Dr. Bellevue handed Lana the two black-and-white images.
“I’ll give you a moment to get dressed. There are some wipes and tissues right here for you,” she pointed to the table next to her, then disappeared from the room.
Lana sat up slowly and looked at the blob in the picture.
“Can you make out anything?” she asked Paula, handing them to her.
Paula took the photos and gave an inspection. “Not a clue,” she admitted, giggling.
“Me either. I lied,” Lana replied, laughing, relieved she wasn’t the only one.
“Can you help me get dressed?”
Paula helped her balance as she started putting her clothes back on; her earlier stress melted away. If the doctor said everything was fine, then everything was fine, and she wouldstop worrying. She wanted to get back to Kayden as fast as possible anyway, and the quicker she could get dressed, the faster she could be in his waiting arms.
MAUREEN TAPPEDHER heel againstthe concrete floor and waited as the guard opened the gate to the hallway containing Kimberly Wallace’s cell. She had no intention of making nice with the monster of a girl after what she’d done, but the urgency in her call earlier piqued her interest. Maureen stepped inside and motioned for the guard to leave. Betty nodded, grabbed her box lunch, and walked away. Maureen continued down the hall and stopped when she saw Kim sitting in the cell to her left. She stood up then and approached Maureen eagerly, a smile plastered on her face.
“What do you have to say to me that couldn’t be done on your collect call?” Maureen demanded, her steely gaze wiping the smile off her mouth.
Kim felt the frost emanating from Maureen, but didn’t let it worry her since the woman was typically frigid anyway.
“I need you to help get me out of here,” Kim stated as she folded her arms over her chest defiantly.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. You seriouslyaredelusional, aren’t you? I can’t believe I never saw it before,” Maureen said, scoffing at her audacity.
“I’ve been there for you in the past when no one else was. I’ve sat and watched you pull strings for Kayden time and time again, and I need you to do the same for me now,” she pleaded.
“You’ve tried this guilt trip scenario before, with the blackmail, which didn’t work then. What makes you think, in your crazed mind, that I’m going to do anything for you now?Especially after what you did to my son and his pregnant fiancée?” Maureen asked. She knew that last part would sting and was pleased to see her expression morph before her eyes.
Kim’s face went blank—thatwas news.The bitch was pregnant, too?Her luck just kept getting better and better. If Maureen didn’t help her, hitting a pregnant woman with a car would mean spending the rest of her life in prison for sure. Kim’s nostrils flared.
“I didn’t know she was pregnant!”
“Obviously. But you plowed Heathcliff’s squad car into both of them regardless, which means you didn’t give a damn if either of them lived or died, isn’t that right?”
“I saw red, Maureen. I saw a man,myman, literally walking out of my life to be with someone else after throwing me away like trash! Everyone gets their happily ever after—Paula, you, and Heathcliff, hell, even Taylor. When I saw them standing on that sidewalk, I just lost it,” Kim begged.
She sobbed, her face wet now, barely able to get her words out.
Maureen laughed. “That’s a lie, and you know it! The car came from around the corner, Kim. You drove that car, parked, and waited until they came out.Thenyou hit them. That’s called premeditation.”
“How the hell would you know that?”
“Well, for one, Lana’s ex-boyfriend was on the street and witnessed the entire thing. And I also watched it all unfold from my hotel room window,” Maureen got close to the cell bars now. “There are witnesses to what you did, and there is no temporary insanity plea on this planet that will save your ass.”
Kim nodded her head, and her tears stopped abruptly. Her eyes, black holes, flicked up to Maureens, her earlier demeanor replaced with rage. Several tense seconds passed as they stood eye to eye before Kim spoke.
“You’re gonna help me anyway,” she informed, a wicked grin slipping across her face.
“He’s moved on with his life, and you should do the same. Not that you have much of a life to go back to.” Maureen replied, smiling. She shook her head, ashamed that she ever steered the mentally unstable girl towards her son.
She turned on her heels and started walking away.
“Don’t forget I know whatreallyhappened to Vince,” Kim called out, hands on her hips.
The words caused Maureen to screech to a halt. She glared over her shoulder, and all traces of her earlier bravado were replaced with fear.
“You wouldn’t,” Maureen growled, in horror.
