Wrongly Accused

by Erin Wade

  Dawn kissed her. “You do realize you’re working yourself into another round of ‘Dawn takes it all,’ don’t you?”

  Niki giggled and stretched hard against her lover. “I just love you so much, but I am hungry.”

  “I’ll order that pizza now.” Dawn rolled over to locate her cell phone and called the pizza place, as Niki continued to rub against her back and caress her breasts.

  Dawn frowned as she ended the call. “They’re closed.”

  Niki groaned. “What time is it?”

  Dawn checked the time on her phone. “Five minutes after midnight. You have ravaged me for about six hours.”

  “I ravaged you?” Niki’s indignant question made Dawn laugh.

  “I might have been a tiny bit to blame.” She caught Niki’s hand and kissed the palm. “Let’s see what we can scrounge up in the kitchen.”

  “I really had my mouth set for pizza,” Niki whined like a teenager.

  “Let me find my clothes, and I’ll go get you pizza at that twenty-four-hour drive-through place,” Dawn volunteered.

  “I’ll do it.” Niki sprang from the bed and pulled on Dawn’s soft Henley and a pair of sweatpants. “You call it in, and I’ll pick it up.”

  “You don’t have to do that, baby.” Dawn caught her in her arms.

  Niki tiptoed to kiss her. “I know, but I like to do things for you.”

  As Dawn waited on hold to place her order, she thought about the woman who had made her life a living fantasy. Although she had never considered herself a lesbian, she couldn’t imagine ever loving anyone the way she loved Niki.

  Niki was lightness and happiness. She was laughter and easy loving. She was everything Dawn had ever imagined a loving relationship should be. God, she’s the sexiest woman alive. She drives me wild!

  ##

  Niki hummed a love song as she started the car and raised the garage door. She had never been so happy in her life. She pinched herself to make certain she wasn’t dreaming. That a woman like Dawn Fairchild could love someone like her. I am her woman, she thought. Even better, she is mine.

  Niki never knew what hit her. She never saw the big Dually truck turn on its lights and start its engine as she pulled out of the garage. Too late, she faced the iron grill of the lethal weapon hurtling toward her.

  The truck slammed into the BMW and pushed it a block before dragging the car off its bumper and into a huge oak tree. The vehicle sped away from the scene before anyone could run outside to see what happened.

  Chapter 48

  Sheer horror wrapped itself around Dawn’s body and squeezed until it stopped her heart from beating. The screech of metal slamming into metal was a sound she would never forget. The shrill scraping sound of a vehicle being dragged buried itself in her brain.

  She dialed 911 as she ran for the door. At first, she didn’t see anything. Then she spotted her car a block away. It looked like someone had crumpled a piece of paper and tossed it against the oak tree. Somewhere in that wreckage was the essence of her soul.

  Dawn sprinted to the rubble, knowing what she would find. No one could live through that destruction, but maybe, just maybe, she could hold Niki and comfort her and say, “I love you,” one more time.

  In the darkness Dawn could see nothing. She flicked on her cell phone light and flashed the beam through the rivulets of metal and fiberglass. Niki’s arm hung loosely over a twisted car seat. The rest of her was buried in the demolished car. Dawn inched her way closer and held Niki’s hand. She hoped Niki knew she was there. Her heart almost leapt from her body when the hand squeezed hers. Please God, please let her be alive.

  Everything else was a blur. The ambulance and firetruck arrived, and neighbors gathered around the scene. Dazed, Dawn obeyed reluctantly when a fireman gently pulled her away from the wreck. “She’s alive,” Dawn sobbed. “Please be careful.”

  Dawn prayed as she watched the firemen assess the damaged vehicle. “We’ll need both of them,” a tall husky fireman yelled toward his truck. Within seconds two large power tools that looked like giant pliers appeared. The fireman carefully spread the crushed metal away from Niki. The husky man stepped back, and another fireman moved in with a similar-looking tool and began to cut away the crumpled car frame. Faster than Dawn would have dreamed, the car began to disappear from around Niki.

  The men nodded to each other and placed their power tools on the ground. “Easy, Mac,” the husky man cautioned his partner. “She’s under the seat.” Another man joined the two, and they slowly lifted the seat from the debris.

