Don't Slay the Dragon (The Chronicles of Elizabeth Marshall Book 1)

by Rachel Lucas

  “What exactly does that mean?” Logan’s voice was strong now and I felt him sharing my growing concern.

  “Locked doors and windows,” Dr. Ross tried to sound convincing. “They also have a small security detail on staff.”

  I drew in a breath, not believing what I was hearing.

  “That’s not enough,” I was incredulous. “You of all people understand what she’s capable of. You documented our sessions together. You know she needs a more secure facility. You know-“

  I was about to continue when he held up a hand to stop me.

  “Her progress has been remarkable. The medication seems to be working. Even without the presence of the media, with a charges dropped against her, we would eventually be working towards moving her to a transitional facility anyway. That is the next step in preparing her to live independently. The focus from the media only moved the time line up a bit.” He seemed to be warming up to his subject. “Her complete integration and subsequent re-entry into normal society is the perfect way to prove what a successful treatment this was.”

  I looked down at his smug expression and had to walk away to keep myself from grabbing him by the shirt and shaking some sense into him. I paced as far as his wall full of accomplishments before I could calm myself enough to speak.

  “Haven’t I warned you before that this could all just be an act?” I insisted.

  “There has been absolutely no sign of any deception,” he stated confidently. “Ms. Stewart, this medication has been a success. She is completely integrated and functioning soundly. In no time at all, she’ll have progressed to the point that she’ll be allowed out-patient privileges and then when that goes well, we’ll be helping her transition into a productive, independent life. Isn’t that what you ultimately wanted for her? Isn’t that why you fought so hard to prove her innocence? You didn’t want to see her locked away in this institution for the rest of her life, now did you?”

  He had me there. I had to admit, that was what I had thought I was fighting for all this time. The reminder seemed to temper my anger just a bit. Wasn’t that the ultimate goal after all? Hadn’t she begged me countless times to prove her innocence so she could be released from this institution? And here we were, the charges dropped, Lisbeth on medication, seemingly progressing towards healing. Why was it then that I didn’t feel like celebrating? Why did I still feel this uneasiness? Why did it feel as though there was less to celebrate and more to fear?

  “What’s the name of the facility?” I requested. “I would still like to see her.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t disclose that or allow you to visit her at this time.” His tone was firm as I walked back towards him, not quite believing what I was hearing.

  “What do you mean? I can’t visit her?” I felt my blood pressure rising again. “Why? You’ve allowed me to visit all these other times.”

  “Ms. Stewart, Elizabeth is at a very tenuous stage in her recovery,” he was back in the position of having total control over the situation, “stability is very important at this point. Since the transfer to the new treatment center has already been a transition for her, I would prefer to keep everything else around her as stable as possible. She needs time to adjust to her surroundings. There will be new doctors there, new patients and a new routine for her. She needs time and space to adjust to all the changes.”

  “But you just said the medication was working fine. If it is working as well as you claim, what would be the harm in a visit from me?” I tried to keep my voice calm and to sound reasonable. I wasn’t sure if I was succeeding.

  “Unfortunately, based on some of the unusual behavior she exhibited during your past visits,” he was certain to stress the word ‘unusual’, “I do not feel it is in her best interests to take the risk of possibly upsetting her at this time.” His statement was final.

  “But I have to see her. Does she even know that the charges against her were dropped?” I pressed anyway.

  “I told her yesterday, before she was transferred.” He gave me a smile that told me that he was glad he was able to tell her the news before I could. “She was very pleased to hear there were no longer any charges against her. She’s very hopeful for the future now. This was, after all, the best possible scenario we could have hoped for.”

  There it was, all wrapped up in a neat little package. The doctor couldn’t have looked more pleased with himself. This was a great accomplishment for him. I could just imagine the publications he would be writing about his. It would probably be the crowning glory of his career.

  I looked over at Logan pleadingly. What more could I do? He seemed to be as much at a dead end as I was. I felt as though my hands were tied. I wanted to talk to her so badly, but I couldn’t think of any other options.

  “Will you at least contact me and let me know when I can visit her?” I requested, picking my purse and jacket up from my empty chair, feeling defeated.

  “Of course,” he was magnanimous now that there was little more I could do.

  Logan seemed to sense that we were out of options. He stood and walked with me towards the door. Before we exited the room I turned back to Dr. Ross. I had to make one final effort.

  “I hope you’re right, Dr. Ross,” I told him. He had already turned back to his computer and spared me a glance at my words. “I hope this new medication really is working. I hope that she’s really on the road to recovery. Because if you’re wrong, and she’s still unstable, you have no idea what you could be risking.”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Spring was in the air. As I walked across the campus I couldn’t help noticing that the trees were starting to bud, the grass was turning green after being a winter yellow-brown for so long. Bulbs were pushing out of the damp soil, searching for the warm sun. The mountains were still snow-capped but the snow was melting, bringing the earth out of its winter cocoon and filling the air with the fresh, clean scent of spring.

