Forgetting Jane (3 page)

E
lias’s heart stopped when Jane’s screams pierced the air. With each hard step down the hall, his anxiety spiked higher. He opened the door to her room, turned on the light and rushed inside. On the floor, Jane lay in a crumpled heap.

As Elias picked her up, he slipped on the slimy liquid, almost falling on top of her.

He quickly got his balance and swept her up into his arms. She screamed like a banshee and swung her fists around.

“Get the hell away from me, you bastard!” she shouted.

“Who is Jane talking to?” Magda, the head nurse asked, while trying to keep a tight hold on her.

“Maybe her attacker,” Elias said with a grunt. Surprised by her physical strength, he struggled not to drop her.

He braced his legs apart and stood there covered in her vomit and held her until she calmed down.

Damn. He didn’t expect a vigorous fight out of her. Her small fist landed on the left side of his face with purpose. It didn’t hurt, but made him stagger back a step.

Elias yelled out, which spurred Jane to punch at him.

Relief filled him to see her alive with fire. He had hope for her, and this case. She had lain in a comatose state for almost two weeks. He feared she might never wake up. For the first time since she had been brought in, tension eased out his shoulders.

A nurse rushed over and planted a shot in Jane’s left arm. Within a few seconds, Jane’s body turned limp, and she passed out.

Elias put Jane down on the bed and retreated to the door. He watched as the medical team tended to her.

Magda Burstone, the head nurse, pulled him out of the room. “Follow me, Elias,” she said gently.

“I need to stay,” Elias countered. He shrugged her hand away.

“No. You don’t.” For a tiny woman in her late sixties, Magda had a commanding presence and strength in her grip. Her Southern stubborn streak gave no room for backtalk. “Follow me.”

Magda’s beautiful silvery grey hair gleamed under the fluorescents as he trailed behind her. Her handsome gray eyes met everyone with kindness as they walked down the hall.

However, the moment her eyes focused hard on Elias, he smiled back, just because.

Elias held her in the utmost respect. The head nurse was the only person who helped his mother, Barbara, during her short bout of breast cancer. She lost that fight seven years ago. Magda had stayed by her side to the very end. Something he couldn’t do himself.

Once Magda led him to a bathroom down the hall in silence, she handed him a few washcloths and walked away.

Elias watched her disappear around the corner before walking into the bathroom. Looking down at the washcloth and then sniffing at his hand, he hadn’t realized just how awful he smelled. Though, who cared how he reeked? His concern was only for Jane.

Ignoring the growing anxiety heavy in his chest, he washed off the rancid puke as fast as he could. Eli sniffed at his jacket, and winced from the odor. He doused the other washcloth with hot water and soap, and wiped his jacket and pants the best he could. The mix of puke and sterile soap curled his nostrils. He washed his hands for the second time, and then dried them off quickly.

Elias stepped out of the washroom. The adrenalin rush had eased, flooding his body with nervousness. He popped a piece of gum in his mouth and hurried back to Jane’s room.

As he walked around the corner, Elias saw Harold outside Jane’s doorway.

Why the fuck was he here, in the middle of the night, with an armful of weeds?
And how ironic—the one night he was here, Jane woke up.

The second Elias locked eyes with his friend, Harold hid the sad bouquet behind his back.

Grabbing Harold’s arm, Eli pulled him away from the room. “What’s with the flowers, Harold? And why are you here?”

“Will you stop yanking me! I wanted to see how she’s… Damn boy, you stink.” Harold waved his hand across his crinkled nostrils.

“Why?” Elias repeated with a growl.

Harold squinted up at Eli. “Why what?” His voice turned squeaky and childlike.

“Don’t play stupid, Kantor,” Eli pushed.

“I wanted to make sure Jane is safe. That’s all.” Petals from the daisies drifted down from behind him.

“So why the flowers?”

He brought the sad and riddled bouquet back to his chest. “These will cheer her up.” Harold smiled, then looked at Elias and frowned. “I’m doing nothing wrong, McAvoy.”

Eli glowered. He regarded his comment. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate it. But for now, you can’t visit her. She’s my only witness, and I don’t want tainted information.”

Harold’s mouth dropped open. “What does that mean?” His yellowed teeth clenched tight and his scalp turned bright pink.

Elias leaned in and lowered his voice. “I want to make sure she tells me what had happened to her from her point of view. Got it?”

“I don’t want her to get hurt. I’m here to protect her too,” Harold claimed.

“Harold, that’s
my
job to protect her. In order to do
my
job correctly, I can’t have anyone impeding this investigation. That includes unsolicited visits, and flowers.”
She deserves better.

“Come on, McAvoy.”

“So, no more flowers and no more visits. Not until we find out who did this to her and only when I give you the okay.”

“Whatever… Asshole.” Harold walked off, but not before, he dumped the crushed flowers at Eli’s feet.

“Dickhead,” Eli said under his breath. He gathered up the battered flowers and threw them in the garbage.

A single daisy lay at his feet. Elias picked it up and stared at the saggy white petals. Sounds of laughter caught his attention. He looked over and saw his deputy flirting with a redhead at the nurses’ station. He tucked the flower inside his coat pocket and walked over.

“So what were you and your girlfriend talking about—Damn.” Tom took a step back. “You need to change your cologne.”

“Keep smiling. Don’t you have something important to do besides chasing tail?” Eli asked in a whisper while sniffing at his arm.

“Always do, Chief.” He gave him a wide smile before he continued, “So what’s with Harold, and the flowers? And that godawful smell?” Tom waved his hand across his nose.

“Jane finally woke up. She screamed. I ran in and slipped on her puke,” Eli explained as he took off his coat, turning it inside out.

