by N. M. Brown
Without even thinking, Hale and McQueen found their footsteps slowing while the back of their necks chilling with invisible breaths. No man would look to their partner in fear, but even Hale met McQueen’s eyes at the sound of squeaky plastic sneakers on a shiny floor in the dark. The sound softly echoed off the walls.
“Hello?” Hale called out, voice gruffer than normal. “This is the Rippling Homicide Detectives…” The silence that greeted them was eerie.
“Maybe we took a wrong turn?” McQueen hedged, but even as he said it, his glanced down at the thick, crimson band that ran under his toes.
“Detective Hale? McQueen?” A sweet voice suddenly travelled down the off-white walls. Bobbing into sight a small, petite woman, only reaching McQueen’s armpit quick marched down the hall, clipboard in her hand. Her pale blue scrubs weren’t flattering, but then they weren’t designed to be. Nevertheless, McQueen could see the nice swell of hips and petite upper body. She had a nice smile too, though McQueen guessed today it looked slightly tired. No hint of malice though, only the tell-tale sign of black rings under her eyes.
“Yes.” McQueen answered, taking in her big brown eyes. She was cute, he thought, and despite the haunting feeling in his bones, he found himself smiling at her.
She smiled back. “Hello, I’m Nurse Willow. We spoke on the phone.” Her little, sharply shaped eyebrows furrowed. “I have to apologies for the abruptness. We had an… emergency.”
“It’s quite alright.” Hale spoke up, sticking out his hand for the Nurse to shake. “Tensions are high at the moment. It’s understandable.”
She humph, her tone agreeing and inclined her head down the corridor as she shook their hands. “The patient is down the end here. I should warn you I don’t know what use she’ll be. She’s traumatized and is unresponsive at best...”
“Is that why she’s in such an isolated area of the hospital?” Hale asked as they walked together down the hall.
“Elizabeth woke from the anaesthetic a few hours ago. The doctor’s started pushing pain medication before that, but she still woke up screaming. She was scaring the other patients, so we had to move her. We’ve been pushing more and more pain medication; as much as we can, but any more and her heart will stop.”
They were close enough now that the strangled cries were starting to become clearer. Moaning, high pitched and growing louder, then softer, as if the patient was swinging her head side to side. Approaching the door, McQueen noticed two other nurses pop their head out of the station further down, but they quickly looked away. Suddenly they were a flurry of action finding things to do that seemed to lead to the other side of the hall.
“I wouldn’t expect anything from them.” Nurse Willow spoke, following McQueen’s gaze. “They’ve all requested a transfer from this ward or have called in sick. No one is checking that they work this wing, and if there is a senior member of staff around, they’re always busy somewhere else. It’s difficult to find them whenever Elizabeth needs seeing too.” Bitterness and anger laced the tiny woman’s voice, her scowl deepened further. “She’s ‘too much for them’, they say. Or she doesn’t treat them with enough respect!” She spat.
“They’re refusing to work on Ms. Michaels?” McQueen asked shocked. Nurse Willow gave one sharp nod, clutching her clip board tighter. “It pisses you off, that they would treat a patient this way?” McQueen asked staying outside the room for a moment longer. Hale had already stepped inside. All work that man.
Nurse Willow’s head whipped round and if she could frown more she’d have a moustache. The thought made McQueen chuckled and he suddenly felt lighter. It wasn’t much, but since he’d walked away from Cardinal House this morning, he felt he could finally take a breath. This woman didn’t even know what she was doing or how she was helping, but it made her more endearing.
“Of course, it pisses me off.” She snapped, “It’s despicable that they can look upon Elizabeth like she’s a deranged alley cat. Who would look at someone and not see a victim who needs help? They swore a Hippocratic oath. They should look past her broken body and cruel words and help the soul that lies inside.” McQueen nodded along and knew of what she spoke. The soul was a person, and no matter how damaged they were He, the Lord would still accept them, therefore so should they.
McQueen gave her an understanding smile before he pushed opened the door, allowing her to walk ahead of him in to the room. Yet even as he took in the site before him, having felt he was prepared, he hissed a pray to the man above. “Mary mother save her…” His fingers twitched to his cross around his neck.