  In a sense, I felt as though I was feeling a re-birth too. For the first time, in longer than I could remember, I was feeling a newness in my life. It was as though I could finally breathe again. That each day I awoke held promise, that it had something in it to look forward to. The closest I could describe it would be “normal”. Yes, it felt so good to be normal.

  My life finally seemed to be settling into a peaceful routine. No major drama, no violence, no forensic tests or riddles to solve. No wondering what was around every corner and what impact it was going to have on my life. For one of the first times since coming back here to Utah, I could think about where my own future was headed and who I might be sharing it with. My world was filled with so many possibilities.

  Logan and I still saw each other as often as our busy schedules would allow. It was so nice to be able to go out to dinner, or a movie, or watch a DVD at my apartment, and just be normal. To talk about every day subjects. How things were going at work, what new cases he was investigating. How my school was going. To share our backgrounds and discuss our beliefs and goals in life. To have a normal evening spent talking about the current politics or a local news story, and not the near obsession of Lisbeth’s case.

  Logan had even dared brave Sunday dinner with my family and managed to survive the introductions and win over the approval of my somewhat overprotective parents. Meghan had been so focused on talking about baby names for her unborn son that she had thankfully given him little notice. Zach was back east at school now, but I had hoped Logan would be able to meet him sometime in the future.

  Things had thankfully quieted after the news stations realized that Lisbeth had been transferred to an undisclosed location and there was really nothing more to cover on the story. Before a few days had passed, they had moved on to the next big news story, and the Barbara Marshall death was all but forgotten.

  Dr. Ross still had not told me where Lisbeth was or when I could visit her. He would only assure me she continued to progress well and she would be able to have visitors once they were sure she had completely adj
usted to the new facility.

  So in the meantime, my life settled into a “normal” routine. I would be studying for my mid-terms for the spring semester soon and with the exception of the small, nice distraction of Logan in my life, I could completely focus on my classes.

  I had just finished my last class of the day and was walking towards my car parked in the student parking lot when I noticed a tall figure leaning against my car, arms folded across his chest in a casual pose.

  “Well, this is a nice surprise,” I grinned at Logan as I neared him. I walked up and gave him a warm kiss to let him know how much I liked his unexpected visit. He kissed me back with enthusiasm.

  “Hello beautiful,” he smiled down at me as we parted.

  “I guess I should ask how you found my car, but you are a detective after all,” I teased him. “What brings you here on campus today?”

  “I just wanted to see you.” His words sent pleasant chills through me.

  “Really?” I stood up on tip-toes and gave him another quick kiss. It was so nice to hear that he just wanted to be with me. It was such a great surprise. It felt so normal.

  “Really.” He took my book bag off my shoulder as I unlocked my car door and he set it on the back seat for me. He held me in his arms for a moment before leaning back and looking down at me. “I know you have to get to work, and I don’t want to make you late, but…”

  He didn’t finish. What was he suggesting? He seemed to hesitate slightly, which wasn’t like him. I gave him a curious look.

  “What is it, Logan?” He didn’t answer immediately. He was wearing a masked expression. “This isn’t just a casual visit, is it?” Dread was already starting to fill my stomach. He must have read my expression because he quickly tried to ease me.

  “It’s okay, Caitlyn, nothing major,” he gave me a small kiss on the forehead for reassurance, “it’s no big deal. It probably won’t even be on the news. And even if it is, it will probably just be a small, special interest story.”

  “What is it?” I repeated, still tensed for something bad.

  “I just wanted to let you know, they’re tearing down the trailer, the murder scene.” He seemed reluctant to tell me, as though not sure what my reaction would be. “I know you have a lot of memories there as a young girl, despite Barbara dying there. I just thought you should know.”

  “Wow, that wasn’t what I was expecting to hear from you,” I stepped back and took a deep breath, searching my feelings. There were so many memories I associated with that tiny trailer, both bad and good. I was just feeling as though I was putting some distance between myself and all the things that had happened there. Just when I was trying to close that door it pushed itself back open.

  “Why are they tearing it down?” It seemed odd to me.

  “Well, it seems as though Barbara wasn’t very consistent in her payments. She was just renting the trailer after all. The landlord convinced the city it was just an eyesore and disturbing all the other tenants with all the morbid curiosity-seekers driving by all the time. He said it was just falling apart anyway and had no re-sell value since Barbara’s death took place there. He wants it gone so he can re-rent the lot.”

  “What about all the things in the trailer? Barbara’s and Lisbeth’s personal possessions, the pictures, the evidence?” I was struggling to take it all in.

  “Once we released the crime scene and took everything into evidence that we thought could help in the case, it was then up to the court. Since we couldn’t reach Elizabeth to let her know, the landlord was able to go to court and take possession of everything else.”

  “What about the framed pictures, the wall mural?” I asked. I couldn’t quite come to terms with the idea of those pieces ending up as so much rubble in a trash heap somewhere.

  “We have all of that down at county in the storage facility,” he reassured me. “Even the wall mural we were able to remove almost entirely intact. I’m sorry we couldn’t save more.”

