In Search of Grace (29 page)

             
Groaning
at the same time
,
Seth pulled back
,
then
started thrusting.  Alex reached behind him and grabbed his buttocks as he drove harder and deeper. 
Lifting
up one of her legs to
lie
on his shoulder
opening her
self
up to him even more. 
She could not believe she hovered on
the edge
again.

             
“Seth,
I’m
coming….”

             
Hearing her words
,
and feeling her tighten around him
,
he thrust harder
,
before losing
himself
deep with
in her.
  I
t
was good to be home, he thought.
             
 

             
Seth woke to the smell of coffee.  Quickly throwing on his pants, he hurried into the kitchen
,
hoping she had not left yet. 
Smiling
he found her at the sink
, h
er back to him.  She had just her shirt on, hair still
tousled
from their lovemaking and sleep. 

             
“Good morning
.
”  He watched as she turned to him shyly.

             
“’
M
orni
n
g
.
”

             
Leaning down, he kissed her on the lips.

             
“I could get used to having you around you know.”

             
He was disappointed when she
looked away not responding to his comment.

             
“We should talk
,
Seth.”

             
He sobered as he glanced at the clock.  “I have a meeting in an hour, but I agree.  We need to talk.”

             
Alex handed him a cup of coffee
.  Looking at her, he put the cup down and placed his hands on either side of her on the counter. 
Reaching out, she ran her fingers through his hair
,
before pulling
his head
down to kiss h
im
again.

             
His cell phone rang
,
and she
pulled away so he could answer it
.
  Frowning, he recognized Tommy’s number
.
He looked toward her before answering.
  “Man, your timing really sucks lately.”

             
“Walton, t
he hospital called
.
and she is
awake.
She is asking for you
,
buddy
.”

             
“Wow, that is great news.  Give me the information
.
G
rabbing a pad and
pen,
he jotted down the room number. 

             
“I will
give you a
call when I am heading back to the station.  Make sure everyone is available to be filled in.”

             
“
Yo
u got it.”

             
Seth hung up his phone
.
Walking to him, she wrapped her arms around his waist hugging him.  “Go.  We will talk later, I promise
.
”
 
She smiled up at him.  Grateful, he kissed the tip of her nose.

             
“I will call you later
,
rabbit.”

             
“Well?”

             
“He had to go
,
Charles.  I started to tell him
,
but he got another telephone call
and had to get
to
work.”

             
Charles snorted
over the telephone
, not
sure
if he should believe her.  “I am telling you, you
better
figure it out
.  You know the deal
,
Alex
, e
ither you
tell him or I am going to”.

             
“Want to meet me for lunch?”

             
“
Don’t
change the subject like that
.  I hate it when you do that
! 
No can do, my dear
,
I need to meet up with someone today.
How
a
bout dinner?”

             
“Oh Charles, I have to work.  I haven’t
written one paragraph for days
.
”  She frowned.

             
“Call me later?”

             
“Of
course
,
and
you call if you need anything?  I mean it
,
Alex.  ANYTHING!”

             
“I will
,
Charles.  Love you.”

             
“Love you too
,
kiddo.”

------------------------------------

             
Seth pulled into a parking spot at the hospital
as
his cell phone rang.  Looking at the caller I.D.
,
he
ignored the call.  It was Mark.  He would have to call him later. 

             
Walking into the
hospital,
he took
a
deep breath.  He had to get himself together to be able to interview the woman lying upstairs.  Pushing the up button on the elevator, he
set
all thoughts of Alex out of his head.  When this case was over, he decided he was
going
to take her away and wear her down.  He needed to get her to talk to him.

             
Showing his badge
to the Officer guarding her hospital
room, Seth knocked on the door
and then
walked in quietly. 
He could not tell if she was awake with h
er head turned away from the door.  She looked so
tiny
in the bed. 
There were numerous wires and tubes coming out of her.
 
His face blanched
as t
he nurse walked over to him.

             
“Are you Trooper Walton?”  Not taking his eyes
off
the figure on the
bed,
he nodded.

             
“
Her name is Jessica. 
She has been waiting for you.  Please keep it bri
ef.  She has suffered a lot.” 
Handing him the medical
file
,
she qu
ietly walked out of the door.
Looking down at the clipboard, his eyes briefly scanned the
doctor’s
notes.  Nothing was a surprise to him.  She
not only
suffered
a beating but
a sexual
assault
then
strangled.  Her throat partially crushed
,
a ventilator
was helping her to breathe
.  How she survived
was anyone’s guess.
Placing the paperwork on the
tray,
h
e walked around the bed.  Her eyes looked up at him.  He saw that she was crying.  Taking a tissue from the box, he dabbed at her tears.

             
“Hi there.  How are you feeling?”

             
She lifted her hand and made a writing motion.  Moving over to the
nightstand,
he picked up the pen and pad of paper
.
Holding it up, he watched as she wrote.

             
“Hurt
.
”

             
“You hurt.
  I
understand
.
I am sorry this happened to you.  Do you think you are able to answer a couple of questions?”

             
“Try
.
”

             
“Good.  You are very brave.”  Seth moved the chair up close to the bed.

             
“Do you know who did this to you?”

             
“No.”

             
“
Were
you
alone?
”

             
“Yes.”  Her hand paused. “Stupid
.
”

             
“You are not stupid.”

             
“Can you tell me
anything?
  What he looked like? 
Anything
?”

             
She was already fading out on him. 

             
“Hair
.
”

             
“What about his hair
,
Jessica.”

             
“No
.
”

             
Seth was
confused.

             
“
Was he bald?
”

             
“
Y.
”

             
“Great.  You are doing great
,
Jess.”

             
Her eyes closed. 

             
“Jessica, hang in there
for me for a couple of more minutes
, ok
ay
?
”

             
Opening her
eyes,
she looked at him again
then wrote
.

             
“
Clothes
painter
.
”

             
“He was wearing painter clothes?”

             
She held up one finger as s
he dropped her pen.  Seth picked it up and handed it back to her.

             
“
Thank you.”

             
He
didn’t understand the ‘one’ but
knew she couldn’t give him anything more today.
S
oftly
he
touched her head. “You are welcome.”

             
The nurse walked back in.  Jessica had fallen asleep.  “I am sorry, you have to leave now.”

             
“No problem.  Thanks for letting me see her.  She is going to make it
,
right?”

             
The nurse nodded.
”Yes, she will make it
physically
.  Not sure what
this has done to her mentally though.”

             
Seth looked back at Jessica.  “She is tough.  She will be fine.”  He walked out
with the pad of paper
,
hoping he was right.

             
Seth drove straight to the
station from the hospital.  Hoping
Tommy was able to put the team together
,
Seth
quickly
grabbed
a cup of coffee
before walking
into the conference room.  Looking at the wall, he nodded his approval to Tommy
before turning to the men sitting around the table
.  Pictures of each victim
were
tacked to the wall, covering one whole side
,
and Seth could see that all eyes were on the photographs
.

             
“Ok
ay
-
Just got back from the hospital.  Victim is stable but really fucked up.  Pretty much the same injuries as the other two
-
Cracked ribs, internal bleeding
and sexual
assault
.  This one got away though
,
which we will use to our adv
an
tage.  She is really weak but was able to tell me a few things.”  Turning to
Tommy,
he gestured to the white board.
  Tommy got up and started making columns.