A Woman to Die For

by Erin Wade

  “It’s almost over,” Katie replied. “I think the judge is a little bit on my side.”

  “Yes, I did notice her looking at your legs,” Shay teased.

  “Ha ha. I caught you looking at them too.”

  “Busted.” Shay laughed out loud as she replied to Katie’s note.

  “What are you doing?” Katie asked.

  “I just checked on my patients, and I’m going to bed. We have an early morning court date, remember?”

  “Yes. Tomorrow Grafton gets a go at me,” Katie answered. “I can hardly wait.”

  “Help me relax, Shay?” Katie typed.

  “What can I do?” Shay asked.

  “Make love to me.”

  “Katie, I don’t think . . .”

  “Shush,” Katie typed. “Just play this little game with me. I’ll start:

  I walk up to you and lean in close. I cup your face between my hands, and I let my lips graze yours . . . softly at first, holding your gaze. Did you miss me? I ask. I slide onto your lap and straddle you. I lean back to get a good look at you, staring at you. You are so beautiful. I have not been able to get you out of my mind today.

  I put my arms around your neck and my hands in your hair. I lean in to kiss your beautiful lips. I kiss them softly and moan. You taste so good. I use my tongue to part your lips so our tongues can touch. Lips locked, we slowly let ourselves melt into each other’s mouths, tongues entwined, deep, soft, slow, endless kisses.

  I move myself on your lap to get closer to you. I start grinding slowly into you. I am so wet from kissing you. I’m sliding on your lap so easily. Our kissing intensifies. I pull your bottom lip and suck it slowly, biting it a little, nibbling and sucking. You take control and bite my bottom lip hard. I moan and gasp . . . but the pain is so good.

  We’re moving in unison now. Writhing together. My lips are red and swollen from being bitten. I press them together and moan. I pull away from you, holding your gaze, and slowly unbutton your blouse.

  I open your blouse and look down at your soft, ample breasts. I look back up to your face and run the tip of my finger from your cute nose, to your lips, past your chin, down your neck, and wrap my hand around your right breast. I move my fingers to your left breast and circle around your nipple reverently, gently, pinching it slightly. I’m so wet and aching for you. I lean in and take your nipple into my mouth and suck on it softly.

  “Your turn,” Katie typed. “Pick up the action.”

  Shay sat motionless, wondering how to extinguish the fire that burned in the pit of her stomach.

  “Shay? Baby, please think of me tonight.”

  “I’ll be thinking of you . . . dreaming,” Shay typed in a trance.

  “Oh Katie, don’t you know that you’re always on my mind? Always. Not a second passes that you aren’t in my head. You’re driving me crazy. This is so frustrating. I want you so badly.”

  “I need to frustrate you in the afternoon and fuck your brains out at night,” Katie replied.

  “I vote for that.” Shay sighed.

  “Although have you noticed there is no frustration between us? Only conversation and love.”

  “Love?” Shay typed.

  “You know you’re in love with me,” Katie insisted.

  Shay pulled herself together. “You should go to bed. You’ll have a tough day tomorrow. You need to be hitting on all cylinders.”

  “Do you want to let me go?” Katie typed.

  “No, I’m never ready to let you go, but I realize you have a big day tomorrow.”

  “Do you like it when I ping in like this to chat with you?” Katie asked.

  “I like it so much,” Shay answered truthfully. “Seeing your name pop up. I think I’m like Pavlov’s dog. I salivate at the sound of the ding.”

  “I love you, baby,” Katie typed. Then she was gone.

  I’m afraid I love you too, Shay thought.

  Chapter 32

  Shay was shocked to find the courtroom filled with people. The news coverage of the trial had turned out the pathetic individuals who wallowed in the misery of the rich and famous. Some stood along the back wall of the room. She surveyed the faces, looking for David’s friend who had observed the trial the day before.

  Grafton looked around the room and frowned. “Your Honor, we’d like to request that the room be cleared of everyone not directly related to this case.”

  Judge Wainwright smirked. “You know that is against the law, Mr. Grafton. Are you ready to call your first witness? I believe you wanted to question Mrs. Brandt.”