“You had to be a hero. And the flowers?”

“Harold came to see Jane. He said it would cheer her up. I told him to stop.” Eli took another sniff at his hand. “Why are you here, Tom?”

“I had an hour for dinner, so I decided to check up on the Jane Doe before grabbing a bite to eat.” Tom turned to the nurse and smiled. “And to say hi to Dorothy here. Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?”

Tom leaned down whispered something to the nurse, chuckled, and then straightened up. He looked at Eli and shook his head.

“Just checking in on Jane.” Eli eyed the man before walking away. He didn’t want to admit to Tom that he was losing more sleep since Jane had been found.

“Well, that’s ironic how Harold happened to be here when Jane Doe woke up. He usually doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself,” Tom said.

“I told him that he can’t visit her until this investigation until I say it’s okay.”

“What did he say?”

“He’s pissed and called me an asshole.” Elias smiled. He panned a look around the hall. “We need to keep a steady eye on that guy, he’s bound to do something stupid. I know him too well.”

Tom agreed. “By the way, we got the results back of the blood and soil samples. They rushed it. The results are on your desk.”              

“And?”

“The blood, hair, and fabric piece from the shirt confirms that all of it belongs to Jane Doe. They had put her picture and prints through the WIMEC database for missing person and came up with nothing. Now they are being sent through the national system. Hopefully if she is in the data base, we will get a hit on who Jane really is,” Tom said.

“I hope we didn’t miss anything.” Eli raked his fingers through his hair.

“It’s been a week, Chief. Any evidence not found is probably gone now. CLS and I went through every dirt granule out there. I assure you, there’s nothing left.” Tom folded his arms across his chest.

“I hope you’re right, but I’ll keep checking the lake, just in case. I swear, that day, Harold was acting funny. And Traitor was jumping out of his collar.”

“Funny, how?”

“Almost paranoid.”

Tom looked at his watch. “Well, he is a freak. It’s nearly one and almost past my dinner,” the deputy countered. “Right now, I’m hungry,” he said, looking back over his shoulder, checking out the nurse.

Elias eyed Tom with a smirk. “I’ll see you later.”

“Ten-four.” Tom saluted. He cast a Cheshire grin, then walked off without another word.

Elias took off his coat as he entered the room and almost bumped into Magda who stood inside.

He cleared his throat, and took off his hat. “Miss Magda.” His eyes stayed trained on Jane.

Magda turned around and placed her hand on his arm. “She is resting now. Amy and Mary cleaned her up and redressed her. Dr. Rollins said she is fine. There is nothing to worry about for now.” She patted his forearm. “You need to wash those things as soon as you get home.”

“I know.” Elias rubbed his jaw and continued. “I have to say that for a woman who went through hell and back, she has a powerful right hook. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen or felt it myself.”             

Magda wasn’t smiling when she ushered Eli back out the door. He knew something serious was about to be said and braced for it.

“Dr. Rollins wants to restrain her for that reason,” she said quietly. Her Southern tone was slightly off rhythm. There was worry in her words.

“Why?” Eli’s teeth grounded together. Yelling wasn’t the answer. “What’s the reason?”

“What if this happens again? He feels that she might hurt herself and the nurses. Elias, you know he’s right. Look what happened tonight. What if she punched me? I for one couldn’t take a hit like that.”

He raked his fingers through his hair. “I don’t like it—Damn it.”              

“Elias James McAvoy.” Her lip pursed together. She became silent.

Her look spoke volumes and Eli got the hint. She hated swearing.

“She isn’t stable, not yet. It’s for her protection, and ours,” Magda said earnestly.

A flood of mixed emotions filled him. It brought out a terrible image of his mother beaten and tied to the bed. Damn, he hadn’t thought of that in years. He’d only been six at the time but that memory still choked him. He wasn’t ready to relive his tragic past and shook that image out of his head.

Eli stepped back from the senior nurse. He barely contained his outrage. “She’s the victim, not some rabid dog readied to be put down.”

“Calm down, Elias… I’ll see what I can do. But no promises. Now, why don’t you go home, and get some sleep? You could use it. I’ll call you if something happens.”

“I’ll wait for a bit.” Eli stood rigid, legs apart, and eyes unwavering. He was in no mood to argue.

“You are so stubborn, just like your mother. Now what would she say for not listening to reason?”

“Nothing. She never did.” He knew the truth of that statement well, and so did she.

“Only for a few minutes, Elias.” Magda walked away shaking her head.

Eli waited only seconds before walking back into room. He took a slow deep breath, blew it out, and headed over to Jane’s bed.

Pain tightened his chest when he saw Jane shake in her sleep.

He had a hard time being objective seeing the leather straps too. Those damned things brought out more bad memories of his past—his mother and the fucked up father that was roaming the Wisconsin countryside.

              The room was quiet except for the sound of her breathing. What a peaceful noise. His shoulder relaxed as he saw her chest rise and fall evenly. She was okay.

Eli stared down at her battered features, which had been ingrained in his mind from the first night he saw her. They had changed even from his last visit. Her skin turned more yellow, less purple. The black and blue marks were fading. The swelling had almost gone completely down around her eyes. Her features were somewhat normal.

Her chestnut brown hair sprung out through the clean white bandage around her head. Her arms were almost as thin as the rails of the bed, but strong. He knew it to be true as he rubbed his jaw again and grinned.             

His gaze followed down to the leather bands wrapped around metal railing. The indignity suddenly drove his ire high again. He had to leave.

Jane’s restraints weren’t the only root of his anger. What pulled him out of his own skin was Jane, herself. Her face reminded him of Elise Hathaway. The one he accidently killed four years ago, which drove him straight to the bottom of the bottle.