CHAPTER-13.
Several hours later I was again awake and alert. Surprisingly the pain wasn’t too bad. Jill reported that the doctor had been by just a few minutes earlier and said that I had no broken bones. They would have to keep me at least twenty-four hours to make sure I did not have any internal bleeding, but if I did not then I could leave right after that.
That meant that I would be here until at least Sunday afternoon and I was hosting Lola’s funeral Monday morning.
Jill and I sat mostly in silence for about an hour neither one of us wanting to speak what was on our minds but each silently trying desperately to figure out a way that my new love, Jana, was not implicated. Both Jill and I failing to figure it out. Both of us expecting there to be some other answer but neither of us finding it. Both somehow sure that Jana was not working against us, but unable to explain the beating without implicating her.
Some time later, just as they were delivering my dinner which I had no appetite at all for, Eric Samuels showed up again. He brought with him the news that he had taken Jana into custody. He had not charged her with anything and told her what had happened. She had completely denied any involvement and even requested that they give her a polygraph but that test had not yet been arranged. He could hold her for up to forty-eight hours without charging her and so far she had not asked for a lawyer.
He also brought with him some new technology. Instead of carrying in a big stack of mug books he handed me a laptop computer that was loaded down with pictures. He told me he had downloaded the most current database and showed me how to enter search parameters. In less than an hour I had picked out the two men I thought I would be able to recognize. I never did find the boy that had been smashing the windows with the brick, and I found dozens of others that MIGHT be amongst the others in the beat down, but at least I was sure of two of them. With that information he could move rather quickly. The first thing he would do is verify my choices with the security guard who had saved me and see if he could pick out any of the others.
When Samuels left I told Jill I did not want her to stay at my house alone and she promised me she would stay at her father’s house. Shortly later the nurse squirted more of that magic juice into my IV. This time there was no dream. When I woke up Sunday morning Jill was sound asleep in the chair next to my bed.