Waking Rose: A Fairy Tale Retold (32 page)

“Oh, she knows,” Fish said grimly. “I saw her sneaking around the hospital the night Rose was brought in. The reason I’m here is that I just found a message on my answering machine from Rose, from the day of the accident. Shortly before she fell, she had called me from a mall, saying that Donna was following her.”

The man’s mouth fell open, and he looked terribly afraid.

“Where’s your daughter now?”

“She’s out with her friends.”

“Not so sick then, is she? What was she doing this past Saturday?”

“She might have been out at the mall—”

“How long was she gone?” Fish cut in.

 “I’m not sure—I had to work that day. She came back in that night.”

“When she goes out, do you know where she is?”

The father and his wife looked at each other. “She goes over to her friends’ house, or they go to the mall. She’s been taking her medication and doing fine, as far as I can tell.”

“How old is she?”

“Nineteen.”

“Then she’s responsible for her own actions,” Fish said coolly. “I want to talk to Donna, and believe me, I’m not the only person who’s going to want to talk to her.”

The father seemed to have grasped the gravity of the situation fully. “You can’t be serious. You’re saying Donna—?”

“Made threats against Rose Brier, and wrote a note threatening her life, which is in the hands of the college dean. Then Donna was stalking her at a mall on the day that Rose was gravely injured. I can promise you that I’m going to the police with the information I have.”

Just then a car pulled up to the driveway. Fish turned, and saw Donna getting out of the car. She was wearing a black jacket and dark glasses and was carrying a shopping bag, with her usual brazen air. But when she recognized Fish, her look changed significantly. She closed the door carefully and moved away from the car, her face frozen in an unreadable expression.

Fish walked towards her, and heard her father trailing after him. He kept his eyes on Donna the whole time. He sensed her fear, and utilized it quietly. Stopping right in front of her, he bored her with his eyes.

“What did you do to Rose?”

“What?” Donna said.

“I saw you at the hospital on the day she was injured. How did you know she was there?”

“Someone from school told me she was hurt,” Donna said defensively. “I felt bad, so I went to see her.”

“Had you seen her at all that day?”

“No.”

“Liar,” Fish said coolly, a slight smile on his face. “Liar, Donna. You can’t lie like you do and expect to get away with it forever.” He waited, but she tossed her head and looked down at him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Rose left a message on my answering machine on the day she was injured, saying that she was at a mall and you were following her.”

The girl stepped uneasily, but her face was still cold. “I was at the mall, but I didn’t see her,” she said. “She was imagining things. Rose Brier always freaks out at everything.”

“Donna,” he said quietly. “You’re not taking me seriously. And you should.”

“I didn’t do anything!” 

 “Liar,” he raised his voice without raising the pitch. “You followed her out of the mall, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t!”

“You followed her out to the barn, and saw that she was all alone in the hayloft, didn’t you?”

She took a step backwards. “No, no, I didn’t.”

“What were you trying to do? Trying to scare her? Or did you think you had a chance to do something worse and get away with it?” He stepped forwards, and she stumbled backwards and sat down hard on the grass, smashing her shopping bags beneath her. He heard gasps from all around him—from her friends in the car, from the adults behind him.

The fires inside him were smoldering, but he kept a hold on himself. “Did you push her off the loft, or did she fall trying to run away from you?”

She shook her head numbly. “I didn’t—” she tried to say.

He pointed at her. “You know that she could have charged you with premeditated assault for your actions earlier this semester, but she had mercy on you instead. When you were on probation, you were fantasizing about her death. Now she’s probably permanently incapacitated. You are going to tell me what happened on the day of her accident, and you are going to tell me NOW!”

The voice and inflection learned from confrontations on the streets of New York worked just as well in Western Pennsylvania. Donna, her defiant mask shattered like a goblet, disintegrated into tears. She pulled her hair over her face and sobbed aloud.

Fish went on, “You chased her out of the mall and followed her to the barn, didn’t you?”

She just shook her head. Her father moved up beside her and attempted to say something, but Fish cut him off.

“Let me ask you this—when she fell, why didn’t you do something? You must have known she was seriously injured. Or did you just get scared and run away? Or were you hoping that you had killed her?”

Donna, her shoulders shaking, pounded the ground with her fists. “No, no, no! Oh God! Oh God!”

A car on the road slowed down to a stop. Fish glanced briefly at it, and then looked back at the hysterical girl.

“Donna, everyone here knows what a good actor you are,” he said derisively. “So cut the dramatics and answer my questions.”

She didn’t answer, but cried hysterically.

“Answer the question, Donna: what did you do to her at the barn?”

She threw her head up and screamed, “Nothing!”

Now in wrath he shouted, “Tell me!”

 “Fish.”

He looked up. Kateri Kovach was standing in front of them, her black hair blowing wildly about her. She was wearing a long-sleeved black peasant shirt and jeans. Her black eyes were kindled with a strange fire.

“Calm down.”

Fish, suddenly aware of how unbalanced he had become, recovered himself. He unclenched his teeth, but they were still on edge.

After a moment, Kateri sank down to her knees. “Donna, look at me,” she directed.

The blond girl, who had been rolled up in a ball, lifted her head.

“Were you following Rose the day she fell down?”

