Ding Dong!! Is She Dead? Read online

  The police officers and then the state troopers arrived adding to the confusion. Nobody was exactly sure of what had happened except that Mike Butts had drugged the nursing staff and tried to kill his wife.

  The charge nurse had started calling in extra staff to take the place of those that were just now coming to. The officers began taking statements of everyone in the building that was conscious.

  For the first time ever in the small hospital’s history they instituted a security lockdown. They locked all the doors in and out of the building so that only the keypads could be used. The emergency room had a lounge that the injured could come in and out of, but they had to be let into the triage room and that was locked as well. There were more people in the building in the aftermath then there had been during daylight hours with all of the office staff combined.

  After checking the whole building to make sure that Mike was not hiding in any janitor closets, they considered it safe to resume operations. Each nurse that had been drugged was then placed in a bed to be checked over to make sure that they were recovering.

  Officer Grayson had been called in as Megan’s personal security for the rest of the night. There would be no one in or out of Megan’s room unless she gave the okay to proceed.

  The state guys were taking pictures and statements, but the only thing they had to go on was the pizza delivery that had been brought to the nurses about 10:30 p.m.. When questioned they all agreed that they had not ordered pizza, but the delivery guy had said it was a thank you from the guys at the EMS station.

  Free pizza was not something that happened very often so they had all had several pieces and the nurses who had been out the longest had eaten the most.

  Not sure if he timed it or had just waited to see when they collapsed, they were certain that he had planned this so that he could have plenty of time to hurt his wife.

  Officer Long wasn’t able to blame Megan for causing this incident. The attitude of Mike’s fellow officers had changed and they realized they might not be able to ignore his actions any longer.

  There was a definite problem with his thinking, but at least he hadn’t killed the nurses yet so that was in his favor. Those that hadn’t believed Megan when she said Mike had hurt her could tell that the bruises on her throat were not from her own hands.

  The doctors were going back and forth between rooms trying to make sure that everyone was taken care of. Megan had passed out in the beginning, but with all of the commotion from the officers and doctors she had come to fairly quickly. Knowing that it was painful to talk, they got her a marker board so that she could write down what happened.

  When they put the marker in her hand, she moaned in pain and they realized that her wrist had been broken as well. Mike’s hand had crushed the bones in her wrist. Placing the marker in her other hand, she wrote down as many details as she could.

  It was hard not only to remember what he said to her, but to set aside the feelings of guilt that she felt for causing this situation. It made it difficult to blame him for his actions.

  They brought several different machines in the room and took a few x-rays of her wrist and throat to make sure that she would heal and didn’t any need surgery. The bone was only snapped in her wrist and her throat would stay sore and bruised for a while, but she would regain the ability to talk. He hadn’t crushed her windpipe, thank God.

  They also sent undercover officers to stay in the parking lot of Allie’s house so that Mike couldn’t do anything to them. Everyone was assuming that Mike wouldn’t do anything to hurt Sally, but they hadn’t thought he would try to kill his wife in the hospital either.

  Having an officer at Allie’s might not stop him from trying to take Sally with him wherever he was going to be hiding at, but at least he would think about it.

  Officer Grayson took the chair that Mike had sat in and pulled it around the hospital bed toward the left so that she could see anyone that walked into the room.

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  When Allie got to the hospital after dropping Sally off at school, she had to show her I.D. to actually get into the building. Wondering what had happened, she raced straight to Megan’s room.

  “Oh, Megan, what happened?” Allie took one look at the bandages on her throat and knew exactly where Mike had gone when he left her house last night. Seeing Officer Grayson sitting in the chair next to her bed, she moved closer. While the Officer explained what had taken place the night before.

  “Is there anyone watching out for Sally at school?” Allie suddenly realized that if he could reach Megan in the hospital, there was nothing to stop him from taking Sally from school.

  “As soon as my relief gets here in a few minutes, then I am going up to the school to discuss with the principle what the best options are for protecting Sally and those at the school from harm. This situation has gone from a domestic violence incident to a full scale police alert that doesn’t give him much room to wiggle with.”

  “Our town hasn’t really had to worry about lockdown procedures because everyone knows everyone. We have kind of always assumed that it could never happen to us.”

  “We are having a state officer come in and patrol the school grounds while Sally is there. We will have her stay inside with the officer during recess to work on a project so that she is not in the open. ”

  Having been on watch all night, Officer Grayson looked tired, but alert when another officer walked in the room.

  “Ladies, this is Officer Stone who will be staying with you till this evening when another Officer will take over. Stone, this is Megan Butts and Allie Foster who is taking care of Sally while this is going on.”

  Nodding to the ladies, Officer Stone walked over and patted Grayson on the back, “Go make sure that little girl is safe today alright?”

  “Yes, Sir;” Officer Grayson saluted.

  She left and Allie went with her to make sure she knew what the plan was to keep Sally safe.

  “Hey, Officer Grayson;” Allie called hurrying to catch up.