Once in the room the screeching voice hit McQueen with full force. Hale hadn’t moved far in, like he was waiting for his partner and moral support. It was understandable that it might be needed. Rolling her head side to side on the pillow, Lizzy released a low groan, arms straining against the fur edged restraints that clasped around her wrists. Her hospital gown had ridden up her body, the pale insides of her thighs flashing in the harsh hospital lights. Ragged tares dotted across her skin; deep cuts and teeth marks had torn apart the skin that had yet to be bandaged. McQueen didn’t realize what was wrong with the picture at first glance, but in the time it took him to blink, the oddness hit him. From Lizzy’s knees down, her legs were missing. They’d wrapped a belt around her waist to hold her down because her ankles were simply not there. Heavy white gauze had been wrapped around the stumps, but blooms of pink were seeping through as she slammed then down over and over. Her hands were also heavily bandage and were bigger than snow gloves. She had a patch over one eye and her once, no doubt lovely hair had been cut very, very short.
Nurse Willow must have seen McQueen’s look because she whispered to him low and under-her-breath, so not to invite the whole room to listen. “The surgeons had to cut them off. Unlike what the porn industry might suggest, a woman can only hang for a short time. The blood was cut off from her lower extremities for too long. There was muscle death and her flesh had started to putrefy. They had to remove both legs, or the dead blood cells would have killed her if allowed back into her system.” Nurse Willow grabbed some bandages off the side, before turning back to him, “It’s the same for her fingers. They saved some, but the others…” McQueen could only nod in understanding though the visual was still a rough kick to the solar-plex. “Her cheek bone was shattered which sent shards into her eye. She’s lost that too. The rest of her wounds are superficial but after everything else she’s been through…”
They’d had to cut her legs off… and she’d lost an eye. McQueen looked back at Lizzy feeling his guilt rise more and more. If they’d gotten to her sooner, maybe they could have done better... McQueen shook himself inside. It didn’t matter about ifs and buts any more, everyone was times bitch and they were running out of it. He needed to work on the now.
Stepping further into the room, Lizzy’s groans became screams and everyone in the room jumped. A small whimper floated from one corner of the room causing McQueen’s head to whip over his shoulder. “Doctor Cassi?” he said in surprise, keeping his voice low. Hale looked behind him and looked equally shocked. It seemed neither of them had noticed her presence in the room until that point. She didn’t look at them though. She didn’t lift her eyes away from the body writhing on the bed. Cassi whimpered again, but it was lost in the cries of Lizzy’s, who had now moved from screaming to sobbing and crying for help.
“Heeelp Me!” Lizzy cried. Her head rolled over the pillow and as Hale and McQueen finally stepped closer.
“Miss Michaels?” Hale spoke in a low voice; soft and calming. “Miss Michaels, we are here to help. We want to catch who did this to you. We need to speak to you about the night you went to Cardinal House?”
Lizzy wailed her mouth a gape. Her lips were cracked and bleeding, seeping in-between her teeth and down her chin. No one was trying to clean it up any more. “No, no, no!” She screamed, pulling her whole body away from Hale, the harsh metal clang of her restraints grating McQueen's ears.
&nb
sp; “We understand it will be traumatic but if we are to catch the killer, we- “
“NO! Please! Please PleasePlease! NoooOoooO!”
Eyes flicking to the only Doctor in the room, McQueen watched as the man continued to scribbled notes on the same page as he had been doing for the past five minutes. “Can you not give her anything for the pain?” McQueen had meant to ask it calmly, but his tone came out harsh and snappy.
“We have Detective McQueen.” The Doctor answered straightening the glasses that had slipped down his nose. In truth, this guy didn’t seem out of high school, let alone medical school. He cheeks were blemished in a permanent red and he’d cut himself shaving three times. “She has had her full dose of morphine for the pain. Anymore sedative and we will cause irreversible damage. Unfortunately, we have little else we can do for her.”
“Little else?” McQueen seethed. “There has to be a drug out there that could sooth her. Too calm her down?”
