Noah saw the fear enter her eyes the moment Gavin mentioned the interrogation, and again, he frowned.
As he had predicted before, something was wrong, something he couldn't quite place his fingers on, but all he could deduce from the situation, was that she was running from something or someone; if the weird scars the female nurses had found on her body was anything to go by. He hadn't seen it himself, but Dr. Gavin had seen the pictures they took of it. The nurses had been forced to snap it when they were changing her out of her sundress. Whoever had inflicted those wounds had made sure to never put them where they would be visible. She was surely not the one that did that to herself. He would be going there to check it out after this. “Huh, why?” Grace’s voice came out suddenly in a question. It was Gavin that answered before he could. "Because we noticed something weird about you that we were forced to report.” He said. She tried to sit up, but Noah quickly helped her raise the bed by pressing a button, lifting up the upper part of it, so she was still lying down and could see them without difficulty. “And why would you do that?” she asked. "Shouldn’t you ask me first, before doing that?” she shook her head, looking distressed. "What if it was an accident?” she asked. Noah knew there was no way that was an accident but she was probably saying that, hoping that they believe it was that. He could see that she was becoming agitated, and he wanted to kill the bastard that did this. He knew they should have told her, but he didn't want to risk her running away. Most of the patients of abuse he had encountered don't want it reported and they run away before they could be helped. "It's just an obligation to have it reported, Ms. Grace. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to.” He said, and Gavin nodded behind him. “Yes, you don't,” he said. Although, Noah was hoping that wasn't the case, but he didn't say anything anymore. He couldn't, he was too angry to say anything without yelling. He was angry, not at Grace or himself like he does sometimes, but at the nut job that did this to a woman. According to Gavin, most of the wounds were healed, but she had ugly scars to show for it. He fisted his hands at his sides and grounded his teeth together. By now, Grace was crying, silently, with her legs now folded against her upper body, as if she was back in a shell of some kind. “Dr. Gavin Moore to the emergency department!” “Dr. Gavin Moore to the emergency department.”Grace stopped looking down at her hand, and she looked up at the doctor that was being called over the speaker. He brought out his hand from his pocket to pat his pant pockets, looking for something, then Noah looked at him with a grin. “You must have forgotten your pager in your office again.” He said to him, and Dr. Gavin nodded. “Well, Ms. Grace, I have to go now. I think I'm needed in the emergency ward.” He said and patted Noah on one of his shoulders, before walking out of the room. As soon as he was gone, he turned back to find Grace looking at him, the tears in her eyes gone, replaced with red eyes, and her face stained with dried tears. "Please, Dr. Noah, I have to leave now. I don't want to talk to the police or anything, and I need to get to my car. I just left it in front of the coffee shop unlocked and with the key in the ignition.” She said. Noah nodded his head. He knew that because he had asked his cousin to check it out to see if it was locked. He had had her lock it and kept the keys with her. Although, there were no thieves around West Valley Rock, but there was no harm in taking precautions. "You don't have to worry about your car. I have my cousin,” he stopped, realizing she probably didn't know who his cousin was. "the coffee shop owner lock up the car and keep the keys. She'll bring it over when she closed the coffee shop, or otherwise keep it until you can go to her.” He said. Oh! That was good! But it still doesn't change the fact that she didn't want to be interrogated. "But I still don't want to be interrogated.” She told him. He nodded again. "Don't worry much about that. The sheriff should be here any minute or any of his deputies. You don't have to say anything. After that, you'll be discharged.” He said, offering her a small smile, which she probably didn't think he was capable of. "I'll be here with you the whole time, so you do not need to worry.”Grace sighed, and then she said. "Thank you, Dr. Noah, for before and for now. Thank you so much.” She said. Noah nodded, wondering how many more thanks she would say to him before the end of the day.Ultimately, the only way she could be at ease was to get this over with, or better, run off before the cops arrived, but now, they were here. She looked from one of the cops to the other, as they introduced themselves to be the deputies of the sheriff's department. She wondered what was going through their mind as they sat there, staring at her. The best thing she could think of was that they would see her as a pitiful woman who had no respect and value for herself that she was. She wished she was brave enough to dispute that, argue with the thought if that was what they were thinking but she just about sat there mute. As promised, Dr. Noah Roberts was sitting with her as they questioned her, but all she could say was no comment so they were now in the staring phase. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the doctor gesturing to one of them to cancel the interrogation, or at least, that was what she thought he was doing. Looking back to the deputies, she saw one of them sigh with a
Noah wanted to laugh at the hotel look on Grace’s face as her stomach made that sound. He could tell that she was embarrassed if the blush climbing up her neck to her face was anything to go by. He glanced at her to see her covering her stomach with both her hands, and he almost chuckled again. There was something about the way she looked that made him want to laugh even though he rarely laugh at anything. “It's fine, Grace. You don't have to be embarrassed.” He said, just as he started the car. When she refused to answer him, he sighed and continued driving. A thought occurred to him, and he realized he wouldn't be going straight home after dropping her off as he had planned. He remembered that she was new in town, and had just arrived this morning, so she probably had no place to stay. But, that wasn't the problem though, the problem was that the two hotels that were in town were probably all booked because of the wedding that was happening on Saturday between his brother and th
