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“I
t is only a matter of time till she comes for you,” I said to Nathan as we walked alongside each other in the hospital garden. He had come to me, still worried about Annette. He wanted me to ask Annette if she had seen anything weird or felt anything out of the ordinary, basically to check up on her. I had assured him that I would call her tonight and clear away all concerns.
I was trying to remind him to be careful because it was obvious that Hannah would come for him. He did not look surprised. “I know she will. I am prepared for it. The problem is Annette. She is not prepared for it. She has no idea what might be coming her way, and so she has no idea how to deal with it.” I knew he was right. But I could not possibly tell her.
Even if I did not trust Taylor, there was still no way I would intentionally make an enemy out of her. I had given her one promise, and I intended to keep it. “Did you hear anything from Detective Ocon?” I asked him. He seemed taken aback by my question.
Suddenly, as if a realization had struck, his eyes went wide, and he slapped his forehead. “Oh my God! That is what I came to tell you today! How could I have forgotten?” I shook my own head at his carelessness. He then said, "I got a call from him last night. He said he had acquired footage from one stop.
The problem is that the other stop did not have a CCTV camera. So now he checked the footage from the first one but did not see her. It meant that she came from the stop with no CCTV. The good news is we narrowed down the location.
The bad news is we still have zero information about her. Detective Ocon has stationed some of his men at the stop 24/7 in case anyone with turquoise heels or a gemstone ring comes back. I also asked him to check for Hannah's crime history. He did some digging and found only one count.
After her parent's death, she had tried to strangle a relative's baby and was referred for psychological evaluation by the police department after complaints from the parents of the victim. Her current address was not mentioned, nor has there been any record of her since the time of your father and her split.
If she is dead or alive, no one knows. I asked Detective Ocon to check with the psychiatric facility that did her evaluation and see if anything comes up." He said all of it in his professional voice in under a minute, and let's just say, it was a lot of information to process. Sometimes I think he does not even realize when he switches from his personal to professional tone and vice-versa. “Progress is slow, but at least we are getting there, step by step.” He nodded his head in agreement as we walked during that month of February. The air was crisp and cold; it felt like small needles prickling right into your skin. I longed for summer, both in season and in my own life. I longed for the breeze.
Detective Ocon came to visit me with some interesting news. “I looked into the psychiatric facility where Hannah had been admitted as a child. I found something interesting. The psychiatric facility where Hannah was admitted is the same one where her sister, Taylor, currently works.” Taylor works there? That is weird. I remember Annette saying her mother worked at a psychiatric facility; it had never even crossed my mind that it would be the same one as Hannah's.
Why would Taylor want to go back to the same place that traumatized her sister? “Do you know Taylor, personally?” Detective Ocon’s voice interrupted my train of thoughts. "I met her once when I was visiting Annette. She seemed...cold, to say the least. She is an interesting character." I knew I was manipulating Detective Ocon, making him rouse his own suspicions. I needed to do it. Taylor was hiding something from me.
If she was not going to tell me when I asked her nicely, then I would get it out of her through her own means: mind games. “Did you notice anything suspicious about her when you visited her?" Bingo. His suspicions had been aroused. I needed to play this carefully, not giving too much away. "Well, calling her suspicious would be an overstatement. Was she rude? Yes.
However, she did do some things that did not sit well with me. I had been in the hallway at night looking for the bathroom when I heard her talking to someone on the phone. She kept saying, "She is here," and "You do not understand; she is sitting right here in my house." Was she talking about me? I had no way of finding out. I did get creeped out by that and left the house the next morning.
Who knows who she was talking to?" Bingo. He was writing vigorously. I was done playing nice and mellow to people. I was going to meet them on their own terms now. “Did you get to know anything about Hannah’s diagnosis?” I remembered to ask him about what he actually went for. Detective Ocon rubbed his chin between his fingers and said, while looking at his notepad, "The doctor who made the diagnosis was on leave.
I tried to ask around if I could get my hands on anything like her file or documents, but the staff informed me that all information, confidential or open, is under the jurisdiction of the doctor who treats the patient.
They are not allowed to disclose anything without permission. I asked them when the doctor might be back, and they said it could take well up to another week. I gave them my number and asked them to inform me as soon as he was back." He finished speaking as he shut his notepad with a flick.
Then, he looked at me and asked me, “When are you getting discharged?” I knew this conversation was going to come up. This was a good time to bring up the matter of my security. “I will be discharged in two to three days.” Detective Ocon looked deep in thought.
I could practically hear the gears in his head turning and twisting. “Do you want to continue living in that apartment?” I was surprised by his question. I had not considered the possibility of moving. Now that I think about it, he might be right. Did I want to continue living there? "I have not thought about it yet." Detective Ocon just nodded his head. He then proceeded to say, “You should think about it. The apartment is clearly not safe for you anymore.
