Guarding Light (7 page)

   Catlyn gingerly touched her face with her right hand. It felt puffy and there was a subtle ache. Her mouth felt as though she had been to the dentist.

   "Catlyn, do you have any questions for me about your care or recovery?" Dr. Rice gently asked.

   Catlyn didn't answer only lay her head against her mother's bosom. May Lyte tucked her daughter close. "I got it from here doctor."

   Dr. Rice's smile was filled with sympathy. "Ok, mom, there are several people who need to know Catlyn is now awake so they can speak with her."

   Catlyn didn't see or hear the doctor leave her room. She breathed in her mother's familiar scent. A scent which meant she was home and safe. Deep racking sobs erupted from Catlyn. Safe? She would never feel safe again. She wanted to die of shame as images flashed through her head. J.T. had brutalized her in the most horrible way imaginable for a female. Catlyn cried harder. "Mama, he hurt me really bad. My privates hurt so much!" Catlyn's sobs became audible. May started to rock her, still lightly caressing her hair. "Ssh, honey."

   Catlyn didn't see her mother reach for the call bell. Catlyn started to scream, pulling at her mother's embrace, trying to get closer, wanting to crawl inside her mother's protective arms. "N-no, n-nev-er, s-s-safe a-a-gain." Catlyn screamed. Hysterical beyond comprehension, Catlyn only felt a slight prick then a soothing heat and then nothing.

****

   Catlyn sat in her hospital room staring at her lunch tray. It had been two days since she woke up. In those two days she had been visited by numerous doctors, a psychiatrist, a rape counselor, policemen assigned her case, Tasha and of course her mother. She was told that she would be released as soon as she could eat, urinate and move her bowls. Catlyn had already eaten and peed, just one more and she could leave this place.

   She looked at the flowers, cards and balloons which comprised all her get well wishes. There were quite a lot of them. Catlyn didn't feel cheered by the bright colorful collage. She felt humiliated. They all knew! They all knew what had happened to her. Knew the things J.T. had done to her. Just the thought of so many people knowing, made Catlyn physically ill.

   Tears came to her eyes. Angered by yet another crying jag, Catlyn sent her bandaged hand swiping across the bedside table. A wave of cards, flowers, candy and her untouched lunch covered the floor. She was sick of crying and feeling as though her life was at an end. The only thing that stopped her crying was her anger, so Catlyn fueled it, keeping the horrible details of the attack in her mind. She refused to forget a single tidbit. She will forget NOTHING!

   That asshole needed to pay. Catlyn couldn't wait to testify so she could watch him put behind bars. The rape counselor had told her some women didn't feel as though they could survive a trial because sometimes it backfired and it seemed as though the victim was put on trial, all her details being highlighted. Catlyn had fiercely told the counselor that she was not one of those women! She didn't care what she would have to tell about herself just as long as J.T. got his and she got justice.

   Oliver Clancy, the detective assigned her case, had took her statement the day she woke up. He had told her that it would be no problem for him to get a warrant for J.T. Dark's arrest. He told her he would return when the arrest had been made. Catlyn had felt some satisfaction when detective Clancy failed to respond to the Dark name. Catlyn knew the Dark family was very prominent in the community and the name carried a lot of power. But Clancy had simply nodded and asked her to sign her statement with her mom looking on.

   Catlyn push the call button. When a nurse responded Catlyn contritely said, "I'm sorry but my table tipped over." The nurse gave a pointed look at the still upright table and called housekeeping.

   Catlyn was just leaving the bathroom in her room when her mother, Clancy, Sara and Jack walked into the room. The nurse had remade her bed while she was using the facilities. Now she carefully assisted Catlyn back into her bed, seeing she was comfortable, leaving the call button next to her hand on the bed, the nurse left her with her visitors.

   Catlyn's mother walked up and hugged her. "Oh, good, they removed your I.V. and catheter." Catlyn blushed at her mother's nonchalance in mentioning something so private in a full room. Catlyn knew it was the pre-nurse in her.

   Everyone ignored it. Clancy pulled up a chair for her mom and took another for himself. Catlyn gave her friends a quick glance. She saw them unclasped their hands. Jack got the last chair in the room for Sara and stood behind it with his hands on Sara's shoulders.