  Grafton took another look around the courtroom and then said, “We reserve the right to question Mrs. Brandt at a later date, but I do want to call Detective Beverly Wyatt to the stand.”

  Beverly took the stand and waited for Grafton to begin his interrogation.

  “Detective Wyatt, you’ve handled Mrs. Brandt on more than one occasion, is that correct?”

  “Yes, sir. During the past year I’ve picked up Mrs. Brandt four times and returned her to Glencove Hospital three times.” Beverly appeared relaxed and confident in her answer.

  “What was her state of mind?” Grafton asked.

  “She was hysterical and disoriented,” Beverly said. “She begged me not to return her to the hospital. She said they were experimenting on her. Ridiculous accusations like that.”

  “Was anything different the fourth time you picked her up?”

  “Yes. Dr. Brandt requested that she be returned to their home. He said he had taken her out of Glencove because she begged him to. He was trying to keep her at home and make her more comfortable there.”

  “What was her state when you found her?” Grafton pressed.

  “She was always confused and querulous,” Beverly informed the court.

  “Were you forced to restrain her?”

  “Yes, sir. I felt she was dangerous to me and to herself. She would bite and scratch trying to escape.”

  “Did she want to be returned to her home?” Grafton asked.

  “No. She was always delusional, claiming that she was being held a prisoner.”

  “Can you tell us about the last time you arrested her?”

  Chandler jumped to his feet. “Objection, Your Honor. Detective Wyatt did not arrest my client. She merely visited her in the hospital, where doctors were fighting to keep her alive after her husband attempted to kill her.”

  A roar filled the courtroom.

  Good shot, Chandler, Shay thought.

  “Order!” Wainwright called out as she banged her gavel. “Order in the court.” As silence spread over the room, the judge glowered at the spectators. “It is the law that you have the right to attend a trial, but I have the right to clear the courtroom when visitors become unruly or unduly influence a case.

  “Mr. Davis, if you disrupt my courtroom like that again, I will hold you in contempt. You may continue, Mr. Grafton.”

  Grafton addressed the witness again, a sly grin on his face. “Detective Wyatt, can you tell us about the last time you had dealings with Mrs. Brandt?”

  “Yes, sir.” Beverly addressed her answer to the judge. “I received a call from Dr. David Brandt around five in the afternoon. He said his wife had wandered away from their home. I put out a missing persons BOLO, and we were searching for her when Dr. Brandt called to inform me that Mrs. Brandt was in St. Peter’s Hospital. He said she had been in surgery but was doing well.”

  “Did Mrs. Brandt blame Dr. Brandt for her injuries, saying he tried to kill her?” Grafton asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Did Mrs. Brandt file charges against Dr. Brandt?”

  “No, she refused to file charges,” Beverly replied.

  “I have no further questions for this witness.” Grafton sat down. He knew he’d made a mistake.

  Chandler jumped to his feet and walked to the witness stand, glared at Beverly, and asked, “Did anyone file charges in the case?”

  “Yes. The attending physician,” Beverly said.

/>   “Who was the attending physician?” Chandler asked.

  “I’m not certain.”

  “Do you see that physician in the courtroom?”

  “I don’t—”

  Chandler interrupted Beverly. “Is Dr. Shaylor Copeland in the courtroom? If so, please stand.”

  Shay did as instructed.

  “Is this the doctor who treated Mrs. Brandt?” Chandler asked.

  “Yes,” Beverly mumbled.

  “Your Honor, we’d like to call Dr. Copeland to the stand and reserve the right to question Detective Wyatt again later.” Chandler motioned for Shay to come forward.

  “You may step down, Detective Wyatt,” the judge instructed.

  “Judge, Dr. Copeland is a witness for Dr. David Brandt’s team and is on his list as a character witness,” Chandler pointed out. “Therefore, we’d like to treat Dr. Copeland as a hostile witness for my client.”

  “So approved.” Judge Wainwright made notes on the pad in front of her before instructing Chandler to continue.

