Carrie fell asleep as tears slid down her cheek, and her sleep was fitful. Dreams of the fight at the cabin kept terrorizing her. She knew she’d brought it on. It had all been her fault.
She was aggressive, but would not let the tables turn. There was no way she would tolerate him being the aggressor. So they had both gotten violently angry. It was as if years of pent up rage was spewing forth from both of them.
There was no way to tell what had led him to that moment. He’d been brooding at the bar when she sat down. In hindsight, he’d been a powder keg ready to blow, and he had.
Carrie didn’t remember the end of the fight or him leaving. By that time she was out cold on the bedroom floor. When she woke that morning in the cabin, she had felt more alone than that day at the hospital when she received the news of her parents’ deaths.
~~~
Andrea made arrangements to leave the library at three that day when the part-time students came in to work. She was out the door the instant they walked in.
All Andrea had thought about during the day was Senna. She was so confused about what had happened and what was wrong.
Finally, Andrea was at the hospital. The anxiety she was feeling made the ride up the elevator seem to take forever. She hoped to walk into Senna’s room and see her sitting up awake, alive, and happy.
But that was not the case. Senna was still asleep. Blake was asleep as well on the foldout chair. She quietly sat down in the chair next to Senna’s bed. Looking her over from one end to the other, she could see she was just the same. Her cheeks were pink and there was no sign she was in pain.
Blake stirred and rubbed his face and hair. He blinked hard at Andrea. “Hey there,” his voice gruff from sleep. I guess I really passed out.
“Did you leave at all last night?” asked Andrea.
“Yeah, about midnight,” he said. “Then I came back about six this morning.”
“Blake, I’m here to stay for the evening. Go home and get a shower and eat a bite. I’ll be here with her.” Andrea knew he needed a break and was more than willing to sit with Senna.
Blake sat with his elbows on his knees for a while trying to get fully awake. “Okay. I think I will since you’re here. I hate to leave her, but I know if you are here, she’s not alone.” He stood and stretched, then yawned.
He walked over, kissed Senna’s forehead, then walked out the door.
Andrea had brought a few magazines and a book with her. She thought if she read to Senna it might help her. She read the first magazine, a popular one about celebrities and other people of notoriety. When she’d finished that last article she shut the magazine and looked at Senna.
“Senna, I’m here. Please wake up and talk to me.” The change in the monitor caught Andrea’s eye. She looked over to see what appeared to her an elevation in Senna’s heart rate. She jumped up and ran to get a nurse.
By the time they had gotten back to the room, the heart rate had gone back down to where it was originally. Andrea tried to convince the nurse what she had seen. The nurse agreed that might be the case and encouraged Andrea to just keep reading to her.
Andrea sat down, excited that there had been at least a slight change and began to read the second magazine with fervor. After every two or three paragraphs she would look up over the top of the magazine to see if Senna was awake.
When there had been no change after the two magazines, Andrea got up and walked around the room stretching. She walked over to the window and looked out at the sun dropping lower on the horizon. Deep in thought, she almost didn’t hear the slight movement coming from the bed.
Andrea whirled around where Senna still lay, but her hand was not in the same position. She was ecstatic and once again ran to get a nurse. The monitor showed a consistent, slightly higher heart rate, and the nurse noted the new placement of Senna’s hand.
Leaning in closer to Senna, the nurse lifted an eyelid and shined her penlight into it and then quickly flicking it away. Senna’s head jerked to the side to avoid the light, and she squinted her eyes. She was awake!
The nurse talked to Senna to wake her fully. She raised her bed and fluffed her pillows to help her sit straighter.
The entire time, Andrea was pacing at the other end of the room. She was so happy that Senna was awake and couldn’t wait to talk to her friend. Finally, she thought to call Blake.
When she pulled out her cell phone, the nurse motioned for her to take the phone outside. Begrudgingly, she did.
Blake’s phone was ringing and ringing. He wasn’t picking up. He must be in the shower, Andrea thought. She wouldn’t leave a message. Hopefully, he would see she’d called and would call her back.
Finally, after about ten minutes he did. “Blake, Senna is awake. The nurse is in with her and when I started to call you she motioned for me to leave the room. I haven’t gotten to talk to her yet.”
“I’ll be right there,” Blake said. He was so excited and hated that he had left.
“Drive safe. We don’t need you in the hospital too,” cautioned Andrea.
She hurried back up to Senna’s room. The doctor was in there with her so Andrea waited in the hall. She was trying to listen in but could barely hear anything. Finally, they all left and shut the door behind them.
As soon as they were a few feet down the hall, Andrea slipped in. It appeared to her that Senna was back asleep as she had been before, but when the chair slid as she sat down, Senna opened her eyes.
Andrea jumped up and grabbed her friend. “Senna, I’m so glad you are awake. How are you? What happened? Why did you collapse? Are you okay?” She couldn’t help asking every question that had run a track through her mind the entire previous day and evening.