  “I guess I could have tried to help if I had known, but I don’t have any right to anything.” I leaned against my car next to Logan and looked out at the valley below. The campus was built up on a bench of the mountains and it had one of the best views across the valley and clear to the Great Salt Lake. Normally, I would have stopped to admire the beauty before me, but I had too many emotions churning through me right now.

  To think, all the small pieces of two people’s lives, all their possessions, their lives and dreams, their talents and hopes, reduced to nothing more than a pile of twisted metal and garbage. As sad and depressing as it was, I knew one thing: I had to be there.

  “When are they doing it?” I asked in a small voice.

  “Tomorrow morning.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  I looked at the bulldozer and backhoe in the small lot and braced myself for what was ahead. Logan had wanted to be here with me, was supposed to meet me here, but he hadn’t arrived yet. Maybe he had been called out to an emergency elsewhere. I hated to admit it, but I was really counting on his strength and comfort this morning.

  Several city workers had removed the metal porch awning and the wooden stairs leading up to the front and back doors. A large, industrial sized dumpster had been brought in and they were already filling it with anything that might be in the way of the bulldozer.

  If it hadn’t looked sad and barren before, it certainly did now. In the bright morning light you could see along the sides of the trailer where the metal was rusting, peeling back. The turquoise and white paint was chipping in places. Extra boards had been added to the already boarded up windows since I was here last. It was probably to keep the curiosity-seekers from seeing the inside. Perhaps word had gotten out about what had been found on the walls. It looked as though it had been abandoned years ago, instead of just a few months back.

  There was a small crowd of neighbors and curious people standing around waiting. There was just one reporter on scene which I was grateful for. She looked young and somewhat lost, as though she was not quite sure why she was here. There must have been more interesting new happening elsewhere this morning. I’m sure she would have rather been covering a house fire or a car wreck right now instead of this.

  Just as they were about to start the engines on the heavy equipment, Logan pulled up and parked across the street. I felt relief wash over me at his appearance. I just didn’t want to have to watch this alone today. He walked towards me with his cell phone to his ear and a distracted look on his face. He gave me a quick kiss then whispered to me.

  “Do you have a piece of paper and a pen on you?”

  I nodded at his odd request and reached into my purse. I found a pen and a small address book, turned it to a blank page, and handed it to him.

  “Thanks,” he mouthed then tried to hold his phone to his ear with his shoulder while writing quickly on the notebook. “Okay, the next word is ‘home’, right?” He was completely focused on the conservation and seemed to be writing down what he was being told by the person on the other end.

  The bulldozer started up its engine with a loud rumble. Black smoke rose into the clear morning air from its exhaust pipe. Logan threw the driver a dirty look then walked across the street to better hear his conversation over the bone-jarring roar of the bulldozer.

  It must be related to work, I thought as I watched him walk further away, looking for a more quiet place. I felt my attention divided between Logan and the scene of wreckage about to start. I had to admit, I felt slightly abandoned. I had hoped to feel his arm around me as I watched this.

  I wasn’t sure why I felt so jittery about this today. I was used to holding my own in difficult situations. Hadn’t I gone down and visited Lisbeth all those times by myself? Yet today I was shaking like a leaf in the cool morning temperatures. I felt this dark feeling over me and thought that a dreary gray, rainy day would have been more appropriate for my mood.

  With the engine properly primed, the bulldozer moved forward towards the front of the tr
ailer. It didn’t move very fast and I felt as though the suspense of it all was dragging out. The driver of the machine seemed to be trying to size up the best angle to approach it from. I braced for the first impact, expecting to physically feel the destruction.

  I wasn’t sure why I was here, only that I felt compelled to be. I really didn’t enjoy dredging up these painful reminders of what was now the past. I certainly could have been spending my time on more productive things, like studying for my mid-terms or planning Meghan’s upcoming baby shower. Standing here alone, watching as the final remnants of Barbara’s life and Lisbeth’s childhood were about to be reduced to ruins was not my idea of entertainment.

  Maybe it was for closure. Maybe I had to see this happen for myself, to finally put the past to rest and be able to move forward. Perhaps I needed the finality of it all.

  “That was Jessica, down at county,” Logan was suddenly at my side, trying to talk to me over the roar of the engine. Now that he was back at my side, I only gave his words my passing attention. The bulldozer was now pushing into the front of the trailer, pushing the small computer room, Lisbeth’s old bedroom, into the more middle part of the trailer. The fragile metal of the trailer gave in easily to the strength of the machine. It crumpled together like large sheets of aluminum foil and thin plastic. Silver, white and turquoise began blending together along with the wooden frame.

  “Here, read this.” Logan shouted over the noise, pushing my notebook into my hands.

  “Why?” I shouted back. I didn’t, couldn’t take my eyes off the scene before me. I was almost annoyed he was distracting me. “What is it?”

  “Jessica finished working on the dragon last night. It was the last piece of evidence to be completed on the case. She’s really had a big workload lately, but she was determined to get this finished. She was up all night trying to see if there was anything more underneath the second paint layer. Remember how she found a few words before?”