Aris Returns (33 page)

“No. I told you. I may not want to live like that anymore but I’ll never turn on a
brother.” He smashed the empty soda can. He tossed it into the trash. “So, I’m here,
you’re here. How about a session? I could use a little relaxation time with the vamp.”
He grinned at her as he walked to the recliner. He settled down into the comfortable
cushions. “What do you say, Sarah? How about a little ‘deep sleep’.”

She realized that conversation about Manu was a lost cause so she sighed, picked up
the recorder from her desk and moved across the room to her chair. She sat down, pushing
the record button.

“All right, just begin to focus on your breath.”

#

CARLOS HAVARRO, transcript, session 20, July 30

Sebastian and Emily were mated that winter as were the King and Anne. The English
royals married officially the end of January of that year. Well they did because the
following September, a child was born.

While Anne carried the King’s child, he waited on her as her loyal servant. He was
tender and loving. While in her presence, he looked at no other maid. She fulfilled
his purpose, his desire, carrying the future prince, the prospective King of England.
Her womb held proof of his virility, a witness to his youth and power.

When the Queen began her lying in, he visited her every day. She hated the dark room,
miserable, spending every moment in bed with hangings over all the windows to keep
out the light, surrounded by nothing but women. She despised the mid-wives and court
ladies constantly telling her horror stories of birth and death. She wanted to scream
long before the pains began. Then, scream she did. We could hear her in the outer
chamber.

The King requested some of his closest friends and personal guards to stand with him
as he waited for the birth. I was there along with several of his most trusted gentlemen.
Henry was agitated. His heels clicked on the stones of the floor as he paced restlessly.

Suddenly, all was quiet, no sounds issued from the birthing room. Just as the door
cracked open, the King grabbed it, yanking hard. The midwife stood on the other side.
“It is done, my lord. The Queen is delivered.”

Laughing, he rushed past her. “My son, I want to see my son. Where is my son?” The
door closed behind him.

All was quiet. Suddenly, we heard the cry of a babe. In a moment the King returned,
his step heavy, his face crestfallen. “I have not a son, but another daughter.” He
stood still in front of us all, his feet planted apart in his familiar stance, his
hands on his hips, his gaze cast to the floor. In deathlike silence, Henry remained
frozen to the spot. He looked at his men, one at a time. At last, he began to smile.
“A healthy daughter. And if we can have a healthy daughter, we can have a healthy
prince. Her name shall be Elizabeth and she is a red haired Tudor to be sure.”

Henry did his best to play the part of the proud father yet all the court knew he
was deeply disappointed. Anne had not presented him with a prince. That evening he
and his fellows drank great amounts of wine to celebrate the birth. Soon they were
all sodden and his false gayety turned to deep melancholy. He whined he was betrayed.
Anne promised him a son but presented him a girl. He bellowed and cried until, at
last, George Boleyn assisted him to his rooms. He staggered out the door, his huge
frame resting on the lean arm of Anne’s brother.

I stayed with the gentlemen of the court. They continued to drink quantities of wine.
The festivities went on until, as the sky grew light, they left the chamber one by
one, staggering to their rooms to sleep the morning away. Thereafter, the King spoke
rarely of Elizabeth.

But it seemed it was not quite so that the King and Queen should have
a healthy son. They never had another child together and, in the end, that was the
demise of their marriage and the end of her life.

Shortly after her birth, Elizabeth was sent to her own household. Anne once again
returned to court seemingly unscathed to Queen it over us all.

“And now Sarah, I will ask you a question.”There was a silent pause. “What do you
intend on doing with all of this information that you gather?”

“I… I am using it to help Carlos.” She stammered when she answered.

“Are you? Or are you using Carlos to be closer to me? Think about it Sarah. Just take
some time to honestly ask yourself the reason why.”

