Casting Doubt Read online

  “His hand’s been shattered.” The psychiatrist gestures to the bandaged and immobilized hand. “He’ll probably never get the full use back again. At least, that is what the doctor’s expect because so many bones are broken.”

  Larry brings a hand up to her mouth as her eyes widen. “Oh my God.”

  I think it’s finally beginning to sink in exactly the kind of damage she has caused. At least I hope it is and she’ll finally admit that she lied all along. Not that it will cure or take away any of Jesse’s injuries, but at least he won’t have to go to jail or live the rest of his life registering as a sex offender.

  “Everything he had and knew is gone, Laurentia.” Kian says. “Everything.”

  I sink down in a chair and wipe the tears from my eyes. Everything Kian said was true. They haven’t had a chance to repair his hand yet, or even try. They don’t want to risk another surgery and putting him under until they have a better idea of how bad his head injury is. But, they do fear that even with treatment and therapy, he’ll have limited movement, which means he can never create art again. I don’t know if he lost his job at Baxter or not, but if she doesn’t recant, he certainly will, and probably never be able to teach again.

  “It’s all my fault,” Larry cries.

  “No, it’s Jesse’s. He should have known better than to take advantage of you,” Kian says.

  “But he didn’t,” Larry cries.

  “You might not think so now, but when you’re older, you’ll realize that’s what happened,” the psychiatrist assures her, sounding sympathetic for the first time since she walked in Jesse’s hospital room.

  “But he didn’t do anything!”

  I straighten and listen closer.

  “What do you mean?” her mother demands.

  Larry sobs, rocking back and forth. “He never touched me. He never kissed me. He never did anything.”

  “Why did you say he did?” the psychiatrists asks calmly.

  I’m far from calm.

  “Because I wanted him. So badly. And then she comes around. I thought I could make her go away, but sending her back to school and breaking her car didn’t work so I just had to tell her what was necessary to make her disappear.”

  “You mean Deirdre?” Kian asks.

  “Yeah, her. She’s not good enough for my Jesse, and I didn’t want him with anyone before I was old enough. Then he would’ve noticed me.”

  “So, you never had sexual relations with Mr. Tinley?” the psychiatrist asks.

  “No,” she snaps and then grabs Jesse’s uninjured hand again. “Oh, Jesse. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. I’ll wait until you’re out of prison. I promise.”

  Does the girl even get that her confession just freed him?

  “He never kissed you?” the psychiatrist asks.

  “No,” Larry screams turning in her chair. “He didn’t do anything I wanted him to do.” She goes back to Jesse. “Why didn’t you notice me? Why couldn’t you see how much I loved you? Why did you have to go out with her? You acted like I was nothing. Barely looking at me. Just wanting me to watch the store or Cam, but I knew that one day, you’d open your eyes and see me, finally, and then everything would be as it should. You’d finally love me like I love you.”

  I’m kicking myself. I saw her crush and devotion and didn’t say a word. Would Jesse have even believed me? Still, I should have said something. The signs were there. But, it never occurred to me that everything would get so far out of hand. That Larry would make the accusations she did.

  “Come along, Laurentia.” Kian has her by the arm, gently pulling her away from Jesse’s bed. “We’ll get you some help.”

  Her eyes brighten as a smile forms on her lips. The hair stands up on the back of my neck. She is not in her right mind and far more disturbed than I realized.

  “Help. Yes. I need help. I can go to Baxter. I’ve heard all those kids need help. Then I can see Jesse almost every day. This is perfect.” She glances back at the bed a grin on her face. “See, we will be together.”

  I blink open my eyes and look around. Deirdre’s sitting in the chair by my bed reading. She’s got to have better things to do on her vacation. I’m not sure what day it is, but I’m pretty sure she was here yesterday. Maybe it was the day before.

  No, last night I was move from ICU and put in a regular room. I’d been there since Saturday night, I think, so this must be Tuesday.

  My brain is so foggy, I’m not sure if a day has passed or a week.

  She glances up and her eyes widen when she realizes I’m looking at her. Deirdre puts her book aside and stands.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’ve been hit by a train.”

  “We’ll, you kind of look like it too.” She smiles at me.

  “Cam?”

  “He’s with your parents.”

  My heartbeat increases, as does the beeping from somewhere behind my head. “Florida?” Did they put my son on a plane and send him down there?

  “They flew home Sunday. Kian called them Saturday night and the got on the first plane.”

  My pulse calms. At least he isn’t with strangers, or that stupid babysitter I hired.

  “Oh God.” Larry accused me of…my stomach tightens and I think I’m going to be sick. I don’t even want to think about it.

  Will I go to prison? I’ve lost my job, that’s for sure, but what of my son? Will they let my parents raise him?

  No! I can’t go to jail. I didn’t do anything wrong.

  “What?” Deirdre asks anxiously.

  “Larry. What she said.” I can’t repeat it but I sure as hell am going to defend myself. I’ll just get the best lawyer out there. My grandmother left me a nice trust fund. This isn’t what she intended that I use it for, but I know she’d approve it if saved my ass.

  “Shhh,” Deirdre places her index finger against my lips. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Is she nuts? How can I not worry about it?