Donna blinked, and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “I saw her at the mall,” she said in a low voice.

“What was she doing?”

“She was shopping. We just followed her, my friend and me, just for a joke.”

“Did you follow her to her car?”

“Yes, but she got in really fast and drove away.” Donna dropped her eyes.

There was a pause. The wind blew through the trees, a rushing, moaning sound. Kateri looked at Fish.

“Let’s go.”

“Pushing Donna to the edge of a mental breakdown isn’t going to bring Rose back, is it?” Kateri said to him. They were standing in the parking lot of a diner a few miles up the road, leaning against their respective cars. The small sturdy girl’s eyes were squinted in disgust. “Why were you giving her the third degree?”

“I just discovered that Rose left a message on my answering machine the day she fell, saying that Donna was following her at the mall. That’s why I came looking for her.” He folded his arms and shot back at her. “And why did you show up here?”

“For your information, I’ve been meeting with Donna since Rose’s accident.”

“Oh, really. Why?”

“I don’t know how much you know about Donna Stetter. She’s a girl with a history of mental health problems. She already told me that she saw Rose on the day of the accident, and that she was following her around, as a joke. And I got that out of her without pushing her to hysterics. She’s seriously troubled, but there’s hope for her.”

Fish rocked on his heels. “Seriously troubled is right. And quite possibly a criminal.”

“You think she pushed Rose off the hayloft?”

“Circumstantial evidence suggests it.”

“So you were trying to make her confess?”

“I was.”

“Suppose she didn’t do it? Did you have to make her suffer like that?”

 “She’s made Rose suffer enough as it is,” Fish said coolly. “And so far, she’s been insulated from the consequences.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Kateri said. “She’s suffered. She still has a conscience. She knows what she did to Rose was wrong.”

“Does she? I couldn’t tell.”

“That’s because she sees you as the enemy.”

“Good. Because I am,” Fish said quietly. “And I will be, no matter what you say to try to convince me that this girl isn’t a criminal.”

“I’m not arguing with you. She might be a criminal. She definitely will be if she continues on the road she’s on, alternating between vindictive behavior and self-hatred.”

“And so you’re trying to save her,” Fish couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

“I care about her,” Kateri’s eyes flared up and she started towards him. “And I care about Rose.  Speaking of caring, do you have any idea how much Rose cared about
you
? And you couldn’t care less if you broke her heart.”

Fish twitched as he looked at her, and lowered his voice. “Don’t even go there.” He reined himself in, but his anger still surged.

There was a long moment. Kateri stood her ground, breathing hard. Then she dropped her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said shortly. “You’re right. That was below the belt.”

“It was.” Fish rubbed his temples. “I’m sleep-deprived and more than a bit on edge right now. You’re probably right that I shouldn’t have come down to see Donna when I was in this kind of state.”

Both of them leaned back against their cars, recovering their tempers.

“Look,” Fish said. “I don’t want to go into this with you. I know, and Rose knows, that my behavior towards her in the past hasn’t always been tactful or charitable. Will it satisfy you if I tell you that there’s more to the situation than might appear to the outside observer?”

“It’s kind of you to even tell me that,” Kateri said after a moment. “I’m sorry. I admit I’ve been holding a grudge against you for years, probably an unfair one. It comes from hearing so much about you when I never really knew you.” She pushed back her hair. “One reason I’m trying to help Donna is because she hurt Rose. If I didn’t, I might resent her, and hate her. I’m not trying to save her so much as I’m trying to save myself.”

She looked up, and Fish saw her eyes were glistening, although her face was as impenetrable as usual.

He hadn’t done this often in his life, but in the past few days, he’d had a lot of experience: he walked over to Kateri and accepted her hug.

“So—peace, Fish? Friends?”

He inclined his head. “Peace.”

Nevertheless, he did make a report to the police regarding Donna, and turned over the answering machine message to them. The police went to Donna’s house and took her in for questioning. But when they found the friend who had been at the mall with her, the trail came to an abrupt end. The friend swore that Donna had remained at the mall with her after Rose had driven away. And the police found no signs that Donna had been at the barn—her fingerprints were not found on any of Rose’s clothing or anywhere on the ladder in the barn.

After readjusting his hours with Dr. Anschlung, who was completely understanding, Fish took up his new routine—attending classes in the day and driving out each evening to Graceton Hall to sit by Rose’s bedside. Eventually, all of Rose’s family returned home, and he was alone in his vigil beside her.

Although it was still jarring to see the equipment Rose now required: a ventilator, IVs for feeding, a catheter—he became used to it over time. After two weeks, he barely noticed them.

Rose was receiving physical therapy to keep her joints from becoming stiff, and Jean had wondered if she eventually might be weaned off of the ventilator, though Dr. Murray seemed dubious.  The physical therapists who worked with Rose reported no muscular or nervous responses at all.  It seemed as though she would remain suspended in sleep forever.

Rose had a room to herself, a rather large one with a high arched window that looked out onto the forest. In the evening, for a short time the light from the window fell on her features before sunset, and Fish grew used to watching the colors change on her face and hair before deepening into night.

Visiting hours ended at eight o’clock at Graceton, and he usually arrived at five and left at eight. He brought his books and a sandwich along with him and studied next to Rose’s bed, reading passages that he found interesting aloud to her.