The Imposter (31 page)

The
rape treatment at Gulfport Memorial had been just as awful as Alex had
expected.  It was the most humiliating experience she had ever endured.  Even
though the physician had been kind, she thought she heard some joking outside
her cubicle.  Nadine's quiet reprimand had convinced her she was correct. 

She
breathed a sigh of relief when she was discharged.  The ride back to New
Orleans was quiet, both women deep in thought.  Finally, Alex asked, "When
will I know? When will they tell me if I've been raped?"

"The
physician told me he would run the labs himself.  He said he would get back to
me this afternoon." Nadine glanced over at Alex, aware that she was
depressed.

"That
long? Why so long?" Alex's voice sounded pitiful.

"They
do a lot of testing, Alex.  You know that.  Try to get some sleep now."
Nadine's voice was chiding.  She was getting pretty tired, too.

"I
just want a shower and something to eat.  Then, I want to go to CCMC and check
on Monique.  I'm really worried about her." Alex's voice faltered as her
eyes filled with tears for her friend.

Nadine
nodded.  "Yes, I talked with Robert.  He's also very concerned.  Monique's
still in surgery.  They are doing a craniotomy.  She has a depressed skull
fracture."

"Did
she regain consciousness before the surgery?" Alex was afraid to hear the
response.

"No,
she didn't.  She was completely unresponsive.  Robert's also in surgery.  Said
he was hopeful that once they relieve the pressure in her head, she might
regain consciousness, maybe even come back full force." Nadine reached for
Alex's hand and pressed it.  "You know how these things go, Alex.  It
could be either way." Her voice was sympathetic.   The look she gave Alex
was understanding.

Alex
flinched as she remembered the sound of Whitset's lead pipe splitting Monique's
skull.  She would never forget the sound it had made, not as long as she
lived.  She shuddered to herself and cried silent tears for her friend.

"It's
so unfair, Nadine.  Monique and Jack had just found each other.  They're in
love.  Did you know that?"

Nadine
jerked her head and stared at Alex.  Her eyes were closed, her head laid back
against the seat.

Hell
no, she didn't know that.  She said softly, “No, Alex, I didn't know that. 
Thanks for telling me."

Alex
made no response until Nadine awoke her in front of her house.  Nadine made
them both a sandwich, while Alex showered and dressed.  It was afternoon. 
Then, they left for CCMC.

Don
Montgomery was pacing furiously back and forth in his office.  Elizabeth
Tippett and Josh Martin were sitting in a small conference table.   In front of
them was the morning edition of the
Times Picayune
.  The lead story on
the front page outlined the tragic attack on Angie Richelieu and the death of
Mrs.  Smithson.

Elizabeth
finally spoke, "Don, for heaven sakes, sit down.  Your pacing is driving
me nuts.  Stop it!"

Montgomery
turned on her.  "Tippett, what the hell is going on here? Tell me again!
Are you sure Whitset is responsible for the attacks on Alex and Monique
Desmonde?"

Elizabeth
sighed and turned to Josh Martin and back to Don.  "Yes, absolutely.  
Officer Martin was there! What other proof do you need? He interrupted the
attack on Alex.  Monique was already unconscious.  Whitset is definitely
responsible.  Can't you get that through your head?" Elizabeth was tired,
worried about Alex and Monique, and sick of Don.

Don
sat down and glared at Josh Martin.  "Where in the hell is Commander
Françoise? That useless bastard should be here helping us clean this shit
up!"

Josh
bristled at Montgomery's reference to the Commander.   Jack was his hero and he
worshiped the ground he walked on.    He was short on energy, patience, and
time.  He mustered up some self-control and said in a derogatory voice,
"Mr.  Montgomery, Commander Françoise is out searching for Whitset now.  
There's a citywide manhunt for your administrator.  I'm leaving here now to
meet up with him, if I can find him."

"No
need.   I'm here, Josh.  No need to hunt." The three of them looked
towards the doorway of Montgomery's office and stared at the exhausted Jack
Françoise.  Jack was so grey with fatigue and anxiety that he appeared to be an
apparition.   Jack touched Elizabeth's shoulder and sat down.

Officer
Martin rose in deference to his commanding officer.  "Commander, can I get
you anything?"

Jack
shook his head negatively and addressed Montgomery.  "Is Alex here
yet?"

Montgomery
stared at the Commander and said, "Hell, no! I heard she'd been attacked
by Whitset.   Is it true?"

Françoise
nodded.  "Yeah, Whitset attacked Alex and Dr. Desmonde.  I understand
she's still in surgery.  Anyone check on her?" Jack looked at all of them
dismally.

Elizabeth
answered, "Yeah.   I called up about an hour ago.  She was still in
surgery.  They said it would be several more hours.  They're doing a craniotomy,
Commander.  She has a severe skull fracture.  Why not come with me to my office
and I'll call again." Elizabeth stood alongside Josh, and the three of
them left a speechless Don Montgomery in his plush executive office.

