Witness Protection Page 7

  It didn’t take long to print out the invoices and bag the product into the right customer’s orders.

  A shadow passed in front of the window, and I paused to peer out through the blinds.

  Someone ducked out of sight, so I moved to look out the kitchen window only to see a man walking to his car. It was hard to tell who might be in the evening shadows.

  Since the person was getting in their car, I figured there wasn’t a point in calling the police. Just to be extra cautious, though, I went ahead and put a chair under the knob on the front door.

  With my keys and wallet, I grabbed my shoes and an extra set of Sally to put in her backpack. If something happened it might give us the advantage to escape without being hurt.

  I shoved the dresser in front of the back door. Hopefully, these extra security precautions would be enough.

  There was a noise at the front door as I walked back into the living room.

  Checking the peephole, I saw Sally’s dad, Mike standing there with his hand on the knob.

  “How on earth did he find us?” I muttered under my breath.

  Not wanting to call the police unless he did something threatening, I stood there waiting for him to make a move.

  He didn’t move for a full minute and then began to take his hand off the knob before walking back toward the parking lot. He didn’t stop or look back as he got into a car and drove away.

  Sinking to the floor in relief, I was thankful that I hadn’t called the police. I didn’t need to draw attention to who I was or the fact that Mike was trying to find his daughter.

  It was like he was taunting me to see what I would do about his approach.

  Uncertain if he would try something again, I carried Sally into the bedroom and put her next to the wall with pillows between her and I. It wasn’t like I was going to get any sleep during the night anyway.

  Turning everything off in the living room, I put the packed bag and her backpack next to each other by the bed. Our shoes were right beside them so that we could slip them off in case we needed to run.

  I used the bathroom one last time and then rolled the cedar chest in front of the bedroom door. It wasn’t until I was already laying down trying to calm my breathing enough to fall asleep that I wondered where on earth Mike might have gone when he left my apartment.

  Chapter 6

  Megan

  I groaned while moving around trying to get comfortable in this hospital bed. I was trying to keep from using the powerful pain meds unless it was necessary because I didn’t want to become dependent on them.

  My eyes had just closed when a sensed someone standing over me. Most of the time if one of the nurses came into the room, they would make a lot of noise as they took my vitals.

  This person was standing there with an eerie type of stillness that was making me uncomfortable.

  I faked sleep as I rolled over toward the person as I tried to keep my breathing even. Through the lashes of my eyes, I could make out Mike standing there.

  He might not be doing anything if I was asleep since he thrived on seeing me in pain. Maybe he would get bored with waiting and just leave.

  Instead, he walked over to where one of the chairs had been pushed to the side and moved it next to my bed.

  Taking a seat, he rested his elbows on his knees and began to tap his chin where a little bit of scruff was starting to grow.

  “How could you do this to me?” He spoke softly in the tone of voice he used when trying to admonish Sally without getting upset at her. “What were you thinking?”

  He scanned my body, pausing at the obvious places where I had bandages or large bruises. “I know you’re hurting, and I’m for that. Really, I am.”

  “If you’d have just woken me up, then none of this would have happened.” He stroked my hand as he shook his head in disbelief. How could you turn me into the police? Men I work with, handcuffed me and put me in a cell with the other criminals.”

  “This is so wrong, Megan. It’s all a mess.” He shrugged as if unable to voice his feelings. “I’ll have to discipline you better in the future.”

  I cringed at his words but tried to stay still so he wouldn’t know I was listening.

  “Sally needs a mother who knows how to obey instructions and not piss off the man of the house.” He droned on, “I’ve trained you for the last ten years, and this is the way you choose to repay me?”

  The hate in his voice grew harsher, overshadowing any concern he might have voiced when he’d first arrived. “Oh, Megan. I did have such high hopes for you in the beginning.”

  I listened in growing horror, What did he mean, I needed to learn to obey him? I wasn’t his slave. I didn’t ask to be beaten up. And it’s not my fault that he fell asleep in the truck.

  On the other hand, if he’d have spent all the time and effort he talked about training me, then maybe he’d have fallen in love with his family instead of beating me.

  I should have known he would be mad when I didn’t wake him and had fallen asleep instead. Maybe I wasn’t the wife and mother he wanted, but he could have divorced me.

  No, I should have been watching for him to come home. It was my fault.

  With my good hand, I tried to press the call button for the nurse as I ‘woke’ up. It would be okay when a nurse arrived to help calm him down.

  “Mike, I’m so sorry about this. I certainly never meant for it to go this far. Can you ever forgive me?” I opened my eyes and looked at him pleadingly.

  While I was sure that he hadn’t meant to hurt me, I wanted his forgiveness. I’d let him down and caused this angry outburst.

  He jumped a little when I started speaking but didn’t move until I’d finished.

  “Megan,” He growled, “I can’t forgive you until you take back all the lies you’ve told them about me. Everything you’ve told others has only made things worse for you when we get back home.”

