Redress of Grievances (45 page)

"Can
I get you anything?"

"I'm
fine, but I wouldn't mind a little conversation."

"Sure,"
Jess said, as she sat on the bed next to Harriett.

"Have
you dealt with many...rape victims, Jess?" Harriett asked.

"More
than I wanted to," Jess said softly. "Just remember that none of this
was your fault, Harriett."

"You're
a good woman, Jess."

"Yeah,
I'm a real jewel," she smiled.

"Do
me another favor?"

"Anything."

As
Harriett looked at Jess, her eyes glistened and she blinked hard.

"Please
hold me, Jess. I don't want the thought of his hands on me to be the last thing
in my mind before I go to sleep tonight."

Jess
pulled the bed quilt up and slid under it, switching off the lamp on the
nightstand. Wrapping her arm over the woman she knew she had fallen in love
with, she wished she could erase everything that had happened in the last two
days as she gently stroked Harriett's body until she heard the soft rhythmic
sounds of sleep.

"HELLO,
HELEN," JESS said as she stepped aside to let Helen Mortenson in the
house.

Helen
hugged Jess briefly and looked at her closely. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah.
Of course. Why wouldn't I be? Nothing happened to me," Jess frowned.

"Something
most certainly did happen to you, Jess. Someone you care about has been hurt.
You wouldn't be human if you weren't affected," Helen said. "Do you
need to talk about it?"

"No,
Harriett needs you more than I do."

"Call
my office and make an appointment then." Making sure Jess was looking at
her, Helen added, "Soon."

"Harriett's
in the den," Jess nodded. "I was just fixing some lunch for us. Can I
get you something?"

"Whatever
y'all are having," Helen smiled.

Helen
was startled at Harriett's appearance, but smiled broadly as she greeted her
with a long, warm hug. "How are you feeling, dear?"

"Sore
mostly." Harriett shrugged as she sat down gingerly and leaned against the
wing arm of the couch.

"That
will go away in a few days, and the bruises will fade as well. How are you
feeling up here?" she asked, tapping the side of her head.

"Confused,"
Harriett admitted. "A little afraid. Pissed off. Glad he's dead."

"He
was an extremely sick man. I'm surprised he was released."

"Jess...Jess
called the State hospital. The doctor there said he had been a model
patient."

Helen
laughed. "Yeah, well, one of the definitions of 'model' is an imitation of
the real thing. I'm sure Wilkes did whatever he thought they expected from a
sane person."

Harriett
stared at her for a moment. "Interesting idea."

"Depends
on how good an actor he was, and how overworked the staff was. But we're not
here to discuss Wilkes. How are you sleeping?"

"Pretty
good. I've had a few nightmares, but Jess wakes me up before they get too
bad."

"Are
you taking a sedative?"

"Just
the first night. I don't want to become dependent on them. I need to deal with
what happened and move on."

"It
did happen," Helen said, taking a deep breath. "You were raped,
Harriett. There wasn't anything you, or anyone else, could have done to prevent
it. Jared Wilkes wasn't going to be stopped."

"He
told me he had been watching me. He was in my home, my office. He was at the
bar the night you and I were there. He watched Lacey..." Harriett said as
her voice caught.

"What
were you feeling when he attacked you?"

"Scared.
I couldn't believe it. I wanted to kill him," Harriett answered. Tears
trickled from her eyes as she looked at Helen. "He...he hurt me, Helen,
and he still is. He made sure that he always will. He took away how I see
myself. The way other people see me. I'm glad he's dead!"

"I
haven't heard you say what he did yet. You need to say the words out loud,
Harriett," Helen pressed gently.

Harriett
buried her face in her hands and wept. "I can't, Helen."

"Of
course you can. They're only words. They can't hurt you."

"He
raped me!" Harriett finally sobbed. "Oh, God! He raped me! He took
everything away."

Helen
moved to wrap her arms around Harriett. "Shhh. He didn't take away your
life. You're still the same woman you were before. You didn't cause this, but
you have to accept it and learn to deal with it."

"Jess...she
hasn't...she won't touch me...not the same way...not since that night,"
Harriett cried into Helen's shoulder.

"She
doesn't want to hurt you," Helen soothed. "She knows you need time to
heal."

"But
she is hurting me," Harriett said, lifting her tear-stained face.
"She sees me as a victim. I'm damaged goods."

"No,
she doesn't. She's hurting, too, because she wasn't there to protect you and
blames herself."

"Oh,
God, Helen, I said terrible things to her."

"Jess
loves you, Harriett. She knows you didn't mean what you said." Pausing for
a moment, Helen caught Harriett's eyes. "You didn't mean it, did
you?"

"Of
course not. I apologized, but I don't think she believed me."

A
light knock at the den door interrupted them. Helen walked to the door and
opened it.

"Lunch
is ready," Jess said, holding two plates.

"It
looks fabulous," Helen beamed as Jess set up two tables and placed the
plates on them.

"Not
joining us?" Helen asked.

"My
office called and I have to go in." Glancing at Harriett, she said,
"The review board needs to see me." Leaning forward she kissed
Harriett lightly. "I'll pick up something for dinner, okay?"

Helen
watched the interaction between the two women closely. They both seemed unsure
of themselves, and it was creating a gulf she wasn't sure they could cross.

WHEN
LACEY OPENED the door of Jess's house that evening, Jess handed her a couple of
bags while she juggled the rest.

"What's
this?" Lacey laughed.

"Dinner,
of course. You know your aunt doesn't cook, and I haven't noticed you reading
any recipes lately either," Jess teased as she kicked the door shut.

"Aunt
Harriett!" Lacey called. "Jess is home with dinner!"