  “She recanted.”

  My heart stops for a second and look up into her light brown eyes. “Recanted?”

  “Yeah.” Deirdre smiles. “After she saw you like this yesterday, when you were still out and in ICU, Larry finally confessed she made the whole thing up.”

  Thank God. “Did anyone hear her?” What if there was only one witness. She could change her mind and start lying again.

  “Her parents, a psychiatrist, Kian, and it was videotaped.”

  I blow out a breath, finally feeling calm for the first time since I woke. “Is Cam okay?” He hasn’t seen me since Saturday morning. I know he’s only nine-months-old, but I’m his dad, and the one person he sees every day.

  “He’s fine. A little cranky, but doing okay.”

  “I need to see him.” I have to assure myself that my son is okay.

  “We thought it best to wait until you were more awake and maybe looked a little better.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. “How bad is it?”

  She lifts the top of the rolling tray over my bed. There’s a mirror on the other side. I’m almost afraid to look, but I do. “Crap!” One eye is practically swollen shut, and the other is a brownish black. There are bruises on my cheek, stiches in my chin, and a cut on my lip. Cam can’t see me like this. It’ll traumatize him. Hell, I’m traumatized. “Is my nose broken?” It’s swollen and hard to tell.

  “It was, but they fixed it.”

  Fourteen

  A nurse breezes into the room with a bright smile. Nurse Gretchen, I believe. She came on shift early this morning and has popped in a number of times to check on Jesse.

  “Ah, you are finally awake, Mr. Tinley. How are you feeling?”

  “About as well as I look.”

  “Yeah,” she says sympathetically. “I’m afraid you’re not going to have an easy go of it.” She takes vials and a syringe out of her pocket and places them on a table before gently picking up the wrist of Jesse’s least injured hand. She checks his pulse. At least that
is what I assume she is doing before she types into a computer. Then she takes his blood pressure and then puts that into the computer. After checking his eyes, ears, nose, listening to his heart, and checking his temperature, she adds medication to his IV tube running to his arm. “This should help with the pain.”

  Nurse Gretchen tosses the syringe into the red hazardous material protection bucket and returns to his side. “Are you hungry?”

  “A little. I think.”

  “Well, you haven’t had any solid food in three days, so I’ll get something light, like Jell-o and soup, to start you off on and we’ll see how that goes.”

  “Thanks.”

  “In the meantime, drink lots of water. You were under anesthesia for a long time, have fractured ribs, and have hardly been awake since Sunday. We don’t want you getting pneumonia on top of everything else.”

  That is the last thing he needs. It’s going to take weeks, if not months, for his body to heal as it is.

  “Thanks,” he grunts.

  “You have a number of visitors here,” she announces.

  Jesse raises his eyebrows in surprise and then winces in pain. There probably isn’t a spot on his body that is pain free.

  I know that some teachers had stopped by but when they saw he was still asleep, they left.

  “Colleagues of yours. They saw each other, and there has been quite a gathering in the waiting room. Had they not run into each other, they would have probably left, but they’ve stayed, talking, waiting for you to wake up.”

  I had no idea they didn’t leave. There had to have been nearly a dozen people who stopped by this morning.

  “I’ll let them know you’re awake.” I’ve been sitting with him. He should see his friends. I can always come back.

  “Only two at a time though. We don’t want to over tire him.”

  “I’ll tell them.”

  “I’ll let them know when the first visitors can come in,” Nurse Gretchen says.

  “Are you leaving?” Jesse asks with a bit of alarm. I don’t want him worried, but I’m kind of glad he doesn’t really want me to go anywhere.

  “I think you have about a dozen visitors waiting.”

  “Yeah, but you’re here.”

  I smile and return to the bed. “I’m going to run home and shower and I’ll be back in a bit. Visit with your friends.”

  “Okay.”

  “Is there anything I can bring you?”

  “Can you check on Cam for me?”

  I squeeze his fingers. “Of course. I’ll let your parents know you’re awake and stay with Cam so they can come up.”

  “You don’t mind?” he asks with concern.

  “Not at all,” I assure him. “I’ll be back a little later. Call if you need me to bring anything.”

  He simply nods.

  “Okay, let’s check those dressings before your visitors come in.” With that Nurse Gretchen pulls the curtain. She was probably waiting for me to leave so she could do just that since it will require pulling the blankets down and lifting his gown. We may have gone on a few dates but I’m pretty sure Jesse would prefer a bit of privacy.

  One the way down the hall I stop in the visiting room. All of the people who had stopped in his room earlier are sitting around talking and drinking coffee. “He’s awake and can have two visitors at a time. The nurse is checking his bandages and will let you know when.”

  They nod and thank me, and I head out. I’m exhausted since I haven’t really left the hospital since Sunday except to go home and change and catch a nap. But, there is no way I can sleep now and I did promise to check on Cam, which I will do as soon as I shower and grab a bite to eat.

  I take a deep breath as I step outside in the spring morning and for the first time in days I finally relax.

  The soup was good, but I’m glad the nurse didn’t bring me anything solid to eat. I hadn’t even realized how sore my jaw was, or that I have some loose teeth. Is there any part of my body not injured from those asswipes in the jail?

