MADMAN'S HAVEN

46

"Are you sure this is the complete version of the happening, Ms. Frazier?"

The bulky police officer looked at me with creased brows like I was an unsullied liar.

My patient was lying nearly dead in a hospital bed only a couple of walls away, yet he didn't seem to believe I was telling the truth.

"I am absolutely sure, officer," I stated back, hiding the abasement from being questioned like a phoney. He spoke to me like none of my words mattered, like he could not believe his ears as I told him this assault was committed by a guardsman. A man by the law, a man educated by the English police authority.

The rude man sighed and faked a smile and his acrid caffeine breath steamed into my nostrils and curled my throat with disgust as he gathered the papers on the desk.

"Very well then, thank you for your time, Ms. Frazier," He said politely, living up to the police formality.

"I will be right back,"

I smiled back, faked it as much as himself as I watched him leave the small scope. He met with Dorothy outside and traded some quick words with her before she stepped inside the room to meet with me instead. She closed the door behind her, allowing us some privacy.

She looked annoyed, and I figured she was probably as triggered by the gross male swine as myself.

I looked at her questionly, and she let out a sigh as she sat down beside me at the table.

"There is not enough evidence to press charges against Donald, Beverly," She started explaining. But I couldn't let her finish since the disappointing words completely took over me.

"But-"

I got interrupted as fast again.

"I told you, I'll handle it. I just wanted to prepare you," Dorothy added.

I got instantly silent as she fired at me, and I didn't have time to ask any further questions as the officer once again attended the room. He sat down opposed to me and Dorothy, and placed his files on the table between the three of us.

"Officer I hope you understand the seriousness of what has happened here. We do not want to make this public and risk the trustworthy reputation of England's police force," Dorothy started speaking like she was the one on top of every decision in the world. I envied her ruling strength.

"As head nurse of one of the country's biggest institutions, I could allow a plea deal regarding guardsman Connolly," She continued.

The beastie man once again shaped his brushy eyebrows and pursed his thin lips, but shortly noticed it would not have much effect on Dorothy since she didn't twitch an inch in expression. He didn't know what else to do, he was so used to making people feel dumb and distrusted only by looking at them like that.

Instead he cleared his throat and adjusted his position on the chair, making it cry with screak as the cheap structure fought to hold his mass of weight.

"Well then, what does this deal imply?" He asked.

"St: Nicolai will not press charges against Donald Connolly. That means no trial and therefore no judges questioning the nation's police force and your educational strategies," Dorothy remarked.

"And what's in it for you?" He inquired, wearing a face of disgust and realization of defeat. A man like this one didn't like women with potency. Women like Dorothy.

"As for the safety of my patients and employees, I demand Donald Connolly to get repositioned in effect immediately," She nearly finished before she spread her lips again.

"Also, I want a restraining order on him for Ms. Frazier here, and if he ever even thinks about nearing her, I will bring this up to court straightaway,"

Lastly, Dorothy managed to finish her threatening demands, and I was completely speechless by her act filled with power. The way she spoke to the man had him conquered before she even accomplished her point.

"Understood Ms. Schwartz, sounds like we have a deal!" He agreed, trying to keep the hold of his now evaporating confidence.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Officer Randolph," Dorothy kept herself polite, and reached for the officer's hand to make the deal come into force.

"I presuppose that your men will pay a visit to Mr. Connolly already today," She asserted while shaking the man's hand.

"I'll make sure of it right away," Randolph assured.

Nothing in Dorothy's face exposed that she was pleased with the way she just owed a policeman, she just smiled straightly and kept a determined posture as her eyes followed the man as he faltered out the low-lighted room.

She meant every word she told me. She really handled it. Donald would never take another step across the floors of St: Nicolai, neither would he take another step closer to me.

I was so thankful for her last added demand, forcing a restraining order on him. She only did that for me, to protect me, although she didn't have any liability to.

I knew Donald was not going to be happy about me indicating him, but Dorothy also did him a big favour by not pressing charges against him.

I figured she did that because she was aware of the small chances of him getting sentenced, which would only get me into deeper danger as he would be set free and probably come after me.

But by handling it this discrete way, he would be pleased enough. No trial was a benefit for him as much as me. We also knew with this, that the police would keep their eyes on him, which they wouldn't if he had been freed and proven not guilty in a trial turning to our disadvantage.

She did everything right. She was one step further all along, and I was so impressed by that.