S
he raced up the steps of the hospital, pushing her way through the revolving door.
The woman behind the reception desk had short gray hair with tight curls. She was
wearing a pink smock. Sarah wondered at herself, noticing such inane things when she
was in the middle of a crisis.

“Colleen Stevens-Drake. What room is she in?”

The woman checked the computer then, replied, “Third floor, room 316A.”

“Thank you,” Sarah’s reply missed its mark. Her words hit thin air as she turned to
hurry toward the elevator. Glancing at her watch as the door opened, she realized
it hadn’t been a half hour since she received Bob’s phone call.

She picked up the panic in his voice when he told her Colleen was in the hospital.
There had been a car accident, a hit and run. Bob was on his way to the hospital when
he called Sarah. His wife was going to be okay but she was really banged up and scared.
Sarah had never seen her friend frightened of anything, ever.

The elevator dinged as the doors slid opened at the third floor. Sarah stepped off,
checking up and down the hall for room numbers. She hurried toward the door, barely
avoiding a food cart standing in the middle of the aisle.

She stopped for a moment just outside the room to compose herself. When she felt more
calm, she tapped on the closed door very lightly, waiting to hear an invitation to
come in.

Colleen’s voice was soft and sleepy when she answered. Sarah opened the door, not
knowing what to expect. She was stunned to see her friend bandaged from head to toe,
propped up on pillows in her bed. She had an oxygen tube in her nose. What little
was visible of her face above the bandages was already turning black and blue.

“Hey, I’m happy to see you.” She slurred her words through the medications she was
given to ease the pain. “Bob’s not here yet but he’s on the way.”

“Don’t talk honey.” Sarah sat next to her in one of the visitor’s chairs. She held
Colleen’s uninjured hand. She could see tears trying to fight their way out of her
bruised, swollen eyes. “It’s going to be alright, C. It’s going to be fine. You’re
hurt but you’re going to be just fine.”

“I lost the baby.” Her words were soft, filled with tragedy.

“Baby? I thought you weren’t sure.”

“I just left the doctor’s office when I was hit. She told me it was for certain. And
now . . . ” She burst into tears just as the door opened and Bob came into the room.
Sarah moved aside to let him near his wife.

Colleen spoke to Bob through her tears. “I lost the baby. I lost our baby.”

Sarah saw Bob’s eyes fill. She knew they needed to be alone. “I’ll be down in the
cafeteria getting some coffee. When you’re ready, I’ll be waiting there.”

Bob reached for her, hugging her tightly. When he let her go, she picked up her bag
from the chair and left the room.

#

She saw Bob enter the large lunch room. She stood to wave
to him. He saw her, nodded and moved toward her table. Sitting across from her, he
buried his head in his hands. When he looked up, his cheeks were wet with tears.

“We just hung up the phone. She was so excited when the doctor told her she was really
pregnant, she couldn’t wait to tell me. She called me before she got dressed to leave
the office. She was so happy.” He buried his face once again. “Oh Sarah, she’s so
banged up. Her arm’s broken. She’s got a fractured ankle and her shoulder is just
about torn out of the socket. She’s so little and so hurt.”

Sarah rose from her chair. She circled the table to stoop down next to Bob. She put
her hand on his shoulder as she spoke, “I know. I know. But she is okay. She’ll heal.
It’s awful but she will heal.” Her words were meant to comfort her friend but they
did little to bring comfort to her. How could anyone demolish a car like that and
just leave? “Did anyone see it happen?”

“Yeah, the police report showed two witnesses. They both said the same thing: someone
in a dark colored two door car, no make, no year. Nothing else. They were so stunned
that neither of them got the model or the license plate so we’re at the starting gate
without a bell. I don’t even know where to go from here, but I’m going to find her
and fry her.”

“We’ve got to keep it together for Colleen right now. Are you assigned to the case?”

“No, but the detectives are all my buddies and I’ve got a hand in it.” His voice was
vicious through his tears. Sarah wrapped her arms around him, comforting him as best
she could.