"I
decided we should finally have that Chinese dinner we missed," Jessie said
as she went into the living room. Clearing everything from the coffee table,
she set the bags down and threw pillows on the floor.

"Should
I get plates?" Lacey asked.

Jess
looked at Harriett and smiled. Turning to Lacey, she said, "You don't eat
Chinese takeout on a plate, sweetheart. You pass the containers around and eat
out of them. But," she said dramatically, "you have to be on the
floor and absolutely no forks allowed. That's cheating."

"I
don't know how to use chopsticks," Lacey laughed. "I'll starve to
death."

"Come
on, both of you. I don't want to give more than one lesson. It's easy. In fact,
you can almost shovel the food in with chopsticks. So pull up a pillow."

There
were rounds of laughter as Harriett and Lacey tried to get the hang of using
chopsticks, with Lacey cheating occasionally by using her fingers. An hour
later, most of the cartons were empty and everyone was full. Lacey excused
herself to finish her homework, leaving Jess and Harriett sitting on the living
room floor, leaning against the couch.

Taking
Harriett's hand and kissing it, Jess said, "I'm sorry if I've seemed a
little distant lately, Harriett. I had a lot on my mind, but the good news is
that the shooting review board cleared me today."

Harriett
reached up and touched Jess's face. "I knew they would."

"Well,
I know a pretty good attorney who might have helped me if it hadn't worked
out," Jess smiled, pushing herself up. Gathering up the remains of dinner
she carried them into the kitchen. As she rinsed out their glasses, Harriett
joined her and leaned against the counter. "Thanks for being here when I
needed you, Jess. And for saving my life."

As
Harriett looked at her, Jess touched her cheek softly and leaned forward to
kiss her lightly. As her eyes searched Harriett's face, she could feel the
familiar warmth of Harriett's body close to hers, wrapping her closely in her
arms. As her hands moved across Harriett's back, their lips met and Jess lost
herself in their deepening kiss, the first they had shared since the night that
had changed everything between them. There was no hesitancy on Harriett's part
as she responded again and again to the demands of Jess's mouth. They clung to
one another, neither wanting to break the contact between them. Jess's hand
slid down Harriett's side and found its way along her thigh. Feeling her body
tense, Jess was snapped from the passion that had engulfed her. Taking
Harriett's face in her hands, she brought their kiss to an end.

"I'm
sorry," Harriett whispered, her voice catching.

"It's
too soon, Harriett," Jess said.

"I..I'm
going back to my place in the morning. I need some time alone to think,"
Harriett said, not meeting Jess's eyes.

"About
us?" Jess frowned.

"And
other things."

Chapter
Forty-Six

"YOUR
HONOR, THE people call Dr. Donald Stevenson to the stand," Lassiter
announced as he rose from his chair at the prosecution table the following
Monday morning.

Harriett
turned in her chair and watched as the bailiff escorted a tall dapper looking
man in his late sixties to the witness stand. She had read the transcripts of a
number of trials in which Stevenson had been called as an expert witness for
the prosecution. After his interview with Sharon, his conclusion that she
suffered from no mental defect had come as no surprise. Nick hadn't been
successful in finding a chink in Stevenson's armor, leaving her left with the
hope that he would say something she could attack in her cross-examination.

"This
guy's a fuckin' asshole," Sharon whispered as she leaned closer to
Harriett. It only took a quick glance for Harriett to realize that Jan had been
the voice in her ear.

"But
a credible asshole," Harriett whispered back with a smile.

Lassiter
led Stevenson through a serious of questions that easily established him as an
expert in psychiatry. She listened intently to his testimony, throwing in a few
objections mostly intended to interrupt Lassiter's flow of questioning.
Occasionally, she had to pinch herself to stay awake and noticed that the
psychiatrist's sonorous monotone was lulling the jurors to sleep as well.
Lassiter was halfway through his direct questioning of the witness when Nick
slid into the chair on Sharon's left and pushed a folder across the table
toward Harriett. She looked at him and received a broad smile in return.

Trying
to keep half of her attention on what Stevenson was saying, she quickly flipped
through the pages inside the folder and leaned forward to grin at Nick,
mouthing a thank you. Leaning back in her chair again, she waited for Lassiter
to conclude his questions. Stevenson testified, to no one's amazement, that
Sharon showed no evidence of mental illness and that nothing in her background
supported her claim of multiple personalities. He gave her credit for being an
accomplished actress, even mentioning that she had won an award in college as
the lead actress in the play
The Three Faces of Eve.
It was his belief
that she was using that experience to perpetrate a fraud in her own defense. By
the time Lassiter completed his questioning and passed Stevenson to Harriett
for cross-examination, she was prepared to dispose of him as quickly as
possible.

"You
have very impressive credentials, Dr. Stevenson," Harriett observed.

"Thank
you, Ms. Markham," Stevenson replied with a smile.

"When
you took your examinations for licensure were there any requirements pertaining
to your personal history?"

"I'm
not sure what you mean."

"Well,
in order for me to be licensed as an attorney in this, or any other state, I
have to show that I had never been convicted of a felony offense. Do either the
American Medical Association or the American Psychiatric Association have
similar stipulations before they grant a medical license?"

"Of
course."

"Has
Donald Stevenson always been your legal name, sir?"

"Objection,
relevance, your Honor," Lassiter said.

Rising
from her seat, Harriett responded, "You Honor, the defense would like to
enter the police record of Donald Stefanofski into evidence for the purposes of
impeaching this witness as an expert."

"Side
bar, your Honor," Lassiter said.

Motioning
both attorneys to the bench, Landers covered the microphone in front of him and
leaned forward. "What is all this, Harriett?"