Tia slowly floated up towards consciousness. The odd sounds and smells she was suddenly aware of confused her. Was she dreaming?
She moaned and heard footsteps approach her.
“Ah, you’re coming around now, aren’t you?”
Tia’s eyelids fluttered open at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. “Wh – where am I? What’s going on?”
“You don’t remember?”
Tia now strained to focus on the woman standing above her, a young black woman in a nurse’s uniform. “Ow!” she suddenly exclaimed, trying to raise a hand to her head where intense pain suddenly shot through it. But her arms wouldn’t move. Panic now threatened to overwhelm her.
“Hey, hey. Relax!”
Tia stared at the woman in fear and confusion. The woman stared back. The gaze was not as compassionate as she thought a nurse’s gaze should be. Instead, it was almost cold. Tia tried again to raise her arms, but the cold steel that bound them forbade any movement. “Where am I?” she demanded with more volume and clarity in her voice.
“You’re in the county jail’s infirmary,” the nurse said.
Tia’s eyes widened. “Jail? Wh-what would I be doing here? What happened?”
“It’s not up to me to tell you that. All I can tell you is that you received a blow to the head, which left you with a little concussion. You’ll mend in time and…”
“I want to know what’s going on! How did I get a blow to my head, and why am I in jail, of all places?”
“The DA will be in later to explain your charges to you, and then when you’re moved to the main housing area of the jail, you’ll be able to speak with your lawyer as well. Is there anyone I can call for you in the meantime to inform them of your whereabouts?”
Tia snorted sarcastically. She’d been knocked unconscious and awoken to find herself in jail, yet the woman before her – this “nurse” – was so businesslike.
Courtney!
“Oh, my God, Courtney! Where is Courtney?”
“Who is Courtney?”
“My girlfriend. We live together. I recently moved in with her. Is she here?”
“’ Fraid not. I can call her for you if you’d like, but she can’t come to see you here.”
“She and Morgan… Morgan! That’s right, I was on my way up the hill to Morgan. That’s the last thing I remember. They’re no doubt going crazy with worry, wondering what happened to me. Oh, please, please let me call Courtney.”
“I can’t let you up unless it’s to use the bathroom or for any other reason that would require your full mobility, and that doesn’t include making phone calls. What’s her number?” The nurse pulled a pad out of her pocket.
Tia told her the number. “Tell her I don’t know what’s going on and to help me as soon as she can.”
“Mhm…” said the nurse, obviously not believing her.
“Someone attacked me on the way to see Morgan, but this doesn’t explain why I’m here. I don’t understand. I just don’t understand.”
“Yeah, well, just try to have a little patience and I’ll go give her a call for you.”
“What time is it and how long have I been here?”
“It’s almost 6:00 in the evening. You’ve been here about five hours.”
Tia was stunned. Five hours? Five hours! What in the world had happened to her? And how could she be charged with a crime? And just what the hell was it she was supposed to have done? Had Morgan and Courtney been hurt as well?
Then a brief flash went through her mind, but it was gone too fast for Tia to grasp and make sense of in any way. She knew it was important, whatever it had been.
“Hey, when am I going to get something for this pain?” a voice unexpectedly said in the opposite direction of the nurse.
Tia’s head snapped toward the right of her bed. She saw shadowy movement on the other side of the thin, worn curtain that hung just a few feet from her bed.
“Be patient, Miss Dorsey. You’ll get it.”
The nurse left, and Tia was left alone with the stranger in the bed beyond the curtain. Her stunned mind raced as she took in the near-barren room, devoid of color.
“Hey, you?”
Tia glanced toward the curtain.
“You don’t know whatchoo in for?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Man, that must be tough.”
“Yeah,” Tia agreed dubiously.
The woman coughed. “I’m Latisha, by the way.”
“I’m Tia.”
“Pretty name. Means aunt in Spanish, don’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“You ain’t no Mexican, Cuban or Puerto Rican, are you?”
“No.”
“Good, I just killed me a Mexican the other week.”
Tia felt a sudden chill come over her.
“Fuckin’ bitch wouldn’t pay up, you know?”
Tia said nothing.
“I warned that mother-fucker, too. I tole her, girl, you don’t pay whatchoo owe, I’m a gonna cutchoo up into little itty bitty pieces. Shithead still didn’t get it, so I had to make her get it, know what I’m sayin’?”
Tia took deep breaths, trying not to let the utter despair that threatened to take over her sanity sink her down into total helplessness. She had to keep it together to figure out what was going on. Relax, she told herself. Courtney will help clear this mess up and get you out of here. You’ll be back with her in that cozy little trailer before you know it.
Another flash.
It left her with a vague feeling, but still, nothing she could make sense of. Even the feeling was too vague to really put a finger on. But she knew she had to try her hardest to remember whatever it was that was alluding to her. Before she could get a chance, however, the doctor entered the room.
“Hello, Miss Karson, I’m Dr. Wain,” said the tall, slender doctor. Her eyes were just as cold as the nurse’s had been. In a careless, almost rough manner, she took hold of her chin and moved her head towards her. Then she shone a bright light into her eyes. Tia tried not to wince.
“Can you tell me what’s going on?” Tia asked.
“What’s going on is that you have a slight concussion, but you’ll be well enough to be moved over to general population as of tomorrow. In the meantime, you may experience headaches.”
