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13
Robert
I’ve been wanting to take a vacation and each time I planned one over the past few years, something came up. This might appear to be a vacation to some, but it was not one. We’ve been in Aruba for four days. I did what I said I would do, stay back, give them their space and try to comfort Danielle when she broke down.
But from what I heard, no one was expecting for us to be sitting in a hospital room by Lori’s bedside, at least not this soon. The only sounds were those of monitors that were connected to Lori monitoring her pain status. I wasn’t in the medical field, but I didn’t need to be to know that this was bad.
Ellen was holding Lori’s hand. Danielle was on the opposite side of the bed, doing the same. I felt like an intrusion, even though they both said I wasn’t.
“Would you like me to go grab you some coffee?” I asked.
Danielle nodded, and Ellen never responded. She was solely focused on Lori. I walked over and kissed Danielle on the top of her head and left the room. I wasn’t going to leave them for long, but they needed some space, and I needed to make a phone call. When we first arrived at the hospital this morning, I saw a call come in from Detective Jones. I couldn’t answer in front of them and he wasn’t my priority at that moment either. But now, I needed to find out what he wanted.
As I walked to the eatery, I called him back.
“Detective Jones, here,” he answered.
“Hello, this is Robert Bennett. You called me,” I said.
“I hear you’re out of the country. I thought I told you not to travel,” he said.
“There was an emergency, and I had no time to let you know.”
“You’ve been gone for days, and haven’t been able to make a phone call? I don’t buy that,” he said. “But that’s not why I’m calling. I heard you hired a P.I.”
“I did. Not that I don’t trust you, but I need answers for myself.”
“Casey reached out to me with some very interesting information,” he said.
“Anything that I need to know?” I asked.
“No. More something the District Attorney will be interested in,” he stated.
Just fucking say it. Are you going to try charging me with something that I didn’t do?
“Then I guess you should be calling him, and not me,” I said.
“I was calling to tell you that you’re no longer a suspect and are free to go about your business. But to my surprise, you already are.”
“As I said, this is not a vacation. Will you be faxing the report over to my insurance company as I requested?”
“I will. And I thought you might always want to know that Detective Perez spoke on your behalf. If he hadn’t, we would’ve reached out to the authorities in Aruba and have you arrested for leaving the country.”
Great. Now I owe the guy and I don’t even like him.
“Anything else before I go?” I asked.
“That’s about it. Enjoy your vacation.”
I ended the call and placed my phone in my back pocket again. If it wasn’t for what was going on in that hospital room, I’d be elated with the news and rush to share it with Danielle. I knew she’d be happy for me as well. But it didn’t seem all that important right now. I’d tell her when the time was right.
I grabbed three coffees and headed back up to Lori’s room. I didn’t have to go all the way inside the room to know what had happened. Lori had passed, hopefully peacefully. Ellen was crying and Lori was now standing and hugging her.
“I’m so sorry, Ellen. I’m sorry,” she was saying over and over again.
I stayed outside of the room, giving them their space. They needed this time alone. I went by the nurses’ station and placed the coffees there, then leaned against the wall, where I was close if Danielle needed me.
Doctors and nurses went in and out, and eventually Danielle and Ellen left the room. Danielle had her arm around Ellen. I walked over and said, “I’m so sorry.”