  “I think that Mike was outside my apartment last night. He didn’t do anything, but when I noticed someone outside, I closed the windows. It looked like he got in the car and left. Does that mean that he will probably try to get Sally from my house?”

  “Really, it means that he knows where you live. This is not really surprising since it looks like he has planned this out pretty thoroughly. We can assume that he has someone helping him, which at this point could be anyone here in town. He is well known as a police officer so that will also make it easier for him to plead his case that he really didn’t do this. We are not going to broadcast it on the news; we don’t want to start a panic. He already knows how to find out what information we have which puts us at a distinct disadvantage.”

  Officer Grayson turned to Allie. “I would really advise you to go home and pack a bag; you should plan to stay in a hotel for the next few nights so that we can better protect you. We don’t want him to have a chance to get closer to Sally or you. I’m sure that he blames you as well for what is going on, so you are not safe even if we were to only take Sally to a more secure location. It is better for her to stay with someone that she knows since you are now her temporary guardian, we think it will be best if you are protected by more security rather than having to split the few officers we have in two places.”

  “I have deliveries to make this afternoon and then I can be finished for the week. Do you think it is safe to go back to my apartment?”

  Allie looked worried; she knew that she would be moving around in public during the daylight, so he was unlikely to try anything really terrible with lots of people around.

  “Honestly, I would walk in and check your apartment, make sure that everything looks normal so that you feel safer. I really don’t see him trying too much today because he knows people will be on the lookout for him right now. Do you have anyone that you could call to go with you for the day?”

  Allie was about to answer no, when she real
ized that her witness protection supervisor would want to be informed of the dangerous situation that she was in.

  “Yes, I could have someone meet me to go on my deliveries for the day. I’ll call them to meet me now. Thanks for thinking of my safety.”

  Waving bye, Allie continued to her car and looked carefully into the back seat to make sure there was no one hiding there. She had picked up a few tips while hanging around the federal Marshalls who had done her transfer.

  That reminded her that she needed to call the Marshall, Allie explained the situation and he promised to meet her at her apartment.

  Chapter 7

  Her Federal Marshall, Keith was waiting on the doorstep waiting for Allie to let him in. Keith was really good looking; he was already married which meant that he wasn’t available in Allie’s book.

  Keith walked thru and declared the house was empty. Once, Allie was inside, he made a few calls to order supplies that would increase the security of Allie’s apartment.

  She loaded her car with the deliveries for the day while they were waiting for the stuff to get there. Keith let the guy in to get started installing the equipment, he explained to the technician where he wanted upgrades at the windows and door. Also, he was going to install the cameras all thru the apartment except for the bathroom, so that they could keep an eye out for Mike.

  The front door as well as her back door had cameras in place so that if anyone tried to get in they could send out help immediately.

  Cautioning Allie to be safe and to call if she saw anything unusual, Keith left.

  Allie went ahead and packed a bag that would last her for a few days. She also gathered Sally’s stuff putting everything in her trunk so that it would be hidden out of sight.

  Knowing that she needed to go ahead and get the orders delivered, because she had customers that were expecting their products. Allie started out, but her heart just wasn’t in it for the day.

  Days when everything is going wrong can change in the blink of an eye when something good happens to balance out the bad.

  Allie got a phone call about an order from the lady at the funeral home. She wanted to order some nail polish and lipstick. So being helpful Allie offered her the special. “The Quick Dry nail polishes are on sale did you want to try those?” Allie was hoping to save her some money.

  She responded, “It doesn’t really matter, they aren’t going anywhere.” That was when it hit; these were for the dead people to make them look good before the funeral. Guess, it didn’t really matter if their nails dried quickly or not.

  “Wow!” The whole idea was so crazy and out of the ordinary that it really brightened her day.

  ‘Any day above ground is a good day’ or so she had been told, having never been dead, she really wouldn’t know.

  This lifted her spirits so she was able to smile and enjoy taking care of all the customers. While Allie didn’t sell a lot of demos, at least they didn’t have to put up with a grumpy Nova Lady.

  Allie deposited the money from the day and headed up to the school to pick up Sally. Allie knew that Sally was going to need a diversion for the afternoon so that she wouldn’t know what happened to her mother.

  Allie waited in the carpool line and when Sally hopped into the car she suggested that they go see the movie about Frozen that was still at the $1 Theater. She had heard about the movie, but hadn’t seen it so she hoped that it would keep her occupied for a while.

  It was alright for a kid’s movie until the snowman started singing about how he wanted a day in the sun which Allie thought was hilarious. At least Sally knew all the words which she and all the children sang so there was an echo of sweet little voices.

  When it was over they went to grab a quick bite to eat so they could see Megan up at the hospital during visiting hours. Allie didn’t plan to stay very long so that Sally didn’t find out how badly her mother was.

  Allie had been told earlier that she and Sally would be staying in a hotel in the next town so that it would cut down on the possibility that Mike would find them. They carried the bags in so they could be leave without alerting everyone to where they had gone.