The Doctor at least looked guilty when he answered. “If you want to speak to her and get coherent thoughts, we can’t give her anything. We have a psychologist coming in to see her when we can, but while she is screaming, and you want answers, there is little we can do.”
“Can she speak at least?” Hale asked. “Anything but screaming?”
“Now and again,” Nurse Willow spoke up, the doctor already backing out of the room. “But it’s still- … nonsense. Nothing really makes sense. I’m sorry.”
Hale huffed a breath, “What nonsense?” Flipping open his pad, facing Nurse Willow. “Anything could be useful?”
Nurse Willow sighed heavily, as if to prepare herself to recall the past horrors. But this woman was strong, McQueen could see it in her stiff upper lips and determined gaze. She really wanted to help Lizzy. It made McQueen give her a small smile of encouragement. “When she talks, and when I say talk it’s not sentences; it’s mumbles and it’s as if there is someone else in the room.” Hale just nodded, encouraging her to continue. “She speaks of eyes, white eyes watching her. Pain, always screaming about the pain, about how it hurts and crying out for help.” Unconsciously she rubbed her arms, eyes watering. “Sometimes, she talks of the blood, the smell…” She shuddered.
“No details? No names or recollections of places or street signs?” Hale almost begged. They needed something.
“No.” Nurse Willow looked truly apologetic. She wanted to help.
Hale sighed, stepping closer to Lizzy, McQueen stayed where he was, knowing the two of them would be too over bearing. “Miss Michaels, -,” Hale began.
Eye snapping upwards, Lizzy’s cries died on her lipsand her one eye rolled around Hale’s face. “You?” Her thin voice spoke, croaky with dryness. “I remember you?” Tears pooled in her eyes.
“You do?” Hale stuttered. He’d been there to help the medics cut her down. He’d held her face still while they strapped her down to the gurney, protecting her wounds. She could recognize his blurry shape now from the blurry shape he was then… McQueen didn’t think his solar-plex could take any more hits. “Yes. Yes, Miss Michaels. We have met briefly.” McQueen cringed at the thought that Lizzy hanging there, screaming in silent pain, had been aware enough to recognize Hale.
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” Her single eye bouncing from his face to the rest of the room. “Yes. Yes. Yes! Where...? Where…?”
“Yes, Miss Michaels. Yes, we want to help you. Let us help you. What happened? Do you remember who they were?” Hale clasped her bandaged hand in his. McQueen couldn’t help but think about the missing fingers underneath.
“No, no, NO!” Lizzy screamed. “Demons, demons, stay away!” She began to thrash again, her recently cut hair scraping against the pillow. Blood suddenly began to pool on the corner of her gown.
“She’s popped a stitch,” Nurse Willow snapped, rushing forward, but that only made Lizzy scream more.
“NO! NO! NO! White eyes!! Demon eyes! They find me, screech at me! Don’t let them touch me! Don’t let them!” Tears streaked down one side of Lizzy’s face. “Please save me! PleeeAse!! Save me!” Suddenly her hand lashed out grabbing at Hales, but only really managed to punch him with a padded wad of white. McQueen heard the next words and ice slid down his spine and he felt like he’d been dealt a hard slap to the face. “Please,” She begged, voice cracking, “Please kill me.”
Choked sobs crackled out from the corner of the room as Doctor Cassi’s knees gave way. She clamped one hand over her mouth while the other tried to support her on the empty visitor’s chair. Her pale face started to shake side to side in disbelief. “No.” She whispered. “No, please don’t let her be right.” Cassi begged, her voice but a breath from her lungs. McQueen could see the horror clouding the Doctors eyes as the words spoken in morgue, just a day ago, swept her mind. ‘You and your morals and ethics dragged her into reality again… You should have just put her down.’.
“Golden eyes, so far below.” Lizzy said, voice ringing in the silent, shocked room. “Golden eyes, so broken and angry…Kill me. Please, please kill me.” Cassi ran from the room sobbing. No one made a move to follow.