  “We can just tell them that you were confused.” He stood and started to pace back and forth next to my bed as he tried to work out a solution. “It was someone else that broke in and you thought it was me because it was so early in the morning.”

  “That woman, Allie, has been filling your head with lies that just aren’t true. You can come home any time and my fellow officers will locate this low-life scum that did this to my wife.” He smiled in a twisted sort of manner, “No one should be allowed to punish you. That is except for me of course.”

  Mike was suddenly standing by the bed. He laughed as he took my hand in his squeezing tightly enough that I could feel the bones breaking.

  The tv remote with the call button fell to the bed before bouncing to the floor out of reach.

  “Oh, Megan. What have you done?” He chuckled at the look of terror on my face.

  The nurse should have been here by now. I could see the rage building as he thought about all things he deemed wrong. He was never going to want me back not without making me pay the price for coming to the hospital in the first place. Even the nurses weren’t going to be able to save me in time.

  Mike moved his hand toward my throat with a gloating smile.

  “I knew this apology was too good to be true coming from such a lying bitch like you.” He squeezed his fingers a little tighter around my throat. “I took care of the nurses before coming to take care of you.”

  “No one is coming to rescue you. I gave them all free pizzas with just a hint of extra spice that would make them sleep for hours. It only took a few minutes for them to all pass out, giving me a chance to have a real heart-to-heart talk with you.” The color drained from my face as he smiled and winked.

  “I knew you were up to no good.” He shook his head in disgust. “Did you know they put me in a cell with other criminals? Ones, I’d arrested and put there over the past few days?”

  “My dear Megan, did you really think you would be safe from me after doing all of this?” He loosened the grip on my neck before I passed out.

  I gulped in air, but
it was fleeting as he put his other hand around my neck, squeezing harder.

  Sounds and alarms began to ring in the hallway outside.

  “Don’t worry, they may have saved you for now, but I’ll find you wherever you run.” He released me suddenly and raced to the bathroom seconds before a group of people raced in to check on me.

  In the confusion, he snuck out and disappeared. If anyone asked him, he’d just say that he’d been trying to visit me.

  Only a few people were in this hall at the hospital and I was the only person with the need to be watched closely.

  Mike’s handiwork might have gone unnoticed if a nurse from another ward hadn’t been delivering something to my hall, then the unconscious nurses might have gone unnoticed all night.

  When she couldn’t find anyone, she looked a little further and found everyone passed out in the breakroom. Pressing the emergency button to alert security and call the police, she’d checked to make sure the nurses were still alive.

  As soon as some others arrived, she went to check on the patients and found my call button dinging.

  When they arrived at my bedside, I was trying to breathe. Mike had left me with almost no oxygen and I couldn’t concentrate on him until after he was long gone.

  With the staff busy trying to revive the nurses and make sense of the chaos, no one noticed a man leaving the building.

  I could only whimper as he’d damaged my windpipe, but at least I could still breathe which was a relief.

  They sent the ER doctor to my room since I had hit the button before all hell broke loose.

  Semi-conscious I could hear them talking over me as they tried to figure out what he’d done to me.

  “Look at what he did to her.” The ER doctor motioned the nurse closer to look at something on my throat. “It’s his handprint. He left her breathing, but just barely.”

  It appeared that he was checking for brain function or damage as he lifted my eyelids.

  “You’re still with us. It’s absolutely amazing.”

  My eyes opened and I tried to speak, but it was just a whimper.

  “Mmmm…” I tried to point with my least hurt arm at the door and then my neck so the doctor would know what I was saying.

  The police and sheriff’s deputies arrived, adding to the confusion. There were conflicting details, but no one was able to ask me what happened.

  From what I could hear as people came in and out of my room, Mike had managed to drug the nurses.

  Everyone was talking about it and the attempt to kill me. They acted like it was so shocking as if he would never try something like this since he was a member of the police force.

  The charge nurse must have called in others to take over for those who had been drugged because a whole new group came in to take my vitals.

  The ER doctor had run off to check on others but had finally arrived back to check on me.

  “I know talking is going to hurt for a while, so I found a marker board so that you can answer questions for us.” He placed the marker in my hand to have me cry out in pain.

  “What’s wrong?” He then bent to look at my wrist and realized that it was swollen.

  “Let’s get an x-ray machine in here so we can look at her hand to see what the damage is.”

  The technician brought the machine into the room so everyone left while the machine worked they wouldn’t be exposed to the radiation.

  After looking at the x-ray, the doctor moved a little closer to the bed. “The bone in your wrist was snapped, but I don’t believe it will require surgery. Your throat is bruised and will be sore for a few days. It may be easier to write on the board with your other hand if you need to speak for the next day or so.”

  “He didn’t crush your windpipe, thank God. It could have been much worse. No, need to worry though. Security checked the whole building and has turned up no sign that he’s still here. They’ve decided to keep things locked down for tonight so you should be safe.”

  He gently maneuvered my arm into play with a soft cast because it was too swollen to set right then.