  Allie tried to prepare Sally, “Something happened to your mommy’s voice last night and she is hurting really bad today. She won’t sound very good, but she will talk as much as she can. Once we tell her goodnight, then we are going on a special ride to our hotel. How does that sound munchkin?”

  Sally looked up at Allie as they walked; “My daddy tried to make her go away again didn’t he? I heard the ladies at school talking about why I had to stay inside today. I thought that my daddy loved us, but he needs to stop trying to hurt my mommy, I just hate him.”

  They had walked thru the doors as Sally uttered this statement.

  Pulling her to the side, she got down on eye level with her. “Sally, your daddy did hurt your mommy again. He hasn’t been treating her very well. This doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you. I’m sure that he is very upset right now which isn’t a good excuse, but we don’t want to hate him okay? He is very confused and we want to find him so that he can get some help and get better. We don’t have to like him, but let’s not hate him all right?”

  Sally looked at Allie and burst into tears. Pulling her close, through her sobs she was saying, “I’m sorry I was so bad. I’m sorry that mommy was bad. We will try to do better, so daddy can come back.”

  Hearing her broke, Allie’s heart. There was no way to explain this situation in such a way so that she could understand it had nothing to do with her actions. Allie just held her, telling her it wasn’t her fault. Allie was hoping that with some time, Sally would be able to move past the feelings of guilt.

  Once she quieted down, they finished walking to Megan’s room. All along the halls there were extra people. All through the hospital working on installing cameras and keypads so that they could monitor for added security.

  Megan was awake, but unable to sit up yet. Motioning Sally over to her, they were both surprised when Sally just hung back not wanting to get close. Allie walked over and lowered the side rail leaning in to give Megan a hug. When Sally saw that Allie hadn’t hurt her mom, she crept closer watching as Allie filled Megan in on all the happenings for the day. By the time Allie had finished, Sally had climbed up on the bed and was studying Megan trying to figure out if she okay.

  Megan had just listened to Allie without speaking since the movement hurt, yet she wanted to assure Sally that she would be all right.

  “Sally, I love you. I hope that you are having fun with Ms. Allie.” Megan croaked out the words taking her left arm that was still healthy and rubbed Sally on the back.

  “How was the Frozen movie? I know that you love the songs?” The questions seemed to open the floodgates allowing Sally to tell her what happened with the whole movie.

  Allie had stepped back to work out the last of the details for their secret ride, while Sally and Megan got closer.

  The officer on guard duty stepped out and returned a few minutes later giving Allie a nod to let her know that the carriage ride was ready.

  “Sally give your mom a kiss and we will go to our secret ride that will make us invisible to everyone.”

  Sally gave her a quick peck on the cheek and hopped off the bed. She picked up her backpack and duffel so they could leave.

  Stepping closer to Megan, “I will take care of her the best I can, but make sure that you take care of yourself as well, okay?”

  Megan nodded her head toward the officer acknowledging that she would be well looked after.

  They walked out of the room, but instead of going out the front door they walked further into the hospital following one of the nurses. Walking in a big circle thru the many hallways; finally ending up in the ER bay so they could climb into the back ambulance.

  The Sheriff’s office was hoping that this would make it more difficult for Mike to find them. Reassured when the police officer got in to ride with them, she breathed a sigh of relief. The officer wo
uld be staying in the hotel to ensure their safety.

  Sally was so excited to be riding in the ambulance with a real police officer that she forgot to be shy asking questions non-stop the entire 30 minute drive to the next town.

  Upon arriving they were given adjoining rooms so that the officer could protect them, but give them some privacy if needed. It was a female officer that they had assigned to guard the ladies so that they felt more comfortable.

  Karen Samuels was from a town two hours in the opposite direction and worked for the state police office. Since Karen hadn’t been in this area for a while it would make it easier to blend in.

  Their story was two old friends on a vacation. They were going to visit a few public places and stay away from the hospital for a few days so that Mike wouldn’t be able to follow them back to where they were staying.

  Karen had ordered some stuff delivered to the room earlier in the day so that they only had to carry suitcases with personal belongings. They had brought snacks so shopping or walking to the vending machine wasn’t necessary. The fewer trips out of the room without protection would help keep them safe.

  It was still early so they hooked up the DVD player allowing Sally to start a princess marathon. After several hours of chips, pizza, cookies and more happy endings than had ever happened in real life, Allie finally called it a night.

  Sending Sally to shower and brush her teeth before she fell asleep, Allie checked with Karen to see what the plan was for keeping them safe. Allie was trying to keep Sally from being worried about what could happen if Mike discovered them.

  Karen would wake up every hour to double check making sure that everything was okay and call in an update. They had a car that would be circling thru the parking lot throughout the night. In case Mike did find out where they were staying, there would be help available quickly. Leaving the adjoining door open, they were settled in and had a fairly quiet night.

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