“Thanks! I’ll feel a lot better.”
“No problem, Jessica. Be more than happy to.”
“Any leads yet on who the burglar might be?” I asked, out of curiosity.
“No leads. MaryAnn couldn’t give us a description. All she could tell us was he wore a black full-face mask over his face.”
“I hope he’s caught soon,” patting the counter. “It gives me the creeps just thinking about it.”
I left the police station and went to the hospital to see how MaryAnn was doing. Last time I saw her she couldn’t talk, and her eyes were swollen shut. Vanessa was just getting on the elevator when I walked in, saw me just as the doors were closing and grabbed the door before they closed. I stepped into the elevator.
“Going to see MaryAnn?” she asked, pushing the button for the fourth floor.
“How is she doing?”
“She’s a lot better. Still has bruises, but the swelling has gone down and she can see now.” Vanessa said.
The elevator stopped at the fourth floor. We both got off. Vanessa went to the nurse’s station and looked through some papers that were lying on the desk. I went to MaryAnn’s room. Opening the door, MaryAnn was sitting up in bed.
“Hi, Jess, thanks for coming to see me. I’m getting tired of being here. Doctor Lucas says I can go home tomorrow. A week here can make anyone insane.”
“I can tell you’re feeling better.”
“I’m fine. I got out of bed yesterday and walked up and down the hall and my mother is coming up from Memphis. She’ll be here later tonight because I won’t stay in my house by myself anymore,” she said.
“That’s a good start to recovery. I just came by to see if there was anything you needed.”
“I can’t think of a thing, Jess.”
“If you need anything, call me, okay,” I offered. “I’ll let you rest. I’ll be here tomorrow. If you haven’t already left, I’ll come by and see you.”
“Okay. Thanks for stopping by. Bye, Jess.”
“Bye, MaryAnn.”
When I got home, I picked up my gloves off the porch. Out of the corner of my eye, a shadow appeared at the end of my porch. It startled me, and I jumped straight backward. The little yellow kitten had come back. It ran to me, rubbed against my leg and started purring. Picking up the kitten, I rubbed behind its ears. “Do you want some more milk?” I asked the kitten and it started purring louder. Sitting the kitten down, I went inside and brought back a bowl of milk. The kitten lapped up the milk. When it finished it took off toward the forest behind my house.
I was having homemade pizza for supper. Sitting down on the sofa, I turned on the television to the evening news and about to take a bite of my pizza when my front door swung open, and a dark figure burst into my home.
Jumping up from the sofa to get to my cell phone on the counter in the kitchen, the dark figure grabbed me by my hair, and I started fighting. With every ounce of strength, I took a swing at him only for him to block it. Taking his free hand, he backhanded me across my face. I fell backwards, hitting the corner of the television stand with my back. Wincing in pain, trying to get up, he ran over to me, grabbed my hair again, and dragged me to my bedroom. I kicked and screamed all the way.
In my bedroom, he pulled me up on my feet and pushed me towards the bed. Reaching for the mask he stopped my hand before I could get a hold of it, clenched his fist and hit me between the eyes tearing off my shirt. I screamed from the impact, but he didn’t stop. Turning me over on my stomach he grabbed both my arms holding them behind me. I felt a rope being tied around my wrists and I heard the zipper of his pants come down. I knew what was going to happen next. Rolling me over onto my back, he ripped my shorts off. I closed my eyes.
Pulling my hair and punching me in the stomach repeatedly, making me scream with pain. Then his fist came down on my face and I felt blood running down my cheek. Opening my eyes, I saw the mask, heard him moaning and groaning on top of me. Turning his head to face me, I watched him clench his fist. Just before he hit me, my last thoughts were of Sharon. I blacked out.
I woke up lying on my stomach with my hands still bound behind me. Hearing a noise in my kitchen, I listened closer hearing my microwave ding, making his self right at home. Lying as still as I could, I heard him coming back to the bedroom, and then he raped me again. I must have passed out again. Was he finished, I hoped so, I didn’t know, but I prayed it would end soon.