Senna looked at Andrea. Her brow was creased in concern for her friend. “I’m okay. I honestly don’t know what happened. The last thing I remember, I was listening to the pastor preaching. Then waking up just now.”
Andrea sat next to her friend and picked up her hand. This time Senna squeezed back. For a few minutes they just sat there smiling at each other.
Blake came rushing through the door, breaking the heartfelt gaze between the two friends. Relief poured from Blake. Andrea stood to give Blake her space. He scooped Senna up in his arms and just held her for the longest time.
Then when he thought he might be holding her too tight, he released her enough to look her over. “How are you?”
Senna laughed. “Ask Andrea. She just asked me ninety-nine questions, none of which I could answer.”
The rest of the evening was spent with the three of them sharing about the events of the previous day. Nurses came and went and then just before visiting hours were ending, the doctor came in.
He strongly suggested—insisted really—that both Blake and Andrea go home for the night and allow Senna some time alone. They reluctantly agreed.
Once they had said their goodbyes, the doctor sat on the edge of Senna’s bed to have a long talk with her. He sincerely hoped that she could remember enough of what had happened to shed some light on her condition because as of that moment he had no clue.
Chapter Sixteen
Since the doctors could find no physical reason to keep Senna, they let her go home. Her doctor had visited with her for quite a long time the night before, but she had no memory, other than listening to the Pastor and then waking up there in the hospital.
Blake had come to take her home. He was quite relieved, but still concerned since they still had no idea what had happened.
On the ride home, Blake nervously fiddled with the radio flitting from one station and song to another. He wasn’t sure what to talk about. His natural urge was to shelter her and protect her and he didn’t want to open a discussion that might upset her. Each word he thought to say was filtered through a veil of concern about how it would affect her.
Senna seemed quite fine. She was quiet, but seemed eager to get back home and then back to work at the library. It was as if a slice of her life had just been remo
ved and she was right where she had left off on Sunday.
“Senna...” He started to ask yet another question, but stopped. What more could he ask that had not already been asked?
“Yes,” she replied.
“Nothing. I’m just so confused and concerned about what has happened. Not knowing what caused it has made me concerned that it will happen again.”
The entire thing made Blake curious and he had no basis on which to even develop a theory. He finally decided that there was nothing he could do, but just love her and be there for her. But he had made a mental note to watch a little closer to see if there were signs he had missed before. Signs of something else going on that had just been simply missed.
Senna stepped out to the back porch, closed her eyes and breathed deep. The scent of her neighbor’s fresh cut grass was invigorating, and she took her time to soak it in.
“I love spring,” Senna said.
“I do, too,” replied Blake.
Was it just him or did she sound different? One would have always described Senna as sweet, maybe almost too sweet. He had surmised that her timidity had caused her to repress adverse emotions, so no one ever saw anything but her sweet nature.
“You can go now,” Senna said point blank at Blake.
Her tone was different from just a few seconds earlier. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” There was certainty in her tone and, was he wrong, or was there an edge to it that he had never heard from Senna before?
“I just want some time home alone. I don’t have to go back to work until tomorrow so I just want some time alone to rest.” She held his gaze. Her eyes did not waver. There was something very strong there that had not been there before.
Blake was hesitant to leave her alone, but finally with insistent reassurance from Senna that she was fine, he left.
As soon as the door closed, Senna felt a huge relief. She didn’t know why, but she had to back away from this relationship with Blake. It was just a feeling, not something she could tangibly put her finger on. There had just been a sudden resistance to being with him.
That would also eliminate the issue of having to go back to church with him. Yes, at the moment it had felt wonderful and soothing, but now it was a faint memory. It had to all be a mastery of manipulation, she thought to herself. She returned to her old resolve to set religion aside.
Andrea was another thing. Senna knew Andrea would not push her to go back to church. She felt no risk in continuing to be friends with Andrea and was glad. But there was an unsettled feeling where Andrea was concerned as well.
Was she just too happy? Yes, who was really just that happy? It suddenly left a sour taste in Senna’s mouth.
She pondered recent events and kept going back to her last memory. Why had she blacked out and lost an entire day? Her doctor had said she had no physical signs of anything abnormal in her body.
So, was he saying it was a mental issue? The thought angered Senna. As she lay on her sofa, the quiet of the room left her to meditate on that thought. Soon she was grinding her teeth and feeling betrayed and judged.
Did Andrea and Blake also feel she was a mental case? After all it was Andrea who had given her the info for the psychiatrist. She began weaving threads together to build a case against herself that didn’t exist, and she became angrier.
Resolutely, she decided she didn’t need any of them. Maybe they were all truly like her father and were only concerned about changing her into what they wanted her to be. She had some decisions to make, some changes to make.
Pacing the floor, she wrestled with a whirlwind of emotions ranging from near violent anger to tearful sorrow.
Stopping her pacing as a new thought struck her; she could move from Kachina and get another job. Then she wouldn’t have to see Andrea and there would be no chance of running into Blake. Maybe that was it, a totally new start somewhere else where no one knew her. A devious smile crossed her face. Yes, that would fix it all.
