Chapter Five pt. three

A Chapter by SM Davis

"Joan, it's Keith again. I'm down here at the hospital with Maggie. The doctor says that they need to see you right away. You can reach me at the hospital. The phone number is 619-528-5028. That's the nurse's station. They aren't allowing a phone in Maggie's room for the moment."

Keith hung up the phone and thanked the assistant behind the desk for allowing him to use it. He couldn't understand why Joan wasn't down here with her daughter. Admittedly, he didn't know the dynamics of the relationship between Joan and Maggie, but there was no excuse for this. Maggie was fighting with everything she had, the least she deserved was to have her mother with her. He wanted to demand information from Joan about what arrangements she actually made with Mark. He wanted to know how this attrocity could ever happen.

He shook his head in wonder and walked back toward Maggie's room. As he neared the door, he heard voices coming from Maggie's room, and his heart sank. It didn't sound like Joan or any other concernred family member for that matter. The conversation was much too formal for that. He quickened his steps and walked into Maggie's room.

"I understand, Miss Sampson. I know that you are heavily sedated, and can imagine that you are afraid, but if we are going to catch the person or people that did this to you, we need to get some more information from you. Please, tell us what happened the night before you were admitted into the hospital."

The female detective questioning Maggie turned around to see Keith staring blankly at Maggie.

"Excuse me, Sir. Are you a family member of Miss Sampson?"

Keith continued to walk toward Maggie, and when he got to the side of the bed, he took Maggie's hand in his and held it firmly.

"No. I'm a close personal friend. I haven't been able to contact her parents."

"Mom is out of town. She's Yenta in Fiddler on the Roof in Los Angeles, I think. Besides, I don't want her here." Maggies eyes filled with tears remembering bits and pieces of her conversation with her mother the night before. She remembered word for word, however, her mother's threat after she was admitted.

Keith looked at the officer, and sensing Maggie's apprehension decided to take charge of the conversation.

"Don't you need her parents here to question her? I mean really. She's ony sixteen and she's obviously been through hell and back. Is this really necessary?"

"Excuse me, Mister...?"
"Alderman. Keith Alderman."
"Mr. Alderman, Miss Sampson is believed to be the victim of a vicious and heinous crime...and being that she is the victim and not the perpetrator or criminal, we do not need to have parental consent to question her."

Keith sighed, and Maggie groaned in pain. The detective looked straight into Maggie's drug clouded eyes and continued.

"If we are going to find the person or people responsible for what happened to Miss Sampson, we are going to have to ask her some questions that may be uncomfortable for her to answer. We apologize for the imposition, but yes, it is necessary."

Not wanting Keith to get into any trouble, Maggie squeezed his hand and then let go, struggling to sit up in bed.

"I don't remember anything officers. I really don't. The last thing I remember was walking along the beach, and then I woke up here. The doctor said I had surgery."

"Miss Sampson, I am sorry for the imposition and the discomfort you are obviously feeling, but I have to tell you that protecting the people that did this to you isn't helping you, and may serve to hurt you further in the long run."

"PROTECTING THE PEOPLE THAT DID THIS?!" Keith exploded. He knew that the police were more often than not clueless and insensitive, but he had never heard anything so preposterous in all his life.

Maggie saw how this was tearing Keith apart, but her fear of what else her mother was capable of far outweighed any concern she may have had for his ensuing wellbeing. She reached out for his hand again, and repeated her previous statement to the detectives.

"I already told you I don't remember anything. I'm in a lot of pain and I just want to rest now. Please, please leave."

The nurses at the station were able to monitor Maggie's vitals from the desk, and when the machines indicated a rise in her blood pressure and heart rate, the nurse on duty came into her room to check on her. She looked at the officers standing over her bed and at Maggie who was clearly in pain. Before she was able to say anything to the officers, the woman officer turned quickly and said "we're going." The male officer turned to Keith and handed him a business card.

"Please give us a call when she is feeling up to talking. If she remembers anything..."