Hothouse Orchid

6

Holly woke up in a hospital room, and Ham was sitting beside her bed. Ginny came into the room holding two paper cups of coffee.

“Hey, Ham,” Holly said sleepily. “Hey, Ginny.”

Ham pressed the call button beside her bed. “How you feeling, baby?”

“Headache,” Holly said, groping for the bed control that would sit her up.

A nurse came into the room. “Will you tell Dr. Harmon she’s awake?” Ham asked. “He wanted to know.”

“I’ll call him,” the nurse said, then left.

“What happened?” Ham asked.

“I wish I knew,” Holly said.

“You have any idea who did this?”

“No, none at all.”

Ham held up her lizard boots. “These were in your car,” he said. “I thought you might need them when you walk out of here. There are socks inside.”

The doctor walked into the room. “You’re alive!” he said, in mock amazement. “Do you remember me?”

“The ham-handed stitcher-upper,” Holly said. “How could I forget?”

“We X-rayed you after you drifted off; you’ll be glad to know you don’t have a fractured skull, just a mild concussion. We’ve sent a blood sample out to see if there was anything odd in your bloodstream.”

“Just bourbon and red wine,” Holly said, “but not enough to be illegal.”

“That’s not our department; I was just concerned with the apparent needle mark on your neck and your propensity for becoming unconscious.”

“Okay,” she said. “What’s your name?”

“Josh Harmon,” he said, offering her his hand. “At your service.”

Holly shook his hand. “I hope I didn’t cause you to overstay your shift.”

“Nah, you’re my last call, then I’m out of here.”

“When am I out of here?” she asked.

“Let’s get you some breakfast and decaf. If, after that, you’re not suffering the aftereffects of some drug, we’ll give you the boot.”

“Please do; I’m feeling pretty good, except for the headache.”

“I’ll prescribe a painkiller.”

“Aspirin will do.”

“I’d like you to take it easy for a couple of days,” he said. “No running, no exercise. Just lie around the house and watch TV.”

“I can do that,” Holly said. “Where’s Daisy?” she asked Ham.

“In the car.”

A nurse came in with a breakfast tray and set it before her.

Holly sipped the coffee. “This is awful,” she said.

“We make it that way especially, because we don’t want you to like it here too much,” Dr. Harmon explained.

“It’s working,” Holly said, wolfing down some eggs. She finished her breakfast in record time.

“Before I go, I just want to do a little exam,” Dr. Harmon said. He held a finger before her eyes. “Follow this,” he said, moving it slowly back and forth. He finished the neurological exam. “Why are you taking up a bed?” he asked. “Get out of here.”

“Yes, sir,” Holly said, throwing off the covers and exposing more of herself than she had intended.

“I’d better get out of here while I can,” Harmon said. “I’ll call you later today and see how you’re doing.”

“You have my number?”

“Your dad was kind enough.” He gave her a little wave and was gone.

Ginny put her clothes on the bed. “I’ll bet that call isn’t going to be entirely medically oriented,” she said.

“I’ll go shoot him,” Ham said.

Later in the day, Holly woke from a nap and tried to remember what she had been dreaming. Something about being stopped by a cop. Her headache was gone, but her hair looked awful. They had apparently washed the blood out at the hospital, but they hadn’t exactly styled it when they were done. She got into a shower, then dried her hair properly. She put some antibiotic cream on her scalp wound and covered it with her hair. It looked perfectly normal.

She was hungry, so she dressed and went downstairs for a sandwich. She had just finished it when the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Josh Harmon, your friendly ham-handed stitcher-upper. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good, actually,” she replied, “and I want to thank you for not taking any more hair than you did.”

“A nurse would have taken a big chunk, but I knew that would annoy you, so I did it myself. How’s the headache?”

“Gone. I mean, I can feel the wound, and it hurts a little, but not the whole head, like before.”

“Aspirin is a miracle drug,” he said. “By the way, just so I can have a medical excuse for this call, your rape kit was negative-no bruising or tearing, no semen or seminal fluid. I didn’t want to mention it in front of your father.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.”

“Are you a free woman?”

Holly laughed. “I am.”

“No doubt about that, is there? I wouldn’t want to ask a lady to dinner who was otherwise committed.”

“No doubt,” she laughed. “When?”

“Tomorrow night?”

“You talked me into it. I’ll make you dinner. Say seven o’clock?”

“That works for me.”

She gave him the address. “There’s a rather formidable gate, but press the buzzer on your left, and I’ll let you in.”

“I’ll bring the wine-red or white?”

“Both. See you tomorrow evening.”

“See ya.”

He hung up, and so did she. She put her dish in the dishwasher and looked around. The place was pretty neat, but she tidied it up a bit anyway.

She opened the sliding glass door to the beach with some effort and went for a little walk with Daisy, thinking about her dream. When she got back into the house, the doorbell was ringing. She opened it to find Jimmy Weathers there.

“Hey, Holly. Your gate was open.”

“Hi, Jimmy. Come on in.” He did. “Thanks for being there last night.”

“My pleasure, Chief,” he said. “That’s my neck of the woods when I’m working. I just wanted to see if you’re okay.”

She showed him to a seat. “Jimmy, I think I was stopped by a police car last night.”

“On Indian River Trail?”

“I guess. I don’t remember anything else, just a flashing blue light and a bright flashlight.”

“Well, that’s really interesting, Holly.”

“How so?”

“That would make the third incident like this in about six weeks.”

“Women stopped by a police car?”

“And raped by a police officer,” he said. “The doctor said you weren’t raped.”

“I know.”

“I think you got lucky.”

“Do you have any leads at all?”

Jimmy shook his head. “Not a one. I don’t think it was a police officer, though; I was able to account for all our guys at the time of the rapes. Maybe somebody from another jurisdiction, but more like somebody posing as a cop to get women to stop their cars. Both of the women reported a single blue flashing light behind them. Have you been able to remember anything else?”

Holly shook her head. “Just the blue light and the flashlight.”

“Maybe some more will come back to you. Will you let me know?”

“Sure, I will.”

Jimmy stood up. “I’d better go,” he said. “We’ve got a staff meeting to meet the new chief.”

“You don’t want to miss that,” Holly said, walking him to the door.

Jimmy stopped at the door. “I hear you’ve had some dealings with him in the past.”

“You heard right,” Holly said. “Keep an eye on the female officers; he’s a predator.”

“I’ll do that,” he said, and walked out to his car.

Holly watched him drive away, then got out the security system instructions and used the keypad to close the gate. She spent the rest of the afternoon reading the instructions for operating everything new in the house.