Her thoughts lost steam eventually and, as she lay there, sadness gently pushed the anger aside. She felt broken, betrayed, and alone. Finally, consciousness faded and pulled Senna into a deep sleep where there were no thoughts of anything, only blackness.
~~~
“I’m going crazy in this hospital,” Carrie said to Randy on the phone. “What’s going on with the case?”
“I’m not sure that talking about the case will help you rest and recover,” said Randy.
“Grrrr,” Carrie growled. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”
Randy laughed. Carrie was well on her way back. “The tarp sales were like a needle in a haystack. You can get them anywhere off of Amazon or in any home improvement store. If we find a tarp, then forensics can probably match it to the fleck they have.
“The ATV was a different story. Sales nationwide on that specific model was considerably smaller. I have been working my way through the list.”
“Any suspects jump out at you?” Carrie’s investigative senses were growing excited.
Randy took a deep breath. Should he shut her down now and insist that she rest, or did he dare let her in at this point? Having worked with her as long as he had, he knew nothing would stop her from bugging him until he did.
“Okay, but here’s the deal, if I talk to you about all of this, you have to promise me you will not try to get out of the hospital or go against the doctors’ requests at all, in any way.” Randy was very stern.
Giddy with glee, Carrie agreed. She had a huge smile spread across her face. She knew Randy wouldn’t resist her.
For the next hour, they discussed the leads he had been slogging through. It was true that so much of investigative work was laborious and detailed. Most of the time they were hip deep in a haystack looking for that needle.
When the nurse came in to change Carrie’s dressings and give her a sponge bath, they had to hang up. Randy promised he would keep her apprised of anything new in the case.
Carrie wouldn’t relinquish the phone completely until the nurse gently removed it from her hand, told Randy goodbye and laid it on the nightstand.
“I feel much better, you know,” Carrie told the nurse.
The nurse cocked her eyebrow up at Carrie, quite amused. She knew where this was going. “I bet you do. You are still on a strong morphine drip. But the doctor has given orders to cut that way, way back today. You’ll need a little time to readjust.”
Carrie frowned. She had to show them she was getting better. She decided that she would walk the hall every few hours to build her strength back up. When they saw how mobile she was, they would know how well she was doing and would release her.
As soon as the nurse left from her ministrations, Carrie slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed. A pain lurched through her mid-section stopping her cold. Determined still, as soon as the pain had subsided, she continued moving to get down off the bed and into a standing position. As soon as she did, she realized her IV pole was on the other side of the bed.
She shut her eyes and shook her head at her stupidity. Holding her arm out over the bed, she carefully walked around the end of the bed to the other side. She grabbed the iv pole and removed the clip from her finger which relayed her pulse to the monitor. Immediately an alarm began beeping.
Ignoring the beeping, she proceeded toward the door. When she met the nurse heading in to turn it off, she watched to see what buttons she pushed. It may be necessary information for future use. The nurse was expressing encouragement about walking as Carrie was leaving the room.
By the end of the day she had walked up and down the hallway three separate times. She felt exhausted, but knew it was going to help her in the long run. While she walked, she had thought.
When she passed the room where she’d seen the lady, she noticed that she was gone. The thought that she knew her but couldn’t remember where from, really bugged Carrie. She could never just blow something off like that. Her mind would gnaw on it until it revealed itself to her.
As she walked, she did a mental inventory of all the places she frequented and then thought of the people, she encountered there. It was frustrating because she could be a clerk at a convenience store or a fast food worker. But she didn’t think that was quite right. Those thoughts just didn’t seem to fit.
No matter what, she just could not remember where she’d seen that lady. By the end of the day, she was exhausted from the walking and the reduction in pain meds failed to mask the pain of her injuries. Once again, that hard bed had never felt so good and she committed herself to it for the remainder of the evening.
~~~
Randy missed Carrie even though lately they had been at odds with each other. She was a good partner, and he valued her intuition and insight. Sometimes he wanted to scream when slogging through massive amounts of data, but it was vital and necessary. She was always encouraging, and she seemed to make it go smoother.
He’d been able to eliminate, or temporarily set aside, all the out-of-state ATV owners. Yes, they could have moved here or some other such thing, but he felt it best to focus on local owners first.
Ironically, the Big Horn Ranch had one just like that. He sat and stared at the name on the list thinking. Was it a coincidence? They’d honestly abandoned that line of thinking when the new, actually older, bodies had turned up.
The dumping ground of those bodies was several miles from the Big Horn. He couldn’t quite buy into that connection, but he wrote it down on his list to investigate further.
Once through the list of local owners, he had five he felt he needed to visit and interview. He called Mike and Rick and they agreed to split the list. The owners were all over the place and it would certainly be more efficient to work together.
He kept the Big Horn on his list since he was familiar with it. The route to the ranch naturally took him past the hospital where Carrie was recovering. He decided that he would stop on his way back. He could fill her in on what he’d found. She would love that.
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