  “Dr. Copeland, please tell us about the first time you met Katie Brandt,” he said to Shay.

  “Mrs. Brandt stumbled into the emergency room at St. Peter’s Hospital during my shift. She had been beaten, stabbed, and . . . and raped.

  “She’d lost a lot of blood, and we had her in the operating room for several hours, stopping the bleeding and suturing her wounds. We gave her a blood transfusion and kept her on the critical list for six hours. She responded to treatment and was moved to intensive care and then to a private room the next morning. I personally supervised her care over the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Was a rape kit used to verify Mrs. Brandt’s claim of being raped?” Chandler asked.

  “Yes,” Shay said. “But let me be very clear. Mrs. Brandt never claimed she’d been raped. The head nurse and I could tell from our examination of her that the attack had occurred and asked her permission to utilize the rape kit.”

  “Everyone knows the kits aren’t accurate if used after seventy-two hours,” Chandler pointed out.

  “It was used within thirty-six hours.”

  “And what did the test show?” Chandler asked.

  “The trauma proved beyond a doubt that Mrs. Brandt had been violated. I was informed by Detective Wyatt that the fluids we collected contained no semen, and therefore no DNA match was available for the rapist.”

  “Mrs. Brandt swears her attacker was Dr. David Brandt,” Chandler noted.

  Shay agreed.

  “But Dr. Brandt vehemently denies that accusation,” Chandler said.

  Shay nodded. “Yes, he does.”

  “How well do you know Dr. Brandt?”

  “We’ve been dating for over a year and were discussing marriage,” Shay replied. “I had no idea he was married. I’d never heard mention of a wife.”

  “I’m surprised someone at the hospital didn’t tell you about her,” Chandler insisted.

  “He’s had her at Glencove for five years,” Shay explained, “and he insisted on keeping our relationship secret. He said he didn’t want to be caught up in the hospital rumor mill. So no one knew I was dating him.”

  “Do you believe Dr. Brandt tried to murder Mrs. Brandt?”

  “I honestly can’t say,” Shay answered truthfully. “I don’t know. I’ve found Dr. Brandt to be a kind and gentle man. I don’t think he is capable of killing anyone.”

  “One last question,” Chandler said. “Do you still plan to marry Dr. Brandt?”

  Shay inhaled sharply. She hadn’t expected the question. “Everyone has put their lives on hold until the divorce is finalized,” she said. “We honestly haven’t discussed it.”

  “That’s all the questions we have for this witness at this time,” Chandler said. “We reserved the right to call her later.”

  Judge Wainwright nodded to Grafton to pick up the questioning.

  Grafton swaggered to the witness stand. “Dr. Copeland, my client claims that Mrs. Brandt’s wounds were self-inflicted. Do you believe she injured herself in order to incriminate Dr. Brant?”

  “No,” Shay said. “I do not believe the wounds were self-inflicted.”

  Grafton looked shocked. Shay knew that wasn’t the answer he’d expected. “How can you be certain?”

  “There was a deep stab wound in Mrs. Brandt’s upper back, right between her shoulder blades, like someone stabbed her as she tried to run away,” Shay pointed out. “There is no way she could have stabbed herself in that spot. Another person assaulted Katie Brandt.”

  Grafton changed his line of questioning.

  “Were you with Mrs. Brandt when she claimed someone broke into her apartment?”

  “Yes.” Shay frowned.

  “Could you please tell us about that?”

  “Mrs. Brandt called and asked that I come immediately. She told me that someone had broken into her apartment while she was showering. I went to see about her and found her huddled in a closet, terrified. The intruder had gone.”

  “She reported the break-in to the police,” Grafton pointed out.

  “I don’t know anything about that.”

  “Did she say who had broken into her apartment?”

  “Yes, she said David Brandt had broken into the apartment while she was showering.”

  “Do you believe the intruder—if there was one—was Dr. Brandt?”

  “I have no idea who it was,” Shay replied.

  “But you know for certain it wasn’t Dr. Brandt, because he was with you at that time,” Grafton said loudly. “Isn’t that true?”

