Chapter 44

We pull into the parking garage and find a spot to park. Nick and I both have a bounce in our step as we enter the building. We get off the elevator on my floor and I look for Shelly. I don't see her at her desk. I look to see if her purse is in her drawer. It's not there. "Where is she?" I ask. Nick looks around. We hear the bell to the elevator, and we watch to see if it is Shelly. Shelly walks slowly off the elevator. She looks like forty miles of bad road. "What happened to you?" I ask in shock. "May I talk to you in private please." She asks looking at Nick. Nick steps over and gives me a kiss. "Lunch?" He asks. I nod. Shelly and I go into my office. Shelly removes her coat; she is wearing a sleeveless blouse. I see the bruise that has formed on the back of her arms. There are dried bloodstains on her blouse. I can see marks on her wrists that hare heavy deep purple colored. I know those marks; I have had my share of them, but never that dark. They are rope marks. "Please tell me that Andy didn't do this to you?" I say. She shakes her head. "No it was Teddy." I feel my blood start to boil. "What happened?" I ask with some anger in my voice. "I got a call from Teddy last night, he said he wanted to talk to me. So I went over to his house. When I got there things started out good. So I started to trust him. We went into the living room and sat and we were talking. We started out talking nicely." I can see her fighting back the tears. "We use to play a game where he would tie my hands and blindfold me. I would then give him a blowjob. He told me if I did a good job I was set free. If I didn't I would spent the rest of the night tied." I can see she is having problems talking about this. "Go on." I say. "Well last night he asked if I would play the game one more time. Next thing I know he is dragging me by the hair to his room and I am tied to a post he placed in the room. My hands were pulled up over my head; I was pulled so tightly that I was up on my toes. Before I could say no he was hitting me with a paddle on my backside, and then he took out a whip. I tried to tell him to stop but he wouldn't, he only found a gag and silenced me. The more I struggled the more he hit me. When he did stop, it was so he could masturbate. When he was done he with that he started to whip me again. I kept giving him the sigh to stop but he wouldn't. I didn't know what to do so I acted like I passed out. He left me there for an hour. When he came back he tied my hands behind my back and took a long drive. I thought he was going to kill me. Once and a while he would stop on the side of the road or at a park. I could see the evil in his eyes. "How deep are you into this?" I ask her. She takes a long pause. "He owns me. I am his slave or was his slave. When I broke up with Jason, he sold me at a slave auction to Teddy. Teddy was my master. Teddy is bi-sexual and he just lost a male slave. I could feel his anger when he would take me. I got scared and wanted out. So I left one night when he went out. I found the keys and unlocked myself and left. That was when he started my car on fire. I left him a note asking to be released." Now Shelly is crying hard. I look more at her back. I can see she is cut deep in some places. "We need to get you to the hospital. You need to get cleaned up." I call Nick and tell him that I am taking Shelly to the hospital and if he could meet me at the car. I help Shelly up and head for the elevator.

Nick is waiting by the door in the car when we get down there. I help Shelly into the car carefully. Shelly looks to be in shock now. I think the pain is starting to finally hit her. I quietly fill Nick in on what has happened. We pull into the emergency entrance. Nick finds the closest parking space to the door. I help Shelly out. She can hardly walk now. She is like a rag doll. A nurse meets us at the door. "What happened?" she asks. "Domestic assault." Nick tells her. She gets a wheelchair for Shelly and she wheels her directly to a room. Another nurse pulls us aside. "Are you family?" she asks. " No, I am her boss, friend I am her friend. She works with me." "I am going to need some information." I keep looking at the door wanting to get back to Shelly. I cannot stand the sterile feeling in hospitals. I hate the walls. The green tile they use and the floor with the colored lines that direct you to where you need to go. I hate the smell. But today the smell is worse then ever. I will never forget this day and this smell. I try to explain to the nurse what happened. The first nurse pushes the door open and walks over to the nurse that is asking me some questions and whispers something in her ear. She looks at Nick and I and slides down the desk to a phone. I watch as she dials 911. I cannot hear what she is saying. But I know she is calling the police for Shelly. She finishes asking me questions that I could answer. In a matter of a few minutes a female police officer walks in and gets a nod from the nurse that is at the desk. She says nothing but goes directly into Shelly's room. I sign a paper that states that I am the one that brought Shelly into the hospital. Nick and I go through a door into the waiting room. I pick up a new paper and try to read. I cannot take my eyes off the door. I want so badly for the doctor to walk through it. Nick is sitting next to me with his hand on my leg. I look at the clock and only ten minutes pass. "You want some coffee?" Nick asks. "No I need something stronger." "Well coffee is all you are getting now." Nick disappears I around the corner. I smile at him as he looks back at me. I look out the front door and I see another officer arrive. He goes in through the emergency entrance. I see another car pull up and a man in a suit gets out of the car. I can tell he is a police officer. He has that cop look. Just as Nick returns with a cup of coffee, the female officer walks through the door. "I need to ask you some questions." I nod. "Do you know Theodore Westwood?" "Yes he is part of the Westwood family. They own most of the west side of the city." "Do you know where he is at?" Suddenly I realize she is talking about Teddy. "Yeah, he hangs out at the deli on Fifth near our office. His brother is manager of the deli." "Did you know what was going on, that Theodore is the one what was assaulting her?" "I know Shelly was having problems with him, but didn't know it was this bad. Teddy is a suspect in the arson of her car and her apartment." The officer nods. "Do you know what time he is usually there?" "He is always there at noon. We have seen him there several times." "Thank you." The officer gets up and goes to the other side of the room and takes her cell phone and makes a phone call. The plain clothes officer comes through the door and they talk. And they leave.