“General population?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“But what did I do? How did this happen?”
“I can’t tell you that. I can only tell you what’s going on medically. The DA will be in to talk to you soon and he’ll explain the situation to you.”
“But the nurse said it’s already 6:00, so how am I going to find out anything this late in the day?”
“If he doesn’t get to you tonight, he’ll get to you in the morning,” said the doctor as she wrote something on a clipboard that was attached to the foot of her bed.
Latisha began calling out to the doctor.
“Wait until I get to you,” the doctor snapped with irritation.
“Come on, Doc, I need something for this pain!”
The doctor stepped over to the other side of the curtain. “I said to wait your turn. If you continue to rudely make demands, then I’ll have to…”
“But it hurts like hell!”
“Well, that’s unfortunate, but you’ll just have to wait until the nurse can get to you.”
As if on cue, the nurse entered the room.
The doctor turned to face her. “Miss Jorgenson here would like some pain relievers.”
“Got ‘em,” said the nurse, carrying a small tray to Latisha.
The doctor tucked a fiery red strand of hair behind her ear and faced Tia once again. “If there isn’t anything else you’d like to ask, I will be going now.”
Tia sadly shook her head, still feeling helpless.
The doctor left, and the nurse reappeared and offered her pain relievers, which she gladly accepted. “Did you call Courtney?” she asked after she swallowed the pills.
“Didn’t get an answer,” the nurse replied and left the room. Tia had to struggle once again to recall how she had ended up where she was, although Latisha’s hateful tirade made it difficult to do so. In the end, it didn’t matter, for the DA finally had arrived.
“Miss Karson?”
“Yes,” Tia said, glancing hopefully toward the man who had come into the room. The man strode confidently up to her bedside. He was tall and slim with graying hair. His expensive-looking suit looked brand new. Tia couldn’t have found a wrinkle within it if she tried. “Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Art Hoser and I’m with the district attorney’s office.”
“What’s going on? Who did this to me, and why am I here?”
The attorney studied Tia’s face as if searching for signs of dishonesty. “Tell me what you remember.”
“I can’t. All I get is a quick flash of something, but it’s gone before I can put it together.”
The DA pulled some papers from a manila envelope. “Well, according to the police report they gave me, you apparently shot your roommate’s mother’s new husband, Stanley Hagan.”
“What!” Tia shouted in astonishment. “That’s impossible!”
“Please don’t shout, Miss Karson,” the lawyer insisted.
“You’re telling me I tried to kill someone, and you want me not to shout? I don’t think so!” But Tia was afraid the lawyer would leave if she didn’t lower her voice, so as hard as it was to do so under the circumstances, she tried to lower it at least a little. “I don’t own a gun, I’ve never fired a gun, and I never had a problem with Stanley. Stan seemed like a nice person.”
“All I know is what I’m told, and that’s that you were said to have pulled a gun on him…”
“By whom? Who would say such a thing?”
The attorney glanced down at the papers he was holding. “The man’s wife, Morgan Cole, reported that she entered the room as you were about to shoot him in the living room of their house. That’s when she struck you over the head with a candle holder, attempting to stop you from firing the gun, but it was too late and Stanley was killed instantly.”
Tia shook her head frantically. “That isn’t true! None of this could’ve happened! None of it at all!”
“Hey, stop shouting like a crazy hyena!” Latisha roared. “You’re gonna split my head in two.”
Tia ignored her. “There’s been a huge misunderstanding. You’ve got to go see Morgan and Courtney. They’ll clear things up for you. They’ll tell you it couldn’t have been me that shot Stan.”
“But they’re saying it is.”
“They? Courtney would never say such a thing!”
Hoser glanced at the papers again. “Well, the police didn’t actually take a formal statement from Courtney. Just Morgan.”
“But why would anyone say such a thing about me? We got along so well! She’s got to know better. She’s got to know I didn’t kill anyone and that an intruder had to have done it.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Karson. All the evidence supports her story. You were found unconscious, lying just a few yards from Mr. Hagan with the gun in your hand.”
Tia suddenly glanced at her bound hands, as if some trace of a gun might still linger in them. “But that’s not possible! I don’t even have a clue as to how to shoot a gun, and I had no reason to shoot anyone. Someone set me up!”
“And why would they do that?”
“I don’t know, but that’s what had to have happened. I don’t have a gun, I wouldn’t know how to shoot one if I did, and I never had a problem with the guy. Someone’s framing me!”
An evil laughter erupted from behind the curtain. “Someone’s framing me!” Latisha mocked. “Hey, everyone gets framed, right?”
“Please have them move me,” Tia demanded.
Latisha laughed even louder.
“I don’t know that there are any other beds available.”
“Then have them let me trade with someone other than some sick twist who brags about killing people and then laughs at those of us who are innocent.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have any authority there. However, I can tell you that you are being charged with one count of second-degree murder.”
Tia gasped in shocked disbelief. Her throat was sore, and she was becoming dizzy.
“Things could have been worse,” the lawyer said. “Had they felt confident that they could prove the crime was premeditated, they’d have charged you with murder in the first degree, so you’re lucky as far as that much is concerned.”
Tia looked at the attorney, her mind going numb. “Yeah, real lucky,” she muttered.
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