The sun was setting and the room was getting darker. Hearing water running I slowly opened my eyes to see him standing in my shower. He turned off the water. I quickly shut my eyes as he opened the shower door. I hoped he didn’t know I saw him. It was the kid from the Gas-n-Go. I opened my eye a little to see what he was doing and watched him grab a towel and dry himself. He came back to the bed and rolled me onto my back. With my hands tied behind me, he apparently thought the last beating wasn’t enough and hit me in the face again. I blacked out.
I could feel sun on my body and my bed under me, I was still alive. Moaning, I tried to open my eyes. My left eye had a tiny slit while my right eye wouldn’t open at all. All I could make out was a small, blurry light coming from my window. I moved my hands, no rope. I tried to get up, but my body wouldn’t let me, I was sore all over. I could smell blood. Where I was bleeding, I didn’t know. I was alive and I started to cry.
My cell phone was ringing in the other room, but I couldn’t get up to answer it. I couldn’t move at all. My arms felt like they were going to fall off when I did try to move them. I tried to move my legs, but they laid there like logs. My cell phone started ringing again. Hoping it was Mr. King, my boss, calling to see why I wasn’t at work again because I was supposed to be at work today. My cell phone never stopped ringing.
Hearing a car door slam, I recognized the voice calling my name. “Jessica?” It was my boss Mr. King. Thank you, Lord, I thought to myself. I heard him walking down the hall, calling my name and I knew when he found me because he said, “Oh dear Lord in heaven, what happened here.” He came to the side of the bed and looked at my face which I could barely make out his because it was such a blur. I had to let him know somehow I was alive so I moved my finger back and forth. “Don’t move, honey, I’m calling the police now.” I heard him outside on his cell phone.
In the distance sirens were coming closer to my house and knew I was going to be okay. I thought of Tony and wished he was here. The sirens were getting louder, and soon they stopped outside my home. I heard Officer Sean and Detective Cooke telling Mr. King to stay in his car. Officer Sean came into the bedroom, I heard him gasp and felt my robe being placed over me. Moving my finger again, to let him know I was alive, he came around to the side of the bed where my face was. I opened my slit and glad to see Officer Sean. I heard another vehicle pull up, and then Annette Burke telling the cameraman where to set the camera. In the distance, I heard another siren getting closer to my house, hoping it was the ambulance.
Annette Burke was talking, “We are outside the home of Jessica Pearl. We have just learned from police that she put up a fight. The details are sketchy.”
The EMTs came into my bedroom performed a quick assessment of me, put me on the stretcher, and loaded me in the ambulance. Sirens blaring, I made it to County Hospital in two minutes.
Drifting in and out of consciousness, I knew it wouldn’t be long before the burglar was caught if I was able to talk, but my mouth was swollen shut. They would have been able to catch him today if my mouth could move a little.
I heard the door open and someone walking up to the bed. Looking through the slit, I saw MaryAnn.
“Oh Jess, what did he do to you?” she asked, gasping. From the slit in my left eye, I saw MaryAnn put her hand over her mouth. She patted my hand the way I patted hers when she was lying here. “I want you to know, if you can hear me, if you need anything, let me know.” I heard the door open. She had left the room.
The only thing on my mind was Tony because he had no idea what happened being in Davenport and wa
s supposed to call me last night. What was he thinking when I didn’t answer my phone? My head started throbbing, so I stopped thinking about Tony, closed my slit and fell asleep.
Sometime during the night, I dreamed of the nightmare I’d encountered at my house. The repeated rape and beating I took from Max, the kid from the Gas-n-Go. I woke up screaming, jerking my body and my ribs making me scream louder.
Ginger ran into the room with a syringe. “Jess, I’m giving you morphine to help you rest, honey.” Ginger patted my hand then left the room.
Feeling the morphine taking over, I relaxed my body so it would work faster with one thing on my mind, Tony. When was he going to find out what happened, and when was he going to be here? My head throbbed from thinking of answers to the questions, but one thing I knew for sure. I wanted Tony to be here with me. I needed him.
“Mayville Police Department, Officer Sean. May I help you?”
