Not Dead Yet (11 page)

“That sounds like boredom on a stick.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Theia found herself back in Judge Hamilton’s courtroom later that week.  He tilted his head, directing her to meet him in his chambers.

“Yes, Judge?”

“I understand things went south on that order of protection case we had the other week,” he said.

“How’d you find out?” Theia asked.

“The police asked me a few questions.  They wouldn’t tell me much, but I heard enough that I’m sorry I didn’t give her an order of protection.”

“Well, you couldn’t, Judge,” Theia assured him.  “She wouldn’t testify, so there wasn’t any evidence. You can’t grant an order without evidence.”

“I know, but I still feel bad.”

“Look, even if you’d given her an order, she would’ve gone home with him anyway and the same thing would’ve happened,” Theia stated.

“You’re probably right.  Can you fill in the blanks for me?” he asked.  “They only told me bits and pieces. Some crap about an ongoing investigation.  You’d think being a judge would count for something, but no.”

“Sure, after court she called my office in the middle of the night.  He caught her making the phone call and beat her.  Cops went to the house the next day and found signs of a struggle and blood on the floor, but she wasn’t there.”

“Damn.  That explains why they wouldn’t tell me much.  So there really is an ongoing investigation?” 

“Not much of one.  And get this - her husband wanted me to come get her at an abandoned quarry,” Theia continued.

“What?  He didn’t really think you’d fall for that, did he?”

“Who knows?  Instead, I called the police, even though he told me not to.”

“Oh good.  So did they find her at the quarry?”

“No, they checked out the quarry and found nothing.  No footprints, no tire tracks, nothing.”

“Well this is one royal cluster-fuck,” Judge Hamilton said. “What happens now?”

“I don’t know. I hope things will blow over, that he’s had his fun and has tired of playing this game.  If he was watching the quarry, he’d know that I called the police.” 

“And you haven’t heard from him since?

“No.  I hope that means this is over.”

“So do I.  These are hard cases.  We know some people are in terrible circumstances, but there’s very little we can do to help.  Sure, sometimes we can put a band-aid on the problem, but that’s only a temporary fix, and we know things will explode eventually.  The only way to truly fix the problem is to change the nature of people.”

“True.  And I don’t have any brilliant solutions on how to do that,” Theia said, shaking her head. 

The judge’s clerk appeared in the doorway.  “Are you still meeting your wife for lunch?”

“Oh, damn!” the judge said, looking at his watch.   “I’m late.  Today’s my wife’s birthday.”

Theia smiled.  “Then I’d better let you get to lunch.  Please tell your wife ‘Happy Birthday’ for me.”

Theia made her way out of the building.  Funny how today it was just an ordinary building, not a scary place where people could attack her.  Life was back to normal, almost as if that day in court hadn’t happened.

Walking back to her car, Theia tilted her face up to enjoy the sunlight.  She spent too much time indoors.  After growing up on a bluff near a small Midwestern farm town, spending most of her days hiking and riding horses, she missed the fresh air and sunshine.  She remembered long lazy days climbing fruit trees in the orchard and picking strawberries in the garden.  One day she would have more time out in the sun, outside of office buildings and courthouses.

She threw her briefcase in the trunk and reached up to close the trunk lid.  A car screeched to a stop behind her.  A rough cloth sack was thrown over her head.  Big fists pummeled her head and torso.  A man’s voice snarled, “You called the fuckin cops, bitch!”  He laid in several more punches.  Then he was gone. 

Theia heard a squeal of tires and wrestled the sack off her head.  She looked around and blinked her eyes to clear her vision but his car was nowhere in sight.  Her head felt fuzzy and she tasted something coppery in her mouth.  Wiping her mouth with her hand, she saw a streak of blood.  She called 911.  A female police officer arrived, led Theia to a nearby park bench and sat down with her. 

“Do you have a description of the car?”

“No, by the time I got the damn sack off my head, he was gone.  He went that way,” Theia pointed down the street.  “I heard the tires squeal as he sped off, after punching me.”

