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Chapter Thirty-Four
Vanessa
Vanessa hadn’t been awake for very long before the hassles started. She woke up in a hospital room, wires attached to her body, machines around her, nurses and doctors swarming.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “What happened? Where’s my daughter?”
No one seemed to want to give her answers.
Finally, a male nurse came to her and hung a bag of liquid on an IV pole beside her bed.
She looked up at him, pleading. “What’s wrong with me? Please. No one will tell me.”
He looked around and turned back to her with a sad smile. “You’ve had an overdose, but we got to you in time. You’re going to be okay.”
She pulled her eyebrows together. Then she remembered Jeremy injecting her with something and the hazy daydreams that followed. “My ex-husband. He injected me with something.”
The nurse raised an eyebrow and leaned closer. “You’ll have to convince them.” He jerked his thumb behind him, at two women in navy blue skirt suits. “They’re with social services.”
“Where’s my daughter? Are they going to take her?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know. But you came in listed as an overdose and they showed up. Usually that happens when a parent ODs and there’s a child involved. I have seen them take action.”
“They’re going to take my daughter?” she hissed back.
He gave her another sad smile. “They’re not your only problem. Officers are sitting outside, and they may try to detain you for drug use.”
She shook her head. After all she’d been through, it still wasn’t over. This nightmare just kept continuing on and on.
“Thank you,” she said.
He patted her arm and left the room. When he’d gone, the women approached and two officers joined them.
“Vanessa Powers, we have some questions for you,” the officer said. “Are you in sound enough mind to speak with us?”
“You have to listen to me,” she said. “I was forcibly drugged by my ex-husband. I don’t do drugs. Can’t you see that in my blood or something that I’ve never done anything like that?”
“Whoa, whoa,” the other officer said, holding up a hand. “Let’s start at the beginning. How was it you came to be drugged?”
Vanessa went through the whole thing, even including her marriage to Jeremy and how horrible it’d been, right up to what she remembered in the hotel room. Though it was foggy and hard to remember everything, since she’d been drugged so many times.
It seemed to take hours of her explaining and answering questions. The male nurse who’d given her information earlier came back to check on her.
“She should be resting now,” he told the officers and social workers.
She was so grateful, she could hug him. But just as the nurse was finishing up, Nicholas came in the room. He introduced himself and shook hands with the group questioning her.
“I believe I can lend some insight to this complicated situation.”
Everything Nicholas said backed up what she’d told them. And they knew she hadn’t had time alone to talk to him. They had to believe her now, right? She listened to Nicholas recount things from his end, starting with the phone call that sent him to Vanessa’s apartment. Then the set up with Hunter and the break in. She noticed he didn’t go into too much detail about how he was hiding in the corner while she was trying to shoot her attackers and fight for her life.
The questions and explanations seemed to be winding down and she was feeling tired. But she was also aching to see Opal and Hunter, especially after having to recall and relive everything they’d been through. Where were they? Were they both okay?
The social worker turned to her. “Your daughter is with her emergency guardian, Mari Snyder. We’ve cleared you to be allowed to see her, and we’ll be in contact with CPS to provide information for the case.”
Nicholas nodded at this, giving Vanessa a reassuring smile. So was that a good thing, then?
The officer closer to her was next. “We’re not going to detain you or arrest you. Once your vitals are stable and they say you can go, you’re free to do so.”