  Dawn tried to reach Niki. She wanted to touch her, wipe the blood from her face, hold her. “Ma’am, please step back and let the medics get her into the ambulance.”

  Dawn clenched her fists as the medics lifted Niki onto the gurney. Her lifeless body reminded Dawn of a rag doll.

  “I want to ride to the hospital with her,” Dawn declared.

  “Ma’am, we can’t let—”

  “She’s my wife,” Dawn sobbed. “I need to be with her.”

  The man nodded as they hurried the gurney toward the ambulance. “Sit right here in this corner and stay out of the way,” the medic commanded.

  Dawn watched as the medics did all the things she would do to save Niki. Even with the oxygen, Niki’s breathing was labored. Dawn knew she had a pulmonary contusion caused by a hard blow to her chest, probably the airbag or steering wheel.

  “What hospital are you taking her to?” Dawn asked.

  “All Saints,” the medic said.

  Dawn dug into her pocket for her cell phone and called the hospital where she practiced. She identified herself and told the emergency room nurse Niki’s condition. “She is hemorrhaging and has fluid filling her lungs. We need to rush her into surgery to remove the liquid from her lungs before she drowns in her own blood. Then we can take x-rays to determine the extent of her injuries. Have a doctor standing by.”

  ##

  Everything was a blur as Dawn stayed beside Niki and entered the hospital. The attendants rolled the gurney into the open space between the machines and paraphernalia that occupied the emergency room. Nurses began taking Niki’s blood pressure, while another shoved a clip on her finger to check her heart rate.

  An intern placed his stethoscope over her heart and lungs. He inhaled sharply and looked up at Dawn with wide-eyed concern. “She needs . . . she’s, er . . .”

  “I know what she needs,” Dawn barked. “Where’s the emergency room doctor?”

  “I’m the only one here,” the intern replied.

  “Have you ever performed a—”

  “No,” he interrupted Dawn. “I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

  “She won’t be your trial run,” Dawn growled as Darcus approached them. “Darcus I need an operating room.”

  “We’re fresh out, Dr. Fairchild.” Darcus glared at the pulse oximeter that had started beeping spasmodically.

  “She needs surgery now,” Dawn declared. “Where can I scrub? Get an anesthesiologist in here.”

  “You can’t do that,” the intern bellowed.

  “She can, and she will.” Darcus pushed him aside as she called for the anesthesiologist and began barking orders to two other nurses. “Come on, Doc, I’ll scrub you.”

  ##

  Dawn stood over Niki, waiting for the go-ahead from the anesthesiologist. She took a deep breath before making the incision to insert the tube to drain fluid from Niki’s lungs. Never in her life had she been nervous about performing surgery, but she’d never had so much to lose if she made a mistake. She exhaled and started to work.

  Four hours later, Dawn closed the incision she had made to stop Niki’s internal hemorrhaging. She set her broken arm and ordered an MRI to check for a concussion.

  It was daylight when the exhausted doctor stumbled outside.

  “Can I give you a ride home?” a familiar voice asked behind her.

  She turned to face Detective Bobby Joe Jones. “Bobby, what are you doing
here?”

  “I could ask you the same question,” he said. “But I already know the answer.”

  “Surely you aren’t working traffic accidents,” Dawn said, yawning. “Sorry, I’ve been up all night.”

  “I’m not certain Niki’s collision was an accident,” Bobby Joe informed her. “Get in the car. I’ll drive you home. We can talk on the way.”

  Too tired to argue, Dawn slipped into the car as Bobby Joe held the door open for her.

  “Dawn, do you feel like coming to the station with me?”

  “Last time I did that, you kept me.” Dawn glanced at the detective.

  An uncomfortable laugh escaped Bobby’s lips. “I need you to look at someone and see if you know them.”

  “Okay.”

  Bobby Joe drove through Starbucks. “Maybe this will keep you awake a few hours longer.” He handed her a cup of the dark, hot coffee.

  The ride to the station was short, and Bobby led her into the viewing side of an interrogation room. “Do you know that man?”