“Do you want me to call an ambulance?” 

“No, I don’t think I need one.”

“Just a precaution, ma’am, in case you have cracked ribs, a punctured lung or internal injuries.”

“I’ve had broken ribs before,” Theia responded, shaking her head. “No, I’ll be fine.  I can give you my statement now, if you like.”

“Would you rather do this another time?”

“No, let’s get this over with.”  Theia told her everything she remembered from the moment she opened her trunk. 

“Do you have any idea who did this?”

“Yes, I have a very good idea.”  Theia told her about the Catalino case and gave her the name of the detective assigned to the case.

“You keep yourself safe, ma’am.  Be aware of your surroundings and don’t ever be in a situation where you have your back turned.  And since you have injuries, you shouldn’t be alone for a while.  Do you want to call someone to drive you home?”

“No,” Theia said sharply.  “I’m sorry.  No, I don’t need a ride from anyone.  I’ll be fine. I just want to go home.”

“You’re going to having some awful bruising.  If you start to feel worse, don’t hesitate to seek medical attention.”

“Thanks.”

She waited as Theia got into her car and drove off.  Theia drove about a block, then pulled over into a parking spot, leaned her head on the steering wheel and sobbed.  The shock of being attacked again had hit her full force.  Why did these things keep happening to her?  Did she make stupid mistakes or did she just have a neon “fuck me” arrow hanging over her?  Was she ever going to have a normal life?  Why was she the one who was always getting pummeled?  None of her friends had to worry about getting beat up when they walked to their cars in broad daylight.

A pedestrian stared at her from the sidewalk.  Embarrassed, Theia wiped her eyes and nose with some crumpled napkins left over from a fast food drive-through and jammed on her biggest pair of sunglasses.  Blasting the air conditioning as high as it would go, she turned on classic rock so loud it made the stereo system vibrate then  pulled away from the curb. 

When she got home, she called Lu and asked her to come over, that something had come up.  “And Lu, could you please pick up a big honker bag of ice on your way?” 

“You’re killing me.  What the hell happened?”

“Please, just get over here. My face hurts when I talk.”

Theia curled up on the sofa to wait for Lu.  She was going to have to figure out how to have a normal life.  Maybe Lu or Mollie could tell her how they do it.  No, she would feel like an idiot asking someone how they manage to be normal.  She really thought once Foster was dead, her life would be normal, even good.  All she had to do was work hard and stay away from men, and everything would be fine.  Apparently, she needed a new game plan. 

But then she realized her strategy of staying out of romantic relationships was working for her personal life.  Her current problem was because of her professional life.  She needed to discover a way to avoid cases like Rose’s, where she could get hurt or even killed.  She could not face having to look over her shoulder night and day.  Not again. 

Lu arrived toting a large paper grocery bag in front of her face. As she swung the bag to her other arm, she saw Theia and shouted, “Holy Christ, girl!  What army did this to you?” Lu marched into the kitchen, ripped open the bag of ice and dumped the contents into gallon plastic bags.

“You sit down,” Lu ordered.

“I can stand,” Theia weakly protested.

“Sit down, damn it!” Lu demanded.  “Let someone do something for you for a change.” She strode into the room with ice bags. 

“Okay, now tell me what happened.  Take all the time you need.  I don’t need a ton of details right now, because I know your face hurts,” Lu’s face lit up with an idea. “Wait - I have a better idea, how about we let that ice numb you up a bit from the outside before you talk.  I’ll fix us each a massive cocktail to help you get numb from the inside.  And maybe this’ll help chill me out so I don’t go kill someone.”

“Good plan,” Theia agreed.

Lu rattled around Theia’s kitchen, opening drawers and cabinet doors.  Theia heard ice clinking into glasses, liquids being poured and spoons stirring. 