  After changing my bandages, she wanted me to eat before any visitors came in. I’m kind of glad she did wait because the adjustment of the bed caused more pain than I anticipated even though it was only slowly raising me to a seated positing. Then, I spilled about three spoons of soup on my chest. The hospital gown is now changed and my first visitor will be here shortly. That is, if they still waited around.

  Surely Deirdre was exaggerating about a dozen people being here to see me.

  The first person to step into the room is Mag Bradley and my stomach tightens. She isn’t simply a colleague. She’s on the administrative staff of Baxter. She’s carrying a vase with different colored calla lilies and places them on the table by the window.

  “Thanks.”

  “How are you doing?” Her eyes and mouth are tight, like she’s worried. I’ll probably get the same question over and over for days.

  “Lucky to be alive.”

  “I want to assure you that you will be on medical leave.”

  My stomach begins to relax.

  “We don’t want you to have to worry about medical insurance coverage.”

  “I appreciate that.” These bills are going to be astronomical. Even after insurance kicks in, I’ll have a lot coming out of pocket.

  She takes a seat beside my bed. There is still worry in her eyes and I know I’m not going to like what she has to say.

  “I know you did nothing wrong. Even when I first heard the story, I didn’t believe it.”

  “I appreciate your trust in me.” Where was she going with this, because her assurance isn’t exactly comforting?

  “It’s just that…well because of the accusation…the board thinks…”

  “I’m being terminated.” She’s having such a hard time saying the words that I do it for her.

  Mag grimaces. “Yes.”

  I nod. I should have expected this, but it pisses me off. I love my job at Baxter and that is just one more thing that bitch of a sitter has taken from me. I know she’s a disturbed girl, and maybe if I had paid closer attention I might have seen this coming. But, who thinks anyone is going to create such lies? I hope I never see her again, and wish I could forget she ever existed, but I’ll have constant reminders for the rest of my life. And I sure as hell am never going to hire a teenager to watch my son or work in my store again.

  “If this would have remained quiet,” Mag starts to explain. “The board may not have been so concerned.”

  “Quiet, how?” Crap. Why didn’t it occur to me that with so many visitors word had to have gotten out? What if people still believe what that crazy bitch said?

  “The accusations were in the paper and on the news.”

  My stomach rolls over. I’m going to be sick. My life is ruined. “Shit!”

  “No names were listed. But the minor accused a local art teacher who also owns a gallery.” She winces.

  “I get it. It’s a small town.” Anyone with half a brain will know I’m the guy.

  “They did report that she recanted and lied,” Mag says brightly. “But only in the paper.”

  I doubt that’ll do any good. It’s not as tantalizing as the original story.

  “The board is afraid that some people may still believe your accuser. And wonder if she just recanted because she was afraid.”

  “And, you can’t have a person with a questionable reputation teaching, especially the type of students we have a Baxter.”

  She winces again. “I’m so sorry, Jesse.”

  I shake my head but stop because it hurts. “No. I get it. The school is too important and those kids need that school. Its reputation can’t be tarnished, even if everything she said were lies.”

  “They’re going to keep you on leave until you’re released to return to work.” She glances at my bandaged and immobilized hand, then face. “Which could be months, given your injuries.”

  “I do appreciate that.”

  “They’ll revisit the issue to see if anyon
e has picked upon on the fact that it was you and if they still believe the lies, and make a decision at that point, but it doesn’t look good.”

  “I do get it,” I assure her. “I just appreciate Baxter keeping me so I can keep my insurance.”

  “I am really sorry,” she says again.

  “Mag, none of this your fault, or the board’s. The fault lies with one person and we all have to do what’s best for Baxter and those kids.”

  She stands, smiling sadly at me. “I’ll send in your next visitors. I just wanted to get this out of the way.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  “Let me know if you need anything. Baxter does care and wants to help.”

  I just nod and she turns to leave. Help as long as it doesn’t include keeping me as an actual teacher.

  I’m bitter. Real bitter, but I can’t really blame the board. I want to be pissed at them, and a part of me is, but if I force myself to take a step back and look at the whole picture, from their perspective, they have little choice.

  Hell, maybe it will all blow over and when it’s time for me to return, I might be able to teach at Baxter again. But, that won’t be for months.

  Besides, do I even want to live here anymore? If the board is concerned, what about my neighbors or the others in town? Will they wonder if there might be some truth in that girl’s words too? I can’t raise Cam in that environment. It’s not fair to him or me. The best thing I could probably do for both of us, is just move back in with my parents, as much as I hate it, so I can get better and figure out my life. Besides, it’s not like I can fully take care of Cam on my own right now. I can’t even pick him up.

  Tears form and I blink them away. Just a few words from a deranged teenager and my life has been irrevocably altered.

  At least I still have Deirdre, and some friends. But, how long will that last?

  Fifteen

  “Lost your job?” I can’t believe they’ve fired Jesse. Just like that.

  Jesse is taking it much better than I am. But, he’s had all day to come to grip with this new reality. A part of me gets why the board made this decision. I saw the news and read the papers, but it still sucks and it’s so unfair.