  Dawn studied the man carefully. “I’ve never seen him before in my life,” she whispered.

  Bobby Joe grinned. “You don’t have to whisper. He can’t hear you.”

  “Who is he?”

  “We arrested him in Laredo. He was trying to cross into Mexico. He was the driver of the truck that hit Niki.”

  “How did you ascertain that?”

  “He stole the truck off a Walmart parking lot. Thankfully, Walmart has cameras all over the premises, especially in the parking lots.

  “We got several excellent face shots of him as he stole the truck. Traffic cameras picked up the truck at the intersection near your home when he stopped at a red light.

  “After the wreck, we found the truck abandoned in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. Video from Cracker Barrel showed him getting into a Pontiac Firebird and driving off. We picked up his license plate and issued a BOLO on him.

  “The hit on Niki was very carefully planned. He had ten thousand dollars on him, your home address in his wallet, and a photo of your car.”

  Wide-eyed, Dawn studied the man again. “He’s a hit man? He was hired to kill Niki? But why? Niki’s never hurt anyone in her life.”

  “Niki wasn’t his only target,” Bobby said, lowering his voice. “He was hired to kill you both.”

  Dawn sat in stunned silence. “Who hired him?”

  “He doesn’t know. He was hired through the dark web and never met his employer. He doesn’t know if it was a man or a woman.”

  “Why? Who would want us dead?” Dawn’s mind raced through the people she knew.

  “Let’s start with the obvious,” Bobby Joe said, pulling out his pen and notepad. “Richard Wynn will surely do jail time if you push it.”

  Dawn nodded.

  “How about prison? Did you make any enemies while you were in there?”

  “Edward Merrick, the therapist turned rapist,” Dawn said. “And Lucky. I don’t even know her real name. You’ll have to ask Warden Davis.”

  Bobby Joe thumbed through his notes. “Uh, you had an altercation with two men at the university yesterday.”

  “Yesterday?” Dawn tried to focus. Had it only been one day since her life had teetered between heaven and hell? “Oh, yes. Niki’s brothers tried to force her into their car.”

  “You stopped them?” Admiration rang in Bobby Joe’s voice.

  “No. No, not them,” Dawn recalled. “Just one of them. He blocked the door to keep us from leaving.”

  “Were they mad?”

  “Furious.” Dawn snickered.

  “Mad enough to kill you?”

  Dawn shook her head. “Surely not. I didn’t hurt them seriously.”

  “You broke one man’s hand.”

  “I . . . yes, I guess I did,” Dawn admitted. “He grabbed for my leg.”

  “So, we have at least five people who have reason to want you dead: Edward Merrick, Lucky, Niki’s two brothers, and Richard Wynn.

  “Who has the most to gain if you die?”

  “Warden Davis,” Dawn whispered.

  “Valerie Davis?” Bobby Joe said, astounded that his friend’s name might find its way onto his list of murder suspects. “Why would Val want you dead?”

  “Libby filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas. Val agreed to the monetary demands but refused to grant my request for a talk show tour to publicly exonerate me.”

  “Why wouldn’t she do that?”

  “Because she feels it would discredit her. It would make people question her character if she weren’t a credible witness in her own sister’s death. And she . . .”

  “She what?” Bobby Joe prodded her.

  “And she forced a kiss on me,” Dawn mumbled.

  The detective gaped at her. “Wow. I don’t know what to say. One word from you and her career would be over. Do you have anything to substantiate your claim? A witness?”

  “I have a video,” Dawn snapped. “I’m sorry, Bobby Joe. I’m exhausted. Could you take me home?”

  “Do you have a place to stay other than your house?”

  “I can stay with my parents,” Dawn said. “I need to see them anyway. I’ll have to borrow a car from them until I can make arrangements to replace mine.”

  “I’ll start interviewing suspects tomorrow,” Bobby said as he led her to his car. “I’d like to place a security detail on you until we solve this.”

  Dawn nodded. She wasn’t stupid enough to turn down a bodyguard if someone was trying to kill her and Niki.

  Chapter 49

  “Dawn! Thank God you’re all right,” Ruth said, hugging her only daughter tightly. “Jacey’s worried sick about you. She saw your car as they were towing it away. What happened?”