   For some reason, Catlyn couldn't take her eyes off the gesture. It left her feeling weak and shaky. She looked into Jack's eyes. They were an intense green, his expression grim. Their gazes remained locked, a silent communication.

   Catlyn's attention didn't switch until her mother lightly touched her. "Detective Clancy has something to tell you about the case."

   Catlyn's eyes switched to Clancy's. He was frowning. "Did you arrest him?"

   "No. It seems J.T. Dark has an alibi for the time of your attack." Clancy reluctantly imparted.

   Catlyn shrugged it off. "He's lying."

   "He has corroborating witnesses."

   Catlyn, ignoring her mom's staying hand, flung back the sheet and weakly stood holding the side of the bed. "They are all lying!"

   At Catlyn's edict everyone shared uncomfortable looks. "What?" She questioned not missing the exchange.

   Clancy cleared his throat. "His witnesses are above reproach."

   Catlyn shook her head as her tears started again. "So because he's rich and white you believe him over some little black, no, some little hysterical nigger? That's what he called me while he raped me."

   "Catlyn!" May Lyte exclaimed.

   "No mama. He's lying. They are all lying. J.T. Dark raped me! He tackled me, kicked me in my side, stomach, dragged me into the woods, raped me in my privates." Heartbrokenly she stuttered. "N-n-not ju-st my v-vagina. He raped my behind, m-m-my mouth too!"

   May's and Sara's tears streamed down their faces. Clancy bowed his head. Jack's eyes shone brightly with misery, his jaw like iron as he clenched his teeth.

   Catlyn started heaving, "S-so, h-h-he get-s, gets away with it 'cause he and his f-f-friends are lying."

   May stood and circled the bed, started to take Catlyn into her arms. "Don't touch me! Never touch me!"

   Clancy lifted his head. "That's just it Catlyn, his witnesses are not his friends." Pausing, Clancy pinned her with a look before adding. "They're yours."

   For Catlyn the room titled and started to spin. She looked at Sara who was slowly nodding her head. In slow motion her gaze turned to Jack's. Green clashed with brown. Catlyn limped towards Jack, stopping a few inches from him, their chests almost touching. "S-say it. I dare you to say it." She whispered into his face.

   Jack looked deeply into her eyes, with the tears he had been able to keep at bay finally falling, he whispered back. "J.T. couldn't have been the one to hurt you. He was with me and Sara."

   Catlyn screamed, drawing her hand back and delivered a solid smack to Jack's face, ignoring the pain that course through her injured hand. Immediately a red mark appeared on Jack's face. She started pounding on his chest, backing him to the wall. Jack did nothing to protect himself, allowing all her blows to make contact. "Liar, Liar…Why? Why are you doing this?"

   Catlyn's next scream hinted of insanity, filling the room and possibly the entire ward. Suddenly Jack caught her to his chest, quickly lifting her and placing her on the bed. A doctor and a nurse burst into the room. Catlyn continued to scream. "Liar, Liars, you're all lying!"

   The doctor and nurse took over in trying to restrain Catlyn. The nurse had a syringe. May Lyte held one of Catlyn's wrists, trying not to hurt her. Catlyn continued to scream. "You'll pay. All of you will pay. Liars, will pay!" Her ranting continued until the drug took effect, her pledge ringing with stark sincerity.

THE END

Chapter 3

   
February 2012 (25 years later)

   Jack Anthony Gard stood beside the body of a young African-American girl as the coroner's assistant zipped the black bag. He sighed, feeling every one of his forty-two years. God another one! She made number five. In the past eighteen months the city of Newburgh had been littered with young African-American girls' bodies. Raped, tortured, mutilated. All dumped within blocks of each other. The area was comprised of several blocks in the thick of the ghetto known as the Flats and the Heights. The area before the buildings started to rise and fan out towards the bluff was the Flats, anything after the main incline to the very tip of the bluff was the Heights and after the bluff was the Hudson River.

   Emergency vehicles scattered across the area, some with their lights still flashing. A large group of onlookers were being held back by officers and yellow police tape which cordon off a large grid surrounding the body. Jack looked at the faces, trying to see if there were any repeats from the last body dump. Of course in this neighborhood that may not mean much, other than the fact that the person actually lived nearby. Being an ogler was not a crime.

