All of My Soul (11 page)

“Jillian? I’m Detective Murray. I’ve been
investigating the slashing of your car tires and the broken window
at Lincoln’s house.”

He was younger than I expected and incredibly
stoic. He didn’t have a single trace of humor or lightheartedness
about him. I blushed when I realized this man had seen the naked
picture of me.

“I’d like to say it’s nice to meet you,
Detective, but I’m not sure if it is.” I didn’t know what else to
say. Why was he here? Why was I here?

“I suppose you’re wondering what’s going
on.”

I looked to Lincoln and then to my mother.
From the looks on their faces, they already knew what was
wrong.

“What do you remember from yesterday?” the
detective asked.

“Yesterday? Um… we were at the parade, and
then we went to Patrick’s—”

“No, that was Saturday. Today is Monday.”

I furrowed my brow. “Today’s Monday?”

Lincoln squeezed my hand and rubbed my arm
around the IV tubing. “You’ve been asleep for almost twenty-four
hours.”

I pinched my eyes closed and pushed the heel
of my palm against my forehead, trying to think hard without
causing my head to hurt.

“Maybe we should do this another time,”
Lincoln said quietly.

“No.”

“Jillian, you’re in pain—”

“No,” I protested. “I want to know what
happened. Yesterday I was at Lincoln’s game with my sisters,
Carter, Kennedy, and the kids. I remember watching the game”—I
trailed off as my memories became fuzzy—“but that’s all.”

Carter shifted uneasily on his feet, and my
doctor spoke up. “At some point during the game, you collapsed and
went unconscious. Thankfully, your sisters and friends were
insistent that you be taken to the emergency room immediately,
because by the time you got here you were in respiratory
arrest.”

“I stopped breathing?”

“We were able to stabilize you, and
eventually you began breathing on your own again.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. I didn’t
understand.

“Here. Take these.”

When I opened my eyes, the male nurse was
giving me a small smile and holding a tiny paper cup out for me.
With a shaky hand, I took it from him and swallowed the two large
pills while taking another drink of water.

“I don’t understand,” I admitted. “Why did I
collapse?”

Detective Murray stepped forward. “Jillian,
did you take any pills yesterday?”

“No,” I said. “Oh, wait. I took some aspirin
in the morning.”

He shook his head. “Anything while at the
game?”

“No,” I said again. “I didn’t take anything.
I didn’t even have any alcohol. I had a soda. That was all.”

Lincoln huffed. “I told you she didn’t take
anything.”

“Please tell me what’s going on,” I
begged.

My doctor cleared her throat. “Jillian, when
you were brought in we did a tox screen. It tests for any drugs in
your system. The results showed an extremely high level of gamma
hydroxybutyrate, also known as GHB. In high doses, it causes an
extreme relaxed state to the point of slowing your heart rate and
causing breathing problems.”

My brain pounded at this information. “GHB?
Isn’t that ecstasy?”

“That’s one use,” Detective Murray said.

I looked at my mom with panic. “I swear. I
didn’t take anything. I’m not on drugs.”

Even though I was a grown adult, I still
feared my mother’s disapproval. I needed her to know I hadn’t taken
anything. I knew Lincoln knew I wouldn’t do drugs, but I didn’t
want my mother to think I had done something wrong.

She reached forward and ran her hand over my
hair. “I know. I know, Jilly Bean.”

“Jillian.” Detective Murray called my
attention. “Another use for GHB is as a date rape drug.”

I felt my face pale as blood drained from it.
Rape. The word alone strikes fear into the hearts of most
women.

“I was raped?” My voice was almost a
whisper.

“No.” Lincoln said immediately. “No. You were
never alone. No one would have had an opportunity. And I would be
in jail for murder right now if someone had.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep calming
breath. I squeezed Lincoln’s hand again. My poor Lincoln. He must
have been beside himself with anxiety while I was unconscious.

Detective Murray pulled out a small notebook
and pen. “We think someone slipped it into your drink at the game.
Do you remember anyone that looked out of place? Maybe someone
standing near you at the bar?”

I shook my head and pointed at Lincoln’s
brother. “I didn’t even get my drink. Carter got it for me.”

