One of the officers pointed at Karen’s face. “She do that to you?”

“Yeah. She attacked me from behind on the stairwell.” Karen gently touched the side of her bruised face and gave a lopsided grin. “It’s gonna leave a mark, isn’t it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Karen read his nametag. “Thanks, Officer Lopez. I appreciate the honesty.” She motioned for them to stand closer so she could discreetly tell them who they were searching for. “She’s about five foot two, one hundred fifteen pounds. Twenty-eight years of age. Short blonde hair. Last seen wearing a hospital gown and no shoes.”

“Well, unless she changes clothes, she should be easy to spot.”

“Yeah, man,” Lopez said to his partner.

“Let’s get started. I’m in radio contact with the security guards. They’re actively searching the hospital now. Lopez, you come with me.” Karen glanced at the second officer’s nametag. “Burke, you start in the ER. She might try to sneak out of the hospital where there’s a lot of foot traffic.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Stay in radio contact, you two. Lopez can update me with your reports, Burke.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Burke swung around and headed for the Emergency Room at a good pace, his head swiveling from side to side as he scanned the crowd.

Karen turned to Lopez. “Let’s take the stairs in case she decides to try using them to escape.”

“So what’s she wanted for?” Lopez asked as he held the stairwell door open for Karen.

“She’s wanted for questioning in a homicide investigation.”

“Homicide, huh?”