Noah was still sitting in his cousin’s coffee shop, wondering where Grace went and why she had decided to leave on her own without even a goodbye, when all he wanted to do and had done so far was to help her. He shook his head, surprised that she would even leave the way she did when all he wanted was to help her get a place to sleep tonight. Does that mean that he wouldn't be able to see her again? That it was the first and the last time he would see her or even talk to her? What could she have been running from so bad that she had not even cared about herself before heading out of town this late? "She's gone, Char.” He said when Charlotte came back out. By that time, the customers in the whole were almost gone, so he could talk here without worrying about someone hearing him. The grandmother clock on the wall told him it was late, which meant that it wasn't completely safe for a woman to be out there alone by herself. There was no reason he should be worried, seeing as he had j
Nightmare was something Charlotte only see people experience in a movie, or read in a book, but she never thought she would see someone experiencing it. When she woke up in the middle of the night, she wasn't sure what woke her. The whimpering sound coming from Grace, or the fact that she needed to use the bathroom, either way, the latter didn't seem as important now as the former. If anything, it had seemed to disappear. There was something about the way Grace moved on the foldable bed she had placed on the floor beside her own bed for her the night before when she had brought her home, that made it seem like she was fighting someone. Right now, all Charlotte could do was sit on her bed and stare at her. Grace had both her hands in the air like she was trying to push someone off her when no one was there, and occasionally, one of her hands would fly to her neck and she would drag down the old t-shirt she had worn as a nightwear as if it was choking her. At some point, she even made
"And you think that’s appropriate?” Noah asked his cousin as he sat on the high stand in front of her across the counter. She had asked him if he would like to rent one of the rooms in his house to Grace. He looked behind his shoulder to Grace who sat on one of the chairs in the shop, picking the beans to make the coffee. He had no idea why the beans was needed to be picked anyway because he knew nothing about coffee. “You know the ball is in your court, but if you still want to help her, then it's your window to do so,” Charlotte said. Noah thought about that, and he wondered what he should do. They hadn't talked about anything else since she asked him here this morning thankfully, he was on night duty today, so there was no rush at all. He glanced at Grace again, and she was still engrossed in what she was doing. He sure loved that she had a little bit of color on her face today, and she was wearing the appropriate cloth for the weather; a fitted pair of blue jeans, and a green s
Grace brought out the last of her clothes and then she took it to the closet. The room was really nice, but it was simple. There were only three pieces of furniture in the room. The bed, the dresser, and a single chair that was placed in front of it. There was a small piece of carpet in front of the bed, and the bedside tables that were attached to the bed had a lamp on one side, and an alarm on the other hand. There was nothing on the pale pink walls except for a small wall clock and a picture of the house itself. She looked around and sighed. Thankfully, she wouldn't have to buy anything for the bed or the windows. There were deep pink curtains against the double windows which were on the same wall of the room, but they were small in size, so she guessed it was why they made them double. On the bed, there were three bed sheets that came with two pillowcases each and each also had a comforter for covering her body to them. “I just hope this place is as safe as it looks and feels l
Grace parked in front of the house Noah had given her the address for, and she sat down in the car, not confident enough to walk from the car to the house. She was scared someone might come out of the bushes and jump her, someone who might as well be her ex husband. The only problem with her theory was that there were no bushes on the street. The house stood beside the garage as Noah had described and there were a few houses on both sides too, but the other side of the street had a bakery, a supply store, a vet clinic, and a bookstore. Everyone was going about their business and no one was even glancing her way. Well, she was still seated in the car, and the windows were rolled all up, with the radio and heater turned on. Speaking of the car, it was a stone white ten thousand twenty thirteen dodge grand caravan SXT with a mileage of at least eight thousand miles on it. Grace had always been interested in cars, so we knew this was a very nice car. When he had gone into his garage a
"Hello, Keisha.” Grace heard Charlotte greet the woman that came in just now. Grace looked at the woman Charlotte had called Keisha and she saw her grunt at her greeting before muttering hers as well. “This is Grace, she's the one that just got into town.” Charlotte introduced and Grace extended her hand for her to shake it, only she didn't. Instead of taking her hand in a shake like she expected, she looked down at it like she had a plague, or her hand was soiled, and that made her dislike her immediately. No one should have that much disdain in them for others, especially people that they were just meeting for the very first time. Keisha had never met her before but she had treated her like she was dirt on her foot. To be polite, she said. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Keisha.” It wasn't, because she didn't seem nice, and someone that vile wasn't someone she was looking to meet or have anything to do with. Her hand was still stretched towards her, but when Keisha looked down at