   Jack noticed several news vans further up on the opposite side of the street. The vultures had arrived. Terrific!

   Jack felt a tap on his shoulder. "What the hell is the C of Ds doing out here?" Sara Mint, formerly known as Sara Dolson, his high school girlfriend, asked. Great, he thought. Just what he needed, feisty award winning journalist, Sara 'Sunshine' Mint. Ignoring her question, Jack turned and made his way to his car a block away, parked off to the side.

   "One of your pet rookies let you pass the line, Sara?" Jack was annoyed.

   Sara kept pace with him. "Come on, Jack. Can't you give me something?" Her voice was sugary sweet.

   "Forget it, Sara. That coquettish sweetness doesn't work with me." Jack opened the door of his unmarked car.

   Sara shrugged. "It used to."

   Jack paused, not getting in the car. He looked at Sara. She was still beautiful. Still golden blonde with bright blue eyes, sexy even in her tailored business jacket and skirt, an open black pea-coat, but she didn't stir him and hadn't in a long time. "Not anymore. That was high school."

   With that parting retort, Jack got in his car and sped away. He didn't need Sara glorifying this lunatic in the Newburgh Times Record. She was an ok reporter but she had a way of picking and choosing which details she used for articles. It grated on his nerves. It seemed all her stories had a slant designed to make him and his men look like Mayberry rejects. Bias, Mayberry rejects. The aforementioned lunatic was going around terrorizing the black community. He had enough problems with the crime that has been running rampant on
his
watch. The very last thing he needed was another pat story from Sara making him look like a bungling idiot.

   The city of Newburgh's crime was on the rise. It had been making national news repeatedly. All over the last few years, from gangland shootings, gang initiation killings, robberies, drug wars, turf wars, on and on it went. Sara's stories often made it seem as though the criminal element went unchecked, as if there were no police presence. And Jack knew that just wasn't true. He knew their stats. He ate, slept, breathe their stats. Last year officers handled 31,034 calls for service, which was the equivalent of more than one call for service for every resident of the city, as though the entire population had called. Officers additionally generated over 6,300 incidents reports in that time which resulted in 3,651 arrests. The Department investigated 11 Homicides, 7 Rapes, 195 Robberies, 310 Aggravated Assaults, 284 Burglaries, 724 Larcenies and 66 Auto Thefts.

   And recent crimes had made the national news once again creating the impression that the City of Newburgh was a hotbed of crime some sort of wild-west in the east. The more heartbreaking of these crimes had been a little boy gone missing while in the care of his mother's boyfriend. The boy's body had been found in a duffle bag in a small field in the Flats. The boyfriend was eventually charged and convicted. Then a mother of four drove herself and the kids into the Hudson River, right off the Newburgh Landing. All had parish but the eldest child who, at the time, had been the tender age of ten. And now, some asshole was reducing the black female population in a most gruesome manner. Jack didn't know what the fuck was going on in his city but he knew his men were doing their job and doing it damn well.

   He had been harsh with Sara due to her last story which implied the city of Newburgh hadn't taken a black woman's missing teen seriously, implying that if the teen had been white the entire force and S.W.A.T. would have been called. Jack had been livid when he read the story. And even more so when Sara had failed to report that the teen was found unharmed with her friends on an impromptu road trip.

   Well enough was enough!

   He had a meeting in the morning with a special section of the FBI, a splintered group of the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) known as the HCD (Hate Crimes Division). Jack pulled into the station's underground parking in the Tower Building. He had several files that needed work and his signature. Then he could go home to bed and hopefully to sleep. Sleep had evaded him since the murders started. They were disturbingly reminiscent of the crime which had changed his life forever back in 1988.

   Catlyn Lyte. The name whispered through his mind. Throughout the years he had often thought of her. Wondering what had become of her, questions whorled around in his head whenever he thought of her, always the same questions, how was she? Had she ever recovered from the horrible thing that had happened to her? Where had she gone when she left Newburgh so abruptly almost immediately after being discharged from the hospital? Was she still shy? Was she still gorgeous? Was she still sweet and sexy? Did she still taste so good? Did she still hate him?