Carter looked as if he were in pain, but the
detective simply nodded. He already knew this information.

“No one that seemed out of place in the
suite?”

I shook my head again. “Could I please have a
minute alone with Lincoln?”

Detective Murray shook his head. “I’m sorry,
but I still have some questions.”

Lincoln glared at the detective. “You’ve
interviewed everyone who was there. You already have your answers.
She didn’t see anything.”

“Lincoln, it’s okay—” I started to say.

“No, you need to rest.”

Dr. Ashburn spoke up. “Lincoln is right. She
needs her rest. Any more questions can wait until tomorrow.”

Detective Murray didn’t look happy, but he
put his notepad away. “Fine. I’ll be back at nine o’clock tomorrow
morning.”

“Here? Can’t I go home?” I pleaded with the
doctor.

“I’m sorry, Jillian. I’d like to keep you one
more night for observation. But we’ll take the catheter and IV out
in a little bit.”

I scrunched up my nose. “Ew.”

My doctor, the detective, and Carter left my
room. Carter hadn’t said a word the whole time he was in my room,
and I hoped the police hadn’t given him a hard time.

My nurse stepped forward. “Are you
hungry?”

I shook my head.

“Princess, you need to eat something,”
Lincoln said.

“What about some macaroni and cheese?” my mom
asked. “You used to love that when you were sick.”

I agreed but only to appease everyone. I
didn’t really want any mac and cheese. I just wanted to go
home.

“Okay, I’ll put an order in to the cafeteria,
and I’ll be back in ten minutes or so to get rid of some of these
tubes. Make you feel a little more normal.”

“Can I take a shower then?”

“We’ll see how you feel after you eat
something.” The nurse exited my room, leaving only my mom, Lincoln,
and me.

I looked up at my mom, hoping she wasn’t
offended that I wanted to be alone with Lincoln. She had tears in
her eyes as she leaned over me.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Jilly Bean. I don’t
think I could have taken losing you. Not after everything. Well,
I’m just so glad you’re okay.” She kissed my forehead. “I’ll leave
you two alone. I’ll come back after the nurse is done.”

“Thanks, mom.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Thompson.”

My mom looked at Lincoln and then back at me.
“He’s a good one, you know? He never left your side.”

Tears welled up in my eyes as my mom left my
room.

Lincoln stood and leaned over me. I closed my
eyes and took deep breaths as he rested his forehead on mine. “Shh…
baby. Don’t cry.”

“I’m okay. I’m okay,” I chanted as I tried to
convince both him and myself. I didn’t want to fall to pieces. I
had been weak my whole life and had avoided anything that could
potentially cause me emotional pain. But not anymore. I had someone
worth fighting for now, and I knew he would fight for me. I wasn’t
going to be scared away from living a full life any longer.

I sniffled as my tears fell despite my
attempt at a positive attitude. “Did you win?”

“What?”

“Did you win the game?”

Lincoln exhaled sharply and sat down on the
side of my bed keeping close to me. He brushed my tears away from
my cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. “You almost died, and you’re
worried about if we won our game? Princess, I almost lost you. I
couldn’t care less about hockey right now.”

I sniffled again. “Is there anything else I
should know? I assume based on Detective Murray’s questions that
they don’t have any idea who did this.”

“No. They interrogated Mackenzie and a few
others last night, but didn’t get any answers.”

“Why would Mackenzie put a date rape drug in
my drink? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Who knows? I’m not putting anything past her
at this point. Especially after the way she reacted after being
told she couldn’t be in the parade.”

“But it wasn’t even obvious which drink was
mine. Carter bought drinks for all of us. This could have been
meant for anyone.”

“Then how did you end up drinking it? Why did
you have to be the one that almost died?” When he said that, his
hand clamped into a fist on my pillow next to my head.

“Bad luck?” I asked with humor.

“This isn’t funny, Jillian. Detective Murray
is investigating this as an attempted homicide.”

That sobered me up. Homicide? They thought
someone did this to kill me and not just accidentally.

Lincoln sighed. “Whoever did this put enough
in your drink to kill you. This is serious.”

“I just don’t understand why anyone would do
this,” I admitted quietly.