#

“I can’t believe how bad she’s beat up.” Carlos shook his head side to side. “She
looks like she was hit by a train, not a car.”

“When did you see her?” Sarah placed the coffee mugs on her coffee table as they sat
side by side on the sofa.

“Yesterday. She looks like a little kid in the middle of all those
bandages. She was smiling. She told me she was glad I was there but I could see she
is miserable.” He sighed. “Do they have any leads at all?”

“None. How can two people see something like that and neither of them catch the car
make or the license number? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Bob was at the hospital. He sure is crazy about her.”

“Yeah.” She turned to look into his eyes, afraid to ask the question that had been
on her mind since morning. “You don’t think this has anything to do with your old
street gang, do you?”

He was silent a moment, then answered. “No, they’re a bad bunch but they wouldn’t
go after a woman.” He looked out the window when he spoke.

“Are you sure? I mean after that thing with your brother.” She didn’t want to tell
him about her encounter with his old pal.

“Sure, they got him drunk and high and they’d steal anything, but they wouldn’t hurt
a woman.”

She hoped he was right.

#

“I’m so glad they let you come home today. Would you like some tea or something?”
Sarah brushed Colleen’s hair as she sat up in her bed.

“No, I’ve got water here. That’s all I want right now.” Sarah fluffed her pillows
and she settled into them, careful of her injuries. She wanted to keep the conversation
light and easy. She asked, “So what’s going on with the handsome one?”

“Just the usual.” Sarah smiled to herself, wondering what her friend would say if
she knew exactly what the usual was. “He’s coming along fine.”

“Any insight to the anger stuff?”

“A little. Hey, what about you? Any new info on the hit and run driver?”

“We’re not really sure. One of the witnesses says she thought it was a really young
woman driving, but Bob says what makes her think that now when she didn’t know right
after it happened. I tend to agree with him. Then the other witness said he remembered
it was an elderly woman driving the car. Who knows?”

Sarah placed the hairbrush on the night stand. She sat on the side of the king-size
bed. “How are you feeling about… everything?” She didn’t want to mention the miscarriage
but she wanted to make sure her best friend was feeling reconciled with it.

“I’m still sad. And sorry. But there’s nothing I can do about it now. I’m lucky there’s
nothing wrong with me so we can try again. One thing I know for sure, I am finally
ready to settle down and be a mother. Enough running around with gangsters.” She smiled.
“Except our one special one.”

“Yeah, he really is a good guy. He’s so frightened. Part of it is from his past and
part from his present. I only hope I can help him to fight the fear, to come to the
other side of it.” She paused. “Colleen, do you think he would become involved with
his old friends again?” Colleen looked at her with questioning eyes. “Not that I think
he has or anything, I just wonder what he would do if they tried to get him to join
them again.”

“What do you know that I don’t know? I’ve asked you that before and you always evade
the question.”

“I know a lot and I can’t discuss it. But I can tell you this; nothing that I have
discussed with him leads me to believe he would go back.”

“Then why do you ask me over and over again if I think he would?”

Before Sarah could answer, Bob’s voice called from the kitchen. “Hey Sarah, come here.
I need help to carry in the food.” Happy to have his wife home, he left work early
to prepare dinner for her and her best friend. They planned a bedroom picnic on the
king-size
bed. They were going to watch a movie to celebrate.

Glad not to have to answer her friend’s question, she hurried from the room. “On my
way, Bob.”

#

CARLOS HAVARRO, transcript, session 21, August 6

The golden sand glistened like window glass in the noonday sun. The Queen sat under
the royal canopy to protect her fair skin from the heat. Her ladies sat readily near
her should she need attending. It appeared there were thousands of people come for
the entertainment, the pageantry of the joust. There were merchants hawking their
wares and flower girls selling their poseys. The courtiers bet heavily on their favorites
as the knights prepared for the challenge and their men prepared for the promenade
before the royal box.