As
the trio walked towards Elizabeth's office, Jack's cell rang.    He looked at
the number.  It was Nadine's cell.   He said, "I'll catch up.   Let me
talk to Nadine.  I think she's with Alex.”   He stopped and sat in the lobby,
while Josh and Liz waited expectantly.

Jack
returned and gestured with his hand.   "Let's go to Alex's office.  She
and Nadine are over there.

Alex
and Nadine were sitting at the conference table in Alex's office.  As soon as
Jack entered, Alex went over and hugged him.  She could feel his silent tears
as they embraced.  Alex said softly, "Jack, we don't know anything yet. 
Let's be positive.  Robert's up there, so you can be sure she's getting the
best." She continued to hold Jack, feeling him shutter as he grouped for
composure.  Finally, he let go and smiled at her.

"You're
looking pretty good, Miss Lawyer Lady.  You do have a few bruises and a
shiner.  Everything else okay?"

"Yep,
I'm doing okay.  Promise.  Nadine has been great.  Can you get her a
raise?" Alex winked at Nadine.

"I'll
do my best." He looked at Josh and Nadine.  "Can we talk
privately?" He looked sideways at Elizabeth.

"I
get the message, Commander.  I've got to go clean up our image with the press
anyway.  You guys do good while I'm gone, okay?" Liz gave them all a big
smile.  She hugged Alex when she left and said, "We'll talk later, Al. 
I'm glad you're okay.   You don't look too bad for a chick who has been up all
night," Elizabeth joked, as she left them alone.

Alex
smiled at her friend.  "Yes, Liz.  Later.  I'm doing pretty okay.  Say
some prayers for Monique."

"I've
been praying for you all since about 3 o'clock this morning.  And by the way,
you two owe me.   I've been sitting with Don for hours, listening to him rant
and rave.  Steer clear of him if you can.  He's a wild man again."

"Gotcha,
Liz.  Thanks," Alex said.  Elizabeth gave Officer Martin a special smile
as she quietly closed the door of Alex's conference room.

Jack
sat down wearily in a chair and said to the group, "I got the preliminary
forensics on Angie.  We ain't got zip.  Nothing."

Alex
gasped, "What? Nothing? How can that be?"

Nadine
spoke quietly, "It's probably because so much time elapsed between the
rape and the collection of the evidence.  What about blood and hair samples,
Jack? Are they conclusive?"

Jack's
face brightened.  Damn, he thought to himself.  I really am in bad shape.  I'm
almost useless.  He had forgotten about the evidence, except the rape
forensics.  "Hell, yeah, we got the hair and skin.  We even got the damn
bite mark.  I can't wait to catch the little pervert." Jack, clearly in a
brighter mood, rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

Alex
was still confused.  She felt her heart fluttering with fear.  She looked at
Nadine and said, "Nadine, why don't we have any ABO groupings? Surely,
there should be something!"

Nadine
understood Alex's fear.  "I guess the specimens weren't collected soon
enough to build a good case.  Anyway, the genetic markers could only implicate
Whitset if …."

She
was interrupted by Commander Françoise, who said tersely, "Nadine, suppose
the man's a non-secretor? Then we'll never be able to determine …." 
Jack's voice trailed off as he stared at Alex, whose face had flushed a bright
red.  She was staring at the conference table, unable to speak.

Nadine
knew what they were thinking.  If Whitset was a non-secretor, then Alex might
not know if she had been physically raped or not.  She'd never come to closure
on the subject.  Damn, Nadine thought.  This just isn't fair.

"Alex,"
Nadine began, "We don't know anything yet .…"

Alex
stood.  She was in the greatest rage she could remember.  "Shut up,
Nadine! Shut up all of you!  None of you know that humiliation, the ignominy, I
just endured at that Podunk hospital.  All of you just get out of my
office!" She looked wildly at Josh, Nadine, and Jack.  "I said to get
the hell out of here, now!"

Jack
was shocked.  He'd never heard Alex curse like that before.  He stood to try to
comfort her.  As he reached for her, she pushed him away, fighting back hot
tears.

Nadine
remained seated and looked up at Alex's tear streaked face.  "Alex, I know
exactly what you’ve been through.  I've been through it myself.  We'll leave
now, but I'll be back here in one hour to see you."

Alex
stared at them as they left her office.  Then, she put her head down on her
conference table and wept, crying for herself, Monique, Jack, and Robert.  Her
life would never be the same.  She just knew it.  There was no way it could be.

Commander
Françoise, Nadine Wells, and Josh Martin reconvened in the hospital dining
room, all of them staring tiredly into their coffee.  Finally, Jack said,
"How bad was it in Gulfport?"