  “Give her something for the pain so that she’ll be able to sleep without moving around a whole lot.”

  I started to shake with terror at the thought of being unconscious with Mike still on the loose to do whatever he wanted.

  “Officer Grayson, will you come in here please?” The ER doctor called, “It's okay. She’s going to stay in here with you for the rest of the night. No one is going to be able to come in here for the rest of the night unless you need something.”

  She took up a spot next to my head as the crime techs came in and took pictures of my neck and arm.

  The police had called the delivery guy and asked him a bunch of questions.

  My door had been propped open and I could hear everything from my bed while I willed my body to quit shaking so much.

  “Did you see the guy you delivered the pizza to?” A new police officer questioned him in a kind tone.

  “Not really, dude. He came up as I was walking and asked, ‘Hey, are those the pizzas we ordered for the nurses? I can deliver them for you.’ There were a lot and I had three more deliveries in the car so I let him have them when reached for them. They were already paid for, so I didn’t worry about it.”

  “I’m just trying to earn a little extra money while I’m in school.”

  “Did you notice what he was wearing?” The officer had more patience than I would have had.

  “Nah, he was just wearing the normal EMS uniform.” I could hear the kid shuffling his feet.

  “You said it was paid for, how did they pay?”

  “Dude, we don’t carry money. It was probably a credit card. You can call my boss and see whose name was on it. Here’s the number.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ve got your delivery kid that came to the hospital.” He paused, “There was an incident and we need the name of the person that paid for that delivery. Okay, got it. Thank you.”

  “When an EMS guy showed up, all the nurses didn’t question who’d sent them, but had dived right in.” The ER doctor explained, “I mean we don’t get delivery very often, but we don’t turn down free food.”

  “Well, sir. I believe the man involved was looking to hurt only one person and not kill anyone else. He certainly planned this. Anyone trying to blame his wife or say that she wasn’t telling the truth will have to take it back.”

  I wanted to smile. He must have been directing his comment toward Officer Long.

  Officer Stone entered my room and began to ask questions, but it was hard to write with my left hand.

  “Mike came in and I played that I was asleep. He wanted to punish me, wanted to kill me. All this is my fault.” Even though I knew I couldn’t have done any differently, I still felt guilty. “I antagonized him by turning him in.”

  “While I can understand how you feel, it isn’t the case. We’ve sent someone to sit outside of Ms. Foster’s home just in case. We’ll be searching all the places that he’s known to visit. Not only did he attempt to murder you, but he violated his parole as well.”

  “Officer Grayson will be here with you and we’ll have a new officer take over in the morning. Get some rest while we try to put him behind bars.”

  I didn’t want to burst the poor officer’s hopes, but Mike knew that he was a wanted man now. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to stay out of jail.

  The door shut behind him and a nurse came in to administer the pain medication. It felt like only seconds before I was asleep.

  Chapter 7

  Allie

  When I arrived at the hospital after dropping Sally off at school, I had to show a security guard my ID. He checked a list and then allowed me to enter the building.

  Feeling anxious after my scare last night, I practically ran toward Megan’s room hoping that she was all right.

  “Megan, what happened?” I skidded to a stop in the doorway, as I took in the new set of bruises and cast on her other arm.

&n
bsp; “Mike paid her a little visit, but Megan’s okay.” Officer Grayson explained from the chair next to her bed.

  I hadn’t even noticed that her in the room which made me a tad uneasy about my observation skills.

  “The hospital is taking their security and protocols more seriously now. I‘m sure that all pizza deliveries will be scanned for extra unwanted substances in the future.” She winked at me.

  “Hold on, is anyone watching Sally at the school? I realized that if he could get into a hospital full of people then nothing could stop him from trying to kidnap Sally from her school.

  “We’ve alerted school officials. They’ve instituted a lockdown so hopefully, we won’t have an incident. When my relief gets here, I’m heading over there to work out an action plan for Sally and the other students’ safety.” Officer Grayson assured us.

  “Right now, they’ve moved Mike to the dangerous list and there is an APB out. He’s been labeled a threat not only to his family but to anyone who might get in his way.”

  “Look ladies, we’re going to be spending a lot of time with each other so why don’t you call me Julie from now on?” She glanced at us waiting for our approval.

  Megan smiled and gave a thumbs up with her better hand while I nodded.

  “Our town hasn’t had to worry about enforcing lockdown procedures before. Everyone here knows everyone and we’ve always assumed that it could never happen to us. While it seems unnecessary, we’ve practiced how it should be done.”

  The started to open and Julie still alert after her long night, moved her hand over her gun as if she thought it might be needed.

  “Ladies, I’d like to introduce Officer Clay Stone. He’ll be staying with you until this evening when another officer will take over.” She looked relieved that it was someone she knew and trusted.

  It made me feel better instantly that he would be able to keep Megan safe when I wasn’t around.

  “Stone, this is Megan Butts and her friend, Allie Foster. She’s the one who is taking care of Sally while Megan recovers.”