She tried to open her eyes but the light was too bright. It made her already pounding head hurt worse. She tried to relax, but nothing eased the pain. She sensed more that heard movement beside her and she tensed again. Then she heard a soft feminine voice in her ear.
“My name is Melinda and I’m an EMT with Carver Ambulance Service. Can you open your eyes?”
“Hurts”
“Do you remember what happened?”
“No”
“Do you remember your name? Your address? You had no identification on you.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Do you remember anything, where you live, why you were on Mulhaven Heights, how you got there?”
She saw a flash of a face. The smiling face of a man. He was surrounded by night. She knew him. She had no idea who he was.
“No”
Melinda sighed and looked down at her patient. She was a lovely girl, or would be when her bruises healed. She had been found beside the road, her expensive silk evening gown in shreds. Her feet were bare with cuts and bruises as if she had been running. Her face was battered and bruised. She had a concussion and possible skull fracture. It was nothing short of a miracle that someone had found her. Almost no one went up on Mulhaven Heights at night. The roads were bad and there was nothing up there but hiking trails and picnic areas.
Melinda checked vitals one more time and noticed her patient had slipped into unconsciousness again. It was a good thing they were not far from the hospital. She was seriously worried about this Jane Doe.
“She’s unconscious again – let’s go Sue, quick!” Melinda’s voice changed into that of an efficient paramedic when she called for her colleague.
“Did you get any information from her?”
“No, nothing. She can’t remember anything. She’s a Jane Doe. But she needs to go to the hospital now. Let’s go!”
They hurried to get the young woman into the ambulance, secure her, make sure everything was under control and off they went through the night. Melinda monitored her patient during the ride and tried to guess what had happened. Apparently the girl must have been a victim of some sort of maniac. A rapist? A murderer? Better ask the hospital to examine her to see if she was raped. The police will want to talk to the girl when she comes to, that’s for sure. Hope they catch the crook who did this to this lovely young woman, Melinda thought. But we need to find out who she is.
In the ambulance the girl came to for a little while again. Melinda tried to talk to her once more.
“Hey, how are you doing?”
“Hurts everywhere.”
“We’re on our way to the hospital now. They’ll take good care of you. Sweetie, I know you must have been through something terrible. But can you try to remember something? At least your name?”
“Can’t.” Some blurry pictures rushed through the young woman’s mind again. “I know there was a man... a dark man... with an evil smile... that’s all.” She fell into unconsciousness once more. Melinda and Sue brought their Jane Doe into the ER and reported everything that the staff there needed to know to get to work. But Melinda knew that this woman would be on her mind for a long time.
The ER team took over as soon as Melinda gave her report. She stressed the fact that the girl passed out several times since being found and also that it was imperative that she have a complete pelvic exam as required by law in the case of rape. As she turned to leave, Melinda looked through the glass window at the doctors and nurses working in a frenzy around the unconsious girl, and found herself whispering a prayer:
"Dear God, please make her live, so justice can be done!"
Walking down the corridor to the ER exit, Melinda saw a group of police officers coming in, led by a tall man in a ruffled up suit, whom she recognized as Mark Hammond, Chief Detective of the district police force. She had several contacts with him through her paramedic work. He was busy talking on his cell phone, oblivious of the stares of people around him motioning that cell phone conversations were not allowed in hospital premises. Finally Melinda stopped him.
"Hey Mark, cell phones aren't allowed in here."
"Oh hi, Mel...got so involved I forgot for a sec where I was. [Melinda stared at him.] Are you the people who brought in the Jane Doe girl? For what the docs told us on the phone, she doesn't know anything, not even her name. Don't know what we're going to work with without any concrete info. Looks like will have to go slowly...it's going to be a long, protracted night."
"Yes, Sue and I were in on this one. Listen, Mark, this girl's in pretty bad shape and looked really scared when I was able to talk with her. Go gently with her, and please, can you keep me updated? For some reason, her case has really gotten to me and I'm worried about her, even though I've never seen her before."
"Will do, Mel, but like I said, it's going to be one long long night." With that the detective turned, waved and started off at a quick pace towards the main room where a doctor waited to give his preliminary report.
Menwhile, in one curtained corner of the ER, the girl named Jane Doe opened her eyes. Turning her head to an opening in the curtain, she saw the dark man looking straight at her; he had an evil smile on his face.
She tries to scream but the dark man has put his hand over her mouth to stop her.
“If you scream for help, you will live to regret it!” as he says it with his evil voice.
She looks at him with a scared look in her eyes. She knows he means every word, as he takes his hand away from her mouth.
“Now listen, I want…….” He says, as the detective walks in just at that moment.
“Hey, police officer. Are you here to question my sister?” the dark man asks.
The dark man wants to stay as the Jane Doe girl gets questioned. The police recognise him, so they let the dark man know that he wants to question her by herself.
He gives her a hug and whispers in her ear, ”don’t say anything or you will know what will happen!!”
He leaves and the detective starts to question her.
“Do you remember anything?” asks the detective.
“No” the girl says with a scared look in her eyes.
“Do you know that man who was in here before? Is he the one you are scared of?” the detective says.
Just at that point she collapses and stops breathing. The ER team is called as they try to bring her back.
As Melinda and sue finishes their dinner break, the detective sees them. He lets them know what’s going on. About half an hour later the ER team came out.
