Ruby Red Dress-The Mentalist

Chapter Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty Five

Wayne Rigsby

I couldn't find Lisbon, so Cho's supposedly giving her the message that I am leaving work because Ben's ill. Which isn't true. Cause Grace is ill. But she doesn't need to know that.

It's finally come. The day Grace is discharged from the hospital. I can just imagine her beautiful smiling face as she passes through the hospital doors into the outside world. She doesn't have a window in her room so fresh air will give back her warm glow, she seems to have lost it within the last week.

I pull up into the busy parking lot. There are quite a lot of people scattered everywhere and very few parking spaces left. I pick up the relatively small bag of clothes Grace asked for out of my trunk. She'd told me where she kept her house key yesterday, top drawer of her desk in the office, so that had been my mission for today. To be able to get to her desk and take them without anyone noticing. Then on my lunch break I drove to her house and grabbed what she needed. I felt very awkward going through her underwear drawer. But what had to be done, had to be done.

So I start my hike to the front entrance as I could only get one of the spaces towards the back of the parking area and focus on now, rather than the future. I'll ask Grace her opinion on where I should take her, whether she wants to go to her home or mine. But we'll have to face other problems as they come.

I walk the route I have been taking everyday for the last week or so through the different corridors and get to Grace's room. I look in and the bed is empty. I panic. Where's she gone?

Her four get-well-soon cards are still sat on the table along with a bunch of flowers in a vase and a box of chocolates. This means she's still in the hospital somewhere otherwise she would have taken them with her.

I ponder for a bit then decide that she's going to have to come back here at some stage so I'll just wait. I place the bag down on her bed and pick up the card I'd given her. It had a teddy bear on the front holding a bunch of pink and blue flowers and stood on green grass under the yellow sun. It had the words 'Get Well Soon' in pink floaty writing along the top. Inside it read,

Dear Grace,

Get Well Soon

From Wayne

I'd read Cho's and Boss' before I'd written mine. I wasn't sure how I should sign off. Whether I should put 'Love From' or just 'From' and whether I should sign off with my surname or forename. Cho had put Cho. Boss had put Teresa. So I went with Wayne.

I take a look inside the other three cards. Cho, Lisbon and Jane. Not one from family or an out-of-work friend.

Once I've read through them, which doesn't take long, I sit in the padded chair beside the bed. I keep thinking about how we are going to cover out tracks and how we'll actually get away with this. Focus on now. We can cross those bridges when we get to them. Focus on the present. I finally decide to put myself to good use and walk around the bed to get to her bedside table. She has a book and a watch on it. I open the bag and carefully place the clothes back on the bed. I put the book in and place the watch in a pocket on the outside of the bag. I put the chocolates and cards in next, I'll carry the flowers separately. That's when I hear a voice and a clicking sound. I rush over and peep out the door.

Coming towards me is a woman in a nurse's looking uniform, but slightly different and... Grace. She's slowly hobbling along with one crutch attached to her right arm. She's still in the hospital robe they provided when she first came in. This makes her legs seem long and god damn nice. The nurse is talking and putting a supporting hand on her back. The nurse looks up at me and says something to Grace followed by her head darting up. Her face lightens and the sexiest smile spreads across it. I jog towards them and my own face reflects hers. Probably not as sexy though...