Even after getting your locks changed, she did not only manage to get in, but she also took you hostage and inflicted some serious damage in the same exact building. I also have another suspicion.” He paused. I waited for him to continue. It looked like he was trying to choose his next words carefully.
“Your apartment may be wired.” I looked at him, taken aback. Wired? How had I never considered that possibility? That may be why she knew so much about me. Oh, God! But when did she get the opportunity to wire my house? I imagine it is something that will take time. “But how would she manage to do that?
When did she get time for it?” He thought about that for a minute too. “Well, you worked full time. She had plenty of time to enter your apartment, wire it, and then leave before you even got home. You also spent a considerable time with Andrew before his death. It is quite possible she followed you both, and when she was sure both of you were out of the way, she could have easily broken into your house and did what she needed to do.” That made sense.
But moving in such a short time span is a complicated process. "The problem is, how will I move? I barely have four, if not three, days left. Even if we do not consider the financial aspect of it, it would be impossible to find an apartment at such short notice." He just smiled at me. “We have witness and victim units built around the city. Till this case is over, I would suggest you reside in one of those. It will be easier for us to provide security for you there as well. In the meantime, you can also look for apartments elsewhere. Does that sound comfortable to you?”
I could not be more grateful. I looked at him with as much sincerity as I could muster in my eyes and said, “Thank you so much, Detective Ocon. You have no idea what this means to me. I had been quite worried about the security issues. Now I am at ease.” He just shook his head as he got up and said, "This is part of my job; no need to thank me. If you need anything else or any assistance at all, please feel free to contact me. Hopefully, the next time we meet, we will not be in the hospital. Goodbye." I nodded my head at him as he exited through the door. It felt like the entire world’s burden had been lifted off my shoulders with this one conversation.
The day had come for me to move. Leaving the hospital was a bittersweet moment. My doctor and nurse bid me goodbye as I rechecked to make sure I had not forgotten to pack something. Nathan had already transferred all of my belongings from my previous apartment to the safe site. The safe site is a small apartment building close to the shopping area of the city.
My own apartment was quite small. Its entirety consisted of a kitchen, dining room, and a bedroom. Compared to my previous apartment, it did not feel like much. However, I visited it only once, yet I felt so safe. I got Nathan to pick up my stuff over the course of some days and transfer it there. Right now, I was packing my belongings in the hospital, feeling bittersweet. The time I spent at the hospital was complicated for me to think about.
I was in pain, but I also spent so much time with myself that it gave me time to heal. It gave me time to process and progress through everything that had been going wrong in my own life. I took Doctor Omar's advice and worked my way through everything that had happened.
Even though I did not want to relive most of the memories, acknowledging how I felt about them was a huge leap forward for me. I knew I needed professional help, and I knew my nightmares would not completely go away, but it was still something very important to me.
I was proud of myself. I realized with a start I really was proud of myself. That rarely, if ever, happens. I knew there were going to be moments of relapse for me, I knew things would bring me down, but I also knew I could fight.
"I have settled everything for you. The fridge is stocked, the stove is working, and the water pressure is sufficient. There were some bulbs that were fused, so I replaced them with new ones. Aside from that, as a small gift from me, I bought something as a housewarming gift. It's a plant.
It will bring you good luck in your future endeavors. I have placed it on the windowsill in your bedroom." Nathan rambled on as he walked beside me into the apartment. I could not put into words how grateful I was to have him in my life.
He saved me. If he had not been here, I could have never looked beyond the cloth of darkness that covered my life because of Hannah. "Also, I talked to Detective Ocon. He is on his way here right now with the two policemen who will guard this place from now on.
He said they were people he personally hand-picked and are extremely reliable." I nodded my head. Too much was going on in my mind to say much to him right now. He suddenly grew quiet. After rambling on for an hour, it seemed very uncharacteristic of him to grow this quiet. I looked over at him, and his left eye was twitching.
I knew him well enough to know he was hiding something from me. "Nathan, is something on your mind?" He stopped walking and looked at me. "This will seem weird. I know Annette and I broke up, and I should not be meddling in her affairs, but I do still care about her. Have you had any contact with her since the flower? Is she doing okay? Did anything else appear?" He looked genuinely concerned as he bombarded me with questions. "First of all, it is not weird if you are asking me these questions.
She is someone you knew, and just because you guys broke up does not mean you would automatically stop caring about her. Feelings are not a switch that just goes on and off. Second, I have not called her." His expression hardened at that. "I meant to visit her. Once I have settled down, I will go over to her apartment and have a long talk with her.
I did not think it appropriate to talk over the phone about something this serious. I had to think over carefully what I needed to say to her. I cannot break my promise to Taylor and accidentally slip something to Annette. So, I do not want to make her suspicious and need to tread carefully about my questions." Nathan's hardened expression had already softened.
He understood my point. He knew I was right. He gave me a soft smile and nodded. "Okay, then, let us get something to eat." "How about I cook?" Nathan smiled at me and nodded, very eager. Food was my love language too. I took that from my father.