He lowered his face close to mine again. “You
said it yourself a while ago. There are people in this world that
thrive on the misery of others.”

“Are you miserable?” I asked him seriously.
Maybe he was sick of all this drama.

He exhaled sharply. “God, Princess. No. Of
course not. Not now that I know you’re okay.”

“I’m not either. Far from it.” I cupped his
cheek to focus his attention. “So we’re not going to let them make
us miserable, are we?”

“How are you not mad right now? You should be
yelling, screaming, pissed off out of your mind.” He was looking at
me in awe.

“Lincoln, I don’t have any room in my heart
to be mad. Someone out there is crazy enough to do this, but I’m
not going to allow them to defeat me. Not now that I have you.”

“Jillian…” he whispered and lowered his lips
to mine. He kissed me with restraint as if he was afraid he would
hurt me. When I pushed against him to deepen the kiss, he pulled
back and smiled at me. “I love you so much. I was so worried.”

I inhaled deeply, ignoring the slight burn
that remained in my throat. “I love you too, Lincoln.”

My nurse returned and kicked Lincoln out of
the room while he removed the gross tubes coming out of parts of my
body they shouldn’t have been. Lincoln didn’t go without a fight,
but I insisted he didn’t need to see this.

Once the nurse was done, he helped me into a
comfortable chair and placed a blanket over my legs. I felt like
such an invalid, but I hoped being upright in a chair would help me
stay awake. I was exhausted, and things were still a little foggy,
but the Tylenol helped with the pain.

Lincoln and my mother returned, as did the
nurse with my bowl of macaroni and cheese. I still wasn’t hungry,
but I didn’t have the strength to argue so I ate as much as I
could, which actually wasn’t that much. I wanted to shower, but it
wasn’t allowed. I was still too weak.

Rebecca brought Tabitha to visit me. She sat
on my lap, and I held her close, trying to comfort her. She had
seen my whole episode and had been worried sick about me. I assured
her I would be home the next day and that we would bake cookies
together after school. That made her happy.

Seeing my sister and niece reminded me of
when Rebecca had her nursing clinicals at this hospital years ago.
She had been very pregnant and pulling long hours in order to
graduate on time. She was constantly forgetting her lunch, and I
had to bring food to her on her break numerous times.

“Baby?” I said sleepily after everyone but
Lincoln had left.

“Yes, Princess?”

“We should order pizza.”

“You’re hungry for pizza?” he asked me with
surprise.

I shook my head. “No. Not for me. For the
nurses.”

“What?”

“Can we buy pizza for the nurses? They work
so hard.”

“You want to buy the nurses pizza?” He
stroked my head.

“I just think they would like it.”

“I know they will.” He kissed my forehead.
“God, you have such a good heart. I’ll call the pizza place right
now. I’ll order food for them every day this week if you want me
to.”

I must have fallen asleep in my chair after
Lincoln made his call because I woke to him laying me down in my
hospital bed.

“Stay with me,” I whispered quietly and held
on to his shirt. I didn’t want to be alone tonight.

Lincoln took off his shoes and pulled my
covers back. He crawled into bed with me and wrapped his arms
around me gently, holding me close. “Always,” he said with
determination.

Chapter Nine

I was discharged from the hospital the next
day. Lincoln brought me home and for the next two weeks, I took it
easy. Other than the breathing exercises my doctor had given me to
prevent pneumonia, I felt one hundred percent back to normal. I
spent a majority of my time working on my thesis and e-mailing my
résumé.

In the days after I was released from the
hospital, I tried to stay as busy as possible, which helped keep me
distracted from thinking about how close I had come that day to not
waking up at all.

Detective Murray had zero leads. The normal
bartender had been on break when it happened, and the bartender who
was covering for him was helping someone at the other end of the
bar and had no idea who had served Carter. It was as if some
mysterious bartender appeared solely to wait on Lincoln’s brother,
poison my drink, and then disappear.

Carter felt awful about what happened,
although I assured him on a daily basis that it wasn’t his fault.
He was being as helpful as possible; he sat with an artist and
helped make a sketch of the woman who waited on him, but no one
recognized her.