Chapter 4

Jack pulled into the parking lot of the rough neck bar for his Friday night checks. It was the last thing he did before going back to the station for the night to listen to the radio calls from near by districts. Usually uneventful, with the occasional need to pick someone up to stick them in the drunk tank, he wasn’t prepared to come across what he did. Behind the building, a expensive car, that clearly did not belong, had gone head first into a tree, beside it lay a woman. He approached noting her expensive clothes and shoes...clearly she did not belong here. Her face was bruised and bleeding, her hair disheveled, and her skirt showed signs that it had been ripped. Checking for a pulse and noticing the stench of stale alcohol on her, he took a deep breath and radioed the dispatcher to call Rose and ask her to meet him at the clinic. Jack picked up the woman and lay her gently on the backseat of patrol car and headed towards the clinic.“How’d ya get here,” he mumbled to himself, knowing full well she was to far out of it to be able to respond, “don’t worry, Rose will fix you up.” Jack had known Rose for years and knew that taking this woman to the clinic was a better option than waiting for an ambulance to take her back to the city. Figure things out before coming to conclusions and not having her wrapped up in a drunk driving case before all the facts were out in the open just made sense. Something had happened, most likely she had made a few very poor choices, but to Jack, it seemed like this was a larger story. Rose would be able to figure things out and help this woman, or at least talk Jack through what he should do. This whole situation was outside the skill set of a small town back woods police officer. Kids stealing cars, drunks at the bar, and old ladies complaining that someone stepped on their flower beds were his crime specialities. He looked towards the woman in the back going through every scenario he could think of - maybe it was an boy friend and they had a fight? He sighed again knowing that the truth was, he was probably going to have to deal with a rape and really didn’t want to have to talk to the bikers that frequent that bar. It wasn’t as if they would have a lot of answers for him, especially if someone had done something. Chances were, they would cover for each other and deal with anything internally and Jack would be none the wiser.Pulling into the clinic parking lot, Jack noticed that Rose’s car was already parked out front and the lights in the clinic were on. He carried the woman through the front doors and went towards the back. Laying the woman onto the bed he turned to see Rose shaking her head.“Those shoes are too expensive to be on a woman that looks that rough,” Rose said while beginning her exam of the woman.After a few minutes Rose turned to Jack and sighed deeply,“it looks like she will be ok, small bump to the head shouldn’t be an issue..she’s pretty drunk though.”Jack and Rose continued the discussion trying to come up with a plan. Should they send her to the city? Wait in the clinic with her all night and question her when she wakes up? In the end Rose suggested she take the girl back to her home by the lake.“This just isn’t normal, Jack,” she had said, “a woman dressed like that doesn’t come up this way, and definitely doesn’t stop at a bar like that.”Rose was right. Jack had no doubt in his mind of that. There was something else going on here. This wasn’t a simple someone stopping at a bar for a night out and running into some trouble. Jack told Rose he would finish searching the woman’s car and come by the next day to discuss what else needed to be done. He also planned on following up with the bar’s owner, Bruce. Sure they have had their differences before, but Jack knew Bruce was an honest guy who could give some insight into the night’s events even if the bikers would keep quiet.Lifting the girl into his arms, Jack walked out to the parking lot, pausing while Rose locked up the clinic. “Your car or mine?” he joked knowing full well that there was no way Rose was going to risk vomit in her back seat. Rose rolled her eyes and just laughed. They had been friends since Rose moved to town almost 10 years prior, having left her medical practice in the city for the slower pace of a small town. Jack had shown her the ropes, let her know who to watch out for and who might need some tough love, in addition to medicine. Rose had always been a straight shooter when it came to health. She held people accountable and wasn’t one to put up with crap.Reaching Rose’s home by the lake, Jack took the woman from the car and carried her inside. She had started making small groaning sounds, probably a good sign, but hadn’t come to yet. Rose started readying the guest room, putting a plastic garbage bag and bucket onto the floor beside the bed and grabbing a blanket from the closet for the chair that Rose planned on sleeping in that night. Jack laid the woman down on the bed and said his goodbyes so that Rose could work on cleaning the woman up and getting her comfortable. He knew he had a long night ahead of him searching the car to see if he could figure out what had happened in that parking lot.Rose went to her room and grabbed a long t-shirt and a loose fitting pair of shorts to change the woman out of her alcohol and vomit covered clothing. Stopping in the washroom, she grabbed some antiseptic, washcloths, and a basin of warm soapy water. Rose knew it would be a while before the girl actually came to and didn’t want to have to sleep beside her bed with that stench. Making one last stop at her supply cupboard, she grabbed a medical hazard waste bag to put the woman’s clothes into to hand over to Jack and the police department the next day. She hoped that they would not have to test for DNA, but was well aware that it was a possibility.Carefully Rose began undressing the woman using the washcloth to wipe away smears of blood and dirt that covered her. Treating the woman’s wounds with antiseptic Rose sighed and shook her head,“what happened to you little one? What went through your head tonight?”Rose slipped the shirt over the woman’s head and fed her arms through the sleeves. The woman began to stir and Rose quietly shushed her. They were both in for a long night.