19 The Storm: Part Two

Monroe made his way down the dimly lit hallway toward the ICU room where Polly was. Monroe had been on the police force for 34 years and in all of his time he had never even heard of something like this happening. All of the crimes in the sleepy little town was drunken disorderly, domestic battery usually on a spouse. Drugs or punk kids vandalizing buildings. But harming a child to the point of comatose, assaulting the elderly, and abusing an adolescent. It bewildered him how something like this could happen in his simple small town. 'All it takes is one bad apple.' he muttered to himself. Monroe looked around and began to become frustrated. All of the halls looked the same. Taking a sip from his coffee he sighed. He was going to have to ask for help again. Looking around he saw a young blonde haired nurse writing down something frantically on a clipboard. "Excuse me miss. Which way to the ICU wing?" he asked. Without skipping a beat she pointed behind Monroe causing him to turn around. He shook his head. In big red glowing letters a sign read ICU. Monroe cursed internally but smiled at the young woman and said thank you. Walking up to the door he pushed the intercom button and flashed his badge. A loud buzzing sound came from the door then a louder click. "Come in." the nurse on the microphone said. Monroe pushed open the door and made his way to the front desk.

"Hello Sherriff, what can I help you with?" the young nurse asked giving him her undivided attention. "Hey Betty-Jo, how's your mama doing? Her and your daddy starting to get long now?" The nurse just rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yes papa stopped drinking and started to go to church with me and mama on Sundays now." she said beaming. "Now what do you need?! I have patients to attend to."

"I'm looking for Mrs. Polly." he replied. Betty-Jo nodded and started to type on her computer.

"Is that how they taught you to dress a wound? That's not nearly tight enough dearie. Here let me show you how it's done." a crackly authoritative voice echoed in the halls. Monroe shook his head and headed off toward the direction of the voice. He had found her. In the last 12 years since he had seen her last that woman still hadn't changed. She was still the firecracker that she had always been. He followed the sound of her chiding instructive voice to the last door in the hallway. Looking in the room, he saw the little old southern bell sitting up in her bed showing the young man that had been wrapping her arm in gauze and compression tape, the "proper" way to do it. "Well, well , well if it ain't Little Randall the Rascal. How have ya been holdin up, boy? I know things have been rough since Lori. It's aged ya, sweetie. I can see the lines on your face."

"It's been rough, but you know that's not why I'm here Mrs. Polly It ain't to take a trip down memory lane." Monroe said his voice stern.

"Don't take that tone with me young man. I know why you're here. No need to be nasty." Polly said. " It's about little Jessie, and that man that broke into my home." Monroe nodded. The old woman sighed, and sent her attending nurse away. Monroe raised an eyebrow at her actions. "He didn't need to hear it, ain't none of that young mans business." Monroe just nodded. Mrs. Polly took a deep sigh, and straightened herself on the bed.

"Sammy had dropped Jessie off that morning at 4 a.m. right after I had started to make breakfast for the three of us. I know that boys mama doesn't cook or do much of anything. As hungry and as dirty as they are each morning it would make a politician's heart ache. So anywho I was making breakfast and already had Sammy change his weird clothes out so he could go to school while I watched her. As soon as Jessie got there I could tell something was off. She wasn't all happy and chipper like she usually was. She was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room of rocking chairs. Sammy changed and left without eatin, which caused me to worry more but I pushed it out of my mind. As the day went on it seemed pretty normal, until about lunch time. Before I finished making lunch I just couldn't stand the smell coming from that little girl anymore and I went to wash her, like I did everytime I babysat her. When I drew the bath I went to help her take off her clothes and she pulled away from me. She hadn't done that to me before, because she trusts me and that made me worry to my core, Randall. After some patience and gentle coaxing I got her to undress and get in the tub. As I was washing her, what I thought was dirt and grime was blood and bruises. That child looked as if she had got mauled by a dog. I finished washing her, dried her off, got her dressed and went to call that useless mama of hers to get some damn answers." At this point Mrs. Polly had paused to grab a drink of water. "Randall seeing that baby like that will haunt me for forever." she said. Monroe just nodded. "Me too Mrs. Polly. Me too. Please continue when you're ready." he said.

Mrs. Polly just looked back down. "When I called her mama, a man picked up the phone and I asked him where Jessie's mama was. When he informed me that she was too busy to come to the phone, I figured what he meant. That woman was higher than a kite at the moment, so it would have done me no good to speak to her. I just told that man to have her call me when she was available because I had to talk to her about something that concerned me with Jessie. As soon as I brought little Jessie up, I heard his breathing get heavy and he told me anything that I had to say to her mama I could say to him. I told him that it was a matter that I would only discuss with her mama. Then he started getting more frantic asking me if I was home and if Jessie was still with me. I just hung up the phone and decided I would just bring it up to Sammy when he got back that evening. So I went back to the kitchen to finish up the sandwiches that I was making me and Jessie for lunch. That little girl loves my peanut butter and peach sandwiches. I heard the door open up and I assumed it was Jessie coming in from outside, so I called out that lunch was ready and for her to go and wash her hands. But when I turned around there was a filthy man in my house. I had asked him why he was there and he insisted that Jessie's mama had sent him to come get her. It felt off to me. Something about that man didn't sit right in my soul. Especially that crazy look in his eyes. I informed him I would like to hear it from Tammy herself, and I went to get the phone. As I reached for it, I had a sharp pain in the back of my head. I'm guessin he hit me. Then I heard little Jessie scream for me." the old woman began to tear up. "She called for me, but I couldn't answer the world was spinning around me. I heard her yell in pain and then scream no and help over and over. I fought to stay awake, but I guess I didn't because the next thing I knew all of these young men and women were around me and putting me on a stretcher. Long story short here I was when you walked in. With that young man trying his best to wrap me up. But you could tell he was still a little wet behind the ears."

Monroe just took a deep breath letting every thing that the old lady just told him sink in. "I'm guessing you found her, if you're askin me about her, huh Randall?" Mrs. Polly asked as if she was holding her breath.

"Don't worry Mrs. Polly she's alive but barely. She made her way to a girls house that lived about a mile away. Where to her surprise her brother was there. But she sure gave a good ol fright to the girl that lived there. Had her thinking she was a ghost or something. The girl, who's name is Violet by the way Mrs. Polly, called 911, and that's how we came to know about all of this. Thanks to Samuel we were able to come help you as well." Mrs. polly let out the breath that she had been holding. "Did that man tell you his name by any chance?" Monroe asked.

"Nathaniel, I think he said that was his name but I ain't too sure. Is Jessie here?" she asked. Monroe nodded.

"Yup she's just up the hall from you. Samuel is here too. But he's in the main ER, getting patched up. Last I saw that boy was asleep with the girl by his side" he replied. "But before you do anything you need to rest some yourself. They will be here for a while so don't you go getting into any trouble. Ok now?"

Polly just smiled. Monroe took his leave and waved to the nurses on his way out. He stopped at the entrance of the ICU and spoke to the guard. "No one gets in here unless they are with me or if they have a badge, you hear me?" he told the guard. The guard just quickly nodded and said, "Yes sir." Monroe then made is way back to the main ER to see how the other two were and to write all of this down. They had to find this bastard before anyone else got hurt.