  Dawn spent the next two hours answering her parents’ questions. Flint volunteered to help her procure a car. “Get on the internet, Sis, and order what you want. I’ll pick it up and bring it to you to test-drive. I’m sure you have more than enough in savings to pay cash for it. It’ll be a simple transaction. You can have it by tomorrow.”

  I’ll take care of getting insurance on it and filing a claim on your old car,” her father offered.

  Dawn didn’t tell her family that the accident was a deliberate attempt on her life. She knew her mother would worry herself into a migraine.

  She borrowed her mother’s car and drove home. Jacey was sleeping, so she slipped into the shower. In an hour she was dressed and ready to face the situation she was in. She packed clothes for the week. She planned to stay right by Niki’s side until she improved.

  ##

  “How is she?” Dawn asked Bill Bartlett, the staff neurosurgeon who was shining a tiny beam of light into Niki’s eyes.

  “Her MRI looks good. She has a concussion but nothing a lot of bed rest won’t cure. She needs to take it easy for a couple of months. She’s suffered a lot of trauma.”

  “I’ll see to that,” Dawn said, a hint of a smile crossing her face. “Has she regained consciousness since the accident?”

  “No, but I’m certain she will. The body has a way of protecting itself.” Dr. Bartlett patted Dawn’s arm. “Hold her hand and talk to her. Let her know you want her to wake up.”

  “I will,” Dawn promised.

  “Aren’t you on the hospital rotation now?” Bartlett asked.

  “I’m scheduled to start on Monday. That gives me five days to try to reach her.”

  After Bartlett left, Dawn set up her computer and began searching for a vehicle. She talked continuously as she worked, telling Niki everything she was doing. She settled on a red Lexus RX 350. She knew Niki would like the flashy car. She emailed her selection to Flint and then closed her computer.

  She downloaded a book to her Kindle and began reading to Niki.

  ##

  “Hey, how is she doing?” Darcus asked as she poked her head into the room.

  Dawn turned off her Kindle and laid it on the table. “She hasn’t regained consciousness, but Dr. Bartle
tt said that was to be expected.”

  “I heard you’re staying right by her side.” Darcus looked around the room. “You need another bed in here. There’s plenty of room.”

  “I suppose I should—”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Darcus volunteered. “Meals too?”

  Dawn nodded.

  “I’ve heard nothing but good things about you, Doc,” Darcus said. “After watching you work, I understand why. I also know you got a crappy break a couple of years ago. I just want to let you know that we’re all behind you, so call on us for help, okay?”

  “Okay.” Dawn fought back tears. “I . . . thank you.”

  “By the way, did you know there’s a uniformed policeman guarding your door?”

  ##

  Bobby Joe spent the afternoon setting up security for Dawn and Niki and pulling together as much information as he could on the suspects. Niki and Dawn’s testimony could put each of them in prison for a long time. He listed his six prime suspects. He would work methodically work through the list.

  Lucky was Lucinda Juarez, wife killer.

  Edward Merrick the psychiatrist turned rapist.

  Richard Wynn, the weasel who had allowed Dawn to rot in prison for a crime he committed.

  Niki’s two brothers, Willard and Renfro Sears. Their names rang a bell, but Bobby Joe couldn’t put his finger on anything.

  Last and with the strongest motive, Warden Valerie Davis. Bobby Joe had a hard time believing the law-and-order warden would put a hit on anyone. Especially someone who had helped her as much as Dawn had.

  Tomorrow I’ll put together mugshots and have the criminal we arrested see if he recognizes anyone, he thought. Then I’ll go visit Val.

  Chapter 50

  “You’re gonna love this, Warden.” Val’s secretary, Lillian, placed two file folders on her desk. “The new prisoner transfers are arriving today.”

  Val picked up the two folders. One was labeled Daisy Darling, and the other was labeled Passion Flower. Val slowly raised her eyes to meet Lillian’s. “Is this a joke?”

  “I wish.” Lillian curtailed her smile.

  “Dear Lord, give me strength,” Val mumbled as she opened the file to see the photos of Daisy and Passion. “They’re men!”