single injury just to grade her pain. ‘So looking at this pain scale, how would you rate your discomfort?’ She’d finally gone off on them. “It fucking hurts,” she screamed.
The doctor had looked at her as if she were the one being unreasonable. After that, everything floated away on a cloud of pain medication. She didn’t feel her sprained wrist being wrapped, and she didn’t feel the needle in her scalp as they sewed in stitches. The light over the bed was a blinding source of aggravation, and it was a relief when they draped her face in the blue cloth in preparation of fixing her head. It shielded her eyes, and allowed her to rest for just a few minutes.
One of the nurses came in with a clipboard, asking if she had been the victim of sexual assault. Then didn’t seem to believe her when she told her no. When she asked the same question for the third time, Lora finally just rolled over on her side and ignored the woman. She seemed to get the hint.
Sometime later, a Denver Police officer arrived to question her about the assault. Lora went through every detail she remembered, then told the woman about the voicemails she had been receiving on her phone. Mostly just hang-ups, but Derek had called yesterday to wish her happy anniversary, even though they had been divorced for two years. Lora had known then he would be coming after her.
No, he hadn’t raped her this time.
The officer kept referring to the notes in her notepad, as if she already had a statement from somebody. Oh, yeah, the tall guy. Duh. He stayed until the squad had taken her away. He had apparently talked to the cops and told them what he had seen, too.
She didn’t know what to think about him. Relief and appreciation that he had gotten Derek off her, but she was still royally pissed too. He’d been following her for weeks. Her paranoia had served her well when she’d spotted him at her work parking lot one day, and recognized him later on sitting down from the house when she went home. Had he actually thought she wouldn’t see him? He followed her everywhere. Sometimes in different vehicles, but always about the same distance away.
What was up with that arm? It stuck out. Even in the midst of her own crises, she remembered cringing in shared pain for him. It looked like he had been burned or something. The flesh was eaten away, and the bones looked kind of warped, like the healing skin was pulling them into unnatural shapes. It looked painful. The scars spread all the way up his neck to his hairline behind his ear. There were a few scars on his face too, but they were just pale white lines, like they had happened several years ago.
It wasn’t any business of hers though. She certainly had no reason to be worrying about his pain when she had plenty of her own.
The doctor, too young to have very much experience, admitted her. Lora had expected that and called the sitter to let her know. Truth be known, she dreaded letting her daughter see her this way. Mercy remembered hearing loud voices during the divorce, after Derek had found her, but Lora had carefully made up her face to cover any bruising she incurred. Between the shiner and the cut on her head and the bulky wrap on her arm, she was going to have a lot of explaining to do to her little girl.
They moved her to a quiet room on the fifth floor and finally dimmed the lights before leaving her alone. Lora tried to sleep, but the scene from her house kept replaying in her head. When she did doze off, she would snap awake at the slightest noise from outside in the hallway.
When there finally was a knock at her door, it was almost a relief to have a reason to sit up and be aware. “Come in.”
The private investigator stuck his head inside and gave her a slight smile. “Mind if I step in for a minute, ma’am?”
All the anger of the night came rushing back. “Why? Do you need more pictures? Does he want proof of what he did?”
The man shook his head and held out both hands as