“You have some righteous booze!  I’m gonna have to drink here more often,” Lu said happily.  “We DJOs can’t afford this expensive stuff.” Lu charged back into the front room, proudly bearing a huge tumbler in each hand.  She never merely walked into the room, or made a graceful entrance.  She slammed into a room like a rodeo bull.

“Pick your poison,” Lu invited.

“Is there a difference?”

“Not really.”

Theia grabbed the closest glass. “Thanks.  What’s in this?”

“About twelve dollars worth of some of the fiest alcohol these eyes have ever seen outside of a bar.” Theia sniffed her drink.

“You did get hit in the head!  You’re supposed to drink it, not sniff it.” 

“What is this?”

“A Long Island iced tea, my special recipe.  Just five shots of alcohol over ice, with a teeny splash of cola.  Guaranteed to make you feel better, or at least not care.”

“I’m going to be so hung-over tomorrow,” Theia moaned.  “I never drink anything like this.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t get the crap beat out of you every day either.  Drink up,” Lu ordered.

“Yes sir,” Theia gave Lu a mock salute, then sipped her drink, sputtered a little, then took a big slow swallow. 

“So, do you think you’re okay now to tell me what happened, or do you want to numb up a little more?” Lu asked.

“No, I can talk about it now.  I’d just left the courthouse when some guy jumped me at my car, threw a sack over my head and pounded me.  And he said he had warned me not to call the cops.”

“No, he didn’t!  That bastard.  Okay, now it’s on.  We’re gonna take this mother down.”  Lu jumped to her feet and paced the floor.  She picked up her phone to call her brother.  “Jack, remember the friend I told you about?  Well, the bastard jumped her outside of court today and beat her up.”  Lu paused. “No, he beat up the lawyer, my friend.  Can you come over here?”

“Lu, I don’t want to see anyone!” Theia hissed.

Lu waved her hand at her, as though she was shushing her.

“Lu!” Theia insisted.

Lu gave her brother the address and directions.

“He’ll be here in about eight minutes,” Lu announced. 

“This isn’t a social occasion,” Theia objected. “I don’t want anyone to come over and see me like this.”

“God, you’re hard-headed.  And you know, you get really prissy when you’re mad.  I’ll bet you shit pages from Miss Manners.  Well, I better fix my brother a drink or he’ll take mine, and I’d hate to part with this fine cocktail,” she said as she escaped to the kitchen.

“Coward!” Theia yelled from the sofa.  “Come back here and lean over me so I can hit you!”

“You’re pathetic!”  Lu taunted but stayed in the kitchen. She fixed a drink for Jack, and sang out of tune Billy Joel songs until she heard the knock on the front door. Precisely eight minutes after she had placed the phone call, Lu opened the door, with her index finger to her lips.

“Shh!  She fell asleep just a minute ago,” she warned her brother.  “Come in.  We’ll sit over here at the table.  Here, I made you a drink.  Don’t touch mine or I’ll cut off your fingers.”  Lu loved her brother.

“My God!” he said, shaking his head while he looked across the room at Theia.  “What’s going on?”

Lu told him about Rose, and the details about Theia getting jumped. Jack’s neck turned red, then the redness spread like a tide all the way up his face.

“He also pummeled her entire torso – her back, chest, stomach, abdomen.”

“She must be hurting,” Jack said.

“Let’s just say I didn’t have to twist her arm to chug that Long Island iced tea.”

“We have to get the bastard.”

“Damn straight,” Lu agreed. “And we have to find Rose and bring her back in one piece.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Jack asked, as if they did this sort of thing every day.

“I haven’t worked up a plan yet.  I guess we need to start by getting information on Rose and Donald.  I can get some names of their relatives out of my file, since I worked on a case involving their family a while back.”

“Is that legal?”  Jack asked.

“Is that?”  Lu jerked her thumb toward Theia, lightly snoring through her swelling nose.

“Good point,” Jack acknowledged.  “I just don’t want you to put your job on the line.”

“Oh, hell.  I’m burned out and ready to move on to something else anyway, if the shit hits the fan.”