“My name is Tony Mureaux, I’m Rick and Jan Morisons’ nephew. I live across the street from Jessica Pearl.”
“Mr. Mureaux, I have some bad news. The burglar attacked Jessica last night. She’s at County Hospital. Would you like the number?”
“No, thank you, I have the number.”
Tony hung up the phone. He needed to get back to Mayville and fast. Calling the airport, he booked the earliest flight arriving in Portland around three in the morning and then a two hour drive to Mayville.
Officer Sean driving home from work needed gas and pulled into the Gas-n-Go fifteen minutes before they closed. Filling up his car, he watched as Max, the clerk, carried a television set out of the store and put it in the back of his truck. Not thinking too much about it, Officer Sean finished getting his gas, went in to sign the ticket and get himself a soda.
Max nervously watched the officer get his soda. Glancing out the window toward his pickup, then back down quickly to the cash register, he hoped Officer Sean didn’t notice.
Officer Sean returned to his patrol car, drove around the block and came back to the Gas-n-Go on the side street. The Gas-n-Go sat on the corner of the highway and Second Street. It was a very busy convenience store being the only one in town that stayed open late.
Max came out of the store, climbed into his pickup, and looked around before pulling out of the parking space. Without seeing the patrol car sitting on the side street, he pulled out onto the highway heading east.
Officer Sean followed the pickup, making sure to stay far enough back so Max wouldn’t be suspicious. Max pulled into Grove’s Self-Storage at the edge of town.
A hedge growing on the other side of the street from the storage building offered a place to hide without being seen. Parking the patrol car behind the hedge, Officer Sean watched Max drive to a storage locker, in front of the building, open the door and place the television set inside. Officer Sean wrote down the tag number, color, make, and model of the pickup. Before heading back to the police station, he gave Max enough distance before pulling out onto the highway.
Back at the station, Officer Sean put the tag number into the computer and waited for the report to come back. A few seconds later, a printout sheet was ready reading: 1986 Dodge Dakota four-by-four, registered to Don and Meredith Brown, 3421 Wedgewood Road, Mayville, Oregon.
Officer Sean took the printout, placed it in a manila envelope and on the front he wrote a “?” then put it in the filing cabinet. Taking his coat, he headed for the door.
“Where are you headed to?” Detective Cooke asked.
“I’m going on patrol,” stopping at the door to answer Detective Cooke.
“Did you call the lab and see if the results are ready on the Cartwright case?” he asked.
“They’re waiting on your desk, sir. The lab called while you were out and said they were on their way via the pony express.”
“Don’t get cute with me, young man,” Detective Cooke said not finding it funny.
“UPS dropped them off earlier,” Officer Sean said clearing his throat, and then headed out the door.
The lights of Portland never looked brighter as the airplane descended toward the tarmac giving Tony reassurance he’d be with Jessica in two hours. Renting a car from AVIS, he drove as fast as the speed limit would allow. He had to get to Jessica and quick. His foot hit the accelerator when he was outside of town. What normally would have taken two hours, took Tony only one.
Marcy was on duty when Tony walked into the hospital. “Sir, can I help you?” she asked.
“Which room is Jessica Pearl in?” he asked, breathless.
“I’m sorry, visiting hours aren’t until eight o’clock,” she said, looking at the clock on the wall. The clock said it was four o’clock.
“Jessica is my girlfriend, and I need to see her,” he said, catching his breath.
Marcy wasn’t supposed to let anyone visit until visiting hours. That was Mr. King’s strict rule. Seeing Tony looking so heartbroken and sad, she let him go up and see her. “She’s on the fifth floor, room one-o-two. I didn’t let you in, okay?” she said as Tony went to the elevator.
Tony waved his hand to her to let her know he heard her. The elevator took him to five. Opening the door to the room, he walked over to me and put his hand on mine. “I’m right here, sweetie. I’m right here.”
Hearing Tony’s voice perked me up the best it could and I moaned to let him know I heard him. Opening the slit of my left eye, I saw Tony’s face. His eyes showed his heart ached seeing me in the shape I was in. Wanting to smile, but my mouth was too swollen. Instead I lifted my finger and touched the inside of Tony’s hand.