“The girl is fine, just feeling really weak. She is sleeping right now but you can go in” says the doctor.
Melinda is really pleased that the girl is going to be fine.
Melinda’s relief is quickly interrupted, however, by a sudden outburst of popping noise and screams from down the hall.
“That sounds like gun shots!” Sue said as they were walking out of the hospital cafeteria.
That’s because it is! And it’s coming from Jane Doe’s room! What is going ON around here?” Melinda said with forced breath as she grabbed her partner and ran for cover towards a closed off room on the other side of the hall. The cafeteria was open and the gun shots continued and were getting louder, and closer.
Melinda and Sue were in an unused surgical prep room with a window on the door. She could only see about ten feet down the hall as she looked at an angle through the glass, so she waited, holding her breath, as the gun shots got louder, and the screams got quieter.
Her thoughts were racing a mile a minute but her heart was pounding even faster. They’d been visited in their EMT class by a specialist in situations like this, because of the recent surge of people going off everywhere with guns. It scared her, just like seeing it often on the news, but she never thought she’d find herself in the midst of it.
And what about Jane Doe? She had to find out if she was ok! This has to be the “evil man” she mentioned. This has to be the man that hurt her so bad that she’s receded far enough into shock so as to lose her memory like this… before her thoughts could wander any farther, her eyes focused on the gunman coming into view in the span of the window and she ducked, hoping quickly enough so that he didn’t catch her movement.
Melinda hid against the wall nest to the door, praying that the gunman didn't come into the room. She closed her eyes tight and prayed for a miracle. Just as she opened them again she noticed the door begin to swing inward and she reached up and pushed against with all her body weight hoping to throw the person off.
It worked and she heard the man stumble backwards. She heard the distinct sound of the gun hitting the floor.
"Melinda! What the hell are you doing?" she heard Sue scream from behind her. Ignoring Sue, she rammed the door again and then flew out at the dark man. He moved to try and get the gun, but Melinda was faster. She kicked it away and tackled him back to the floor. She could hear Sue come out of the room behind her and heard others running down the hall.
She didn't take her eyes of the man. He looked so familiar and it took all her strength to hold him down. Suddenly, it dawned on Melinda who this man was. It was her sister's ex-boyfriend, Paulo Rivera.
The evil bastard had ruined her sister's life. Because of him, Melinda had not been in contact with her sister for 4 years to protect her. Before she knew what she was doing, she began hitting him with all the force she could.
She started swearing at him so much, a sailor would have blushed. She lost all awareness of everything around her until she felt herself being pulled off Paulo and she tried to wrench free, but couldn't.
Sue hoisted Melinda back as Detective Hammond pointed his gun into Paulo's face. Melinda got to her feet and gave Paulo a kick in the ribs for good measure. Before the detective could speak she ran down the hall to Jane Doe's room. Sue fast on her heels. Turning into the room she noticed the bed was empty. She took it as a good sign when she saw no blood. Turning back towards the hall she noticed nurses and aids rushing everywhere but no one seemed to be hurt.
Melinda turned back into the room and walked over to the bed. Where did she go? What happened here - Melinda's eyes scanned the room and her eyes landed on the closed bathroom door. Walking around the bed she reaches for the door expecting to see the worst. She pulls it open and her eyes fall on the toilet - nothing there. She turns her head and there in the shower cowering in a corner was the girl.
Something triggered in Melinda. No, this couldn't be... could it? Of course, why couldn't she see it before? Rushing over to the girl Melinda bends down and throws her arms around her.
"Oh Cassy, it's ok now, I'm here, Sis is here"
Sue watched from the doorway as she realized that this Jane Doe must be Melinda's sister she talked so much about. Detective Hammond came up behind Sue and looked in on Melinda and the girl.
"Got the perp in custody - went crazy and fired off his gun, lucky for all of us he didn't hit anyone. What's going on in here?"
Melinda leaned back and looked into her sisters battered and bruised face. The girl ooked back at her with no look of recognition.
"Do you know what happened Cassy? ... Cassandra?"
The girl lowered her gaze and looked around the room.
"There was a man with a gun - I know he's a very mean man - I think he's the one who hurt me."
"Do you know who I am Cassy?"
The girl looked back at Melinda and gazed into her eyes for a moment.
"You're the paramedic who helped me. You've been so nice. I don't remember anything else. I get flashes occasionally but nothing solid. I kind of remember that man but the memory is too quick."
Melinda looked squarely at her sister and knew it was a long road ahead. Standing up she helped the girl to her feet and led her back to bed. Melinda held her hand and tears swam in her eyes.
"Your name is Cassandra and you do know me, you just don't remember. Yes, I'm the one who helped you, but I've been looking for you for a long time. I want you to just rest now. Don't worry about that man - he's going away for a very long time. He will never hurt you again."
Melinda watched as the girl nodded and closed her eyes. Turning away from her she realized and Sue and Detective Hammond were still in the room. Walking over to them she couldn't help but to smile.
"She's no Jane Doe Detective, she's my sister. She don't remember that now, but a blood test will do for the record. That man was her ex-boyfriend and what a creep and loser he was. I'm sure you'll have a record on him a mile long. I've been looking for my sister for 4 years. It's been a long road home for her, but she's made it."