  “I had gone out to dinner with David, and he had just dropped me off at my home minutes before Katie called me. I don’t know how he could have reached her apartment ahead of me without me seeing him.”

  “Was there any sign of a break-in?”

  “No,” Shay admitted.

  “Did Mrs. Brandt actually see Dr. Brandt in her apartment?”

  “No,” she muttered.

  “Why did she accuse him and file a police report against him?” Grafton demanded.

  Shay had a sudden urge to defend Katie. “The strong scent of his cologne was in her apartment.”

  “She could have sprayed the cologne and filed the police report to make my client look like the bad guy in these proceedings.” Grafton threw out his suppositions.

  “She wouldn’t do that!” Shay blurted. “She’s not that kind of woman.”

  “What kind of woman is she?”

  “Objection!” Chandler said, finally coming to Shay’s rescue. “Mr. Grafton is trying to put forth hearsay, and he’s bullying the witness.”

  “Duly noted,” the judge said.

  “I have no further questions for Dr. Copeland,” Grafton grumbled.

  “Court will take a one-hour recess,” the judge declared.

  Chapter 33

  Shay hurried from the courtroom and drove to Katie’s apartment to walk Bear. The morning session had run an hour longer than expected.

  Two maintenance men were installing new security cameras in the walkway leading to Katie’s door. Shay spoke to them and then let herself into the apartment. Bear ran to her, eager for her to scratch behind his ears. She found his leash in its usual place and clipped it onto his collar. Once they were away from the building, she released him and let him run. He frolicked in the grass and chased a bird. If dogs could laugh, Shay was certain Bear was grinning from ear to ear.

  The maintenance men were gathering the empty surveillance camera boxes when Shay and the dog returned to the apartment. “It’s good to see you beefing up the security here,” she commented.

  “We’ve always had good security,” one of the men responded. “We’re just updating it. There’s always been a camera here.”

  “How long do you keep your surveillance recordings?” Shay asked.

  “I have no idea,” the man replied. “You’ll have to ask the manager in the main office.”

  Shay thanked him and made a mental note to do jus
t that.

  Shay took Bear into the apartment, put down fresh water for him, and hugged him goodbye. “Your mommy will be right back,” she said, laughing as she talked to the dog.

  The afternoon court session was spent questioning Maudine, whose testimony mirrored Shay’s. Grafton wrapped up his questions to the nurse by insulting her professional abilities.

  “Mrs. Trent, we have the testimony of Dr. Copeland, you, and Mrs. Brandt that she was raped. Mrs. Brandt’s testimony is self-serving, so we’re not going to put much faith in it. I feel Dr. Copeland is personally involved in this case so your statement that she was molested is the only unprejudiced testimony we have to guide us.

  “I know you’re the head nurse on the floor where Mrs. Brandt was, but that doesn’t make you an authority on whether or not a woman has been molested. How much faith can we put in your testimony?”

  Maudine addressed the judge. “We have over five hundred rapes in this city every year. St. Peter’s handles a minimum of ninety-two of those cases each year. That’s almost two cases a week, and I handle all of them. You can believe me, Your Honor, when I tell you a woman has been molested. You’ll find a detailed description in my report. If you have any questions about that report, I’ll be happy to answer them.”

  “I’ve read your report, Mrs. Trent,” Judge Wainwright said. “I believe Mrs. Brandt was raped. The question is, by whom?”

  “That I can’t tell you, ma’am,” Maudine said.

  After the nurse left the stand, the judge questioned David. “Dr. Brandt, why did you move Mrs. Brandt from Glencove Hospital to your home?”

  “The hospital didn’t seem to be helping her,” David said. “I’d hoped I could achieve more success.”

  Judge Wainwright cocked her head. “And did you?”

  “No, Your Honor.” David mumbled in defeat.

  “Tomorrow we will go over the financials you have submitted to the court,” Judge Wainwright informed them. “That should take the entire day. On Friday, be prepared to give your closing remarks. I’ll work on this case over the weekend and give you my decision on Monday. I know both of you want this settled as quickly as possible. Court dismissed.”