“Don’t move, sweetie. You need to rest. I’m here now, and I’ll be here as long as you’re here,” he softly said. He leaned down and softly kissed my forehead. I winced and made him jump backward. “I’m sorry,” he said.
I wanted to tell him I was glad he was here. I wanted to hold him in my arms and tell him I needed him, but I couldn’t. I moved my hand slowly out from under his, using every sore muscle I had, to place my hand on the top of his.
“Jess, I know you can hear me. I called your cell phone, and you didn’t answer. I was worried so I called the police. Officer Sean told me you were here, so I hurried as fast as I could to get here. Next time I go to Davenport or anywhere, I’m taking you with me. I will never leave you here alone ever again.”
I patted his hand with my index finger to let him know I heard him. He kissed the top of my hand, and then he moved his hand away. Opening my slit to see what he was doing. I watched him push the recliner close to the bed sit down putting his hand back under mine. I rubbed the top of his hand again with my finger until I fell asleep; happy to have Tony here, even though I couldn’t say it.
Waking up, I noticed I could open my left eye a little bit more. I looked over at the recliner. Tony wasn’t there. I buzzed for the nurse.
“I’ll be in your room in a minute,” she said, through the speaker.
Michelle entered the room. I pointed with my finger to the recliner.
“He said to tell you he went home if you happened to wake up. He had to get some things. He said he wouldn’t be long.”
I pointed to the television. Michelle turned it on.
“Buzz me if you need anything, okay Jess,” she said, and left the room.
Looking at the television, the noon news was on. I couldn’t hear it because the volume was turned down. A picture of my house came on the screen. Not wanting to see it, I closed my eye. The door opened to my room. Opening the slit, I saw Tony coming to the side of the bed.
“Michelle said you were awake. I was hoping to get back before you woke up. I had to fill my flask. I went to your house to see if anything was taken. The television, stereo, and microwave are gone. I hope you don’t mind, I drove your car. I figured it would beat walking,” he said, putting his hand on mine.
Closing my eye, I started crying. I didn’t want Tony seeing my tears. But he saw a tear run down my cheek. “Oh Jess, I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t hav
e said anything about the house.”
I was crying because I was alive, Tony was here and Max wouldn’t harm me anymore.
“You’re stronger than you look,” he told me.
I tried opening my mouth, it opened a little bit. I tried to say a word, but nothing came out. Trying again, I finally managed “Tony.” He looked at me and smiled. My arm was sore, but I moved it and placed my hand on top of his.
“Volume,” I whispered.
Tony turned the volume up on the television.
Bob Hunter, the news anchor, said my house was a mess. He reported about the beating I also took. I couldn’t hear anymore. I looked at Tony. “House,” I whispered. Swallowing hard I whispered, “Mess.” Tony shook his head no. The media was always making things out to be bigger than they actually were.
Doctor Lucas came into my room and walked over to the other side of the bed. “Jess, you’re awake. You took quite a beating. X-ray showed two ribs are broken. You’ll be here until the end of the week. I want to make sure everything is okay before I send you home.”
I raised my hand because I had to tell Doctor Lucas I was raped. He needed to report that to the police. Tony knew I wanted to say something. He told Doctor Lucas to put his ear down by my mouth.
“Rape,” I whispered, barely getting it out.
“Did you say ‘rape?’ he asked.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Doctor Lucas looked at me then at Tony. He immediately left the room. Tony sat down in the recliner and put his head in both hands balling them into fists, covering his eyes. I didn’t want Tony to be upset, but he was. He looked over at me with the saddest eyes I had ever seen, took a couple of deep breaths and came back to the side of my bed.
“Oh, Jess! I will never leave you alone again, even if they catch this guy.”
Reaching for his hand he intertwined my fingers with his. Using every sore muscle I had, I brought his hand to my face putting it against my cheek. A tear started coming from my swollen right eye, and Tony caught it with his finger. I wanted to hug him and tell him everything is going to be all right.
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