"It
was as bad as always, Jack.  Nothing different or unusual.   It's just a
demeaning experience for any woman, or man for that matter." Her voice was
clear, but her eyes had a faraway look in them.

Jack
cleared his throat, uncomfortable with what he was about to say.  Finally, it
came out.  "Nadine, I didn't know that you had been .…"

Nadine
interrupted him.  "I know you didn't Jack.  It's not something I've ever
revealed during a case." She looked bluntly at Jack and Josh.  "Make
sure this goes no further."

"Of
course not, Nadine.  Your secret is safe with us.  Right, Josh?"

Josh
nodded his head affirmatively and said, "Right, Commander.   Right, Ms. 
Wells.  No one will ever know." Personally, Josh never wanted to piss off
either the Commander or Ms.  Wells.   They were both pretty scary in their own
right.

Robert
Bonnet was deeply troubled.  As he stood in the shower in the O.R. suite, the
warm water seemed to remind him only that he was still alive.  He was numb all
over.  The rest of the world seemed cold to him, cold and unkind and out of
sync. 

Monique’s
surgery had progressed well, but Robert was depressed by the extent of her head
injury.  The neurosurgeon, Dr. Van Hansen, wasn't hopeful for  much of a
recovery.  In fact, early in the surgery, after assessing the extent of her
injury, the buildup of intracranial fluid and its compression on the brain, he
had recommended they close, take three EKG readings, and then make a
decision.   Robert had objected vehemently, even though the clinical picture
looked grim.  

At
a later point, the neurosurgeon had pointedly questioned whether Monique should
even have any plastic surgery, suggesting it was a waste of time and doubtful
that Monique would ever even ask for a mirror if she ever regained
consciousness.  Robert again objected angrily.  A volley of harsh words had
followed.  

Robert
really didn't like Van Hansen.  He was lousy at the bedside and had the
“Surgeon rude, superior personality.”  But Robert knew he was also a great
technical neurosurgeon.  In the end, the plastic surgeon had come in and done a
fairly good job of reconstructing Dr.  Desmonde's face where Lester Whitset had
tried to obliterate it.  Of course, only time would really tell how good she
would look, if she even lived.

Robert
continued to chastise himself.  Perhaps the neuro doc had been correct.  Maybe
he wasn't seeing Monique's injuries for what they were.  Part of the time
during the operation, he had found himself remembering their youth together. 
They had been great friends.  They still were.  Then, his thoughts returned to the
"celebratory dinner" they had shared only two days before.  Jack and
Monique had been so happy that night.  Oh, there had been a few tense moments,
but Robert knew the two loved each other beyond belief.   Now, he had to go
tell Jack that things didn't look so good.

"Bonnet,
wake up! Are you still in there? You're going to be a prune if you don't get
out." Robert recognized the voice of one of the male O.R. techs.  He
opened the shower door and grabbed a towel.

"Yeah,
I'm coming out.  Give me a minute." Robert left the shower and was
changing into clean scrubs when the tech approached him again.

"You
okay, man? You look awful.  You're all wrinkled." Tom Finney, the O.R.
tech, looked him up and down.  He smiled at Robert and gave him a look of
encouragement.  He studied the surgeon's face and said, "Listen man, you
know how those damn brain guys are.  They thrive on pessimism.  They always
predict the worst … not sure of this, not sure of that, and all that horse
shit.  Then, they look like Santa Claus or the tooth fairy when the patient
wakes up and starts bitching about the nursing care.  Brain surgeons practice
more savior behavior than the rest of you.  Don't let him get you down!"
Tom slapped Robert on the back.

Robert
smiled at the aging tech.  He had known Tom for years, even before he was
operating at CCMC.  Tom had been a nursing assistant first and then an O.R.
tech.  He knew patients and he knew doctors.  "Thanks, Tom.  You're
right.   I'm really down about Dr. Desmonde."

"Listen,
doc.   If anyone can pull through a skull fracture, it's Monique Desmonde.  She
is a fighter, and she's a stubborn lady.  Don't write her off.  She'll come
back, if only to prove her jackass surgeon wrong.  Wait and see!" Tom gave
Robert a big hug before rushing down the Hall.  "Gotta go.  See you, doc. 
Get some rest.  You look like hell."

Robert
waved at the spry tech and smiled.  "Thanks Tom." He entered the
physician's waiting room and called Alex's office.  No answer.  That concerned
him.  Then he called Jack's cell.  Jack answered and agreed to meet him in the
recovery waiting area.

Robert
finished dressing and walked slowly into the recovery area.  His injured arm
was killing him.  It was numb and felt like someone was sticking pins in it. 
He brushed the sensations off.   It was just fatigue.   It always got like that
when he was tired.   He checked on Monique in recovery and learned from the
nurses that she was stable and had been transferred straight up to the neuro
ICU.   The room was empty except for Jack and Nadine, who were seated together
on a couch, talking quietly to each other. 