“Once more?” Hale said to McQueen, almost asking. Could they push her more? McQueen looked once more at Lizzy. Her hair darker than he remembered, cut so short, while her skin was broken with jagged black stitches and her skin pulled in all directions. One eye was gone while her face was swollen double in size. Whatever beauty she’d once held was gone. Her legs were gone, her fingers gone, her breasts gone. Echo had been right. Her life; all she had known was gone. Lizzy wanted to die, and they had stolen that from her. Intention, as good as they may be, can be wrong. With a slow nod, chin lowered, McQueen stepped back and prayed with every bone in his body.
“Lizzy?” Hale tried, using her street name for the first time. “Anything you can give us, anything at all?”
“Anything at all, anything at all, anything at all…”
“Yes, anything?”
“Yes, yes, yes.”Gazing to the corner of the room, Lizzy had stilled, while her voice became bare like it had lost all life. It reminded McQueen of his dear Nana in her last days on earth. Lost in her own mind she only repeated words she could hear.
“Miss Michaels?” Hale begged his voice breaking. Desperation could break a man and Hale was at his breaking point.
“Miss, miss,miss …”
“She’s just repeating everything you say.” McQueen spoke low. He’d lived through this. He knew they would get nothing from her now.
“We’re not getting anywhere.” Hale sighed seeing what McQueen could. The last beacon of hope died on his exhale. “Can you give her more sedative now? She’s a damn echo.” Rubbing his brow, Hale looked like the perfect image of a defeated man.
“Echo? Echo? Echo… she’s here?”
“Yes, an e-,” Hale stopped. It hadn’t been the Nurse Willow who spoke, and the Doctor had left ages ago. Lizzy; her eye was no longer vacant was looking around the room, as if trying to find someone.
“Echo?” She asked again.
Hale looked to McQueen in bewilderment. “Do you think she’s remembering Echo from the crime scene?” Hale’s face hardened. “Or before…Is there any way Ms. Headly could have slipped out during your ‘meeting’?” Hale demanded from McQueen. “If she did and she is the one behind all this…?” Hale let out a shuddered breath of hope.
McQueen even doubted himself for a moment but shook his head. “No, she couldn’t have slipped away. But that doesn’t mean she couldn’t have got someone to dispose of the bodies for her.” McQueen remembered how persuasive she’d been, how she had pulled down his barriers with ease. “She could easily manipulate someone else.”
“Echo, Echo, Echo? I must…yes, Echo... I must-... she will… Echo, Echo Echo…” Lizzy rolled her head singing. It was the closest McQueen had seen her to a fraction of happy. “Where is she? Where is she?”
But as McQueen tried to process how and why Echo would do this, who could have helped her, Nurse Willow stepped forwa
rd, chin still held high. “I’d hate to disagree with you Detectives, I know you do this for a living and all… but I’ve spent the most time with Lizzy. She seems most at peace whenever she brings up ‘Echo’. Had I thought it was a name I would have mentioned it earlier, but it’s always just been a word.”
"Echo... Echo ... Echo!" Lizzy started to grow frantic, thrashing again. Her eye widened again, and the heart machine began to race. “Echo, Echo! She will save me! Save me. They fear her…” Nurse Willow jumped forwards, hands flittering over the beeping machines, the shrieking noise dimming to a low buzz. Lizzy began to throw her head back over and over, slamming it into the pillow. The metal restraints clicked every time and were becoming sticky with sweat. Nurse Willow rushed to a locked draw for a syringe.
"Detective Hale." Nurse Willow looked at him with hard eyes over the trashing body between them. Her previous soft voice came out harsh and strained. She plunged a syringe into the IV bag and Lizzy began to slur her words and drift to the side. "May I make a suggestion?" She didn't wait for Hale to answer, “She only finds some semblance of peace when she is mumbling that insignificant word. That name." Lizzy had quietened, as if she could follow the conversation, though the word ‘echo’ was still mouthed through her crusted lips. McQueen watch the fire die from Lizzy’s limbs and the slumber take her. Then, suddenly, all that could be heard in the room was the sharp beep of the machines and the click of the air conditioning as it swirled on.