Robert
stood in the doorway.   The pair hadn't seen him.   Robert felt his eyes fill
with tears as he saw the goodhearted, hard-nosed policeman.  If he looked bad,
then Jack looked ten times worse.  The Commander was suffering.  He looked old
and tired.  His body language spoke of complete misery and severe emotional
pain.  His face was, well, what was it? Robert had never seen the look that
Jack had on his face.  He continued staring at him from a distance, as his mind
searched for a word that described how the Commander looked.  Finally, it
dawned on him.   It was fear and Robert had never seen Jack truly frightened. 

Jack's
face was a mask of fear.  The Commander was desperately afraid of what Robert
Bonnet, his friend the surgeon, would tell them about Monique.

Robert
approached Jack, who was deep in thought, and gently tapped his shoulder.  The
Commander jumped at his touch.  He looked at Robert anxiously.  Robert sat on
the coffee table opposite Jack and Nadine.  Neither man spoke.  Nadine, fearing
the worst, reached for Jack's hand.   If he were standing in front of a firing
squad, Robert was sure Jack would not be as afraid as he was now.  

"Hey,
man.   How are you?" Robert asked tentatively.   The silence was endless. 
Françoise was afraid to ask, and Robert didn't want to talk.  His mind was
formulating the best way to tell Jack that all estimates to this point
suggested that Monique would be a vegetable.

Jack's
eyes implored Robert to tell him something good.   Robert knew he couldn't
ethically do that.

Finally,
Robert said, "Jack, the surgery went well.  Monique's in recovery."
He paused for a moment, groping for the best words.  "To be honest, Jack,
the neurosurgeon isn't optimistic about her recovery.  Her injury was extensive
.…"

"And
…," Jack asked in a small voice.  If the situation hadn't been so serious,
Robert would have laughed at Jack's voice.

"We
don't know.  The next 12 hours are critical.  He put in a shunt to drain the
fluid off of her brain." Robert watched as Jack shoulders sagged and then
continued, "But, I'm hopeful that she'll regain consciousness .…"

Jack
interrupted and said hoarsely, "I don't care if she never practices
medicine again.  I just want her to be able to be with me, to love me, to stay
with me.  I love her, Robert.  I loved her as she was, and I'll love her for
what she'll be.   I don't care what she's like after this.   I'm going to marry
her and take care of her.   Do you understand?"

"Of
course I do, Jack.  And, I'm going to pray that you get your wish.  We'll all
pray for that, won't we, Nadine?"

Nadine
nodded and continued to hold Jack's hand.  She asked Robert, "Dr.  Bonnet,
have you experience with patients like Dr. Desmonde?"

"Yes,
I do.  I'm not offering any false hopes.  I never do.  I simply want to say
that medicine has been proven wrong many, many times.  Monique may come out of
this and do fairly well, great even.   But, Jack, she'll never be exactly what
she was, if she's anything at all.  You must understand that."

"I
understand, Robert.  And I love her.  Just keep her alive for me so she has the
chance to talk again.  Will you do that for me, Robert?" The Commander's
eyes were filled with tears.

"Of
course I will." Robert touched his friend's shoulder.   "I will do
everything I possibly can.   You know we all love her, too."

"Can
I see her?"

"She's
in the Neuro ICU, the neurological intensive care unit.   There are a lot of
machines.  But I'll take you, Jack.   Nadine, would you like to go?"

Nadine
checked her watch and shook her head.  "I'm going to Alex's office.  We've
got an appointment.  Will you meet me there afterwards, Jack?"

"Yeah. 
I will," Jack said in a small voice.

"Is
Alex okay?" Robert asked and looked directly at both police officers.

Nadine
hesitated for a moment.  Robert immediately picked up on the hesitation and
said, "Is Alex okay?" His voice was low, demanding.

"Yes,
physically she's okay.  Emotionally, she's drained.  You can see for yourself
after you two visit Monique.  I'll be in her office."

At
that moment, the telepage operator stat paged Commander Jack Françoise to the
Pavilion.  Jack said in a sour tone, "Screw the Pavilion.  I'm going with
Robert!"

"Let
me answer the page, Jack.  Otherwise, they'll keep stat paging you over and
over.  We need a little time and a little silence." Robert reached for his
cell and called telepage and talked for a moment.  Nadine saw his face pale a
little, but he smiled at them and said, "Another incident at the Pavilion.
 It'll wait, Jack.  Trust me."

"I
do.  I don't give a damn about that place anyway.  Now, let's go." Jack
glanced at Nadine and said, "We’ll meet you and Alex in her office.  Then,
I'll check in the Pavilion." Jack gave Nadine a forced smile and left with
Robert.